Charles Wallings DeVier

Optometrist
9/4/1896 - 10/7/1968
Buried:
Woodbine Cemetery,
Harrisonburg, VA section 13, row 6

The "bike" in 1914 - he sent my dad this picture with a
note telling him to keep the picture - and that he was thinking
about riding again because it was cheaper.

Taken in Washington D.C - again
granddaddy is the little boy holding on to the two older men in
front

The Harrisonburg Municipal Band in
1908 - granddaddy is the boy 5th from the right, seated- he holds
his cornet. I believe at the time they were still called The Daily
News Band.

The band again. Granddaddy is the
second front the left - front row - dark glasses. His brother Amiss
is 5th from the left. Taken at the Firemen's Convention 1923.

The Warner Bros. Theatre Orchestra -
granddaddy is far left, top row, dark glasses

The Harley Davidson Store in downtown Harrisonburg

Another bike - this one with a
passenger seat - somehow I simply can not picture my grandmother on
the back of one of these
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Born September 4, 1896, in
Harrisonburg; student in Harrisonburg schools - graduate of high
school in 1915; student in Northern Illinois College of Opthalmology
- graduated in June, 1919; passed Virginia State Board of Examiners
in optometry and began practice in Harrisonburg, 1920; on executive
committee of the State Association of Optometrists since 1930;
chairman of executive committee, 1938; vice-president, 1939;
president, 1940-1941; Kiwanian, Mason, Methodist; active in
organizing and the directing the Harrisonburg Municipal Band.
In professional service, as a
talented musician, and as member of fraternal organizations, Dr.
DeVier has been an active and influential participant in helpful
community enterprises for a number of years. In this respect he and
his brothers have worthily maintained the traditions passed on to
them by their father, the late DeWitt Clinton DeVier, who was a
member of the city council and a generous worker in various welfare
agencies of the city and county. He is the eldest son of D. Clinton
DeVier and his wife, who, before he marriage, was Miss Ida Florence
Bell, both natives of Rockingham County.
Having gone through the elementary
schools of the city, Dr. DeVier entered the high school from which
he graduated in 1915. To fit himself for work in his chosen
profession, he then matriculated in the Northern Illinois College of
Opthalmology and graduated from that institution in 1919. After
passing the examinations required by the Virginia State Board of
Examiners, he began the practice of optometry in Harrisonburg in the
year 1920 and has since been successfully engaged in his profession.
He has received notable recognition in the State Association of
Optometrists over a period of more than twelve years. he became a
member of the organization in 1925. In 1930 he was elected a member
of the executive committee and was chairman of the committee in
1938. The next year he served as vice-president, and in 1940 he held
the office of president. In 1941 he was re-elected to the executive
committee and still continues in that capacity. He maintains offices
in The National bank Building of Harrisonburg, Rooms 207-209.
Dr. DeVier is a member of the
Methodist Church, the Masonic Blue Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter, and
the Kiwanis Club - has been a Kiwanian for the past 21 years. In
politics he is a Democrat. He is a dog fancier and devotes much time
to hunting and fishing. His most notable contribution to community
life and service has been made through local musical organizations.
For 20 years he has been active in promoting and directing the
municipal band, which, under his leadership, has won merited
recognition and approval. A skilled musician himself, he has been
able to inspire others with ambition and earnest effort to
excellence.
On February 18, 1922, Dr. DeVier
married Miss Helen Margaret Miller, who was born in Baltimore, MD,
on September 15, 1898, the daughter of Christopher and Ella DuVall
Miller. Dr. and Mrs. DeVier are the parents of three sons; Charles
Wallings, Jr., born June 30, 1924; Clint M., born April 12, 1926;
and Christopher D., born July 2, 1936. Charles, Jr., is a student in
the University of Virginia, having been in attendance there since
June, 1942. In October of the same year he enlisted in the U.S.
Naval Reserve. He entered the University as a pre-med student and
will continue his course unless called into active service.
Taken from - Men of
Mark and Representative Citizens of Harrisonburg and Rockingham
County Virginia Editor-In-Chief - John
W. Wayland, The McClure Company, Inc. Staunton, VA 1943, pgs.
110-111
I don't remember Granddaddy, as I
called him, all that much. He died when I was just 3. He was an avid
photographer and even studied it a bit; took photographs of
everything including the new James Madison University - a teachers
college at the time. He kept motorcycles as well - I have picture of
him on his Indian circa 1914. He registered for the draft during
WWI, but was rejected due to his very poor eyesight. He began music
lessons at the age of five and learned to play the piano and the
trumpet and was admitted in the Harrisonburg Municipal
Band when he was just a child. By the age of 12 he was playing solo
trumpet. After he graduated from high school, he played with the
orchestra in the Warner Brothers Theater which played for traveling
shows and the silent motion pictures. He went on to become the
conductor of the Municipal Band.
He and my grandmother were married
in the parlor of her family's home at 505 Franklin Terrace (now 41st
Street) in Baltimore and they separated in 1950 and were divorced in
1952. He remarried his
long time secretary, Nancy Wolfe, with whom he had been conducting an affair
for years. My grandmother subsequently returned to Baltimore
with my father who was 14 years old at the time.
He died while in Richmond, VA of a massive heart attack. He had
moved from the family home at 637 South Mason Street in Harrisonburg to Cape May and kept a home there.
Per my father, granddaddy kept
bird dogs and loved to hunt and fish. The family used to camp on the
Shenandoah frequently. For a time, he was the only optometrist in
the area and people came from as far away as Washington D.C. and
Richmond for eye examinations and glasses. The equipment he used to
grind glasses was in the basement of the family home. His own
glasses were very thick and he wore dark glasses in the bright
sunlight. In 1930, just after the Depression, the family was wealthy
enough to employ a servant, 17 year old Virginia Simmons.

1.
2.
3. 4.
5.
1 - baby picture 2 - taken
probably about 1927-1928 - the child on left is Charles, Jr. and the child on right is Clinton
M. 3 - With my grandmother Helen Margaret Miller 4 - With one of his brothers - either Amiss or Sheffy 5
- school picture

6 . 7. 8.
9.
10.
6 - Another petrol pony - he's the
one with his foot on the bike 7 - racing trains 8
- hunting with the two oldest boys 9 - l to r - Chris, Clint,
Charles, Jr. and Charles Sr. - granddaddy signed the picture "The
Four Meanest Bastards in Captivity. Sincerely Yours, The Meanest
One"
10. 637 South Mason Street in 2009
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