End of an era in Virginia Beach with Oberndorf's departure

VIRGINIA BEACH

The streetcar bell, a gift in 1997 from then-San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown, went into a cardboard box labeled "decor, pictures, plaques."

A white dove kite, designed by a Virginia Beach woman for the 1996 Summer Olympics, was snipped from the ceiling and packed away.

A drawing of dragons frolicking outside a house by a third-grader at Creeds Elementary named Kasey, was wrapped up with paintings from other children throughout the years.

Photos of Mayor Meyera Oberndorf - in a floral sundress and straw hat, surrounded by businessmen at her first ribbon-cutting in 1988 and of her greeting President Bill Clinton at a White House dinner - were stuffed away.

In the end, it took nearly 100 boxes to hold the mementos of Oberndorf's 20-year career as Virginia Beach's first elected and longest-serving mayor. That doesn't count the plaques and paintings that were considered city property and not the mayor's.

The city paid movers $862 to clear Oberndorf's belongings out of the mayor's office in City Hall on Tuesday. Will Sessoms, who defeated Oberndorf in the November election, will be sworn in on Monday.

"It was like being in a garden of beautiful flowers and getting to look at them and smell their fragrance for the first time," said Oberndorf, who spent the week sifting through all the gifts, plaques and photos.

The office had become Oberndorf's second home, and she rarely threw anything away. Every surface in the mayor's office, including the massive desk with the leather top that belonged to her father, was crammed with memories. A painting, a plaque, or an award hung from each slat of the wood-paneled room.

Oberndorf, for the most part, remembered who gave her every item.

The small stuffed bear in a gingham dress, she said, was a gift from a woman whose son had died of AIDS. The miniature Taj Mahal was a souvenir from an Asian Indian group in Chesapeake. The toy parrot came courtesy of a member of the mayor's youth council whose father was stationed in South America.

And what about the samurai sword? Well, Oberndorf said, that's a mystery.

She kept it all because that's what residents expected of their mayor, Oberndorf explained.

"In addition to my family, the city has literally been my family," she said. "What makes a strong city is a strong connection between the humans that live in the city."

After more than seven hours of packing, the movers hauled everything to a storage unit that Oberndorf rented.

Left behind were six chairs, three side tables, two credenzas, a coffee table, a television, a couch, and a lamp.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com