A 30th anniversary dinner will be held by the VSHL Lynchburg Chapter at Lynchburg College on Tuesday, May 22, 2001. The chapter, formed in May 1971, is the first local chapter of the first state pro-life organization in the nation. The Virginia Society for Human Life was organized in January 1967.

“We were pioneers and didn’t even know it,” said Brenda Fastabend who, with her husband Bill and a few other friends, organized the first chapter meeting attended by 45 people in 1971. Three founding chapter members are part of the anniversary committee planning the dinner.

Atty. Gen. Mark Earley, the featured speaker for the event, served as VSHL’s Federal Legislation Committee chairman before running for the state senate in 1987, a seat he won and held for 10 years. He was sponsor of major pro-life legislation while in the senate including parental notification and a state ban on partial-birth abortions. In 1997, Mark Earley was elected Virginia’s attorney general and he is currently a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor.

Mary Enochs, VSHL 6th District Coordinator and chapter officer, said the reason for holding the anniversary event is to celebrate grassroots pro-life volunteers over the decades. “VSHL continually brings together a widely diverse group of individuals for the common purpose of working to protect innocent human lives. It’s been a privilege for my family and me to be a part of the important activities of the right-to-life movement.”

Reservations and information for the May 22 dinner can be obtained by writing Lynchburg Chapter VSHL, P. O. Box 3292, Lynchburg, VA 24503 or by e-mail: bfastabend@earthlink.net

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, April 2001