ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 31, 1996 TAG: 9612310084
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Alma Holston, who served on Pulaski Town Council for 12 years and was active in Republican Party politics in the New River Valley, died Sunday at Columbia Pulaski Community Hospital.
Holston, 63, had been the Pulaski office manager for state Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, since his election in 1991.
She was elected to her first four-year council term in 1980, but not re-elected in 1984. She ran again and won in 1988 and 1992, missing re-election by 49 votes this year. She had told friends she was planning to run again and predicted, "I'll be back."
"We are all saddened by Alma's death. She had a real love for the town of Pulaski, and a sincere desire to serve her community," said Pulaski Mayor Andy Graham, who has been mayor or on council during all the years she served on the governing body.
"During her service," Graham said, "she served as chairman of the Operations Committee and worked diligently on other committees as well. Alma's ambition was to run for council again and to continue serving the people of Pulaski."
"She had a very deep commitment to her family, to her friends, to the town of Pulaski and to her party," said Del. Tommy Baker, R-Pulaski County. "I considered her a friend and I think she will be missed by the people of the town of Pulaski and Pulaski County."
Holston also served on Virginia's Environmental Policy and Social Service Referral Committees and the Virginia Municipal League's Legislative Committee. She had headed the Pulaski County Youth Emergency Shelter Executive Board, been secretary for the area Agency on Aging Executive Board and chairwoman of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary Legislative Committee.
During her time on council, Holston took pride in her own unofficial telephone polls of citizens on issues that came before her. She had called hundreds of people in making her surveys. "It helps me to make the right decision," she said.
She served on council through five town managers.
She had been preceded in death by her husband, Sanders M. Holston Sr. They had one son, Sanders M. Holston Jr., of Hickory, N.C., and one daughter, Kathryn Holston Webb of Draper.
Loretta Parr, Trumbo's legislative aide in Fincastle, said she had talked to Holston just before Christmas and that Holston spoke enthusiastically about plans to visit with her children and grandchildren over Christmas week.
"It was truly a shock to hear that she had passed on," Trumbo said. She was someone "that knew a lot of people and what their concerns were, and helped me address those concerns."
She was helpful to him in keeping him informed not only on political issues but concerns of a personal nature that could be addressed legislatively, he said.
The funeral will be at 2 p.m. today at Thomas M. Seagle & Sons Funeral Home, with burial in Oakwood Cemetery.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Holston (headshot)by CNB