Down Memory Lane

Dec. 13, 1984

For about $3,500 more than the cost of a conventional home, Pearl and

Marshall Barron of Amissville had active and passive solar systems built into their dream house. And they’re glad they did. Completed in September 1983, the Barrons’ home looks like a small palace. Situated high on a hill overlooking Route 645, the front of the home faces due south; the rear practically ignores the old north wind by being partially underground.

Now about to begin a second winter in their solar home, Marshall beams: “I love it, I think it’s terrific. I’m impressed with the house and the solar-heating system. I certainly would recommend it.”

The Barrons’ home is based upon a design Marshall drafted while in college earning a degree in civil engineering. Marshall laughs as he reveals his original blueprints, complete with swimming pool, etcetera.

“Well, it’s not quite everything I wanted,” he admits.

She calls herself an “old fashioned librarian,” and says that really means she has not yet begun to call herself a “media center specialist,” an up-to-date name for her vocation.

Rather than fall back on fancy titles, Rappahannock Elementary School Librarian Lucia Kilby looks forward to teaching children what reading — and a gool library — can do for them. Mrs. Kilby has been a full-time librarian at the elementary school since it opened in 1968.

She emphasizes full time because for years she spent one half of her day as a librarian and the second half as a seventh-grade teacher. She has been employed by the Rappahannock School System since 1950, although she worked at home raising her two children between 1953 and 1962, and only substitute-taught between those years.

Nov. 28, 2002

The Planning Commission held its November meeting at the Amissville Fire Hall to obtain citizen input into the Comprehensive Plan review process, but a rigorous and lengthy review of two applications left time only for a glance at Jackson District residents’ desires.

Mark and Linda Smith applied for a Special Use Permit for a commercial dog boarding kennel on a 10 acres tract on Viewtown Road in Amissville. The property is currently owned by George

Chamberlin, and the contract on it is contingent upon issuance of the kennel use permit by the county.

Smith explained that he and his wife intend to renovate the existing kennel on the property and to make it a stateof-the art facility to provide “quality boarding care for” to fifteen dogs, and later to build an additional kennel to house a total of up to fifty animals on the property. He said that he and his wife have been active in the rescue and placement of abandoned or unwanted Dobermans with the nonprofit Doberman Assistance, Rescue and Education organization for four years, and thus have had significant experience in various aspects of dog care.

Stories about life-career changes

are most often very interesting. This one, about a research economist cum tile-maker is no exception. Although making the leap from one to the other might seem dramatic, the places lived throughout her life have been constant companions of inspiration for Anne Woods Richards.

Richards, who lived in Paris for twenty years during her stint as an economist for an international thinktank, also resided in Turkey and Japan as a child.

Leaving the corporate world behind brought Richards to Rappahannock in ‘97, where the muses called her to become a folk artist. This was the first time in Richards’ life allowing her “to live as part of the land” and respond creatively to it.

Before Richards turned to tiles as a medium, she tried her hand at furniture making. “Not successful in that department!” she laughs. Then, while housesitting in D.C. for a friend, she was attracted to a tile making class offered at the Corcoran School. The class lasted three semesters and Richards had her vocation in hand.