By Gary Ruegsegger
Downtowner Contributing Editor

On December 7, 2009, E. George Middleton, Jr. quietly passed away in his home. Generally he wasn’t one to do things quietly. George was one of the most colorful, most unselfish, most outspoken and most successful men this region has ever produced. Quiet just wasn’t his thing.

George was a husband, electrician, father, engineer, grandfather, contractor, teacher, friend, elder, trustee, grandfather and the 2002 First Citizen of Norfolk. Colleges and universities sought his wisdom; major corporations turned to him for advice. For 20 years, he served as Chairman of Board for Sentara Healthcare. I knew him as the man who helped save Norfolk Public Schools.

George was a self-made man. He wasn’t born into Norfolk’s elite, the so-called “Silk Stocking” crowd, but he was a born storyteller. A raconteur of the first order. He grew up in Norfolk County where the schools only went up to the 11th grade and students drove the school buses. His mother Thelma Wood Middleton served on the Norfolk County School Board. At 16, George drove one of the buses.

After graduating from old Norview High School, he advanced to Virginia Tech where he realized, “I only thought I’d been to high school.” After serving with the Army Signal Corps in Bavaria, he returned to Tech graduating in 1950.

When George Hughes, the former Pittsburgh Steeler great, resigned his position on the school board to join the city council, George Middleton stepped into his considerable shoes. When Vincent Thomas left the local board for the state school board, he handed the chairman’s gavel to George.

A life-long reader partial to the writings of C. S. Forrester, Middleton was a man of action. As the captain of the ship, he steered the district through the challenging currents of school integration and court-ordered busing.

Although an exacting and demanding leader, George was always a fair and decent man. There are no records of keelhauling. A deliberate man, his style seemed to fit his city. Unlike many cities, the full integration of Norfolk was accomplished without violence. Still tempers were short and moods were foul. George withstood the broadsides and navigated the shoals.

He gave much of the credit to his crew. In his own words, “You can’t fly that ship alone.” George often spoke of the character, strength and integrity of his fellow board members. “No one ever worked harder or smarter than Buddy Strelitz,” he once said. Strelitz later served as Chairman of the Board.

George credited Superintendent Albert Ayars as a man of “theory and vision.” When he mentioned Deputy Superintendent Sam Ray, George’s eyes twinkled and a smile came to his lips. He referred to Ray as “the great pacifier” and “the man who stopped riots before they could happen.” He remembered Superintendent Gene Carter as a man dedicated to children and unafraid of making tough decisions.

Neil Boothby, Clerk of the Board, was George’s right hand. Having attended Page Military and the Howard Westlake School, the English-born Boothby had a military-bearing and an understanding of the chain of command. His strong sense of military etiquette compelled him always to walk on the chairmen’s left. Like George, he was knowledgeable and well-read. Boothby could quote chapter and verse on virtually any topic from geography to geology to history.

George believed one could learn much from history. His personal hero was British Lord Admiral Nelson. During the Battle of Copenhagen, when Admiral Parker signaled for Nelson to retire from the fight, Nelson placed his telescope to his blind right eye (an eye lost at the Battle of Calvi) and confided to an aide, “I don’t see his signal.” Nelson went on to crush the Danish Fleet that day.

George too could turn a blind eye to bad advice. Once during a board meeting, he sat patiently listening to a consultant from a leading northern university spout educational gobbledygook. Although he fidgeted a bit, George tried his best to comprehend the presentation.

After what seemed to be an eternity, he finally leaned toward Buddy Strelitz and whispered, “Buddy, do you understand what he’s saying?” Strelitz just shook his head. At Trafalgar, Nelson said, “England expects every man will do his duty.” Now, it was time for George Middleton to be George Middleton.

“Professor, please excuse me, but I feel we need to clarify a few issues here. Oh, by the way, do you know my good friend Buddy Strelitz? Mr. Strelitz is one of the brightest and most accomplished men I’ve ever known. He’s an honor graduate of the University of Virginia, serves on too many boards to mention and runs one of the largest furniture businesses on the East Coast,” said George.

“Professor, Mr. Strelitz doesn’t understand a word you’re saying. Now, if Mr. Strelitz can’t make any sense out of what you’re saying, what chance do the rest of us have?” he added.

End of Discussion.

Stressing the tremendous opportunities available in this country, George often said, “Where you begin on life’s ladder doesn’t really mean that much. Sure you may have a few more rungs to climb, but you can still make it to the top of the ladder.”

Each year, as Chairman of the School Board, he personally signed each diploma. Each day of his life, extending that same hand, George pulled so many others up life’s ladder.