URBANNA — Dr. Van Name, Urbanna’s beloved doctor of yesteryear, had his office on Virginia Street in downtown Urbanna 40 years ago, but soon after we arrived in 1984, he retired. Dr. Jim Robusto and his wife and office manager, Kerry, moved into his offices. A favorite memory of my first meeting the Robustos still makes me smile these many years later.
I wanted to find a local doctor, but I have always been very particular about doctors. I called Dr. Robusto’s office and said I was new in town and looking for a doctor and asked about his educational background.
The receptionist answered all my questions and when I heard he had graduated from Johns Hopkins Medical School and interned at Riverside, I was satisfied that he would be a great doctor. “I highly recommend him,” the receptionist assured me. I later learned his receptionist was Kerry.
Jim had Dr. Van Name’s medical instruments and original cabinets on display in his waiting room. My first visit was about chest pain. After the examination he assured me it was only a muscular ache.
He noticed I was holding a diet cola in my hand. “Are you addicted to colas?” he asked. I realized I had to have a diet cola every morning at 10 a.m. and needed to break the habit.
One shocking fact for me about the Robustos move to Urbanna to serve our town was a local bank turned down their loan application to help them start their practice. Fortunately, a bank across the river made the loan or we might have lost many years of excellent medical services.
I soon met the Rev. John Upton, who was minister of Urbanna Baptist Church and an outstanding preacher. He had a talent for giving sermons that, once heard, would stick like glue in one’s brain over the years. Upton was so good he went right to the top in the Southern Baptist organization.
It was in this church I learned the history of early Baptists in Urbanna during Colonial times and how a minister was once jailed for preaching in the area. (At that time only Anglican clergy were licensed to preach.) But the Baptist minister just kept preaching even from his jail cell window to all that wanted to hear his message.
I happened to be sitting in Urbanna Baptist Church when this history was told. I witnessed a gentleman sitting next to me. His furious expression spoke of his rage on hearing the injustices to his faith of yesteryear.
Every American can probably remember some injustices of the past, if not in America, then in the country our ancestors originated. It’s best to let any bitterness from the past go and be appreciative that we live in a society of freedom and opportunity today. No good ever came from holding on to bitterness.
There was a new dentist in the area that had opened a branch office from his main office across the river. I considered changing my dentist and I went in to check him out.
“I see that you need five crowns,” he said. I stood up and unclipped my bib. “Thank you very much but I think I will stay with my old dentist.” (My old dentist later advised me that I did not need any crowns.)
The old Urbanna Inn, now named the Chesapeake Inn, was a motel, bar and restaurant during those years and changed hands often. I thought the best of various owners was Phyllis Hall, who turned it into a fine restaurant with linen tablecloths, Southern fried chicken on the menu and a crackling wood fire on cold wintry evenings. But to no avail. It seemed no matter who owned it, it was destined to continue changing hands.
Over the years I noted every new owner of the restaurant would move the bar from one room to another. This must have been a very expensive move and my advice to any new managers of any future restaurant is simply — don’t think of moving the bar.
The old Rappanna movie theater had closed by 1984, but the upstairs known as The Balcony still served as a community center. I took aerobics classes there led by Amy Schacht, who sometimes brought her young children to class. Was it fun.
Cyndy Bristow would join us. She had trouble walking and we helped her get up and down the stairs. She had a scooter that took her all over town. Her mother, Betsy Bristow, named her store, “Cyndy’s Bynn” after her. It served for many years as a favorite clothing store especially popular with the Richmond weekend crowd.
Betsy’s store was like walking into a kaleidoscope with bright colors flashing from every inch of the store. I always felt an emotional “high” when I visited her store.
One day, convinced I was ready for some bright colors in my wardrobe, (I normally wear black or dark colors with only an occasional dash of red) I bought a blouse and slack set in a fabric covered with splashes of psychedelic oranges, reds, yellows, blues and greens. I wondered if in wearing such an outfit I would glow in the dark?
I went home and put it on and looked at myself in the mirror. I gasped. I experienced a severe case of second thoughts. I felt a bit like a firetruck driving down Kent Street with all lights blinking and the sirens on full blast. Perhaps I should return it?
Then, husband Chip entered the room and looked at me. He gasped. (As one might expect a conservative Virginia lawyer would react.)
That did it. What was I thinking? I could never appear anywhere in Middlesex County in such an outfit! I kept the outfit but passed it on to my daughter, Liz, but on that momentous day I made a new rule for me to follow as to proper dress.
If you don’t feel comfortable wearing the outfit you are about to purchase to the Urbanna Post Office when you pick up your morning mail, then, Mary, don’t buy it. (To be continued.)
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