Retiree News

It took a year for Shirl Lamanca to appreciate the quietness. After nearly four decades teaching radiography at Virginia Western Community College, including time as program director, her transition into retirement felt sudden.

“I was going from 90 miles an hour to zero,” she says. “And I just found myself with nothing to do.”

That was until she remembered her love of pottery, something she discovered decades earlier through an elective course in college.

Lamanca returned to the craft in 2017, taking classes at the Brambleton Recreation Center in Roanoke. Encouraged by her instructors, she joined the Blue Ridge Potters Guild and began selling her work at local shows. Her specialty became charcuterie platters, especially those shaped like fish. Each one has small details, like the impressions of seashells for scales or an etched-in spiral side-eye.

Lamanca uses profits from her pottery sales to help fund scholarships at Virginia Western, including the school’s veterans fund and the Rita Halsey David Radiography Endowed Scholarship, named for her predecessor and mentor.

She attends Virginia Western’s scholarship ceremonies annually, often meeting recipients face to face. Since retiring, Lamanca has doubled her previous contributions and also donates to her alma mater, Roanoke College.

“It’s very rewarding,” she says of her creative approach to giving back.

Lamanca’s signature design started with a fish-shaped platter she had at home. She used it as a mold and began remaking each piece by hand. That first experiment sparked a creative streak that’s still going strong. Her booth at community fairs now draws repeat customers, some buying multiple pieces as holiday gifts.

“Knowing that a piece of art I created is going to someone’s family, that’s so satisfying,” she says.

Though her career was rooted in healthcare, Lamanca has found a second calling in clay.

“I think the most surprising thing is that I’ve nurtured my inner artist that I didn’t know was there,” she says. “For years I did radiography, and I knew everything about it. But I didn’t know there was an artistic part of me that was probably screaming to get out.”

Her latest work includes smaller cheese ball platters with mouse motifs, paired with olive wood and marble boards. She’s experimenting with new materials and designs but continues to return to the fish theme that launched her second career.

“I’m going to ride this charcuterie wave until it’s not popular anymore,” she says. “Right now, people love it.”

Pottery wasn’t part of Lamanca’s professional life, but it became a way to rediscover creativity and give back. Retirement gave her the time and nerve to try something new — like on her 77th birthday, when she found herself standing atop a 60-foot tower in Virginia Beach, strapped into a harness and staring down an 800-foot zipline.

“I was in the fetal position,” she admits, laughing.

But she jumped anyway, crossing a line off her bucket list and conquering a lifelong fear of heights.

“If there’s something you’ve been thinking about doing, just jump in and do it,” Lamanca says. “Enjoy yourself.”

Lamanca’s VRS benefits have helped make this chapter possible, she says, giving her the stability to enjoy retired life and pursue new passions.

She said she felt ahead of the curve compared to her peers because she started saving early and had a financial plan. Lamanca recalls that having a plan in place made retirement less stressful and allowed her to focus on what matters most.

Looking back, Lamanca wishes she had started saving even earlier and encourages others to act now.

“I would say that it’s never too late to start saving,” she says. “And I think that is a lesson that a lot of younger people need to learn: start saving, even if it’s just a little bit, start saving early.”