Staunton City Council is naming its chambers after community leader Rita Wilson

STAUNTON, Va. (WVIR) - Staunton City Council is naming council chambers after community leader Rita Wilson. Wilson was Staunton’s first Black councilwoman who retired in 2008 after 16 years of service, part of that as vice mayor.

During an NBC29 interview that year, Wilson said she became a council member to represent people that she felt were underrepresented.

In his last act on Staunton City Council Thursday night, Vice Mayor Ophie Kier introduced a resolution to call chambers the Rita S. Wilson City Council Chambers. It was met with full support from the council.

Kier describes Wilson's legacy as one of lifting people up.

“The fact that she went back to college as an adult when her children had grown, and then became a social worker, and then even worked with people, helping them get the necessities they needed after she even retired,” said Kier. “That’s what a leader is, and I felt it was time we acknowledge that.”

Wilson participated in various organizations including Rotary, the NAACP, and formed the Community Involvement Awareness Committee.

She died in 2016 at the age of 75.

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