Looking at Billy Hobbs and Tina Vick, you would never know they each grew up, says Hobbs, “in the numbered streets” in Newport News. He was 24th and Marshall, she 12th and Ivy, in the disadvantaged southeast section of the city. And though Tina (yes, she’s the aunt of QB and now FOX football commentator Michael) was a good student, active at Ferguson High, role model to her friends, few thought she or Hobbs, 11 years older and from Newport News High, would become long-standing community leaders as adults.
Boy were they wrong. These Peninsula products, both one of six kids in their families, found their calling, she working with the underserved (poor pregnant women through the Resource Mothers program), he as a mechanic (“it got me off the streets”). Hobbs took his love of cars up the ladder to become Vice President and GM of Hampton Chevrolet. He also spearheaded the growth of Hampton’s Coliseum Central Business Improvement District, was on the city’s zoning board for a dozen years and for the last twelve, on City Council.
Before winning her first Newport News Council election in 2008, Tina Vick was already known for her writing skills, starting as the “humanitarian reporter” for the school newspaper before earning a communications degree from VCU, funded in part by the first scholarship ever awarded to a public housing resident. And around her ample community work, she wrote a book, “Growing up Vick: The Strength and Resilience of the Vick Family,” which chronicles how they all dealt with a host of issues, including Michael’s 2007 dog-fighting dilemma.
Tom Shepperd, the third of our Three of A Kind selectees who gathered for lunch at Sate Restaurant, a new hot spot in Newport News’ City Center, was raised with few resources in what he calls “a red neck farm area” of Jacksonville, FL. But he yearned to serve in the military to protect his country and did so in the Air Force, piloting mostly A-10’s over numerous airfields around the world. Before retiring at Langley AFB in Hampton as a Colonel, he made it to the Pentagon and a spot on the Joint Staff under General Colin Powell. The military taught him leadership and the ability to function in complex systems, perfect training for government service. Shepperd followed political mentors Jo Ann Davis and Melanie Rapp onto the York Board of Supervisors, but rather than seek higher office, he stayed there, winning reelection six times (all unopposed) and intends to run again in 2027.
His motivation? “Helping residents solve problems,” says Tom. “I find that most people have very little understanding of how government works and become very frustrated, so I made it my mission to help them work through the processes to get things done.”
Hobbs, who says he “eats a lot of cold dinners because I’m out so late on city business” looks forward, at age 72, to another term. “I’ve always been in it for the kids.” And Hampton during his tenure has made strides in that direction (its academy system is highly regarded) and in boosting youth sports through the Boo Williams complex while also spiffing up War Memorial Stadium for the hometown Pilots.
Vick is proud of her “life of service,” before and since her time on council, where she’s pushed for infrastructure improvements, code enforcement and retail options, including a new grocery store, back in the city’s east end, as well as more workforce training programs. A broker, she owns Tina Vick Real Estate Agency and Development Company.
Of the trio, Tom has been most active on the regional level. “I have chaired the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, the HR Transportation Planning Organization and the HR Military and Federal Facilities Alliance” and is a member of the HR Transportation Accountability Commission. “It has been wonderful watching all the localities, on both sides of the water, jointly prioritize highway projects,” he says. “I was happy for instance to see Chesapeake get a new High-Rise Bridge, the improvements of the I-64/I-264 Interchange in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, and the widening of I-64 on the Peninsula along with the HRBT expansion. Fourteen governments working together to solve transportation challenges is awesome.”
For Tom, Tina and Billy, public education is a high priority, but they know that there is so much more to do to help children navigate through their teen years without becoming perpetrators or victims of crime. It starts at the local level, and these three individuals, with a combined half century of elected office under their belts and now renewed appreciation for each other, are in no rush to stop serving.
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