Virginia Diner owner Bill Galloway dies at 76

In 1976, William Alfred "Bill" Galloway and his wife, Mary Ann Pettit Galloway, bought the small Virginia Diner Inc. with adjacent gift shop and motel by the side of U.S. 460 in Wakefield.

The diner, a converted railroad car with two additions, "leaked like a sieve at the additions when it rained," said their daughter, Christine Epperson of Ivor.

Started in 1929, it is a place where bentwood chairs surround tables topped by red-and-white tablecloths. It serves home-cooked food and sells gourmet peanuts that originally were cooked in the restaurant kitchen. Peanut pie is the signature dish.

"We are part of a tradition on the way to the beach, part of a vacation. My father saw the potential of taking the business elsewhere," in a different direction, Epperson said.

Mr. Galloway, whose savvy turned the diner into what he proclaimed as the "Peanut Capital of the World" and was the face the public most identified with it, will be honored at a memorial service today, Friday. The service will be held at 3 p.m. at Wakefield United Methodist Church in Wakefield, where he had served on the administrative board.

The Birmingham, Ala., native who grew up in Richmond died Tuesday of recurring cancer in a Wakefield nursing home. He was 76.

He automated the peanut cooking and modernized and expanded the business into a landmark that, through the mail-order business he established and the Internet, is known internationally.

He also was a community figure.

In the early days, the diner, and the Galloway house located behind it, were two of four places where the phone could ring when a neighbor made a fire call, Epperson said.

"My father would push the button [to summon the firefighters] and run out on the highway and stop traffic for the fire trucks to go out," she said.

He participated in Town Council meetings, served on the airport committee, was a charter member of the Sussex County Chamber of Commerce, was a former Ruritan of the Year and was a director of the Wakefield Foundation, which converted an old school into a library and place where John Tyler Community College could hold classes.

"His life wasn't just about the diner. It was about education and providing for our county," his daughter said.

In addition to his wife and daughter, survivors include another daughter, Elizabeth Ann Galloway of Victoria; a son, William A. Galloway III of Nags Head, N.C.; and seven grandchildren.

Contact Ellen Robertson at (804) 649-6115 or .