By 1954 Christian had returned to Richmond and resumed his job with the post office. Resuming his education as well, he took accounting courses at Virginia Union University and government courses at the Richmond Professional Institute (later Virginia Commonwealth University). In 1963 he opened an accounting and bookkeeping business in Richmond's Jackson Ward neighborhood. Christian began a four-year term on the city planning commission in 1972 and became vice chair in 1975. When in September 1976 he was named chair of the commission, his stated agenda called for revitalizing the city's downtown, encouraging development along the James River, increasing employment, and reforming land-use policies to solve some of the city's housing problems. He was also a member of the Capital Region Area Airport Commission and of the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission.
Christian won reelection in 1979. He sat on the Committees on Corporations, Insurance, and Banking, on General Laws, and on Nominations and Confirmations. He opposed the state sales tax on food because he believed that it imposed undue financial hardships on the state's poor. His bill that would have allowed local governments to give real estate tax breaks to the elderly and disabled was defeated. Christian received credit for helping to enact a law that permitted voter registrars to go into the residences of elderly and handicapped people in order to register them. He won election to a third term in 1981, after the city had been divided into single-member districts. Christian's primary objective continued to be the repeal of the state sales tax on food. He served on the Committee on General Laws during the 1981 session and on Committees on Conservation and Natural Resources, on Corporations, Insurance, and Banking, on Finance, and on Nominations and Confirmations.
Time Line
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October 26, 1918 - James S. Christian is born in Richmond.
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July 11, 1943 - James S. Christian and Margaret Constance Olphin marry in Jamaica, New York. They will have no children.
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January 1944 - James S. Christian is promoted from sergeant to first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps.
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1954 - By this year, James S. Christian has returned to Richmond and resumed his job with the post office.
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1972 - James S. Christian begins a four-year term on the Richmond city planning commission.
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1975 - James S. Christian becomes vice chair of the Richmond city planning commission.
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June 1975 - James S. Christian loses in a campaign for the Democratic Party nomination for one of five seats representing Richmond in the House of Delegates.
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September 1976 - James S. Christian becomes chair of the Richmond city planning commission.
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November 1977 - James S. Christian, a Democrat, is elected to represent Richmond in the House of Delegates.
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November 1979 - James S. Christian, a Democrat, wins reelection to the House of Delegates, representing Richmond.
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November 1981 - James S. Christian, a Democrat, wins reelection to the House of Delegates, representing Richmond.
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December 29, 1982 - James S. Christian dies at the Medical College of Virginia Hospital in Richmond.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Marsh, H., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. James S. Christian (1918–1982). (2016, August 5). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Christian_James_S_1918-1982.
- MLA Citation:
Marsh, Harold and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "James S. Christian (1918–1982)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 5 Aug. 2016. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: January 9, 2015 | Last modified: August 5, 2016
Contributed by Harold Marsh and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography.