Vernelle

 

My friend Vernelle went to be with Jesus a few days ago. Below are some reflections I sent to our old coworkers and her family. What I wrote below has one word changed from what I previously sent, all because it might be read during her memorial service and I wouldn’t want to give anyone heartburn by using the word “hell.” We will watch what we will on television or stream what we will, or vote for people of low character and low truth-telling, but we will not tolerate reading the word “hell” in church unless, I guess, it comes straight from the Bible.

 

As I thought about Vernelle, I thought about the many courageous people I’ve known who have worked in difficult housing situations. Folks like to talk about providing housing in troubled environments, but I don’t know that I’ve heard many talk about the front-line people who work in those environments, about their commitment, the dangers they face, the stress, the uncertainty.

 

I don’t recall any clients who expressed concern about the dangerous environments people worked in, whether they were international or national financial institutions, or regional investors. I don’t recall representatives from government agencies expressing concern (other than police and fire agencies!). I have known few industry executives who did more than give lip-service and fewer owners of management firms. People generally care about their return on investments, about political capital, and their own safety and security and don’t much care about others, not really.

 

Yet, people like Vernelle are critical to providing decent housing in difficult areas; they must keep their employees safe, their residents safe, deal with limited financial resources, contend with drug dealers, gangs, and other criminals – and have little support from their communities, the firms they work for, the financial investors in their apartment communities, and in local, state, federal government, and associated housing agencies. The Vernelles of this world are some of the most courageous people I have ever known…and generally some of the most underpaid (is this because they are usually women?)

 

To be sure I have encountered sleazy landlords and their employees who ought to be in jail, and authorities who look the other way for whatever reason – but I’m focused on the Vernelles I’ve known, not on those elements who have taken advantage of the defenseless.

 

I have learned more from the Vernelles of my life than I have taught them; I do hope that I have been there for them when they’ve needed me. I’m sure I have let them down at times, but I’ve never intended to do so, at least I hope not. I’ve worried about them, prayed for them, fought for better conditions for them. I am a better man for knowing them.

 

Vernelle Vial

By: Bob Withers

 

Hurricane Gaston came as near as anything to shutting her down, to forcing her to take a break, to making her pause for a breath; but I think even Gaston gave up and finally left Richmond after pummeling our city hours on end, flooding streets and lives. After making sure her employees, which were her extended family, and her residents – which she saw as her responsibility – were as safe as possible, she started to make her way home from Richmond to Louisa County via Broad Street.

 

The rain, as you may recall, was Biblical, making Niagara look like a dripping faucet. Cars were doing one of two things, either crawling or floating. Electricity was out, sewers were bursting, trees were falling, water treatment plants were shutting down, but Vernelle was doing her best to make it home to Ellis and Louisa county – because that’s what folk like her did, that’s how she was raised – she loved her husband, her family, took care of the folks who worked for her, and since the watery heavens were coming down to earth she was going to do whatever it took to get home to be with her man.

 

Gaston and Vernelle were in a stand-off; Vernelle would drive a few feet and Gaston would push back, Vernelle would drive a few more feet and Gaston would push back again. Vernelle didn’t have her cell phone charger with her, and her phone’s battery was running down; there were still many miles between her and home – they were unknown miles that night. Unknown because who knew what roads were closed, what accidents there were, what rushing waters were greeting motorists in the dark? First responders couldn’t respond, 911 operators couldn’t keep up with the calls…what to do?

 

There it was, the good old Holiday Inn, on good old Broad Steet, right around good old WTVR. Vernelle was stubborn, she was tenacious, and she could be ornery, but she wasn’t stupid. She and Gaston must have come to some kind of agreement. Vernelle must have said, “Look Gaston, if you make sure there is a room left in the Holiday Inn, I’ll call it a night and we’ll call it a draw.” Since I reckon Gaston was probably about as tired as was Vernelle, he agreed – anything to get that old country girl off the road – he could not let it be said that she whipped him; sometimes better to call it a draw.

 

Of course the likely truth is that Vernelle probably didn’t actually talk to Gaston, because as we all know you can’t reason with a hurricane. The likely truth is that Vernelle was praying to her Lord Jesus the entire time and that He, as few of us could, reasoned with Vernelle that she needed to pull into the Holiday Inn and that she could trust Him to take care of Ellis and all those she loved and cared about. And to show you just how much the heavenly Father loved Vernelle, while His Son was born outside the motel, He gave Vernelle a room inside…well…come on now, Vernelle was a bit older than the infant Jesus and really did need the shelter and a good bed.

 

I was blessed to work with Vernelle, or Miz Vernelle as she was often called, twice; and as I look back over my life Vernelle is a member of a small circle of people I’ve known who are characters with character. What I mean by “characters” is that they are one of a kind, there ain’t four of them, or three, or two – they are each one of a kind.

 

What I mean by “character” is that they can be trusted, their word is good, they will not lie to you or for you, they care about others, and they have courage. It takes courage to do the right thing the right way in this world, and it takes courage to work in some of the places that Vernelle worked in, treating people right and trying to give them a decent place to live.

 

I honestly don’t know how many times I’d get a phone call from Vernelle and she’d say, “Bob, we’ve locked the office door, we’re under our desks, and they are shooting outside. The police are on their way.”

 

I think Vernelle was probably the safest person on her properties. Her residents knew she cared about them. The drug dealers knew she wasn’t afraid of them. She worked well with the police. She looked you in the eye when she spoke to you, she walked straight with her head up. She looked out for her employees. She had a sense of humor. And…O yes…she trusted the Lord.

 

But she did have the good sense to know when to lock the office door and get under the desk. Once she was leading a group of us on a property inspection at Lincoln Manor when gunfire erupted – we all made it into a vacant unit and called the police…between us and her rental office a man lay dead.

 

This is the environment that Miz Vernelle worked in at times in her career – she knew that most of the people in her community were good people just trying to do the best they could…and she was there to help them however she could. She was a woman with character.

 

She worked to have after school programs at Lincoln Manor, both with the Boys and Girls Clubs and with church groups. She worked to foster good police and community relations. She invested herself in others. She didn’t have to do everything she did, but she did what she could to help others because that is who she was.

 

Vernelle and I often talked about Jesus and the Bible and church; Christ was at the center of her life with Ellis, her family, friends, coworkers, and her residents. We prayed lots, laughed lots, sorrowed a fair bit at the heartache around us – and we gave each other a bad time – because while we always didn’t agree, we liked each other and trusted each other. I could aggravate Vernelle and Vernelle could aggravate me – and that made it fun for us…aggravating yes, but also fun.

 

Going back to hurricane Gaston…as the storm was pouring oceans of water on Richmond, Vernelle got a phone call from one of her managers at another property, it went something like this:

 

Manager: “Miz Vernelle, it’s flooding here. The dumpsters are floating in the parking lot. What should I do!?”

 

Vernelle: “Well honey, get the hell out of there right now!”

 

Yes, Vernelle had her special ways about her, but perhaps most important is that Vernelle had Jesus’ ways about her -  she could be a character in the best sense of the word, but more importantly she was a woman of character, for that I’ll always thank God.