Returning to Arlington

Returning on April 14 after a two-year absence, I was delighted to find Arlington full of spring flowers. Phil and Maggie Kellogg, friends since 1974 , hosted me in the home they have lived in for 50 years. In the mid-70s we lived on the street behind theirs and met when I was pushing David’s stroller around the block. Steve was once my piano student and David’s tennis pal; his sister Kathryn was a friend of Shelby and in my Children’s Choir. On Friday evening Phil told fascinating stories about his work as a US Attorney and a Washington lawyer. Maggie reminisced about her work at the Library of Congress, inspiring Lilli and me to visit the Library a few days later.

Steve and his wife Molly recently bought a house nearby. I walked over there on Saturday morning, past our first house at the corner of Vacation Lane and 23rd Street. Molly showed me how their backyard abuts the sports fields at the old Stratford Jr. High School, now Dorothy Hamm Middle School. It’s not the only school with a new name; Washington-Lee High School is now Washington Liberty.

A month after the Supreme Court declared in its Brown v. Board of Education ruling that segregated schools were unequal and therefore illegal, an integrated group of Arlington residents began working to break down Virginia’s declared policy of “massive resistance” to school desegregation. Dorothy Hamm was one of the plaintiffs in the successful civil suit that was filed in May 1956.

Later that morning I joined Lilli and Violet at the home of our dear friend Nellie Grant. Nellie is now 101 years old and still in close touch with the granddaughters she raised, Carol and Pam. Here she is in her own home with lilacs from her yard; they smelled so good. Lilli’s friend Jen, who hosted them the previous evening, ordered sandwiches and we had a delicious lunch on Nellie’s patio. As usual, she gave us each a container of her homemade toffee to take home with us–yum!

After lunch we drove around Rivercrest and ran into former neighbors Greg and Liz Lydon. Here’s the house next to theirs that replaced the one where we lived for 38 years. In the Cherrydale neighborhood I walked over to see Joanne and Powell Hutton and Alta Parker. In this album, you can see more of Colors of Arlington.

Steve and Molly and Roger Nucho joined Phil and me for dinner at Washington Golf and Country Club that evening. We were sorry to miss Roger’s wife Leslie, who was with her father in California. At Cherrydale UMC the next morning, Roger and Phil persuaded me to sing in the choir. To my surprise, I looked out from the choir and saw Lilli and Violet.

We saw many old friends: Sherry, Dan and Scott Corbet; Betty and Dick Wiley, Don and Mary Strehle. Many are pictured in this album from 2021. Sherry gave me a note that showed that her son Jody had sung the solo, “I Am Just a Little Child” by Ruth Artman, in church on January 9, 1983–40 years ago! Arlington memories run deep!

After church, it was a delight for Roger and me to share lunch at Metro 29 Diner with Kevin, Sara, Thomas and Emily Duke. I missed seeing the children’s great grandmother, Virginia Lee Dodge, but was glad to spend time with these representatives of a fresh generation of Cherrydale Methodists.

To see what Lilli and Violet and I saw in DC the following week, go to Visit to Washington.

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