Oral History, Part 2: Delbert (Bill) Sheads and Elsie Sisson (1921 - 2008)

In Part 2 of two interview sessions, Bill and Elsie (Sheads) Sisson, brother and sister, reminisce about their family, which came to the Braddock District from Culpepper, Virginia, in 1903. They talk about people and places, schools, lumbering and saw mills, and church life.

Memorial Marker: Howery Field

On June 1, 1967, six young soldiers from Fort Belvoir died in an accident while working on a community service project to help build the Howery Field athletic complex. They were electrocuted when the flagpole they were erecting contacted a high voltage power line. The marker reads: "These fields are dedicated in the memory of the servicemen who died onsite in June, 1967, while volunteering to help make these athletic fields possible for the community. Lest we forget...
PVT. Paul D. Briggs
PVT. Anthony B. Evans
PFC. Marvin D. Harrison
PVT. Charles R. Oliver
SPC. 4 Kenneth G. Steiner
PVT. Charles M. Whaley"
Howery Field Park, a Fairfax County Park Authority facility, was named in honor of the donor of the land, Edward F. Howrey, who had once owned Oak Hill.

Courtesy John Browne

Oral History: Rosemarie Schelling

Rosemarie Schelling and her family moved to the Braddock District when her husband was stationed at the Pentagon during the 1960s. Their five children joined a neighborhood of large families. Rosemarie Schelling remembers family activities, outdoor sports, rural roads, and holiday celebrations.She traces changes in daily life.

Oral History: James Roland

James Roland was born in northern Virginia. His parents had moved to the area from Tennessee after World War II because of the better job market. James Roland learned carpentry and dry wall from his father, joined him in business, and then turned to carpentry and building. As a boy, he delivered papers on horseback. He remembers retrieving Civil War artifacts on local property, raising farm animals and distances traveled on rural roads for shopping, schools, and medical care. Railroads and hobos are among his early memories.

Lake Accotink Boating

After Lake Accotink, formerly the reservoir for Fort Belvoir, became a public park, the Lake Accotink Yacht Club, founded by Ernest (Buddy) Belote, sailed there between 1972 and 1982. Members raced according to the rules of the International Yacht Racing Association and applied the rules of the America's Cup to the eight-foot dinghies on Accotink waters.

Lake Accotink Boat Race

Lake Accotink served as a water supply for Fort Belvoir until 1963 when the Fairfax County Park Authority opened recreational facilties there, purchasing it from the government in 1965 for $88,250.

A cardboard boat regatta is among park community activities. The Park staff teaches a workshop on constructing a cardboard boat that can be paddled.

Photo courtesy Tawny Hammond

Burke Lake Park Boat Launch Platform, circa 1963

Burke Lake Park is an example of county and citizens groups working together to create a recreational area. In the late 1950s, sport fishing leagues and conservative groups suggested to the Fairfax County Park Authority that a public fishing lake be created. The Park Authority found a suitable location in Burke and initially purchased 218 acres. The lake began to fill in 1961 after dam construction. Stocked with fish for opening day, May 25, 1963, nearly 2,000 anglers attended the opening ceremony. Including the lake, Burke Lake Park occupies nearly 900 acres on land that Fairfax County acquired from the federal government, after local citizens defeated a plan to build an international airport near Burke.

Photograph from Fairfax County Public Library, Virginia Room, Photographic Archive

Oral History: Valerie Vahouny

Val Vahouny and her family moved to a new home in the original Kings Park development in 1963. Like many families in the 1950s, she and her husband first lived in an apartment until their growing family required more space. She talks about family and community life, daily activities, and celebrations, Valerie Vahouny remembers Braddock Road as a two-lane street with no traffic lights and a half-hour commute into the District of Columbia where her husband worked. She talks about physical growth and neighborhood changes over time.

Oral History: Mayo Stuntz

Mayo Stuntz is a descendant of the Fitzhugh family who came to the area in the 1600s. Born in 1915, he traces his genealogy, childhood, and county history. He talks about growing up in the county and its historic sites. Mayo Stuntz is a founding member of the Fairfax County History Commission and he discusses the work of that body.

Oral History: Donna Soderholm

Donna Soderholm moved to the Braddock District of Fairfax County in 1963. Compared to Chicago, the Virginia suburbs were undeveloped and her husband's commute to downtown DC took only a half hour. Most families in her neighborhood had four or more children who spent most of their free time outdoors playing together. She compares earlier days with the present time.