Stafford Magazine | June/July 2021

Stafford

MAGAZINE

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A Sense of Place Twenty- fi ve ye a rs af t er w i n n i n g g o l d , J EF F RO U SE

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www.staffordmagazine.com Stafford Magazine is published every other month and distributed to over 9,000 selected addresses. While reasonable care is taken with all material submitted to Stafford Magazine, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to any such material. Opinions expressed in articles are strictly those of the authors. While ensuring that all published information is accurate, the publisher cannot be held responsible for any mistakes or omissions. Reproduction in whole or part of any of the text, illustrations or photographs is strictly forbidden. ©2021 Rappahannock Media LLC.

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CONTENTS 6

AMAZING KIDS

MillionDollar Scholar North Stafford student rakes in offers, heading to Wharton

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NEIGHBORS

A Staple From the Start Life’s challenges don’t hold back Gloria Seay

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COVER STORY

A Sense of Place Twenty-five years after his gold medal, Stafford’s Jeff Rouse is rooted in the present

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BUSINESS

Ice Cream Wishes 7-year-old is face of family business

COMMUNITY NEWS

Brooke Road improvements and more

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VOICES

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EVENTS

Forging Bonds

A Return to Summer Fun

Black Horse serves as an outlet for veterans

Some of the top local events in the area

NONPROFITS

28

America’s first woman lawyer lived in Stafford ON THE COVER:

Former Olympic swimmer Jeff Rouse is truly at home back in Stafford. Photo by Bill Kamenjar.

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AMAZING KIDS

Million-Dollar Scholar

North Stafford student rakes in scholarship offers, chooses Wharton

BY TRACY BELL

A

North Stafford High School senior received more than $1 million in scholarship offers after applying to 17 colleges, and now she’s headed to the city of brotherly love.

Tami Owolabi, 17, committed May 1 to attend the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania on a full scholarship with plans to major in economics.

“I chose Penn because of the opportunities that being a Wharton student offers, as well as the location,” Owolabi said.

She was accepted into 13 of the schools she applied to and waitlisted at Cornell and Harvard. Her scholarship offers included full rides at many of the schools.

But the Ivy League’s Wharton, in Philadelphia, is where she’ll spend the next four years – although in the long run, she’s not counting out her waitlisted schools.

Tami Olowabi’s mother, Nike (left), moved to the United States from Nigeria in 1988.

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Her career, she hopes, will center around the business side of the entertainment industry.

“I've always wanted to be a movie director or a music producer,” she said. “I think I'll be more successful dealing with the business aspect of the industry.”

At North Stafford, Owolabi was junior class president and senior class president.

She is also president of the school’s Future Business Leaders of America and a member of the Black Student Union.

She’s a co-captain of the school’s soccer team, having played soccer since early elementary school. She plays striker and outside midfielder on both her high school team and for a travel team. In addition, she ran varsity track and played varsity field hockey.

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Clockwise from top left: Tami Owolabi played soccer for North Stafford High School as well as for a travel team; her sister, Mobola (right, photo above), also lives in Philadelphia.

Ranked fifth in her class of 443 students at North Stafford, Owolabi will be the first in her family to attend an Ivy League school.

Born in Virginia and the youngest of four children, she has two brothers and a sister, each in their 30s.

Their mother, Nike Owolabi, immigrated to the United States from Nigeria in 1988 and settled in Virginia.

“I've watched her work hard throughout my life and I've grown to mimic her behavior,” said Tami Owolabi, calling her mother “a great role model” who has “always valued education.”

Her siblings, two of whom have master’s degrees, are her best friends and big influences in her life.

Owolabi already loves Philadelphia — a city rich in history, home to Rocky Balboa and filled to the brim with cheesesteaks and hoagies. She visits often because her sister lives there.

Her sister, Mobola Owolabi, proudly describes Tami as ambitious, focused and always very determined and mature for her age. She cited the extra challenge of persevering during a pandemic.

“She had the grades and the drive, and ran with it full force,” Mobola Owolabi said.

“We’re a pretty competitive bunch so I think she had a fire in her to show us all up.”

Tami Owolabi even honed her athletic skills over the years with one of her brothers – an athletic director at a national soccer organization. She initially focused on applying to schools where she could play soccer, but the pandemic put the sport into question.

So, knowing she had the grades,

she changed course to focus on more academically challenging schools.

“Without my family's support throughout my college application process,” she said, “I wouldn't have found success.”

In addition to Wharton, Owolabi was

accepted at UCLA, University of California - San Diego, University of California - Irvine, Georgia Tech, University of Miami, Spelman College, Florida A&M, Virginia Tech, University of Richmond, Smith College, Reed College and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Although she was not accepted this year to the University of Southern California or University of California - Berkeley, she was offered a second-year admission at the latter.

Dan Hornick, principal of North Stafford High School, said Tami embodies everything the school is about and is highly impressive in academics, sports and leadership. With her diligent work ethic, she’s a creative problem solver, a willing volunteer and an eternal optimist, as well as personable and kind, he noted.

Hornick said that Owolabi has an admirable ability to relate to and understand others, treating everyone as an equal.

“After she finishes her business degree I’m going to want to pay attention to whatever business is lucky enough to

hire her, because I know it’s going to go someplace big,” he predicted.

So, what made her successful in school?

“For me, giving up is way harder than trying,” Owolabi said.

Owolabi pinpointed her timemanagement skills, determination and drive. She made it a habit to complete every homework assignment and carefully plan daily tasks so as not to overlook anything.

It was an odd year, but one that will be remembered.

High school sports took an extremely cautious approach compared to travel soccer, which Owolabi said was in full action while adhering to COVID regulations.

Not having fans in the stands was “a bit of a bummer,” but she was glad to have a soccer season, along with senior night.

“COVID did take away a few exciting moments like prom, regular sports seasons and just being around my classmates,” she said, “but I believe I still had a fun senior year.”

Tracy Bell is a free-lance writer living in Stafford County.

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NEIGHBORS

A Staple from the Start Life’s challenges don’t hold back Gloria Seay

BY TR ACY BE LL PHOTOS BY PAUL L AR A

F

orty-two years ago, Gloria Seay began her career with Stafford County Public Schools, working at Stafford High School before helping what is now A.G. Wright Middle School open its doors in 1981.

Picture it: 1981. Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” topped the charts, shoulder pads were all the rage, and Aqua Net hairspray flew off the shelves.

Seay, a Spotsylvania resident, remains at A.G. Wright today as an administrative assistant who’s seen plenty of changes along the way – and more than her share of personal adversity.

You see, Seay is blind, a breast cancer survivor and a widow – but those things fail to define her.

“I’ve been blind virtually all my life,” she said. “I had to fight for everything I had growing up but I don’t give up easily.”

Seay was born two months premature.

At the time, babies’ eyes were not covered when placed in incubators so her optical tissue burned out and she eventually developed glaucoma.

At A.G. Wright (once called Garrisonville Elementary and Middle

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School but renamed to honor Wright), Seay answers the phones and performs a range of office tasks. She uses a computer and email account with the help of JAWS – a screen reader program that can assist with text to speech or a refreshable Braille display.

One of the biggest school changes she’s seen over the years is that technology is always evolving for the better, which helps her, too.

She is often recognized by former students who return to the school, now with families of their own.

“It’s neat to see how they’ve grown up,” said Seay, noting that a guidance counselor at A.G. Wright is a former student.

When Seay first applied for a job with the Stafford school system, she was hired

by Shirley Heim – for whom another of Stafford’s middle schools is named – but not everyone has always given Seay a chance.

Years ago, she applied for a dishwasher’s job and was told she couldn’t do it.

“Well,” she said, puzzled, “I’ve been washing dishes since I was 8 years old.”

Seay said that what many people see as limitations don’t often hold her back.

“I can’t fly an airplane,” she joked, but otherwise, “I’ll tell you if I can’t.”

The school’s principal, William Boatright, has worked with Seay for 17 years.

“I forget she’s blind. She gets it done and done well,” he said.

The staff was there for Seay when she lost her husband. They took turns taking her

A.G. Wright Middle School principal William Boatright (photo at left) has worked with Gloria Seay for 17 years; however, Boatright is moving to a new position with the Stafford County school system at the end of this school year.

to chemotherapy and radiation treatments when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and celebrated subsequent screenings where she was cancer-free. She has seen three of Boatright’s children grow up and head to college.

Boatright said that Seay is warm, inviting, caring and kind – one of those people who sets the tone of the room. If it’s the school’s history, she knows about it. If you come in once, she’ll remember your name the second time you visit. She’s the first to say “congratulations” or “it will be OK.” Boatright and Seay have an easy, witty banter. Seay doesn’t drive, but regularly asks for the keys to Boatright’s truck, though he keeps saying no.

Guidance counselor Carol Carpenter said Seay tracks down staff to remind them of meetings, phone calls and important events.

“Mrs. Seay is so well loved … not only for her big heart and generous nature, but she takes care of all of us,” Carpenter said.

“I’ve worked with her for over 20 years and I remain in awe of how she multitasks and works so efficiently. She is amazing!”

Seay attended the Virginia School for the

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Deaf and the Blind until her senior year and then went to James Monroe High School, followed by a year at Ferrum College.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, enduring eight chemotherapy and 34 radiation treatments. Her younger sister was also in treatment for cancer then and died in 2003 at age 44.

Seay’s husband, who worked at Rockhill Elementary School, suffered a stroke in 2013 and she became his caretaker – the couple had no children. After a series of strokes, he passed away in 2019.

A year later, the world was faced with a pandemic, which “has been hard,” she said, expressing sympathy for the students.

That’s her way.

A member of Salem Baptist Church, Seay belongs to a group that makes shawls, scarfs and hats for the homeless.

She also leads A.G. Wright’s communityservice projects – an important part of the school’s mission – including collecting for charities or feeding people over the holidays.

She has been honored as an Stafford County Public Schools service person of the year for her school and later, countywide.

“I was just blown away,” she recalled. “It was so awesome.”

Seay, who uses a walker, has taught students about Braille and overcoming struggles. She laughed about the time she was speaking in front of students about disabilities, and a student handed her a sock from the laundry that had stuck to her sweater and fell to the floor.

Boatright recalled that the school had a bomb threat one year, and Seay ran in to let him know, no walker in sight. Somehow, his mind fixated on wondering how she got to him so quickly and where on earth her walker was.

He will leave A.G. Wright at the end of this school year to direct the Phoenix Center for Innovative Learning – an alternative public school in Stafford – and recalled announcing his resignation at a staff meeting. He just had to tell one person ahead of time, and that was Seay.

“I’d be really ticked off he’s leaving, but he’ll work wonders with these kids,” she said.

As for Seay, she plans to play the future by ear. Just don’t count her out.

Tracy Bell is a free-lance writer living in Stafford County.

Q&A WITH GLORIA SEAY BEST PART ABOUT YOUR JOB?

“I love meeting people, making friends and being able to be productive.”

ADVICE YOU’D GIVE KIDS THESE DAYS?

“If there’s a goal you want to reach, keep reaching for that goal. Be who you are. Don’t let other people’s opinions of you tear you down or take away the glory in your life.”

MOST CHALLENGING PART OF YOUR JOB?

“Until recently, getting rides to work.”

HOBBIES?

“It’s just me and my cat.” But she also enjoys reading, knitting, crocheting, watching QVC and rooting for the Washington Football Team.

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A Sense of Place 14

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Twenty-five years after his gold medal, Stafford’s Jeff Rouse is rooted in the present

BY DAVID FAWCETT

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

J

eff Rouse’s voice emits an empathetic tone as if to say, “Yeah, I get it.”

He’s standing in the kitchen of his Stafford County home recounting a conversation he had earlier in the morning with his oldest daughter, Bella. Rouse wanted Bella to know two reporters were coming to the house to talk to him in case she wondered what was going on.

Her curiosity piqued, Bella asked her dad why they were stopping by. Rouse told her it was for a story on the 25th anniversary of his gold-medal winning swimming performance at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

“They have nothing else to write about?” Bella asked.

In typical understated fashion, Rouse told her, “Probably not.” Then he offered up one more observation to support Bella’s point.

“It must be a slow sports day,” he deadpanned.

Rouse isn’t one to dwell on his celebrated past as a three-time gold-medal winner and one of the greatest backstrokers of all time. Need proof?

Until a reporter brought it to his attention a few weeks earlier, the 51-year-old Rouse had no idea it had been 25 years since his triumphs in Atlanta.

Want more proof? Look inside his house.

There is no room devoted to his achievements.

He stored most of his newspaper clippings, plaques and other memorabilia in boxes years ago, and he gave away much of his swim gear to anyone who wanted it.

And his four medals from the 1992 and 1996

Games? He keeps two of his three gold medals and his one silver locked in a safe box at his home. His other gold medal, which he won in the 100-meter backstroke in Atlanta, resides at the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in Virginia Beach.

Rouse put no serious thought into why he gave the museum his individual gold instead of the other two, which he won for relays. The best reason, Rouse surmises, is one of those gold relay medals is dinged up from all the times kids might have accidentally dropped it when he showed it to them at various functions. He wanted the Hall to have the best looking one.

BILL KAMENJAR

Left: Jeff Rouse lives in Stafford, where he sometimes drives his grandfather’s truck with license plates that include his grandfather’s initials. Above: Rouse swims the backstroke at Stanford University while training for the 2004 Olympics.

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The 2011 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame inductee also can’t remember whether he offered to donate his individual gold medal or the Hall of Fame requested it. Either way, Rouse was happy to let them have what is the only Olympic medal on display at the museum. He saw no point in holding on to something others can enjoy.

“I live in the present,” said Rouse, who politely declines to put any of the medals around his neck, saying he did it once when Olympics officials awarded them to him and that was enough.

“Athletes have walls dedicated to what they’ve done. I wish I could do that. It wouldn’t be me.”

The only visible physical reminders of his Olympic glory reside on just one wall right off the kitchen. Rouse intentionally placed two framed images next to each other based on their personal connection to his mother, Gail.

Start on the left with the framed photo of Rouse on the center podium bowing down to accept congratulations from an Olympics official after his victory in the 100-meter backstroke.

William Mitchell Powell, Rouse’s one-time eye doctor in Stafford, took the photo from the stands.

In describing the image, Rouse points to a woman on the left holding a bouquet of flowers tied up by a dark gold-and-green-colored ribbon.

That’s important in understanding why the second framed image means so much to him. That image contains a poster illustrating the bouquet of flowers each athlete received for winning a medal at the 1996 Summer Games.

Within the frame, though, is something dear to Rouse’s heart. It’s the actual ribbon that wrapped the flowers an Olympic official presented to Rouse after his win in the 100. An artistic woman, Gail Rouse later presented the poster with the ribbon inside as a gift to her son.

Gail Rouse died in 2003 of cancer. Even today, Rouse chokes up when describing the poster’s importance.

“It’s significant because of the emotional value and her passing,” Rouse said. “I wanted to have something on the wall. Those pictures and tying it together I thought was unique and cool.”

Coming Home Family matters to Rouse.

Family is why a beat-up 1977 Ford pickup truck with only 74,000 miles sits on his property.

The truck belonged to his maternal grandfather, Will Loughridge. When Loughridge died in 1990, Rouse inherited the truck. Rouse uses it to take trash to the dump but holds on to it primarily for sentimental value. Rouse even replaced the truck’s license tags with antique plates that honor his grandfather’s initials and the truck’s model year.

Family is why Rouse still wears a silver ring that belonged to Will. It’s the same ring he wore at the 1996 Games following his 100-meter backstroke

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win when his younger sister, Renee, presented it to him. Renee wore it while carrying the Olympic Torch through the Fredericksburg area a few weeks before. Now she wanted her brother to have it.

And family is why Rouse returned to Stafford County to raise his family instead of staying in California.

Six years after initially retiring from swimming, Rouse announced his comeback in 2001 in a bid to make the 2004 Olympic Team. To prepare, he started training at the Massad YMCA in Stafford.

In 2002, he returned to his alma mater, Stanford, to continue training.

At the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2004, in a 100-meter backstroke field that reports described as the deepest in history, Rouse fell short in his attempt when he finished sixth out of eight swimmers (only the top two finishers make the Olympic team). Had he made the team at age 34, he would have been the oldest male swimmer to qualify for the Olympics.

Retired from swimming for good, he remained in the Bay Area and met Charlotte. They married and had both their girls there. Rouse continued his job with a start-up medical online information company. He had begun working for the organization on the side to make ends meet during his training for the 2004 Summer Games.

But while he spent important years in California, he never felt a bond there like he did with the Stafford area. His roots run deep here.

Both his parents graduated from James Monroe

Only one area of Jeff Rouse’s house in Stafford displays mementos of his Olympic accomplishments. That wall also honors the memory of his mother, Gail, who made the framed poster next to Rouse with the actual ribbon that was wrapped around the flowers he received after winning one of his gold medals.

BILL KAMENJAR

High School in Fredericksburg, and he grew up in the Ferry Farms subdivision before graduating from Stafford High School in 1988. His dad still lives here, as do other extended family members.

Without too much convincing from her husband, Charlotte, who is from Stockholm, Sweden, agreed to move to Stafford in 2007.

Two years later, they moved into their current residence, a two-acre property in Argyle Heights, a quiet, tidy and roomy community well-hidden behind a row of full-grown trees off Route 3.

Rouse said it’s a coincidence that his current home is near where his parents raised him and Renee. It’s also near the pool where he began swimming at age 5 with the Rappahannock Swim League before joining the year-around Quantico Devil Dolphins program and setting national agegroup records by the time he was 11.

But he’s glad he’s home. Everything he needs is close by. Downtown Fredericksburg is a sevenminute drive. Stafford High School is a 15-minute drive. Bella, 16, is a sophomore at Stafford, and 14-year-old Linnea will attend next year as a freshman. He even has room on his property for 12 chickens to roam about on the lush grass sloping up an incline behind the house.

Although he never brings up his Olympic past unless asked, people in his neighborhood know

who he is, if not by name than by background.

“You mean the Olympic swimmer?” a neighbor across the street from Rouse says when asked by a passerby if she knows where Rouse lives.

Rouse smiles when he hears that story.

Even if he doesn’t brag about them, Rouse is proud of his Olympic accomplishments. And he’s willing to talk at length about his achievements if someone inquires. Or offer up a selection of mementoes to choose from.

When the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame selected Rouse for induction, he wasn’t sure what they wanted. He sent them a box of items and let them decide to take what they needed. They returned the rest to Rouse.

One item they kept was the third image that originally occupied a spot on the wall next to the framed poster and below the photo of him receiving his medal. The third image, also taken

by Dr. Powell, showed Rouse raising his arms in victory. Rouse filled the opening on his wall with his Hall of Fame plaque.

The plaque is an example of why Rouse is OK with showcasing something that honors his swimming accomplishments and those who helped him reach that goal. But that decision comes with a caveat: Some things are fine.

“Just not everything,” Rouse said.

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Memories remain fresh in his mind about his entire swimming career from his coaches and teammates turned forever friends to an upset loss in the 100-meter backstroke at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona when Canada’s Mark Tewksbury barely out-touched him at the finish line.

“Sometimes you touch the wall first,” Rouse said. “Sometimes you touch it second.”

There are also plenty of reminders around Stafford as well.

The Massad YMCA on Butler Road, where a plaque outside the front of the facility commemorates Rouse and fellow Stafford High School graduates and 1992 Olympic participants Mark Lenzi and Conrad Adams. Lenzi won a gold medal in diving that year, and Adams was the captain of the U.S Olympic Pentathlon Team.

Or the Jeff Rouse Swim and Sport Center on Mine Road that opened in 2016.

And the timeline that runs along a wall next to a staircase in the middle of Stafford High School and records the school’s famous alumni. Both his girls know their father’s name is on the timeline, but they don’t pay too much attention to it.

“There’s something more interesting on TikTok,” Rouse says, referring in his customary dry wit to the social media platform that displays short videos.

Rouse understands younger generations are unfamiliar with his athletic background even in the swimming world. To remain relevant, Rouse needed to stay involved in the rapidly changing sport in some way. That did not appeal to him. He was ready to move on with his life.

Still, Rouse plans to watch the Summer Games in Japan next month with a vested interest, assuming they happen. His heart goes out to those

A plaque outside the Dr. Louis Massad Family YMCA on Butler Road recognizes the accomplishments of Jeff Rouse and fellow Olympians from Stafford in 1992 and 1996.

who missed their only shot at the Olympics a year ago when the pandemic forced the organizers to postpone the event until 2021. He also understands that other athletes benefited from the delay.

Even if the Olympics occur, he feels bad for those parents who live outside Japan and will be unable to see their kids perform in person because no overseas spectators will be allowed.

All the uncertainty and heartache gives him pause. COVID affected not only the Summer Olympics but also the world as a whole, and it’s tough for him to move beyond that in the face of so much tragedy.

“The whole thing sucks,” Rouse says bluntly.

A Regular Routine It’s 11 a.m. on Friday and Rouse needs to drive to Fredericksburg for a business meeting. Since late February, he’s worked as a commercial banker for Burke & Herbert Bank to help the company expand in the area.

Most of the time, due to COVID, he works from his house. But there are occasional in-person visits like the one this day.

Rouse enjoys his work. It’s part of a routine that includes attending his kids’ athletic events or doing other daily tasks that are part of everyday living.

Neither of his daughters is into swimming. Bella plays tennis and golf in high school, and Linnea is involved with travel volleyball and tennis.

Rouse still swims on occasion, but not as much lately and he’s fine with that. COVID restrictions have kept him out of the pool. Plus, he dreads the lengthy preparation time needed to swim.

Instead, the 6-foot-4 Rouse stays in good shape by playing tennis, golfing and working out.

He remains active in the community as well.

He’s the president of the regional board of the Rappahannock Area YMCA and on the boards for the Sunshine Ballpark Foundation and the Rappahannock Economic Development Corp.

Most importantly, though, he is a father and husband, two roles he cherishes above all others. For all his success as an Olympian, Rouse never allowed himself to be defined just by his achievements in the pool.

No doubt it’s a big part of his story. He spent over half his life becoming the best backstroker in the world. But it’s not the central part. He’s a regular guy now with regular responsibilities like anyone else. And you know what?

“I’m good with that,” Rouse said.

Dave Fawcett is sports editor of InsideNoVa and a Stafford County resident. You can reach him at dfawcett@insidenova.com.

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NONPROFITS

Forging Bonds Black Horse serves as an outlet for veterans

BY ERIC ALTHO FF

B

lacksmithing saved Steve Hotz from the horrors of posttraumatic stress disorder and a major brain injury he suffered while serving with the 325th Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne.

On a whim, he tried a blacksmithing class in Alexandria and found not only that he enjoyed the vocation, but also that the focus and intense concentration required to work with tools in a fiery environment helped to clear his mind of the horrors he had experienced.

“Usually he’s a tired old grumpy guy, [but] he walked through the door and looked like a normal person,” said Hotz’s wife, Amy. “I said I don’t know what you’re doing there, but if you can go back, go back.”

Steve did return to those classes designed specifically for veterans suffering from conditions like his. Not long after, he started collecting his own smithing equipment and realized there was an opportunity to help other veterans.

Hotz and his partners opened Black Horse Forge in 2018 in a small industrial park off Route 1. Steve serves as president of the nonprofit and Amy as secretary. Amy is not a veteran, but the rest of the Hotzes’ partners have been in the armed forces.

Neither Steve nor his partners in the Black Horse “cadre” takes a salary. The nonprofit aims to bring “art therapy” free of

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Amy and Steve Hotz opened Black Horse Forge to help military veterans. charge to those who need it most – and who gave their all in service to the nation. Firstresponders are also welcome into the forge.

“We’re not therapists; we do [different] therapy,” Steve said, adding that, just as his own wife pushed him to continue smithing, spouses of veterans in Stafford County – and beyond – are always calling to inquire about becoming involved.

Steve says Black Horse often receives

referrals from nearby Marine Corps Base Quantico and through various other outreaches he and his partners have with other veteran support organizations. The forge cadre also helps local veterans fill out paperwork for benefits claims.

Civilians can also participate in smithing classes at the forge – provided they bring along a “battle buddy” who has served in uniform.

“We don’t check or verify anything; it’s all on the honor system,” Steve said. “[Even] if someone is in need as a civilian, I’m going to let them come.”

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Knives are a common product made by military veterans at Black Horse Forge.

Propane-fired furnaces are used to heat the metal to between 3,000 and 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

was one of the most respected, and most difficult, of professions. Coal and wood were used to stoke flames to a hellish 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit – the temperature needed to mold steel to the smith’s will.

Nowadays, Black Horse uses propane for its furnaces. But the forge nonetheless induces heavy sweat on the faces of instructors and students. Constant hydration is essential in the heated environment.

Steve Hotz said orientations familiarize students with the tools of the trade, as well as the necessity of working safely in an environment where serious fires are burning.

“It can be intimidating. You [have to] get used to the heat,” he added.

Classes range from beginner to advanced. New trainees might start out making something as simple as a bottle opener before moving on to more intricate projects such as knives and even barbecue grills. In addition to the mental concentration, students also discover the health benefits of being so active.

“We do tool clases [where] you build the tools to do the work,” Hotz said. “A guy comes in for two or three clases, [and] he

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Black Horse Forge offers classes that include making the tools required to do the work. literally can leave with a little toolbag and start his own forge.”

Black Horse has relationships with other forges, including Warriors Way in Ohio. Word of mouth for veterans to try their hand among the smithing network is common, as are referrals to smithing professionals who donate their time.

This includes Paul Beisler, a blacksmith and

welder who came to Black Horse on a recent Saturday to teach a hammer-forging class.

“When I found out what was going on here, I got really involved and donated my time to them,” Beisler said.

Beisler waves off any comparisons of using gas versus the coal and wood fuel his forefathers used in centuries past.

“It’s just faster,” he said of using propane.

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“I call it 2021 blacksmithing. Things are different now than they were [even] 100 years ago.”

Although Black Horse runs on propane, Hotz said the operation owns several coal forges that can be shipped to various outdoor events, which will be even more apt as the weather warms and more people have been vaccinated against COVID-19. At such events, Hotz can demonstrate making damascus steel and forging knives.

Black Horse also partners with the Mount Vernon Blacksmith Shop at George Washington’s estate on the Potomac. Black Horse uses wood from the estate to mimic certain smithing conditions at the time of the Revolutionary War – and its wares are on sale in a section of the gift shop showcasing items made by veterans.

Because the problems associated with PTSD might strike a vet during nonbusiness hours, the forge is “open” 24 hours a day. Steve and Amy Hotz live in Alexandria, a good 50 miles from the forge, but Steve said that even if he gets a call in the middle of the night from someone needing to “get something out” at the metal

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shop, he will make sure they can gain entry to Black Horse.

“The only rule is they have to have two people in here for safety,” Hotz said of the shop’s around-the-clock availability. “If they can’t get anybody in here, I'll come down.

That’s what it’s about.”

Perhaps the late-night visitor simply wants to pound on a piece of metal to work out some frustrations. But Hotz said he encourages Black Horse’s visitors to see such “scrap” as the beginning of something

new – and to build upon it.

“The next guy takes that piece of metal and makes something beautiful.

Out of something bad, something good happens,” said Hotz, calling it “full-circle” workmanship. “I’m fortunate because I get to see it. I know who did that metal, and I get to see the guy shaping and working it beyond that. So it’s pretty neat how that forges bonds.”

Hotz and his partners not only provide emotional support to those who come to the forge, but they also nudge them to realize the built-in safety net that exists in and among their fellow warriors.

Amy Hotz, who makes sheathes that are often paired with knives smithed at Black Horse, says the forge has helped veterans reconnect with their families after deployments. “What we wanted to do was make sure that if it helps somebody, it wouldn’t be a one-and-done kind of thing…

They could come back for as long as they needed it.”

The veterans also lean on their military training to work collectively on a team project.

“They’re formulating a work gang. That’s what training does,” Steve Hotz said. “Team pride [is] the dynamic [veterans] are used to.

It breaks the ice because if you don’t, they don’t open up. So this forces them to talk.

“And then the vets feel like they’re giving back and we’re helping other vet networks.

They have something to look forward to.”

In that way, the team can make something together they couldn’t individually, and the vets instruct others in turn to pass along the knowledge. As an analogy, Hotz refers to the verse from Proverbs: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

“They have pride in what they build, and you can see it,” Hotz said. “We’re giving them pride, that mission, again.”

Eric Althoff is a free-lance writer who lives in Stafford.

MORE INFORMATION To donate funds to Black Horse Forge, or to get involved, visit www.blackhorseforge.com.

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BUSINESS

ABOVE (L to R): The ice cream team members include Javonte Cannon, Aryanna Jackson, Jeremiah King, Micah King, Latravisius King, and Crystal King

Ice Cream Wishes 7-year-old is face of family business

BY TRACY BELL

C

rystal King wanted to fulfill a birthday wish last year for her 6-year-old son, Micah.

Not only did he want ice cream, but he wanted to know what it would be like to serve customers from an ice-cream truck.

She checked around, never realizing that the wish would soon set the wheels in motion for a family business called Micah’s Ice Cream.

King, a graduate of Brooke Point High School in Stafford, knew something about entrepreneurship from owning a mobile entertainment company with her husband, Latravisius King. This summer, the

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Spotsylvania residents’ first business, Crazy 4 Gaming Video Game Theater & Mobile Laser Tag, will celebrate its fourth birthday – and having seen his parents become entrepreneurs, Micah was interested in his own ice-cream truck.

What’s unusual is that his parents made it happen. And it happened during a pandemic.

“Who would have known God would have placed this in his heart?” Crystal King said of her son’s idea.

But the notion made sense – video games go well with ice cream, the Kings thought, and besides, it wouldn’t be too far-

fetched to start an ice-cream business.

So Crystal King sought out an ice-cream truck, but before it was ready, COVID-19 hit. The video game truck went on hiatus when the pandemic temporarily halted many business operations, but Micah’s Ice Cream took to the streets in April 2020.

“We were totally scared,” she remembered, with some customers taken aback that an ice-cream truck was operating at all. The pandemic loomed, she said, but unlike the gaming truck, ice cream was considered an essential business because it involved selling food.

The Kings now operate both businesses, traveling to customers all over the Fredericksburg region, including Stafford, as well as Northern Virginia.

Now a 7-year-old second-grader at Spotswood Elementary School, Micah knows that it’s not every day that a kid has his own ice-cream truck. In fact, he’s the CEO, according to his family.

Micah wants to be “a business owner” when he grows up and explained that “giving back to the community” is what he likes best about having an ice-cream truck.

“An ice-cream truck really meant something last year,” Crystal King said. “It was more about the smiles” – getting and giving – “that sense that everything’s going to be OK.” The Kings attend Zion Church in Fredericksburg and see their businesses as a ministry, and they find ways to give back when they can.

Micah really has “a serving heart,” his mother said, explaining that he recently made a Facebook video and raised nearly

$800 to treat teachers and students at five local schools to ice cream.

“It’s been a really great season,” she said.

“It’s an ice-cream truck, but it’s really a ministry.”

The Kings’ family friend, Charita Mariner of King George, recalled that most ice cream businesses weren’t keen on allowing Micah to work in their trucks, but “all of the ‘no’s’ gave him his yes!”

“I’m blessed to be in his village,” she said.

The ice-cream truck at times operates on regular routes but is often booked for birthday parties or used for fundraisers Latravisius King, who works full time in healthcare at a nursing home during the week, said that selling ice cream doesn’t feel like work. Instead, he said, it’s a great way for his family to bond, laughing and joking all day.

Micah’s brother, Jeremiah King, 13, helps, too. He handles some financial and inventory tasks, serving as an “instrumental” part of the business and “a good support to Micah,” their father said.

Micah’s God-brother, Javonte Cannon, 19, can often be seen driving the truck.

The Kings also book parties with their 32-foot video-game truck – pre-COVID it fit 20 players inside and another eight gamers outside. Today, 10 masked players typically spread out inside, playing an entire library of games, including Minecraft. The company can also set up foam parties, kickdart rentals or a combination.

Both businesses employ young people, and the family hopes to add a non-profit icecream truck and scholarship opportunities down the road.

King said that the family businesses teach the boys how to serve their community, give back, interact with all walks of life and understand money. It’s a learning tool, a legacy and an example of a cohesive family that’s not often enough publicly represented for young people.

“It’s not about money or just selling ice cream,” he said. “It brings my family closer together.”

Micah has even inspired other kids to start businesses, his father said.

The boys are humble, said their mother, but at times Micah is recognized when he’s

in public without his truck, which is a fun surprise.

Fredericksburg resident Angela Thomas, who knows the Kings from church, said Crystal King was devastated when the pandemic sidelined things, “but she regrouped and saw an opportunity for the ice-cream truck to make families and kids happy in quarantine.”

With school ending and summer weather around the corner, Micah will have more time for ice cream – so locals hoping for a cool treat will want to keep an eye out for this friendly neighborhood ice-cream boy.

And, in case you’re wondering, he recommends the ice cream sandwich or the Klondike choco taco.

Tracy Bell is a free-lance writer who lives in Stafford County.

For more information on Micah’s Ice Cream Truck and Crazy 4 Gaming, visit them on Facebook and at michasicecreamtruck.com or crazy4gamingvideogametheater.com or call (703) 721-7050.

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EVENTS

Events making a comeback

If you’re looking for something to do as spring turns to summer, Stafford and its surrounding area offer a mix of possibilities for those looking to head out and about.

From golf outings and beer fests to farmers’ markets and children’s activities, local events are sure to keep residents busy. Here’s a sampling:

Juneteenth Black and Brown Family & Farmers Market Saturday, June 19, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

610 Commuter Lot - 163 Staffordborough Blvd., Stafford Entertainment, vendors, kids’ games

Father’s Day Classic Car & Bike Show Saturday, June 19, 2 p.m.

Old Dominion Harley-Davidson 5224 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Fredericksburg

Yoga Hike Sunday, June 27, subsequent Sundays, 1 to 2 p.m.

Varying Stafford locations, purchase tickets monicarosadowellness.com

Fourth in Fredericksburg Saturday, July 3, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sunday, July 4, all day

Parade, fireworks, kids’ activities facebook.com/fourthinfxbg

Fredericksburg Heritage Festival Sunday, July 4, 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Fredericksburg Visitors Center703 Caroline St., Fredericksburg

Independence Day Celebration Sunday, July 4, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Dollar Skate Night Ongoing, every Wednesday, 6 to 9 p.m.

Cavalier Skating Rink, Stafford cavalierskating.com

Taste of Woodbridge Saturday, June 12, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge Food tastings, exhibits, entertainment

Kids’ Market Saturday, June 12, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Hurkamp Park, Fredericksburg fxbgfarmersmarket.com

Red Cross Blood Drive Monday, June 14, 1 to 7 p.m.

Monday, July 26, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Porter Library, Stafford redcrossblood.org

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George Washington’s Ferry Farm 288 Kings Hwy., Fredericksburg

Heritage 5-Miler & Virtual 5-Miler Sunday, July 4, and Monday, July 5, 7:30 a.m.

706 Caroline St., Fredericksburg runsignup.com

Fredericksburg Comic and Toy Show Saturday, July 10, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Fredericksburg Expo & Conference Center fredericksburgcomicandtoyshow.com

Stafford Education Golf Tournament Friday, July 16, 9 a.m.

Augustine Golf Club, Stafford $125 individual/$500 foursome thestaffordeducationfoundation.com For more events from across the region, visit insidenova.com/calendar.

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Stafford

2021 MAGAZINE

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Board Approves Funding for Brooke Road Improvements

Stafford County is continuing its efforts with the Virginia Department of Transportation to implement a solution to the recurring flooding on the “S-curves” of Brooke Road, between Raven Road and Maplewood Drive.

The Board of Supervisors recently approved the fiscal year 20222031 Transportation Capital Improvement Plan, which includes funding to build an emergency access drive as well as all necessary improvements and repairs needed to bring Windermere Drive into the state highway system to allow the road to be open to public traffic.

The county then plans to build a two-lane roadway between Windermere Drive and Crestwood Lane to provide through-travel access to Brooke Road area residents when Brooke Road is closed to traffic during emergencies. The plan also provides $7.5 million in funding to elevate and realign Brooke Road between Raven Road and Maplewood Drive.

Stafford and VDOT officials envision a construction start date for the emergency access road in the summer or fall of 2022, with a completion date of winter 2022/2023. The access road would be a gravel road that will allow two-way traffic to pass through. The design for the permanent improvements to Brooke Road could begin as early as fall/winter 2021, with a completion date five to seven years later.

CIP Finishes Opens New Headquarters

CIP Finishes, a construction firm that furnishes and installs interior finishing hardware in large multifamily residential communities, celebrated the opening of its Centreport Parkway headquarters in April with Stafford County officials and the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The 33-year-old firm, which began as Closet Interiors Plus and is led by former Stafford County supervisor Paul Milde, completed construction on the 21,000-square-foot headquarters building in April 2020.

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Stafford Welcomes New Chief Financial Officer

Jonathon C. Munch has begun work as Stafford County’s new chief financial officer.

Munch comes to Stafford from Prince William County, where he was the fiscal reporting manager.

He has more than 24 years of experience in accounting and finance, with over 15 years of local government experience.

Former Chief Financial Officer Alex Espinosa left the county for a position closer to his home.

Before his current position in Prince William, Munch served as finance director for Warren County. He is also a former president and executive board member for the Virginia Government Finance Officers’ Association.

Schools Administrator Receives Unsung Hero Award

Colette Hokana, Stafford County Public School’s administrator of health services, has received an Unsung Hero Award presented by the Fredericksburg Area Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. The award recognizes individuals for outstanding impact on education and health in the Rappahannock region.

Hokana serves as the school system’s nurse manager and over the past 12 months has spearheaded the division’s coronavirus response efforts. She provided training and support to nurses and staff as guidance changed from the local and state health departments.

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VOICES

America’s first woman lawyer lived in Stafford

BY DAVID S. KE RR

A

ccording to the American Bar Association, Margaret Brent, an early English colonist who first lived in Maryland and then in present-day Stafford County, was the first woman attorney in America.

That’s quite a claim, but the facts, and the research, reveal not only a remarkable woman but also a top-notch litigator who didn’t like to lose.

Brent was a prominent early Virginian with a remarkable life story. In 2003, the Stafford County School Board named an elementary school after her.

Margaret Brent first arrived in the Maryland Colony when she was 37. That was roughly 1636.

Most images we have of her were drawn after her passing. She wasn’t married. Quite possibly, as a part of a Catholic order she subscribed to, she had taken a vow of chastity.

That’s hard to tell.

However, she proved a deft land speculator, became a confidant to the colonial governor of Maryland, even became the executor of his estate (a role almost never given to women in the 17th century) and is credited by some, thanks to her administrative and political skills, with saving the colony from severe

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civil strife.

She was a substantial landowner in Maryland. Knowing that the only requirement, at least on paper, for being a member of the Maryland General Assembly was ownership of a certain amount of land, she made a petition to join.

It was rejected. Brent might have been respected, but the General Assembly was a boy’s club and that was that – though there is some speculation that she almost won them over.

However, her legal abilities – and it’s not clear what kind of formal education she had – would have made her a top lawyer in any century. There was no prohibition on her representing a client, there was no bar association in those days, and apparently all on her own, she had the clout and the intelligence to be allowed to take on this role.

Being the 17th century, she had to present all of her cases to male magistrates, judges and juries. According to the American Bar Association, she handled 149 formal cases and didn’t lose one.

However, in the 1660s Maryland’s anti-Catholic laws made life for Brent difficult. That’s when she moved to Stafford and became one of the largest landholders in the region. Her home was on Aquia Creek, and the tract of land in her name went as far north as present-day Alexandria (the city didn’t formally exist then). There is no record of her continuing, at least not formally, her legal work in Virginia. But with her close business ties to Maryland, not to mention her legal abilities, it is unlikely she strayed far from her passion for the law.

Brent died in 1671. The location

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Early depiction of Margaret Brent presenting a case on behalf of a client in Maryland. (Painted

by Louis Glanzman and provided courtesy of the Maryland State Archives)

of her grave, probably not far from the crucifix on Route 1, is unknown, because the gravestones where she is thought to have been buried were looted during the Civil War. She would be a remarkable person in any century and in her case a practicing attorney 260 years before women got the vote.

The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg summed up the quandary this presented to men in power in the 17th century when she said of Brent: “Her position as a woman, yet possessor of power, so confused her contemporaries that she was sometimes named in court records, not as Mistress Margaret Brent, but as Gentleman Margaret Brent.”

David Kerr is a Stafford resident and an adjunct professor of political science at VCU. He worked on Capitol Hill and for various federal agencies for many years.

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