July 5, 2026 Editor, The New-Gazette: When a town loses a mayor it is usually not much of a story. The streets still get paved, the trash continues to be collected, the schools never stop doing their dedicated job and the tax assessments are still in the mail. Life in town goes on. Except sometimes it doesn’t. And one stops.
Some mayors are so well known that it is not necessary to refer to their last names. So I won’t. No need to break Frank’s winning streak now. His first name was sufficient when talking about what’s going on in Lexington. That’s how well everyone in town knew and loved him. And his smile did not stop at the city limits.
As you can gather, Frank was more than a mayor of a small town somewhere in Virginia, yet a town big enough that two of this nation’s most well respected institutions of higher learning call it home. Frank was well aware of this honor and responsibility. So Frank could joke about his limited role in carrying out the town’s official business. Humility served him well.
Frank has now been promoted. It is essentially the same job as being Mayor of Lexington. Mayor of Heaven is a good fit. My guess is that Frank won’t know the difference. DAVID REYNOLDS Rockbridge County
