VCC Magazine Summer 2018

In Memoriam

L. Ray Ashworth By Bernie Henderson Luther Ray Ashworth began serving in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1970. He represented the Counties of Charles City, Greensville, New Kent, Surry, Sussex and the City of Emporia. He did not seek re-election in 1981. Ray began his legislative service with lots of disadvantages. Most of them were simply because of the political unrest in Virginia at that time, but a few were specific to him. The 1969 election made it obvious to the Byrd Democrats that their once tight grip on political power was loosening. For the first time since Reconstruction, a Republican was elected Governor and progressive Democrats from outside the Byrd machine had won the other two statewide offices. Due to a strict seniority system imbedded in the House Rules and because of tradition, the House of Delegates

better advice from others, he valued our conversations. Ray understood that getting elected was not the achievement, but merely the means to achieve. He knew that the way to serve his constituency was to develop and cultivate relationships with other legislators, public officials, staff and all the others from top to bottom who had roles in the legislative process. He recognized that an effective legislator has two constituencies, the voters in his or her

district and all others in the Capitol who are essential to getting anything done. Literally, from the very first day, Ray was not put- off, intimidated or cowered, nor did he ever show arrogance or

disrespect to those who were dismissive of him. Ray was always the quintessential conscientious legislator and the prototypical courtly Southern gentleman. He steadily earned the trust of others because he only dealt in truth and he gained respect because he demonstrated the purest form of courtesy to everyone, especially to those who had a view different from his own. It has been many years since Ray’s service in the House of Delegates ended. After that, those same attributes enabled him to be a successful and respected representative of a major organization. It has also been many years since I was involved in the legislative process, but the lessons I learned from him, the opportunities to watch him develop into an extraordinary legislator and the memories of his humor-laced wisdom and character continue to be a constant

was still controlled by Byrd Democrats, but they knew their days were numbered. An unusually high number of new members, 23, had just been elected and 11 of them were Republicans, giving the Republicans an all-time high of 24 members, up from 15 prior to the 1969 election. The House leadership chose to try to overpower rather than work with this new group of Democrats who were not part the Byrd machine, the Republican members and the anti-Byrd Democrats who had been re-elected. Ray was presumed to on a spectrum somewhere between audacious and dangerous, and there was some suspicion that he might even be a liberal. After all, he was only 34 years old when he was elected to the House where the average age was 58. Most alarming was that he had acquired his seat by winning a primary against a senior Delegate who was a loyal Byrd

ASHWORTH

valuable resource for me and I know this is also true for all who had the opportunity to know him. Those memories will always be a cherished treasure of a unique and special friendship for all of us who were fortunate to have had his life touch ours.

Machine foot-soldier, which simply wasn’t good form; decent men (and I use that term intentionally) who wanted to be in the legislature were supposed to obediently support the Byrd-machine incumbent and patiently wait their turn. I met Ray on his first day in the General Assembly. Members were given offices for the first time in 1970 and Ray’s was across the hall from the office of the Delegate who I work for as legislative aide. Ray had a lot of free time because the leadership did not want to over-burden new members with too many meaningful committee assignments – I am sure that was their intent. I noticed that Ray was following a different path than several of his fellow freshmen who seemed to be a little bit too ambitious, impatient and frustrated. In retrospect, my conversations with Ray were a tad unusual. Here was a young successful business executive and legislator having conversations with a nineteen-year-old college student about rules, procedures, traditions and personalities of the General Assembly. He wanted to be effective and to earn the respect of his colleagues. Despite the differences in our age and status, this was my third session, and while I am sure he was receiving more and

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