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2014 SESSION


HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 108
Commending the Honorable Harry Burns Blevins.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 21, 2014

 

WHEREAS, the Honorable Harry Burns Blevins was elected to the Virginia General Assembly in 1998 and has served continuously as a delegate and then senator, most recently representing the 14th Senate District, which encompasses all or parts of the Counties of Isle of Wight, Southampton, and Surry and the Cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach; and

WHEREAS, a native of North Carolina, Harry Blevins graduated from Central High School in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, attended Lees-McRae College and East Carolina University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial arts and drafting; he earned a master’s degree in secondary administration from the University of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Harry Blevins began teaching at Norfolk County Public Schools in 1957 and served as the principal of Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake for 23 years; he retired from teaching and school administration in 1991; and

WHEREAS, during his teaching career, Harry Blevins was an assistant football coach and head basketball coach at Great Bridge High School; he served in every leadership role in the Virginia High School League, including president, and organized and administered the Great Bridge Little League; and

WHEREAS, desirous to be of further service to the Commonwealth, Harry Blevins ran for and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1998 and the Senate of Virginia in 2001; and

WHEREAS, Senator Blevins worked to enact important legislation and rose to a leadership position in the Senate of Virginia, serving on several committees, including Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, Education and Health, Local Government, and Transportation; and

WHEREAS, Senator Blevins is a member of the Commission on Youth, the Joint Commission on Health Care, the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind Advisory Commission, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Commission, and he represents Virginia on both the Southern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments and the National Council of State Courts Committees on Education and Health; and

WHEREAS, Senator Blevins was the president of the Chesapeake Civitan Club, chaired the fundraising committees for Chesapeake Public Schools and Chesapeake City Hospital, and served on the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce; and

WHEREAS, in 1987, Senator Blevins was named Chesapeake’s First Citizen by the Great Bridge Jaycees and was recognized as Virginia’s Outstanding Secondary School Principal in 1984 by the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals; and

WHEREAS, Senator Blevins has received many awards and accolades during his long and illustrious career in the Virginia General Assembly, including the Legislative Excellence award at the Governor’s Conference on Education in July 2001 from the Virginia School Boards Association; more recently, he was honored by the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals when he was recognized for his support of issues in public education and by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce for his pro-business voting record; and

WHEREAS, since first taking the oath of office in 1998, Senator Blevins has demonstrated that the full confidence of the electorate was well placed in him; he has proven time and again to be a capable, honest, energetic, courteous, and trustworthy official, devoting himself unselfishly to the duties of his office; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Honorable Harry Burns Blevins hereby be commended on the occasion of his retirement from public office; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Honorable Harry Burns Blevins as an expression of the House of Delegates’ admiration for the long and distinguished service he has provided to the City of Chesapeake, the Hampton Roads community, and the Commonwealth.