By Hunt Brabrand

If you met her today in a restaurant in a small Virginia town, you’d never guess the life she lived in order to get here. My great-grandmother, Regine Nozyce Archer, is an incredible woman. Born in 1924 to a Jewish family in Kraków, Poland, she and her younger sister survived the genocide now known as the Holocaust. After World War II, she married an American soldier named James Archer and moved to Virginia, where they raised a family and started Blue Ridge Beverage, a beverage distribution company. Today, at the age of 101, she lives in Roanoke, Virginia. 

Much has already been written about her wartime experiences. Her story has been recorded in places such as The Southwest Virginia Hall of Fame and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. But in a recent interview with her, I want to focus on what came next: the strength it took for her to rebuild her life from a chaotic childhood. So much has already been told about how she survived, but there is also the story of how she lived.

Though originally born in Poland, Regine moved with her father to Liège, Belgium when she was five, with her mother and sister soon after joining them. There, she lived the life of an ordinary Belgian school girl. Few Jewish families lived in Liège at the time, with the predominant religion being Catholicism. However, she doesn’t recall ever being treated with any prejudice due to her religion. She had many close friends, most of whom were Catholic, and she was able to practice her faith freely at a synagogue, as Belgian society was, and still is, incredibly open towards freedom of religion.

Regine’s parents, Eva and Marcus Nozyce. Photo courtesy of Leigh Archer.

In May 1940, when Regine was 15, Nazi Germany began their invasion of Belgium. At first, the occupation seemed to her to be fairly calm, though her family all knew the situation wouldn’t stay this way for long. The German authorities disallowed education for Jewish children living in Liège in 1942, cutting off Regine’s last year of higher-level education, claiming they would soon set up a separate schooling system for Jewish children. At the same time, young Jewish people in Liège began receiving deportation notices to go and work in Germany. However, for most of them, their final destination would actually be the extermination camp Auschwitz. None of those deported knew where they were actually headed. Some followed the deportation orders, and some ran away. Soon, in summer 1942, Regine’s sister received such a notice. Their parents, refusing to allow one of their daughters to go with the Germans, knew it was time for their children to leave Liège.

Regine and her younger sister gave up their comfortable lives in Liège with their parents to join the Catholic convent in the nearby city of Wavre. They were given false identities by the mayor, who was supporting the Belgian underground movement against the Nazis. Her younger sister took the name of Jacqueline and continued to use that name the rest of her life. Now known under the false identity of Renee Nogis in her new community, Regine had started a new life, and only the Mother Superior of her school knew her and her sister’s true identities. She was separated from her parents, who lived in a small, secluded, wooded chalet on a large estate with another couple in the town of Sprimont, and she now only saw them whenever the convent had vacations. 

The education in the convent did not compare to the education she had received in the past, with her telling me that, “we could have taught them.” Regine suppressed her heritage and blended in with the other students, following every rule and participating in all Catholic activities. On hearing of the Americans’ arrival in Europe in June 1944, Mother Superior sent Regine to be with her parents, and, three months later, the Americans liberated Sprimont. When Liège finally was liberated, the Nozyces returned to their true home almost two-and-a-half years after leaving and living in hiding.

The war, however, was not over. Liège was constantly subject to bombings, so schools did not reopen, so as not to put a large concentration of children in one area. So, with nothing else to do, Regine got a job at an US Army Quartermaster Depot as a head typist and interpreter. She had become fluent in multiple languages, including English, throughout her many years of schooling. There, she met American soldier James Archer, a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute. In 1945, they married in Liège before James left Belgium to finish the war in Germany. She gave birth to her first child, Nancy, in 1946, and James returned to Belgium in 1947.

James Archer. Photo courtesy of Leigh Archer.

Now, with much of the fighting over, Regine and her family were able to regroup with what was left of their former society. Many of her family’s close relatives and friends never returned from Auschwitz. 

Now began Regine’s journey to America. She was 22 years old and mother to an infant girl. Her parents were extremely reluctant to let her go. Her father even gave her $500 for “if she ever needed to come home.” However, she was determined to start a new life in America, travelling with her newborn across Europe until eventually boarding a liberty ship—a cargo ship used for transportation of both supplies and personnel. She was able to board as a wife of an American soldier, so she and many other wives packed onto the ship and travelled across the Atlantic to find their new futures.

The journey was arduous. Throughout the venture were nonstop, violent storms, causing sea-sickness in many of the ship’s passengers. Regine recalled being told to put her newborn in the upper berth—the top bunk—of her cabin, since the vessel swayed less there. Once arriving in New York City, she met with James, and together they took a train south to James’ hometown of Saltville, Virginia. 

This small town was a major culture shock for Regine, as she had lived in an urban European environment her entire life. She was moving from a city with over eight million residents to a small town with a population of just over 2500 people. She described Saltville as a “strange little town” with hills shaped like “sugar cones.” Although set in the “backwoods of Virginia,” Regine said that, overall, she enjoyed her time there. 

Saltville was a company town, run by Mathieson Alkali Works, and was used for its abundance of not salt, but coal ash. Most people who lived there worked for this company, with the company covering everything from rent to plumbing and painting. James, Sr., known by his family as Pop, was a controller for Mathieson, a job that came with the largest house in the town, formerly owned by Confederate general J. E. B. Stuart’s widow. 

Regine and James shared that house with many members of James’ family: his parents; his two siblings, Hunt and Mary; and James’ grandparents from his mother’s side. Soon though, with their kids having all grown up, James’ parents decided to leave the big house.

Hotel Saltville. Photo courtesy of Robert Archer.

James’ mother, known as Nana, became manager at the Hotel Saltville, and there they lived in a suite. Regine lived with James’ family for almost a year, and she remembers being humbly accepted into the family. Throughout her time living in the hotel, she met many interesting people and never felt any discrimination toward her being an immigrant. 

However, it was at this stage in her life that she felt most distant from her religion. No one in Saltville practiced Judaism, and Regine’s connection with her Jewish heritage had been severed throughout her time in hiding. While in America, however, she said that she was also never treated any differently for coming from a Jewish family.

Eventually, James got a new job as a bottler in Johnson City, Tennessee. So only ten months after arriving in Saltville, and after the birth of her second child, Robert, they moved again. There, they used the $500 from Regine’s father to buy a house, displaying her commitment to staying in America. But after having spent the last few dollars of savings, money was becoming tight for her and her husband. 

Regine “worked herself to death” in Johnson City. She was constantly busy at home with now five children: Nancy, Robert, Evelyn, Paul, and Jim, my grandfather. She stated reluctantly that she “had never really planned to have a big family” and constantly was burdened keeping up with her children. To make things worse, they experienced a house fire, which forced them to leave their home for a while, though now she simply said that the experience “was something else.” During her time in Johnson City, around 1957, Regine officially became a citizen of the United States. She lived there for 13 years, until James and a distributor he encountered during his job bought a small soft drink and Miller beer distribution company. One-and-a-half years later, James became president of the company and together they moved to Salem, Virginia where the company was based.

Regine’s children Bob and Nancy with Oscar and Nana Archer, James’ parents. Photo courtesy of Leigh Archer.

At the time, the company was small, with only four trucks and ten employees, including Regine and James. Employees played multiple roles at once, such as both driver and salesperson, as they did not have enough personnel. James and Regine worked hard to grow their company, earning a greater reputation and influence in their industry. A Northern Virginia distributor soon approached James about selling their wine business in Roanoke; a business with a warehouse and office space. With a need to expand their physical size alongside their business, James made the deal, purchasing the company, adding a new product to their stock, and moving his company to a far larger building. 

Around this time, Regine had another child, Jackie. Success really hit the company when Miller, the beer they were distributing, rapidly expanded its reach in America, becoming the number-two most popular beer. As a distributor for Miller, James’ company, now known as Blue Ridge Beverage, grew its influence significantly to the counties surrounding Roanoke. 

In December 1972, James Archer passed away, leaving the business to his wife. Throughout this sad time in her family’s life, Regine and her son Robert ran the company together. It was difficult, as neither of them had run a company, but they decided to stick with it. Regine remembers having to do many jobs simultaneously, including payroll, inventory, and timecards. They moved their company two more times before settling finally in a far larger warehouse in Roanoke. She remembers, “There were times I wished I would sell [the company]. It was not easy.” To this day, Blue Ridge Beverage remains in our family with Jackie, Regine’s youngest, now running the company.

Regine Archer. Photo courtesy of the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame.

Regine, known to me as Gammy, still lives in Roanoke today. At 101, she is still an extremely capable woman. We conducted our interview in Mac & Bob’s, an incredibly busy restaurant, and she is known dearly by many in her community. Just in the short time for our outing for this interview, we ran into two people who recognized her and mentioned how amazing she is. She has received a multitude of awards, including her induction into the Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame; receiving the title of Miller Legend by SABMiller in 2006; and awarding of an honorary Doctor of Commerce degree by Roanoke College.

Throughout her journey to the United States, Regine has said that she was never judged for where she was from, or who she was a descendant of, but rather by her accomplishments and way she treated others. She claims that it shouldn’t matter where a person comes from, or how they arrived, so long as the person is seeking a better future as she did. She believes that today’s immigration laws need to change, saying they are “inadequate, unfair, and based on narrow-mindedness.” Regine wants a future where anyone from anywhere can look for and find opportunity in America. Regine’s courage inspires both her community and her entire family. She refused to let the darkest piece of her life define her future, instead choosing to seek hope.