Virgealia Ellis calls herself an Appalachian woman and recalls early childhood memories growing up on the Rotherwood Farm, owned at the time by Kingsport’s John B. Dennis. Her mother, Inez Looney was the cook, and her father, James Looney was the chauffeur, the butler, and the mansion’s maitre’d. After serving Douglass High School principal V.O. Dobbins, as school secretary, Mrs. Ellis started a long career as a high school counselor and encouraged hundreds of Kingsport students to pursue a higher education.