Clifton Forge Town Councilman Shorty Wolfe points to the surge in crime in big cities as an indicator people in urban areas are looking for places to move to where they will feel safe.
Wolfe remarked, “People in big cities are afraid, and Clifton Forge is a safe place for them to move to.”
He continued, “The crime rate here is almost nil, and you can walk the streets at 1:00 a.m. and not be afraid of being mugged.”
As for his view of the Town of Clifton Forge’s future, Wolfe noted, “My vision is to fix a lot of these old houses and encourage people to move here.”
Wolfe, a contractor, who owns C.T. Wolfe Home Improvements is also an entrepreneur who has led an interesting life.
Born in Bath County, he grew up at Muddy Run and attended grades fifth and sixth at Valley Elementary School in nearby Mitchelltown. After he turned 12, his father, a mechanic for Dressler Motors, Inc. in Covington, moved his family there to be closer to his work.
Wolfe recalled, “I attended Jeter Watson my 7th-grade year, and after high school in Covington, I considered joining the military.”
He confessed, “I have two regrets in life, one not joining the military after high school and the other not going to college.”
Instead, Wolfe wound up washing dishes at the Holiday Inn in Covington where he advanced after six weeks to become a line cook. That was in 1973, and he took a second job as a chef at Boys’ Home.
Being that some of the boys at Boys’ Home were as old or, in some cases, older than him, Wolfe eventually ran into trouble on job because he would give the boys a ride to Covington when they needed a ride. That was forbidden for employees to do, and one day a wet towel battle broke out in the dining area.
Wolfe recalled, “Because I was involved in the wet towel fight and had been warned about giving the boys rides, I was let go, and that was the only job I was ever fired from.”
After leaving employment at the Holiday Inn, Wolfe was hired by Jane Colby, a garment-making facility in Alleghany County just east of the City of Clifton Forge. That was in 1978.
At Jane Colby, he worked as a packer of women’s clothes for two years before being hired by the C&O Railroad where he was employed as an equipment operator on a tie force gang.
His job with C&O took him as far west as the Mississippi River and to whatever location east of there that railroad ties were needed.
Leaving the railroad in 1993 to pursue his culinary arts dream of owning a restaurant, he opened Potter House Restaurant in Covington where he specialized in home-cooked food.
Wolfe reminisced, “We offered our customers home-cooked food, and some still ask me about the way we cooked our steaks.”
After two years in the restaurant business, Wolfe left his restaurant to focus on his construction business in Covington. Currently, he owns The Way Coffee Shop on Ridgeway Street in Clifton Forge where his daughter, Britney Wolfe, and his wife, Tammy Wolfe, run the business.
Shorty said, “People will ask them what the name of our coffee shop means, and they will tell them that they know the way and then ask them if they want them to tell them about the way.”
As Shorty explained, it is a way to witness about the Lord Jesus Christ to people.
Shorty is the pastor of Loving Life Fellowship, a nondenominational Christian church located at 717 Commercial Ave. in Clifton Forge in the Clifton Forge Woman’s Club Building.
The Clifton Forge Woman’s Club meets only six times per year, and in exchange for free rent, the church pays all of the utilities, keeps the grass mowed, and makes repairs.
So far, the church has replaced the roof and gutters, installed new restrooms, renovated the kitchen and added central heat and air-conditioning.
“In 2011, I agreed to keep the building up, keep the grass mowed and pay all of the utilities,” Shorty commented.
Since launching his ministry in Clifton Forge, Shorty has brought in many gospel music groups to perform at the church, and on one occasion, he organized and staged a contemporary gospel music concert featuring three Christian groups that performed in the Masonic Amphitheatre.
Tammy grew up on Potts Creek, the youngest of ten children, and both she and Shorty serve as counselors for the church.
Shorty identified poverty and substance abuse as two of the most damaging aspects of life in the Alleghany Highlands, and he runs an outreach at his church and business in hopes of leading those in need away from the lifestyle that he believes the federal government has perpetrated and perpetuated via its social welfare system.
He explained that he has seen poverty first hand and via operating his businesses he has come in contact with many citizens who are caught in the welfare trap that keeps them relying on food stamps and monthly checks from the government.
His vision for the Town of Clifton Forge’s future is to restore old houses and make them available for people from urban areas to move into.
He noted that many of the people who are volunteering their time to help the Town of Clifton Forge have moved to the Town of Clifton Forge from areas out of state.
Shorty’s three-pronged effort to improve the quality of life in the Town of Clifton Forge comes from his involvement in his church’s outreach to help those in need, his effort as an entrepreneur to extend his evangelistic message via his coffee shop and his service on the Clifton Forge Town Council where he led those in attendance in prayer to begin the Clifton Forge Town Council’s meeting on Feb. 8.
Tammy and Shorty have a son, Carl Wolfe, who is 35, and Shorty quipped, “My son goes by Little Shorty.”
A family man, a pastor, a contractor, an entrepreneur and a member of the Clifton Forge Town Council, Shorty sees a bright future for the Town of Clifton Forge providing the problems of poverty and substance abuse can be improved if not eliminated while maintaining the safe haven he considers the town to be.
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