The Village Clerk

    People are complicated. We are shaped by our genetic composition, family, choices, and experiences to become unique individuals. However complicated people may be, though, we have a tendency to oversimplify them, especially those with whom we don’t see eye-to-eye. We often see no wrong in the actions of those we love or admire, while seeing no good in the actions of those we disagree with or dislike.

     As a child, I remember hiding from an old (to me) lady who drove through Fairfax in a large car. I don’t know who cautioned me about her, but it was generally accepted among my childhood circle that this lady was important and mean and, as such, was to be avoided. This lady was Virmorgan Ziegler.

     I knew of Mrs. Ziegler - everyone in Fairfax did - but to the best of my recollection I never had a conversation with her. I didn’t know her personally, only by reputation. Even today, mention her name to Fairfax old-timers and the most common comment is that “She ran the Village of Fairfax.” Kids of my generation told me how she yelled at or even fired a shotgun with dry dirt or rock salt at them if they trespassed or came near her property on Watterson, earning her the nickname “Old Lady Buckshot.” However, Virmorgan Ziegler was much more than her tough-as-nails reputation.

     Our story begins in 1907, when John Morgan Lucus, a widowed 31-year-old wagon driver, married Clara Virginia Duerig, an almost 17-year-old sales clerk at Shillito’s Department Store. It was over seven years before the Lucuses had their first and only child, a girl they named Virmorgan, on February 19, 1915.

     Virmorgan Lucus was born in northern Kentucky and spent her early childhood there. On December 3, 1921 (yes, she still remembered the exact date decades later), the Lucus family moved to Washington (now Watterson) Road near High Street in the Fairfax Subdivision. The first night they discovered the house was infested with mice and within the next few days Mr. Lucus trapped over twenty of the little critters. There was no indoor plumbing, but the property had a natural spring and they pumped water into the house from the spring. The household had an outhouse. Even though the subdivision got water lines in the mid-1920s, the Lucus family had grown so accustomed to pumping water from their spring that they didn’t connect the house to the water lines until 1949.

     The Lucus property consisted of four lots, two of which fronted on Washington Road and two that fronted on Bancroft Street. Like most other families in the area, they had a garden and kept chickens. There was no telephone service and no door-to-door mail delivery.

     Young Virmorgan started school in Fairfax in the fall of 1922, attending a one-room school at the corner of Wooster Pike and Spring Street. She was among the first students of the new Dale Park School in Mariemont when it opened in 1925. She later attended Terrace Park School and graduated in 1931. At this time in our nation’s history, fewer than one-third of teenagers graduated from high school.

Terrace Park High School Class of 1931. Virmorgan Lucus is fourth from the left in the first row.

From www.tphistoricalsociety.org

    Virmorgan, whose father had a sixth-grade education and mother had completed two years of high school, then continued her education at the University of Cincinnati. In 1920, UC had been the first university in the United States to admit women to preparatory programs for engineering. Virmorgan entered the College of Engineering and Commerce. She also had a job where she worked from 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. She rode the streetcar to the stop at Bramble and Whetsel in Madisonville where her mother met her at 12:30 a.m. each night and walked home with her. Street lights were rare in those days, so the streets were pitch black.

     Virmorgan did quite well at UC. She was a member of Chi Delta Phi Literary Honor Society and Pi Chi Epsilon, which was an honorary scholastic and activity sorority for students of the College of Engineering and Commerce. She was secretary of Chi Delta Phi in her pre-junior year and president of Pi Chi Epsilon in her senior year. She was also a member of the Chem Commerce Club and the Co-Op Club.

Virmorgan (front row, second from left) as secretary of Chi Delta Phi.

The Cincinnatian, 1936

Virmorgan (center) as president of Pi Chi Epsilon.

The Cincinnatian, 1937

    Virmorgan graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1937 with a degree in Commercial Engineering.

Graduation picture from the Cincinnati Enquirer, July 11, 1937

    After college, Virmorgan went to work for Ohio National Insurance Company. She met George Ziegler at Ohio National, where he had been employed since 1933. He was a graduate of Miami University, where he had studied journalism and education. George entered the United States Army in June 1942. On December 18, 1942, Virmorgan and George were married at Mariemont Community Church. George was serving at Fort McClellan, Alabama at the time and remained in the Army until June 1946. While George was in the army, Virmorgan continued to live with her parents. Around the time George was discharged, Virmorgan purchased property in Fairfax, including a house on Lonsdale. Both Virmorgan and George Ziegler continued to work at Ohio National.

     I have been told that the Zieglers enjoyed dancing. They also played cards with Mrs. Ziegler’s parents, where the room was typically thick with cigarette smoke. Mrs. Ziegler didn’t smoke, but the second-hand smoke didn’t bother her.

     Mrs. Ziegler was a faithful member of Fairfax Presbyterian Church. It isn’t clear whether she was attending there when the church (then on Wooster Pike) was formally organized in 1924, but she was by the time the church moved to Southern Avenue in late 1939. She served as church treasurer and financial secretary. She attended services every Sunday, except when she was sick and she was very rarely sick.

     In the early 1950s, the push to incorporate Fairfax as a village was on, with the Fairfax Welfare Association (now the Civic Association) leading the way. Around this time, Mrs. Ziegler became the recording secretary for the Association. 

Virmorgan Ziegler (left) as recording secretary of the Fairfax Welfare Association, pictured with

Association president Howard Reitz and attorney George Weber.

From The Messenger, June 12, 1953

    When Fairfax became incorporated in 1955, Virmorgan Ziegler was elected village clerk. She later said she had misgivings about running for elected office and that her mother was “highly opposed.” She credited her position as recording secretary for the Civic Association for her election, saying “I guess that’s why I was nominated for clerk.” Among her to-do items for the village were street repairs and lighting, and developing a building code and zoning ordinance. When the village needed a municipal building in 1958, she drew up the floor plan.

     It wasn’t long before Mrs. Ziegler began butting heads with other village officials. Council passed a resolution to place a $1.4 million tax levy on the November 1956 ballot. Ohio law limited municipalities to issuing bonds that were less than five percent of their tax duplicate. Ziegler refused to certify the bond issue because it would exceed the five percent limitation. An action to force her to certify the issue was filed by Elsie Cribbet, Fairfax property owner and taxpayer (and wife of councilmember Ronald Cribbet). The First District Court of Appeals ordered Mrs. Ziegler to certify the issue, stating that the village’s indebtedness at the time the bonds were issued would determine whether the sale would exceed the limit. Another common comment about Mrs. Ziegler was that she handled the village’s money as she would handle her own.

     For the next two decades, Virmorgan Ziegler served as village clerk with no opposition for the office. She went through a number of losses and personal challenges during those years. On January 20, 1958, her father John Lucus died. George Ziegler retired as editor and educational director for Ohio National Life Insurance Company in 1968. Her mother Clara Lucus had a stroke in 1973. On January 16, 1975, George passed away after a long battle with emphysema.

     In 1975, Mrs. Ziegler faced her first opposition for village clerk and won by 39 votes. Clara Lucas had another stroke in 1976 and her daughter placed her in a long-term care facility because she was partially paralyzed. Mrs. Ziegler retired as Manager of Agents Licenses and Contracts for Ohio National in February 1976. She cared for her mother, visiting her every day.

     In June 1976, the Cincinnati Enquirer ran a profile of Mrs. Ziegler. She expressed her pride in Fairfax. The reporter noted that “Talking about Fairfax brings out a warmth in her” and “She smiles easily and often, appearing so unlike the stern, stoic type of personality she often displays at council meetings. . . . Her eyes . . . are alive with awareness and intelligence.” She said she hoped that village residents regarded her with “respect and confidence and as an individual who has a deep, sincere interest in the village.” However, she also acknowledged that she wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea “because I am not a yes person and when I am on the other side of the fence, so to speak, it’s because of my consideration of what is financially beneficial to the village.” 

From the Cincinnati Enquirer, June 27, 1976

    We can see an example of her “deep, sincere interest in the village” when she confronted someone “on the other side of the fence” regarding a 1978 Cincinnati Post article about the financial challenges of the MariElders, the senior citizens’ group in Mariemont. The reporter wrote that the “MariElders draw members from lower income areas like Fairfax.” Mrs. Ziegler took exception to this statement and in a letter to the editor wrote that “to the residents of Fairfax it smacked of a derogatory nature.” She said that the MariElders asserted that they made no such statement to the Post but, regardless, had sent a letter to Fairfax village council to try to smooth things over. She said that Fairfax residents were offended by the statement in the Post article and it would “not be easily forgotten by those in Fairfax.” You messed with Fairfax and, by extension, Virmorgan Ziegler at your own risk!

     As village clerk, she burned the midnight oil, working on village business well into the night and on weekends, saying “I do whatever it takes to get everything done.” At one point she estimated that she worked 250 hours a month. She handled village mail and phone calls, answered residents’ questions, kept village records, took the minutes at council meetings, and served as clerk of the mayor’s court. She was all business at council meetings and didn’t have much patience with councilmembers’ bickering. I have had occasion to review some of Mrs. Ziegler’s council minutes, which are typed on legal-sized onion paper with very rare typographical errors. They are detailed and, despite her reputation for being outspoken, do not document her personal opinions.

     In 1979, the Cincinnati Post profiled Mrs. Ziegler. Despite her tough exterior, she acknowledged that she had struggles like anyone else, specifically in dealing with placing her mother in a nursing home and her husband’s death. She said, “I had sweared that I would care for my mother at home as long as I possibly could. And I was still having a hard time accepting my husband's death. I'm only coming out of that now. . . . You know, people carry so much inside. You may be suffering inside and no one knows it for the longest time."

     Discontent was brewing in her public life, though. In the 1979 election, councilmember Gary Hodge challenged incumbent Ronald Cribbet for mayor. Cribbet had served on council from incorporation until he became mayor in 1962 and served as mayor since then. Although Cribbet won the election in a landslide, Hodge didn’t fade into the shadows. He continued to challenge the old guard for years to come and Virmorgan Ziegler was a frequent foil.

     In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the village and Mrs. Ziegler ran afoul of the State Auditor’s office. The village’s annual reports were sometimes filed late, financial reports to council were not being made on a regular basis, accounting practices were found to be inefficient, and deposits of village funds weren’t made on a daily basis, as required by law. On at least three occasions, the village was fined $750 for the late reports. Despite these shortcomings, there were no missing funds and no fraud. The Auditor’s office recommended that someone with an accounting background handle the record keeping. They also recommended that Mrs. Ziegler not handle both the village clerk and clerk of mayor’s court positions, citing a conflict of interest.

     At the January 1982 council meeting, council unanimously passed an earnings tax increase and a wage increase for village employees. Gary Hodge didn’t attend the meeting, though, saying, “I have requested [financial] information and I have not received it. My conscience tells me I cannot vote on such an issue without my knowing complete figures which I requested . . . My absence from this meeting is also a form of protest in the way that a duly elected councilman has not been provided with the needed information." He further stated that he would ask the State Auditor’s office to investigate why he was not provided with the financial information. When a Cincinnati Post reporter asked Mrs. Ziegler after the meeting if she had refused to provide Hodge with financial information, she said, “I am not answering that question.”

     On October 23, 1982, Mrs. Ziegler’s mother, Clara Lucus, passed away after suffering a series of strokes over a number of years. She was 91 years old. During her mother’s final illness, Mrs. Ziegler had stepped back a bit from her village clerk duties.

     In early January 1983, council was scrambling to schedule a special meeting because they had not yet passed a 1983 budget. If the budget wasn’t passed quickly, village employees wouldn’t receive their paychecks. Gary Hodge was the holdout, saying "I have been calling for financial reports every month for the past 12 months, and have been refused. It would be hypocritical for me to vote this month on appropriations when I still don't have the financial report. The only thing I can do is apologize to the employees that matters have come to this." Village employees did, in fact, miss a paycheck, but the budget passed soon thereafter.

     Later that year, Hodge and other residents turned in two petitions to Mrs. Ziegler for filing with the Hamilton County Board of Elections for the November ballot. One petition would force the village clerk to prepare quarterly and annual financial reports. The other set forth procedures for handling village expenditures. Both petitions were clearly aimed at Virmorgan Ziegler and the issues found in the state audits. The petitions were delivered to Mrs. Ziegler on a timely basis, but she filed them with the Board of Elections one day late. Hodge and Michael Orchin, who was running against Mrs. Ziegler for village clerk, accused her of intentionally filing the petitions late.  The Board of Elections was split on whether to allow the issues on the ballot and Ohio Secretary of State Sherrod Brown was the tie-breaker. Brown voted to strike the issues from the ballot for late filing.

     1983 was only the second time Virmorgan Ziegler was challenged for village clerk. Her opponent, Michael Orchin, said “Current officeholders have become unresponsive. The people at the core of village government have been in power for so long that it has become stagnant and self-serving, only concerned with their own views. . . . The clerk's office has assumed responsibilities of other positions to the point that one person is running the affairs of the whole village." Ziegler defeated Orchin by nearly 200 votes.

     In June 1987, Ralph Metzger, who had served as village treasurer since incorporation, passed away. In July, Mayor Ron Cribbet appointed Mrs. Ziegler to the new position of clerk-treasurer. Later that year she ran unopposed for the position of clerk-treasurer.

     On May 3, 1990, Gary Hodge and other like-minded residents submitted four petitions for the fall ballot. They were a little more proactive this time, pushing to ensure that Mrs. Ziegler submitted them to the Board of Elections on a timely basis. In early August, Hodge accused Ziegler of waiting until the filing deadline of August 23, so if there were problems with the petitions the petitioners wouldn’t have time to address them. Mrs. Ziegler took offense and in a letter to council said that Hodge owed her a public apology, saying, "Mr. Hodge has threatened my credibility, questioned my responsibility, attacked my integrity and attempted to defame my character."

     And if those pesky petitions were not enough, the most recent State Auditor’s report was in and it wasn’t good news. There were three non-compliance citations, failure to file an annual financial report on time, not depositing public funds on a daily basis, and failure to pay fines, forfeitures, and costs from mayor’s court to the clerk-treasurer on a timely basis. The late filing citation had an associated $750 fine, which Mrs. Ziegler paid herself. When asked why she personally paid the fee, she answered, “that’s nobody’s business.” Mayor Ted Shannon said that because there had been earlier fines for the same issues, council told Mrs. Ziegler that she, not the village, would be responsible for paying the fine.

     Although early 1991 brought yet another conflict between Ziegler and Hodge over a petition issue, Virmorgan Ziegler was to face the biggest challenge in her public career that fall, when Kathy Rielage successfully ran against her for the clerk-treasurer position. Virmorgan Ziegler was the last of the original Fairfax elected officials to go, perhaps a victim of her stubborn, controlling, take-no-prisoners reputation. Although she still had a great number of supporters, most voters were ready for change.

     At the time she left the clerk-treasurer’s office, the Cincinnati Enquirer published an article about Mrs. Ziegler. Mayor Ted Shannon said, "Everybody knows Virmorgan. They either love her or hate her. She's got a heart of gold - a really good person. She'd do anything in the world for you. But there's no doubt where she stands on any item. She can be very abrupt and abrasive, and some people take it wrong. That's just her way. People who really know her, value her." He said her "good sense of humor doesn't always show." She's "very opinionated" and "will stick to her guns if she thinks she's right. But if you prove your idea is better, she'll support you all the way." He further said, "The village is her family. Her main concerns are with the welfare of the village."

     In the article, Mrs. Ziegler admitted that she doesn't "play ring around the rosy" with people. She said she didn't understand why people perceived her, as the Enquirer wrote, as "contrary, hateful, and hard to deal with.” She said, "If people think that, I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend anyone. I don't smile every time you ask me a question. But I'll give you the required answer - unadulterated. I have never let people get close to me. I was raised as an only child and I was taught to be independent and strong. Those things can have an effect on you."

     50 residents attended Mrs. Ziegler’s final council meeting as clerk-treasurer on March 19, 1992. Council proclaimed April 26, 1992 as Appreciation Day for Virmorgan Ziegler, with a celebration at the recreation center.

Cincinnati Enquirer, March 27, 1992

    However, Virmorgan Ziegler was not done serving in the Village of Fairfax and not everyone was celebrating her. On April 1, 1992, Mayor Shannon appointed Mrs. Ziegler clerk of mayor’s court. Gary Hodge and some other residents pointed out a council policy of not appointing defeated candidates to fill village offices. They looked at the appointment as hypocritical and circulated a petition to prohibit Ziegler from holding any appointed village office unless approved by voters. Mrs. Ziegler responded, "Since when can the populace control the appointment of an employee by an executive? Gary Hodge has a vicious hatred against me." Mayor Shannon agreed that he had the right to appoint whomever he wanted as clerk of mayor’s court. Village officials said the policy of not appointing defeated candidates to open offices was only for elected offices and clerk of courts wasn’t an elected position. The issue would appear on the November ballot.

     There were three other issues on the ballot that fall, including one imposing term limits for elected officials to two consecutive four-year terms with one four-year term out of office before a candidate could run again. The issue included retroactive service. In November, the term limit issue passed. The Ziegler appointment issue failed by only a few votes.

     In honor of Virmorgan Ziegler, in 1992 the village dedicated Ziegler Park at the north end of Southern Avenue, near the Swim Club. The park included a playground, batting cage, and soccer field.

Ziegler Park today

    The term limit ordinance did not dissuade Mrs. Ziegler from filing as a candidate for village council in 1993. However, the Hamilton County Board of Elections blocked her candidacy due to Fairfax’s term limit ordinance. Mrs. Ziegler filed suit and her attorney argued that retroactive term limits were unconstitutional. The Ohio Supreme Court agreed and her name was placed on the November ballot. She won election to village council by a narrow margin, placing fourth out of nine candidates.

     In 1995, Ted Shannon ran for Columbia Township trustee and didn’t pursue reelection as Fairfax mayor. The candidates for mayor that year were Dirk Hammersmith, Gary Hodge, and Ziegler. Hammersmith won the election and Mrs. Ziegler came in third with only 19 percent of the vote.

     In 1997, she ran for reelection to village council, but did not retain her seat, finishing fifth for four open positions. In November 1999, she ran again for clerk-treasurer. She was defeated by Bill Knabb. When most people would be content to live out their days in peace and quiet, in 2001 at the age of 86, Virmorgan Ziegler ran unopposed for a village council seat. She was over 90 when her final term was complete.

     Virmorgan Lucus Ziegler died on May 18, 2008 at Hospice of Cincinnati in Anderson Township. In addition to her service in elected office, she was a longtime member of the Fairfax Civic Association, Fairfax Presbyterian Church, Fairfax Senior Citizens and the Fairfax Swim Club.

     Mrs. Ziegler created a scholarship at her death to be awarded annually to a Fairfax high school senior, the John M. Lucus / Virmorgan L. Ziegler Scholarship. My niece was the 2013 recipient and our family was quite appreciative.

     I suspect that most of us have known at least one person like Mrs. Ziegler, despised by some people and admired by others. I remember a co-worker in my younger days as a sales associate at McAlpin’s. Most people didn’t want to work with her because she had impossibly high standards and was bossy and opinionated. For some reason, she seemed to like me. Yes, she would complain about, well, nearly everything, but would also regale me with stories from her interesting, colorful past. As much as her associates didn’t want to deal with her, she had a flock of loyal customers who didn’t want anyone else to help them.

     I’ll say it again; people are complicated. Although there is no excuse for rudeness or bad behavior, I wish we all would take the time to try to understand each other and show others the grace we want them to show to us.