Fred Turnage has presided over more than 700 City Council meetings as Rocky Mount's mayor, and he's missed just six in his 34-year tenure.

Two of those absences occurred because he was out of town on city business.

In December, Turnage, 71, will strike the gavel for the final time, closing the books on a career that has seen Turnage not only preside over hundreds of meetings, but oversee the changing face of a city that has had more than its fair share of challenges and obstacles.

To be sure, in the past 34 years, Rocky Mount has suffered some debilitating times.

Rocky Mount has gone from a tobacco and textile city to one that relies on diverse factories, small businesses and tourism.

N.C. Wesleyan College nearly closed because of financial ruin in the late 1970s.

For 15 years, leaders from Nash and Edgecombe counties and Rocky Mount battled over the merger between the county and city school systems before the merger was finalized in 1991.

Hurricane Floyd devastated the region in 1999, flooding a big chunk of the city and surrounding areas.

But those contentious times all ended with success stories, and many attribute that to a man who's been the spokesman of Rocky Mount for more than three decades – Fred Turnage.

Many people who worked with Turnage through those trying times talked about the mayor's calm demeanor, integrity, patience and confidence – all of which helped the city overcome those challenges.

"Fred is a remarkable leader," said longtime friend Bill Stanley. "There have been some stressful times while he was in office: the school merger, the economic change, the flood.

"In the days after the flood, he stood up and confidently said, 'We'll get through this. It won't be easy, but we'll get through this.' It was his calm, patient leadership that brought the community through that time."

Floyd dumped 20 inches of rain on an already saturated Eastern North Carolina, engulfing neighborhoods, communities and entire towns with floodwaters and killing 16 people in the Twin Counties.

Turnage said he might have appeared calm and confident in the fall of 1999, but he was anything but.

"That storm had such an impact on so many people," Turnage said. "Initially, I felt somewhat overwhelmed. In the mornings after, there were times I didn't even want to get up.

"So many people needed help, and we didn't know where to start."

About 30 area leaders started with a trip to Grand Forks, N.D., which suffered a similar fate in 1997 when the Red River flooded most of the city. Grand Forks officials advised the group that it was going to be a slow process of recovery.

"They said we have to have a whole lot of patience," Turnage said.

That was perfect for Turnage's management style.

"Fred is not confrontational," said Dr. Gaylord Lehman, Turnage's pastor at Lakeside Baptist Church for 25 years. "He works for a consensus behind the scenes.

"That's just his leadership style, and it frustrates some people. I've even become frustrated with him."

But the adage that says slow and steady wins the race was crucial to Rocky Mount as the city undertook what was at the time, the largest Federal Emergency Management Agency buyout program. The city bought 430 houses and relocated those families.

And instead of piecing the city back together the way it was before Floyd, Turnage helped initiate a plan to rebuild and expand Rocky Mount's infrastructure when some parts of the city still resembled ghost towns.

Grants, private funds and city budget commitments paid for the new Imperial Centre, Rocky Mount Sports Complex, YMCA, Braswell Memorial Library, several parks and the train station. All these projects were completed after Floyd.

"That was a gratifying time as mayor," Turnage said. "I'm proud of the City Council at that time for having the courage to go forward with the Imperial Centre, sports complex and other projects.

"It shows the resiliency of the community and (its) commitment to the future."

Turnage takes little credit for these successes, instead saying that the community, city workers and Rocky Mount staff deserve much of the recognition.

He said there have been three "very good" city managers during his tenure as mayor.

"Three very different city managers," Turnage added. "Cy Brooks, Bill Batchelor and Steve Raper.

"I know I'm not the city manager. I just expected them to run the city based on the policies set forth by the City Council."

And it's true that Turnage didn't solve the city's woes by himself.

"None of that can be done by just one person, but it would have been a little more difficult without Fred's leadership," said Bill Marshburn, who has known Turnage for more than 50 years. "He's a real visionary in leading in good times and in bad times.

"He's instrumental in making things happen and getting people to the table with his calming influence."

When asked about success stories in Rocky Mount, Turnage has a long list that includes the Floyd recovery, transition from a city economy to a regional business and industry recruitment strategy, capital building projects and the establishment of annual events that display the community's generosity and commitment to causes.

In 1979, N.C. Wesleyan College was on the verge of financial collapse, Turnage said, so he and several other community leaders called a public meeting at the high school.

"We said: 'Let's come to the financial aid of Wesleyan College,'" the mayor recalled. "And the money was locally raised to save the school.

"Wesleyan is a tremendous community asset, and it would have been almost criminal to lose it."

That mass rally in 1979 was the precursor for A Day for Wesleyan, an annual fundraiser for the school that set a record this year with more than $550,000 in donations.

Turnage felt so strongly about Wesleyan, he helped lead the charge for UNC-Rocky Mount, a plan that would have made Wesleyan a part of the UNC Systems. The plan failed, but it unveiled "a spirit I would like to see captured in Rocky Mount" when hundreds of people packed into the Dunn Center for Performing Arts auditorium to show their support, Turnage said.

"That night, I saw a spirit of enthusiasm in our city that I haven't often seen," he said.

Turnage also touted the city's early involvement in promoting the Unity Breakfast, an annual event that celebrates the progress made in civil rights and honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"We had small ceremonies at first – nothing on the magnitude we do now," Turnage said. "Now, Unity Breakfasts are pretty commonplace."

When asked about regrets or mistakes, the school merger tops Turnage's list.

"I thought we did the right thing with the school merger, but it took too much time and money," Turnage said. "A lawsuit should not have been necessary.

"Ultimately, we did get it done."

Leaders from the city, Nash County and two school systems spent 15 years fighting over boundaries, money and the children's education before a final resolution passed the N.C. General Assembly in 1991.

Along the way, countless dollars were spent on attorneys' fees for lawsuits, and sniping and bickering were the norm during the dispute.

"It had the ability to divide this city to a point where people might not have recovered," Rocky Mount City Clerk Jean Bailey said. "Both sides of the city wanted to make sure that the best interests of the students were not compromised.

"To accomplish a merger across county lines is something that I don't think has ever happened in this state, and it's quite an accomplishment."

Turnage grew up in Rocky Mount, graduated from what was then Rocky Mount Senior High in 1954 and moved on to Wake Forest University. And before he decided on law as a career, he already had cut his teeth in the world of politics, serving as senior class president in high school and president of his fraternity at Wake Forest.

He graduated from law school in 1961 and returned to Rocky Mount, where he worked as an attorney for what now is Poyner & Spruill.

Turnage soon left that position and worked as assistant clerk of court for about 18 months before he opened his own law firm. In those days, Turnage said, there were no district attorneys, so he ran successfully for prosecuting attorney for Nash County.

"Then, the system changed into its present system," he said.

In 1971, he was elected to the City Council. Two years later at age 37, he was elected Rocky Mount's youngest mayor.

And he still was practicing law.

"Trying to be a mayor and run a law practice is a delicate balance," Turnage said. "It pretty much dictated what kind of law I could practice.

"I decided never to take a case that would put me at odds with a police officer."

Turnage maintained both goals, practicing primarily real estate and estate law and running the city from his law office on North Franklin Street.

Bailey, who's been with the city for about as long as Turnage has been mayor, helped stuff envelopes in Turnage's first campaign for mayor. A few months later, Turnage alerted her to a temporary job in the city manager's office.

That "temporary" position led to a full-time job at the city, which led to her appointment in 1979 as city clerk.

Bailey said she has developed relationships with other city clerks around the world over the years, and they said they can't believe she's worked with just one mayor.

"Some of them change mayors every four years," Bailey said. "He's known all over the state as one of the best mayors in the state.

"I have a great deal of trust in him, and I have confidence in what he says."

Helen Gay recalled when she was elected in 1983 as the first black woman on the City Council, joining an all-male board.

"I think he talked to those men because they treated me so nicely – I think he prepped them," Gay said. "He's a good man; we're going to miss him.

"He's fair, and I respect him, especially the way he runs a meeting. He's a great leader."

But in addition to his law practice and his mayoral duties, Turnage married and helped raise two children. Fred and Norma Turnage also have five grandchildren.

Stanley, former chief executive officer and chairman of Peoples Bank before it merged with Planters Bank to become Centura, said the Turnages are living examples of the old adage, "Behind every good man is a good woman."

"(Norma has) been a leader in her own right," Stanley said.

Norma Turnage served as a longtime member of the N.C. State Board of Education, UNC-Greensboro Board of Trustees and the N.C. State Board of Community Colleges. She is on the search committee to find a new community college president for North Carolina.

"Norma is very much attuned to politics, and she has her own separate involvement, primarily in education," Fred Turnage said. "She understands and is very supportive, so that has offset any negatives."

One major change over the years, Fred Turnage said, is the racial makeup of the city and of the community leaders.

In 2003, the city elected the first majority black council, and it hasmaintained that 4-3 makeup since. Although some outsiders believe the Rocky Mount City Council makes all its decisions based on race, Turnage said, that's not true.

"We have very few divided votes," he said.

Despite his belief that racial harmony in Rocky Mount is better than it has been in the past, his list of regrets as he leaves office also revolves around the fact that there still is disharmony between blacks and whites.

"I wish we were able to get more done to do away with feelings of race," the mayor said. "I did everything I knew to do to be inclusive and make no distinction of who I served."

He gets a tip of the hat from leaders in the black community – even from one of his so-called political rivals.

Councilman Rueben Blackwell, executive director of the Opportunities Industrialization Center, ran unsuccessfully against Turnage for the mayor's seat in 2003.

But he said the mayor has supported many of the OIC's efforts over the years.

"He has always shared his perspective in an open manner and looked for ways to create win-win solutions for some of our tough challenges," Blackwell said in a written statement. "He's also been a friend to OIC over the years and has encouraged us as we sought to find resources and strategies to serve our clients, patients and community."

But still, racial overtones abound in all areas of the city, Turnage said.

"There seems to be an obsession, and we need to get past it," the mayor said. "Until we mature and get past the level where we play the race cards – and that's both black and white – we will not reach our potential."

Looking back on his run as mayor, his list of achievements and triumphs for the city is long. Even tragedies and calamities were turned into success stories.

"This is obviously the end of an era," Bailey said. "Rocky Mount is fortunate to have had him as mayor – period.

"But to have him as mayor for as long as we did was great."