Travel

Out of Africa: Chester woman incorporates Senegalese products into business

By Caleb M Soptelean on September 2, 2019 Business, Travel

Omilade Davis-Smith is pictured with some of the bars of soap that she makes, cuts and sells. (Caleb M. Soptelean photo) Omilade Davis-Smith has a heart for Africa. The Chester resident and Richmond native incorporates products from French-speaking Senegal into her business, Essentially Omi. Each year, Davis-Smith makes anywhere from one to three trips to Toubab Dialaw, a West African town located on the Atlantic Ocean. She brings black soap back to the States, where she cuts it into bars her home in Stoney Glen. She also uses black soap to make shampoo and hair conditioner. She uses shea butter…

Caleb’s Corner: Creating memories in Northwest Montana

By Caleb M Soptelean on August 27, 2019 Community, From the Editor, Travel

Aksa Soptelean-Rivas, 12, and Vida Soptelean-Rivas, 16, relax next to a creek below a waterfall near Marion, Mont., on Weyerhaeuser land in August 2019. (Caleb M. Soptelean photo) It was a refreshing experience. Last week I was afforded the opportunity to take my 12- and 16-year-old daughters to the place I love: Northwest Montana. I had taken them there for the first time two summers ago, and we watched our first rodeo together in Polson, hiked on the Beardance Trail down to Flathead Lake — the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River — and hiked part of the…

Village News goes to Italy

By Press release on August 27, 2019 Around the World, Community, Travel

The Peel family — Samantha, Doug, Kelsey, and Michelle — recently enjoyed a bike tour of Florence, Italy. They paused to pose with the newspaper in front of the Famous Duomo, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

VN celebrates a birthday

By Public Comment on August 13, 2019 Announcements, Community, Travel

Cliff and Sally Noe and Mary and Bryan Schiano are pictured with Jo Noe, who celebrated her 90th birthday at Sunset Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently.

VN celebrates a wedding

By Public Comment on August 13, 2019 Community, Travel

Chester native Kelly Breakall got married this summer and moved to India with her husband, Ashish Bharti. The couple is pictured above in Ghaziabad, India, near New Delhi.

VN on vacation

By Public Comment on August 6, 2019 Community, Travel

The Andrs family recently returned from their annual trip to Minneapolis. In addition to visiting many friends and family, the kids brought home almost 70 sunfish and a few others from several of the 10,000 lakes. They also enjoyed their shopping excursion to the General Store of Minnetonka and catching up on news from the Village News! From left, Dean Andrs, Amanda Andrs, Gloria Andrs, Brenda Andrs and Vi Clark.

White House visit

By Press release on June 18, 2019 Business, Community, Travel

Jimmy and Gail Davis, owners of Davis Auto Sales and Davis Off Road on Jefferson Davis Highway in Chesterfield County, visited the White House on June 14 to hear about expanding health care options for small businesses through health reimbursement arrangements. The event was invitation-only.

Brown and Lohmann tell about travel adventures

By Press release on June 18, 2019 Community, Travel

Bill Lohmann and Bob Brown shared their stories and photos with the Chester Lions Club recently. By Carelyn Sheppard Authors Bob Brown and Bill Lohmann entertained the Chester Lions Club recently with photos and stories taken from their books “Back Roads: People Places and Pie from Around Virginia,” “On the Back Roads Again: More People, Places and Pie Around Virginia,” and “Dr. Coptr: The Flying Physician Who Kept His Promise to Tangier Island.” Their stories ranged from humorous to sad and heartwarming to horrid. Brown was reared in Rockbridge County, but came to the Richmond area and was in television…

Village News in the Bahamas

By Press release on May 28, 2019 Community, Travel

Gloria Andrs, center, enjoyed a cruise to the Bahamas recently with her sister, Viola Clark of Virginia Beach, on left, and her daughter, Brenda Andrs Wallace.

Walking is a virtual reality for Chester woman

By Amanda Creasey on May 7, 2019 Health, Outdoors, Travel

June Peat (Radiant Snapshots photo)June Peat hiked at the Grand Canyon. Peat’s dog Honey walks too. June Peat has been virtually walking for nearly 12 years, and she enjoys it. In the summer of 2007, Peat and her family took their usual trip to Duck, N.C. “We were on the beach, and I looked so horrible in a bathing suit that I decided I needed to do something,” the 75-year-old said. That July, Peat began walking, and she hasn’t stopped. At the time, Peat worked for Lucy Corr, and Chesterfield County’s Government Center Trail system was new. “My daughter, Beth,…

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