Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 21, 1993 TAG: 9303210269
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
WHAT HURTS MOST IS NEED TO LEAVE HOME
For a while there, Kevin Wang says, it seemed that every day he went to work he would find another person's card turned over on the sign-in board - evidence that someone else in his department had been laid off or taken another job.Wang, a technical specialist, or assistant programmer, at the Dominion Bankshares operations center on Plantation Road, hated to see it.
"It affects you," he says. "It's depressing."
He and his colleagues were close. They took turns being on call-in, and they worked well together. Now, only he and two co-workers remain in his department following Dominion's sale to First Union Corp. of Charlotte.
"You say you're leaving in October and you're grateful you're not out on the street right now," he says. "A lot of people are working less time than I have. It's very emotional and difficult to see this one leave, that one leave."
For a while, he regularly went to farewell luncheons with colleagues who were leaving.
"By the time I leave, I'll probably have to pay for my own," he says, with a laugh. "It looks like I'll have the privilege of turning out the lights."
Wang, 40, won't be affected by First Union's relocation of consumer loan and credit card operations in Roanoke. He expects to be employed no later than Oct. 31.
He doesn't know know whether he; his wife, Janet; and their son, Josh, 10, will be able to remain in Roanoke.
The Wangs moved to the Roanoke Valley from Tennessee 11 years ago, and gradually became more and more a part of the community.
Josh was born here. When he became old enough to play soccer, Kevin Wang coached his teams. When Josh enrolled at Roanoke Valley Christian School, Janet, a former Christian missionary, began to substitute-teach there.
Kevin Wang, a native of Taiwan, joined the Chinese Association of Roanoke and volunteered to work with children two nights a week in the Awana program at Shenandoah Baptist Church.
Josh began to play violin with the Roanoke Junior Strings. He participated in the regional Odyssey of the Mind student competition and undertook other endeavors. His parents stayed busy getting him from point to point, as many parents do.
The Wangs felt they were a part of things.
"We love this place," Kevin Wang says, "and if you ask us if we want to stay here, we would definitely want to stay here."
They knew the bank was having problems, and, after experiencing at least two years of turmoil on the job - with a salary freeze, talk of sending computer work to outside firms and other disruptions - they were "kind of prepared to expect the worst," Kevin says.
"It's not that they dropped a bomb, or it was such a shock."
Still, the news was bad - bad enough that when the Wangs sit down to discuss their future, they joke about opening a box of Kleenex.
To Wang, the loss of Dominion means more than just his personal loss. The bank encouraged its workers to take part in community life, and, when times were good, it did its part by contributing heavily to civic institutions and cultural activities, such as the Rainbow Splashes children's performance series.
Whether the valley will gain more from the sale of the bank than it loses, as bank officials like Warner Dalhouse predict, remains to be seen.
Wang says the Chinese define crisis in two ways: as danger, and as opportunity. He is looking at his impending layoff as an opportunity.
He has sent resumes to perhaps a dozen employers in the Roanoke Valley, and he is seeking work elsewhere, in states as far away as Oregon.
He is calm about the prospect of leaving.
Janet Wang is less serene. "As a woman, you look at it a little differently," she says. "We're basically nesters. The older you get, the more you say, `Do I want to uproot from all my family friends and go someplace else?' Friends take a long time to make. . . . Life is too short to keep starting over all the time."
The Wangs met when she was a missionary in Taiwan. He was a maritime engineer with the equivalent of an associate degree in the United States. His father, a military man, always wanted his children to study in America.
Kevin Wang was accepted at East Tennessee State University, where he majored in computer science. The couple married shortly after he arrived on campus in late 1978. He became a citizen in 1984.
The bank was a great place to work, at least until things became tight a few years ago, Wang says. He regrets that it had to be sold. He wishes it had been managed more cautiously when times were good. He and his co-workers were surprised when First Union bought it.
"We thought it would be Crestar," he says. "They never let us know. As employees, we usually find out from the news."
First Union has been helpful in his job search, and he appreciates that; though, of course, he wishes he had been kept on.
"We're much better off than most," Janet Wang says.
When Josh heard about the bank's problems, "He prayed for my job," Wang said. "But his world is still concentrated on playing games, going to school, playing the violin, his friends."
Asked where he'd like to live, Josh told his parents "Hong Kong or Germany." In Germany, he said, they could drive on the Autobahn, which has no speed limit.
"Roanoke seems a nice place to raise a family," his father says. "Josh goes to a good school. We are able to make a contribution and are involved in our community and we see a lot of parents who are also involved."
"Our first choice would be not to move," Janet Wang says. But they will if they must.
They, too, have been praying. They are confident, Janet Wang says, that God "will open a door where he wants us to be."
Kevin Wang hopes the weather is warm, wherever that might be.