Believe it or not, the United States is now proud to have their very own governor from Grundy, VA!  Actually, she’s not even from Grundy—she’s from the outlying community of Harman, a community with a population too small to register with the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Bev Perdue, D-North Carolina, can now proudly say not only that she is from Southwest Virginia, but that she is the first female elected to be governor of North Carolina and only the 30^th in United States gubernatorial history—not a task that has been easy to accomplish, but one that fits right in with the ground-breaking election results that occurred election night nation-wide.

Currently the lieutenant governor, Perdue said about her victory, “It just goes to show you, what I learned as a little girl growing up in rural Appalachia was right, […] If you get a good education, work hard and stay true to yourself, you can accomplish anything.”  

Regarding her Appalachian roots, she recently told The Bristol Herald Courier, “When I was a little girl, twice a year my mother and I would drive to Bristol to shop,” she said by phone. “We’d buy German chocolate cake and go shopping for clothes. It was a big treat. You all were the big city,” she said. Perdue is a graduate of Grundy High School, the University of Kentucky and received her doctorate at the University of Florida before finally residing in North Carolina. She began her career as a civil servant 22 years ago.She says, “My parents convinced me: Even a little girl from Grundy could be somebody if she worked hard and got an education. Those beliefs and values, they’re why I am who I am. They have defined me. […] To think my parents never even graduated high school, and yet here I am. I bet they are looking down on us tonight saying, ‘You go, girl – you go!’”

I personally think it is a tremendous accomplishment not only for Perdue, but also for Southwest Virginia to have a high-ranking government official in our long list of prestigious natives!  In a state that has proven to produce presidents and other prominent politicians throughout time, it’s refreshing to know that for the first time in a long time one came from Southwest Virginia.  I congratulate Bev Perdue and hope for the region and the state of North Carolina that she does us proud.

–Shai Cullop

  http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/the_governor_from_grundy/16052/