School Board to appoint Heldreth’s replacement

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

The schools of Rural Retreat lost one of their most ardent supporters Monday with the death of Kirk D. Heldreth, 45.
Heldreth, a Rural Retreat dairy farmer, was in his first term as the Wythe County School Board’s Black Lick District representative.
“He was just a fixture here,” said Michael Neal, principal of Rural Retreat High School. “Anytime I needed him, I could call him and he would be here to help.”
Although he still was assessing legal details when reached earlier this week, Superintendent Albert Armentrout said he planned to have a presentation ready for the School Board’s meeting Wednesday morning regarding the vacancy created by Heldreth’s death.
Armentrout said he’d recommend that the School Board members develop a standard application and ask for a cover letter from eligible Black Lick District residents interested in filling the remainder of Heldreth’s term.
Heldreth was elected to the governing body in November 2005 and his term runs through the end of 2009.
Attorney Charles Lacy said that the School Board has 45 days to appoint a replacement for Heldreth.
No Wythe County School Board member has died while in office since Roy O. Brewer, the Speedwell District representative, passed away in March 1995.
At that time, School Board members were appointed by each district’s representative on the county’s Board of Supervisors.
Speedwell Supervisor Jack Crosswell appointed Brewer’s wife, Glenthia, to complete the remaining nine months in his term.
The first School Board elections were held in November 1995 and Freddie Rosenbaum won Roy Brewer’s former seat in an unopposed contest when Glenthia Brewer decided not to seek a term of her own.
Roy Brewer also was the School Board’s chairman at the time of his death. The School Board members elected Walter White to fill the group’s leadership vacancy.
White, who continues to serve as the School Board’s chairman, said Heldreth’s dedication to Rural Retreat schools will be dearly missed. 
“Kirk was an excellent board member,” White said. “He was involved, he expressed himself well.”
During his lengthy battle with cancer, Heldreth had to miss many of the School Board’s regular monthly meetings, but Armentrout said Heldreth remained steadfastly dedicated to the duties of his position.
“He would call me on his cell phone even from doctors’ offices,” Armentrout said. “He represented the folks in Rural Retreat very, very well.”
Neal added that Heldreth especially worked hard in the last year on finalizing plans for renovations to Rural Retreat’s middle and high schools.
After it initially appeared that funds for a complete project were lacking, plans now call for nearly all proposed upgrades to be included in the renovations taking place during the next few years.
“He certainly was very interested in the progress of the Rural Retreat High School/Middle School project and he was delighted that we were able to make all our plans hopefully come to fruition here soon,” Armentrout said.
Although Heldreth was in his first School Board term, his contributions to Rural Retreat schools stretch back many years prior to his election to the governing body.
Heldreth was president of the Rural Retreat Athletic Boosters and helped with numerous sports-related projects such as keeping statistics at football games and doing maintenance work on the field.
He also was the driving force behind the effort to get a field house built earlier in the decade to improve Rural Retreat’s athletic facilities.
“That was his project,” Neal said. “He did it all.”
Neal also said Heldreth spent time as an agriculture teacher at the high school and played a pivotal role in getting a new ag building constructed.
Heldreth gained a measure of fame beyond Wythe County in December 2006 when a calf with two faces was born on his farm.
While Heldreth was a good sport in the face of the brief international media attention, he lamented the fact that all the hoopla took him away from his daily farm chores.
“It’s hard to get a lot done,” he said in a January 2007 Enterprise story on the famous calf.
Armentrout said Heldreth’s unassuming approach extended to his work with the schools in Rural Retreat, recalling that Heldreth balked at the suggestion that the field house should be named after him.
“I rank him among top-notch, most conscientious School Board members,” he said. “He just had a wonderful sense of community spirit and was a great school supporter.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .