Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Stephanie Clark holds Ty' Aeija Smith, 7 months, as she talks with Zakalia Smith, 8, and other girls at HOPE, a church outreach program for children. Covington's new mayor, Clark still volunteers with the program, although she will have to give it up when she begins taking college courses.

Stephanie Ross Clark

• Spend a day with Covington's new mayor, Stephanie Ross Clark

Photo by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Stephanie Ross Clark breaks into song at the drop of a hat.

During a meeting at a Roanoke restaurant, she punctuates a story about meeting a backup singer for Percy Sledge by launching into an impromptu rendition of "When a Man Loves a Woman."

Hearing her sing a few lines makes it clear why her fellow members of Covington City Council praise her singing voice as readily as they do her people skills.

As she puts it, "I'm a people's person."

On July 1, the other four members of the council unanimously chose her to be Covington's new mayor -- and when they did, they and she made history. Clark is both the first woman and the first black to hold the city's highest elected office.

The Virginian Review, the city's newspaper, trumpeted the council's "bold step" on its editorial page. "We hope the example that was set ... will serve as a springboard toward a progressive future for us all."

Clark, 41, says she had not set out to break any glass ceilings. "I really didn't know how much an impact it was going to play on the community," she said.

When she grew up, she says, schools were already integrated. But African-Americans in Covington who remember the days before desegregation and the civil rights movement have told her they never thought they would live to see the day one of their number would hold the office of mayor.

"For my parents and their friends, this is a story in more ways than I can ever imagine," she said.

Vice Mayor Rob Bennett called choosing Clark as mayor a no-brainer. "She was the obvious choice."

Former Mayor Temple Kessinger echoed Bennett's words. "Stephanie was the right choice this time."

Covington's council has five members, each of whom represents a district of the city for four-year terms. The council members choose the mayor and vice mayor, and those terms last two years. Clark served as vice mayor for four years before becoming mayor.

"It's a very humbling position," she said.

Born and brought up in Covington, she never set out to have a political career.

Her father made her go to church and her mother taught her how to stand up for herself, she said.

She married when she and her husband were both "young and dumb," then divorced after 13 years. She struggled to make ends meet as a single mother of two children.

Then, five years later, she was remarried -- to the same man, Orlando Clark. She described him as quiet but very good as his job: selling cars.

"I do the talking, he does the working," she said.

Her first entry into politics came in the 1990s, when her complaints about tractor-trailer traffic on the road near her neighborhood's school led to the installation of a traffic light, she said.

As a parent, she volunteered in the school system and worked as a secretary for an elementary school.

Her volunteerism brought her to the attention of the city council in 2003 as they searched for someone to take the place of a council member who had died while in office. She wasn't their first choice, but she was the first to say yes to the offer.

At the time she was teaching in a Christian school. "I was number 16 on the list," she said. "Everyone else above me had said no."

She needed to get 50 signatures from residents. She got 75. Not all of them counted, but enough did to meet the qualifications.

She chose to run for office the next year and was unopposed. She was unopposed again this year.

The mayor of Covington has a number of ceremonial duties, such as attending ribbon-cuttings, but the mayor is also the city's spokesperson.

"It can be a full-time job," Bennett said.

Clark has no special office space. Instead, residents express their concerns to her wherever they see her: in the supermarket, at a restaurant or at her house on the front porch built by her father.

Residents have plenty to be concerned about. Clark and her fellow council members will be looking into the possible consolidation of the Alleghany County and Covington school systems -- which could be a key element in an overall consolidation of city and county governments.

Citizens' petitions are circulating in both the city and county for the purpose of bringing the consolidation issue to a vote.

"I think the consolidation issue is not as touchy as it once was," Clark said. "There was a time you couldn't say 'consolidation.' "

She said the most pressing issue at hand is whether the high school in a merged system should be in Covington or in the county. Not surprisingly, she advocates for Covington.

Along with her mayoral duties, Clark still volunteers with Helping Other People Excel, a program for children and parents that provides summer and after-school activities as well as counseling. She said she will give that up soon when she starts taking political science classes at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge to enhance what she calls her political "street smarts."

On Friday, Clark oversaw a group of about 10 children ages 2 to 9 at HOPE, leading them through songs, coloring activities, board games and Bible lessons.

During one of the lessons, she asked for a show of hands from the children as to how many of them obey the commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother."

Preparing to make her point, she told them, "Nobody listens to your parents all the time, 'cause I don't even listen to mine all the time."

Replied 9-year-old Kayla Campbell: "But you're the mayor!"