Roger Welch: Rappahannock’s biggest booster

Supervisor championed his beloved county

Roger Allen Welch believed in service. 

It was a belief he practiced faithfully for a lifetime, continuing his good works through a hard-fought battle with Parkinson’s disease that ended Dec. 11 at the age of 77 in his Flint Hill home in his beloved Rappahannock County.    

Welch launched his service campaign early, in grade school, as the self-appointed defender of bullied classmates. According to Welch family lore, if a big brute hit on an unsuspecting little person, Welch intervened, insisting to the principal that he never looked for trouble but that he wouldn’t run from it either.

He was the teenager flipping burgers at the Flint Hill Firemen’s Carnival, a submariner in the United States Navy, president of the Rappahannock Lions Club, deacon of Washington Baptist Church, a founding member of the Rappahannock High School Boosters Club and Saturday morning regular in the Emporium parking lot selling hotdogs and raffle tickets for deserving causes.

For 22 years, 10 as chairman, he served on the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors, a steadying and calming leader whose only allegiance was to his community.

“Some people run for office and get elected because they’re for or against something,” said John McCarthy, Rappahannock’s first county administrator, who worked with some 20 different supervisors while in that post. “Roger was elected because he wanted to serve his community. Nobody worked harder on understanding others, where they came from, and how they got there. Especially those who disagreed. And he never held a grudge.”

Rappahannock roots

The Welches have deep roots here. His mother’s people were evicted from the mountains when Virginia passed a mass condemnation to take the land that became Shenandoah National Park, and Welch’s father’s family has been in Rappahannock for at least six generations. (When his mother Arland traced the Welches back to horse thieves in Scotland, her husband Roland reportedly warned, “Don’t go back any further!”)

Welch was a local boy, going to grade school in Flint Hill and on to Rappahannock County High School where he scored academically and on the baseball and basketball teams. He was voted “Best Looking” in his graduating class. “He was a little disappointed that he didn’t get best dressed, too!” said Geneva, his wife of 54 years.

Welch’s baseball prowess served him well at the satellite Virginia Tech extension near Clifton Forge. He had his eye on a young woman he wanted to meet, and he spotted her near where he was throwing a baseball with his buddy, so he whipped the ball far and hard, well over his friend’s head, in the direction of the young lady. It was Geneva, then a high school senior. Of course, he introduced himself, “And the rest is history!” daughter Courtney Welch added.

That summer was Geneva’s first visit to Rappahannock, and she fell in love with Welch’s home place as well.

The Army’s Vietnam-era draft notice sparked his enlistment in the Navy. An electrical technician in the submarine service, Welch pressed the limits on operations with Navy SEALs and at maximum ocean depths on the U.S.S. Sea Leopard for six years. “The duty in Key West was fantastic,” recalled Geneva. “It was such a unique place in the ‘70s. People rode bikes everywhere!”

The couple had married between her junior and senior year at Virginia Commonwealth University. Geneva worked in advertising, then in social services, and Welch did Mediterranean tours in the depths, surfacing for the occasional adventures, say, when Geneva met him to motor leisurely through England and Scotland in a rented car, nibbling local cheeses, sipping great wines and touring castles and cathedrals.

Welch’s discharge from the Navy occasioned another adventure. With their 442 Oldsmobile pulling a travel trailer (turquoise and white tear-drop style, a Triumph motorcycle mounted on the back), the duo took nine weeks to drive from Key West to Virginia. They chose the longer but more scenic route through Texas, the Grand Canyon and California. It was a memorable trip for the Welches, and it likely produced unforgettable images for passing travelers, what with Victor, their huge cat, perched on Welch’s shoulder.

And if that wasn’t enough, once the convertible top was shredded by hail, Victor would sometimes wiggle his way through electrical tape repairs to hang tough by his claws on the outside, growling loudly at the thrill, and when it rained, everyone rode with magazines on their heads.

They settled in Richmond. Welch earned a degree in electrical engineering, was hired as a comptroller by General Electric’s Factory Automation group and went on to manage its national training center. And he returned to the diamond as a shortstop on the company’s softball team.

Keeping watch for a home in the country, the family, now with children Ryan and Courtney,  also returned at least every other weekend to Rappahannock, from Richmond, and then from Mt. Airy after Welch was transferred to Maryland for seven years.

Finding his place

Serendipitous coincidence happened. The property where Welch’s grandfather had been a tenant farmer came on the market, and over a creek, hidden in a far back field with no road, was an abandoned stone relic. It was here that Welch’s father was born, not in another stone dwelling that the family had long believed to be the birth place. This felt like home. Staying with brother Dale Welch, they built the new farmhouse that would make it so. It was a full family effort: “I laid the tile in the bathrooms,” Geneva noted, with a grin.

In Maryland, the Welch children had been introduced to soccer, so Welch volunteered as one of the first coaches for soccer programs here. He was traveling to Caterpillar, Boeing, AeroSystems, Ford, General Motors and other General Electric clients, the companies requesting him – and only him – by name to teach their crews how to repair and program the robots and machine tools for GE products ranging from lasers to jet engines, tanks and automobiles.

Back home, he was a Lion, a busy charter member of the Boosters Club and the man in the raffle booth at the Flint Hill Carnival pushing up sales with new prizes that were eminently desirable. He was a de facto teacher off work, too, and rarely without a book within hand’s reach. “He was always reading. He loved history, especially from the Civil War, World War I and World War II,” Courtney said. “And he loved telling history stories and sharing lessons from history.”

“Dad volunteered everywhere he knew there was a need, it was in his blood,” she added. “He always wanted to help.” 

His supervisor years

So, Welch ran for the board of supervisors’ seat representing Wakefield District. He lost by just 15 votes to incumbent Hubie Gilkey in 1996, and when Gilkey resigned midway through the term, Welch was appointed to the vacancy, later voted chairman and reelected easily five times. He had one overarching goal for those 22 years.

 “Roger knew Rappahannock had to move forward with change, but he wanted change to be managed and directed so it didn’t destroy the character of the county,” Geneva said. “Politics never entered into it. Roger was asked to run under his party affiliation but he refused. He didn’t think that should have any bearing on a local election.

“He valued wisdom, not just a polished education, and he worried that many of Rappahannock’s wise voices were being lost,” Geneva continued. “He tried to knock on every door in Wakefield District, weekend after weekend after weekend after weekend.”

And his community support earned the support of his employer – GE gave Welch the day off for board meetings.

“Dad took every phone call,” his daughter noted. “He was good at meeting people in the middle, finding common ground and compromising. He represented the people, not a party.”

“Roger was a man of faith, and his life was service to his county, his country, his church and his family,” said Sam Snead, who was born and raised in Rappahannock and now runs his real estate business from neighboring Warren County. The two were best friends growing up and joined the military together but on separate paths, Snead to the Army and Viet Nam, Welch to the Navy and submarines.

 “He was the kindest person, and he’d give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it. In today’s culture, it’s rare to have friends for life. People drift away. Not Roger and I. We were like brothers. We didn’t always agree,” Snead added, chuckling. “But we always went home friends.”

“Roger was a good person, kind and thoughtful to everyone, and I’ll always remember that,” said Peggy Ralph, retired Clerk of the Circuit Court who worked with Welch during his tenure on the board. “Things could get heated but he was never rude. Roger was a wonderful man to work for, and he loved Rappahannock so.”  

“Roger Welch was always a gentleman,” remembered Chris Parrish, the  Stonewall-Hawthorne District supervisor for 10 years while Roger was chairman of the board. “Patient and understanding, non-controversial, middle of the road, and a good listener. That was Roger. He wanted to hear from everyone.”

Those listening skills were noted and appreciated. At the Celebration of Life service for Welch last month, the Rev. Walt Childress, pastor of Washington Baptist Church, talked about Welch’s way of listening and learning. People misunderstood why the man was so quiet; it was because he believed you don’t learn anything by talking, you learn by listening, Rev. Childress explained.

“You can’t learn anything while you’re talking.” That was Welch’s credo and the advice he repeated regularly, sometimes even daily, softened by the trademark twinkle in his eye, daughter Courtney affirmed.

Parkinson’s diagnosis

Welch was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2008, and during the next 15 years, he was in and out of hospitals, proving doctors wrong every time they warned he’d never be able to walk again. Welch fought gallantly against its advancement, determined to continue serving on the board. “Dad was a big numbers guy,” Courtney explained. “He was going to make 22 years. That was his lucky number. It was taking him two hours just to get dressed for a board meeting, and he still did not want to give up.”

But worsening symptoms combined with the debilitating stress of contentious public hearings persuaded him not to seek reelection to another four-year term. For someone motivated to do the right thing, it was the only choice. 

Doing the right thing

Ironically, the years of treatment that followed gave Welch what might have been his most important opportunity for doing the right thing.

Parkinson’s is a peculiar disease, and normal standards of care don’t work with a malady that demands precise and unvarying medication schedules. Even a delay of a few minutes in administering doses can bring on serious repercussions and decline. And there are other differences, too. 

So, at hospital after hospital, Welch and his wife struggled to raise awareness of appropriate protocols. Thanks to their efforts, a neurologist was persuaded to teach an online course for hospitals and rehabilitation centers on the specific standards of care for Parkinson’s disease. Geneva also connected with U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton whose district included Rappahannock. Wexton plans to finish her term this year and not seek reelection because of her diagnosis of an extra-aggressive Parkinson’s variant. The National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act, named in her honor, passed the House three days after Welch’s death. 

Lt. Janie Jenkins, who received the 2023 Virginia Dispatcher of the Year Award, took the 911 call when Welch stopped breathing. She gave the perfect benediction for this public servant: “As chairman of the board, Roger was a champion for public safety. He was always our cheerleader.”

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