By Marty Meserve and Sally Ekfelt

Summary

The 2024 Women’s History Walk will be celebrated on Saturday May 11, rain or shine, at Cherry Hill Park from 10 am to 3 pm.

Stroll at your leisure and view the 67 Herstory Stations containing information about women who have provided leadership and inspiration in the City of Falls Church and who helped mold the City to become what it is today.

2024 honorees:

Betty Allan
Marian Costner Selby
Mary Gavin
Nancy Stock
Merelyn Kaye
Cindy Garner
Maureen Budetti

Backgound of the Falls Church Women’s History Walk

The first Women’s History Walk, sponsored by the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation and the elected women of Falls Church, focused primarily on early leaders with four living “Grand Marshals” leading the festivities. Year two added more Grand Marshals and honorees, and other intergenerational women leaders. In 2019 a newly formed Women’s History Group assumed responsibility for the Walk and continued the tradition of honoring the legacies of women across racial, ethnic, political, cultural, and religious lines. The group now annually honors our women entrepreneurs (there are 49 this year) and identifies Young Women of Action from our schools in addition to adding to the roster of honorees.

Photo of the public enjoying a Falls Church Women's History Walk from the past. — A Falls Church Women’s History Walk from the past

The Women’s History Group

The genesis of the Women’s History Group was a Champagne and Chocolate party held on June 1, 2018, at a Citizens for a Better City networking event for women leaders. The idea behind the event was mentoring, bringing together veteran women volunteers and younger women in hopes of encouraging people to join boards and commissions and run for office. More than 100 women participated.

Out of this evening of fellowship and connections came a bigger idea. Building on the great work of Nikki Henderson and Marybeth Connelly who spearheaded the previous Women’s History Walks in 2017 and 2018, a core group of women from that meeting realized how the leadership and guidance of past and present women had shaped the culture of Falls Church and how important it was to continue to capture that history (or herstory) so their accomplishments and inspiration wouldn’t be lost. That night the group vowed to keep the Walk going and to add to the list of women honorees.

In addition, they committed to collecting oral histories and written biographies of the women honorees to donate to the Mary Riley Styles Public Library. The Women’s History Group recently presented to the Library Board a book representing each Walk honoree to date plus samples of the write-ups done so far. The goal is to create a biographical sketch for each honoree on the group’s website.

The Women’s History Group wants younger generations to understand the value of these women’s legacy, to be enriched by it, and to be inspired to carry on. Local and informed activism is the bedrock of our democracy, now more than ever.

2024 Honorees

This year, seven women have been added to the Falls Church Women’s History Walk roster. Each of these women exemplify “the Power of One,” rare individuals who make something happen, see it through, and get it done. Their work has had a long-lasting impact on Falls Church and has helped shape the unique character of our City.

1. Betty Allan

Betty Allan defied social convention and refused to accept the narrowly defined roles available to women in her youth. World War II provided a unique opportunity for Betty to become a cryptanalyst or code breaker for the US war effort, in which she specialized in Russian and Japanese. From there she pivoted to a role as a CIA agent in Japan after the war, and at the ripe old age of 32 married and retired to a quiet life in Falls Church, where she proceeded to become involved in a myriad of civic endeavors.

Throughout her 49 years in Falls Church, Betty was an engaged and active board member as well as an officer of the Falls Church League of Women Voters, the Citizens for a Better City, the Falls Church Democratic Committee, and the Woodburn Mental Health Center. Betty was appointed to the Falls Church City School Board and later became an active member of the Northern Virginia Literacy Council and an English as a Second Language (ESL) volunteer at George Mason High School. In 2004, Betty moved to Goodwin House, where she continues her activism to this day, and where in June 2023, she celebrated her 100^th birthday.

2. Marian Costner Selby

Marian Costner Selby’s life could be a metaphor for “courageous perseverance.” In 1961, Marian was the very first Black student to attend George Mason High School.

It was turbulent times in Falls Church – the social and political backdrop was the roiling hostility engendered by the ending of school segregation in 1954. Resistance in communities across the country was so fierce it took years for desegregation to take effect, and when it did, it was ugly. Marian’s trailblazing attendance at George Mason High School came at a high cost. She was subjected to relentless, intense hostility and intimidation by students and parents alike, on and off campus. Marian’s dauntless determination to claim equal access to her education and graduate from George Mason High School is inspirational.

Marion continued to trailblaze in her adult life, asserting her right for equal opportunity during her career. She was the first African American to work in the office of the Fairfax Education Association and the first to work in the Fairfax County Planning Department in a professional capacity. In a recent article in the Falls Church News- Press, written about her experiences, Marion was quoted as saying to a high school audience, “I want to let you know that the good things far outweighed the bad and the ugly.” What resilience in the face of such challenges!

3. Mary Gavin

Mary Gavin was the first woman to serve as Police Chief of the Falls Church City Police Department, which she led from 2012 until 2024, after first serving as Deputy Chief of Police when she joined the department in 2007. Mary is credited with adopting community policing principles from President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing in 2015 and partnering with the Center for Youth and Family Advocacy on advancing restorative justice practices.

During her tenure, she modernized the police force by implementing recommendations from the City’s Use of Force Review Committee, including use of body cameras and training officers in Crisis Intervention Team practices. Mary is an inspirational public speaker and exemplary of effective and exceptional leadership.

4. Nancy Stock

Nancy Stock, known as “the conscience of St. James,” served for more than 10 years as the Social Outreach minister at Saint James Catholic Church. She headed the parish needs assessment programs and was instrumental in the start-up of the Saint James Food Distribution program, Meals on Wheels, and Adopt a Family. Her priorities as a member of the Falls Church City Council were humanitarian: providing support for community members in need and improving the working conditions of City staff.

Following her tenure on the Council, she was one of the first appointees to the new Human Services Advisory Committee. Prior to her term on City Council, Nancy served for many years as a member and president of the Falls Church League of Women Voters. Nancy Stock was the mother of five children, an inherent challenge in itself.

5. Merelyn Kaye

Merelyn Kaye was a behind-the-scenes benefactor working to preserve Falls Church’s unique historic charm and a successful local real estate entrepreneur always willing to volunteer her expertise and experience in support of her community.

She was a founding member of Historic Falls Church and served as its president from 1995 until her death in 2023. Historic Falls Church is recognized for its historic preservation of East Broad Street’s residential charm, advocating for the relocation of the Victorian style, vintage 1893 Porter-Proctor House, and developing the Wrens Townhouse Community.

Merelyn was also a member of a core group of women who successfully preserved Cherry Hill Farmhouse and helped to create the foundation that supports it. She was a key sponsor and founding member of the Victorian Society at Falls Church as well as a key sponsor of Watch Night Falls Church in its first decade. Merelyn was also an active member of the Village Preservation and Improvement Society (VPIS), and the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce.

6. Cindy Garner

Cindy Garner grew up as a Navy brat moving from pillar to post. But she also has deep roots in Falls Church and lives in her ancestral home, built circa 1898 by her great grandfather John Garner on the corner of Cherry and East Columbia. Cindy was the youngest woman elected to City Council in 1988, backed by the Falls Church Citizens Organization, a new organization created to challenge the status quo. She was later appointed to the School Board in an interim capacity to fill an unexpired term and stayed on as a legal consultant to help the Board write and rewrite policy.

Cindy was a founding member of the Victorian Society at Falls Church, supporting activities such as Literary Evenings at Cherry Hill, period reenactments of Civil War Thanksgiving at Cherry Hill, and Civil War Days at Cherry Hill. She is a past president of VPIS, and has spent more than a decade as a Girl Scout leader, involved in all the myriad attendant activities being a Girl Scout entails.

7. Maureen Budetti

Maureen Budetti has created an impressive resume of civic service during her 30-plus years in Fall Church. Four different Falls Church City Commissions have one thing in common: Maureen was appointed by the City Council to each of them. She served multiple terms on the Planning Commission and the Citizen’s Advisory Committee on Transportation and chaired both during her tenure. She has also been a member of the Housing Commission, and currently serves on the Art and Humanities Council.

Maureen is an active and vibrant member of a variety of civic organizations, too. She is and has been a longtime board member and officer of Falls Church Arts. She is co-president of the Friends of Cherry Hill Farmhouse Foundation. She has been involved in the Farmhouse group for decades and spends many a fall season organizing the Children’s Holiday Shoppe. Maureen is a volunteer for Creative Cauldron, assisting in summer camps classes and supporting the costumes and props department by sewing, quilting, and painting. In her spare time, she volunteers at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Come Join Us!

These paragraphs are just a brief synopsis highlighting the work of these admirable women. The Women’s History Group hopes you will join us on May 11^th to celebrate their civic activism, visit their “Herstory” stations, and meet this year’s Grand Marshals.