By Angela H. Hill
After 40 years at The Enterprise, editor Nancy Lindsey retired December 31. A native of Stuart, Lindsey has spent more than 50 years in the field of journalism.
She was inducted into the Virginia Press Association’s Golden 50-Year Club in 2014.
Lindsey started her journalism career as a columnist reporting on events at Stuart High School for the Martinsville Bulletin during the 1961-62 school year.
In the summer of 1962, following her graduation from Stuart High School, Lindsey wrote several feature stories about Patrick County for the Bulletin.
Lindsey attended Radford College for three years, majoring in English. She married Bryant Lindsey in 1965 and they moved to Tacoma, Wash., where he was stationed as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.
In early 1966, the Lindseys moved back to Patrick County, where she worked for about six months for The Enterprise as a reporter and feature writer. During that time she wrote about some of the county’s oldest and most memorable characters, including a legendary moonshiner; a historian and collector who later bestowed many artifacts to the Patrick County Historic Museum; the daughter of a Civil War officer; and an educator who taught in the county’s one-room black schools for many years.
In the fall of 1966, the Lindseys moved with their newborn daughter Lynanne to Williamsburg, where Bryant began work on a master’s degree in psychology at the College of William and Mary, and Nancy worked as a reporter and feature writer for the Williamsburg Bureau of the Newport News Daily Press.
Lindsey worked for that newspaper for two years, writing about Colonial Williamsburg interpreters, artisans and events, unusual students and faculty members at the college, and visitors to the historic town, including Walt Disney.
She won a first place award in feature writing from the Virginia Press Association—the first of many writing awards she won during her career.
In 1968, the Lindseys moved to Seattle with their two children, which by then included a son, Joel.
Bryant pursued a doctorate at the University of Washington, while Nancy worked for a few months in the public relations department of a radio station.
Nancy went back to college at age 24, majoring in journalism at the University of Washington. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1971 and spent a year working on her master’s degree in communications.
In 1972 Nancy moved back to Patrick County, where she worked for six months for the now-defunct Bull Mountain Bugle and about a year and a half as a reporter for The Enterprise.
Between 1974 and 1978, Nancy worked as a Title I remedial reading teacher at Stuart Elementary School. Nancy and Bryant were divorced in 1975.
In 1978 Lindsey rejoined The Enterprise as editor and reporter, the position held until her recent retirement.
During her 40-year career, Lindsey won VPA awards in almost every writing category, including family and lifestyle writing, spot news and general reporting, governmental and public safety reporting, investigative reporting, sports feature writing, and editorial writing. She also won a few photography awards.
Some of her editorials, including encouraging people to support the new library and industrial park, and a satirical piece on the ongoing conflicts between the school board and board of supervisors, had a positive effect on county government.
In 1980, Lindsey and Gail Harding, former publisher of The Enterprise, won the VPA Sweepstakes Award for writing and photos of the devastating flood of 1979 in Patrick County.
In 1981, Lindsey won second place in the National Newspaper Association contest for feature writing. In 2010 Lindsey started writing a personal column again, after at least two decades of abstention. In 2012, she won a first place VPA award for column-writing—her first-ever award in that category.
Many government officials and residents of Patrick County said they’ve enjoyed working with Lindsey throughout her 40 years at The Enterprise.
“At least for several decades, the three faces of The Enterprise – for me and for others – have been Gail Harding, Nancy Lindsey and Linda Hylton,” said Gerald L. Baliles, governor of Virginia from 1986 to 1990. “They’ve either published, written or taken photographs for the paper.
“Talking about Nancy in particular, I have always thought she was an objective and professional reporter. She is a quiet, discreet and thoughtful observer, and persistent in her search for the facts behind the story line,” Baliles continued.
“Additionally, I think she is a keen observer of people and events and, interestingly, she knows the people, the players, their personalities and the problems behind the news but never let that personal knowledge get in the way of reporting the facts of the story itself.”
Tony Giorno, U.S. Attorney for the state of Virginia, worked with Lindsey when he served as Patrick County Attorney and the county’s commonwealth attorney from 1977 to 1995.
“The one thing about Nancy is she was uniformly fair and objective,” Giorno said. “If I needed to be taken to task for doing something or not doing something, she took me to task for it. She always knew the right questions to ask. She was always objective.
“I never felt like when I talked to Nancy that she was trying to play gotcha with me … she wanted to know my response and was fair in her reporting,” Giorno continued.
“She’s that rare combo of someone who’s smart and fair and objective. You don’t find that in a lot of people. I can’t say enough good things about her … she’s going to be tough to replace. You don’t find people like that on every street corner.”
A.D. Hopkins Jr., who grew up in Stuart where he was known as “Buddy” Hopkins, has kept in touch with Lindsey throughout their careers. Hopkins became an investigative reporter and editor, then a magazine editor. He is now a semi-retired book editor.
“Godspeed to an exemplary writer who served Patrick County, and her profession, with honor,” Hopkins said.
“I left Patrick County more than 60 years ago, but I still subscribe to The Enterprise. Nancy Lindsey is most of the reason. As a lifelong journalist myself, I particularly admired the feeling she brought to feature writing, and the understanding of human lives and emotions.
“I don’t know if people in Patrick County understand the level of her competence,” Hopkins continued. “At its annual convention, The Virginia Press Association recognizes the best stories in many categories, from breaking news to sports. I worked in Virginia the first five years of my writing career, but in those days Virginia had scores of newspapers, and competition was so strong that I never won so much as a third place in Virginia.
“During that same era, it seemed to me that if Nancy failed to bring home five or six top awards from each convention, she’d had an ‘off’ year.
Hopkins shared his experience trying to convince Lindsey to leave The Enterprise to join him at another newspaper.
“The editor of a Virginia daily newspaper where I once worked found out I had gone to high school with Nancy, and instructed me to recruit her to his staff. He never quite forgave me for failing to bring her over,” Hopkins said.
“There is no question that Nancy could have succeeded just as well in a much larger market than Patrick County, and could have made more money doing so. I pointed that out to her more than once. Her usual answer was, ‘but I love Patrick County.’
“I love it also, but chose instead the larger market and better money of Las Vegas,” Hopkins said. “However, there are days I think Nancy made the better choice; better for her quality of life, and certainly better for her community.”
Barnie Day, a former Patrick County supervisor and county administrator, and a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, said Lindsey is “an institution in the county and has been for a very long time.
“She’s quite a talented reporter and writer and editor as all of the awards on her wall attest to … First of all she had a tendency to get it right. And she’s pretty even-keeled. You don’t get many knee-jerk reactions out of her. She’s simply irreplaceable.”
Patrick County historian John Reynolds worked with Lindsey in many capacities, especially during his 25-year tenure at Reynolds Homestead and his 30 years at the Patrick County Historical Society.
“As long as I’ve known The Enterprise, Nancy was pretty much The Enterprise as the writer. The news stories covering the Board of Supervisors’ meetings – she deserves some type of medal just for sitting through all those meetings and keeping her sanity,” Reynolds said.
“My opinion is she could write for any newspaper in the country – The New York Times, The Washington Post – because she always gets the facts, she gets it straight, and it’s always in a reasonable format.
“She was born in the county and has the background of knowing the area and the people. She’s well-read too. She reads all the time, both fiction and nonfiction,” Reynolds continued.
“She’ll be missed greatly; seeing her at all the events she covered along with the rest of the [newspaper] staff,” Reynolds said. “Every citizen can’t go to these meetings, but you knew if Nancy was there you knew what was going on. You could rely on it.”
Rick Ward, Blue Ridge Regional Library System director, said that he appreciates Lindsey’s support for the library. “We couldn’t have had a better supporter than she was. She was always willing to write about the library and has always helped us by buying books at our book sales.
“She has covered all the Board of Supervisors meetings that I’ve been a part of and made sure the library’s point of view was always accurately reported,” Ward continued. “I have the utmost respect for her integrity and skill as a writer, and greatly appreciate all she has done for us. I wish her the best in her retirement as I know it is well-deserved.”
County Administrator Tom Rose said one thing that stands out to him in remembering Lindsey’s work were her columns, particularly one in which she shared her experience interviewing Walt Disney.
“I hold her in the upmost respect,” Rose said. “I’ve always trusted her. She’s been very cooperative with information we could broadcast in the media and with information that we could not. She’s been very sensitive to that, and she’s been very good friend of mine for a long time.
“She’s also been a good friend to the Board of Supervisors as a public service authority, and she’s helped put a positive light on many, many things,” Rose continued. “We’re going to very much miss her. She’s very respected.”
Terry Tilley, Stuart town manager, said he’s worked with Lindsey since he started his career 38 years ago.
“Nancy was always precise in what she said and she was always really easy to talk to about things. She had a lot of good questions. I don’t know that they come any better,” Tilley said.
“What she wrote was the truth. There were no mishaps in it,” Tilley continued. “She always put it out there just like everybody told her. The Enterprise was fortunate to have her as editor and I think that she did a great job.”
Annie Hylton, who represents the Peters Creek District on the Patrick County School Board, said she has worked with Lindsey both as a journalist and teacher. Hylton also fondly remembers Lindsey’s mother, and said Lindsey shares many of her mother’s admirable qualities.
“It was a wonderful experience to work with Nancy, not only at The Enterprise but also when she was a teacher. We’ve been friends for a long time and she is one of my favorite people.
“She was on top of things as a journalist,” Hylton continued. “We enjoyed having her at our school board meetings. She was always punctual and always willing to wait until we came back in to finish up her report. I thought she was a superb journalist.”
Rickie Fulcher, Patrick County Supervisor for the Peters Creek District, said he also worked with Lindsey when he served as a Patrick County School Board member for 12 years.
“She’s extremely knowledgeable; very fair in her reporting,” Fulcher said. “She looks at both sides of an issue and reports both sides of an issue. She’s a great personality in Patrick County and well thought-of and appreciated.
“She brought a lot of integrity to the paper,” Fulcher continued. “People trusted her and they still trust her. You had faith in what she was reporting. She is open-minded and willing to listen to both sides … I hate to see her go but I wish her well and it is well-deserved. She’ll always have a place in my heart.”
Crystal Harris, Patrick County Supervisor for the Smith River District, said she has known Lindsey since they were in high school.
“She’s wonderful. She’s up front and she’s truthful,” Harris said. “She did a good job on everything. I never had any complaints with Nancy. She’s interested in getting the most information out to the people of Patrick County. She is a Patrick County person and she knows the interest and where it lies and that is so important.
“She brought to The Enterprise her honesty, her intelligence, and her ability to write,” Harris said. “She will be greatly missed. Her integrity couldn’t be better.”
Garry Clifton, branch manager for the Patrick County library, said one of his best memories of Lindsey was her joining him on a bookmobile ride for her feature article. She won an award for the article, he continued.
“Nancy has always been wonderfully supportive of our library, since the beginning,” Clifton said. “She would feature the library, and relay info about what’s going on at the library and was supportive about what’s going on when it came to funding for the library.
“Nancy has always been a strong supporter of the library as a patron,” Clifton said. “We miss seeing her … I don’t know what we’ll do without her.”
Gail Harding, former publisher of The Enterprise, said Lindsey has been loyal and faithful to Patrick County. Harding said Lindsey knows more history and background on the county than anyone except Sara Leigh Collins, administrative assistant and clerk for the Patrick County School Board.
“She did her very best to always report it as it happened,” Harding continued. “She didn’t try to embellish or change anybody’s words. Many times, [Patrick County] supervisors called her to figure out what was going on because they didn’t know the background because they were new.
“She did honest, clean reporting with as little opinion as possible.”
Michael Showell, publisher of The Enterprise, said Lindsey has been an integral part of the Patrick County community.
