There is something very special about Falls Church — the close-knit community, the schools, the great restaurants and shops, the tree-lined streets filled with old, new, and renovated houses, the newer multi-family dwellings popping up all over the city, and most of all, the people.
Falls Church is a place where people know each other, look after each other, and work to protect “The Little City” charm, which compels many to want to live and work there. You could call it je ne sais quoi since the secret sauce ingredients vary depending on who you ask.
When I was asked, I had no doubt what ingredients made the secret sauce most delicious for me. You see, I met my husband, Larry Stuebing, 55 years ago when we both were students at Virginia Tech. Throughout our years together, Larry would tell his story of moving to Falls Church at 14 with his new stepfather, mother, and three sisters. Larry’s mother had married Ted Stuebing the previous year in Wyoming, and he was transferred to Washington, DC, to assume an administrative law judge role at the Department of Interior.
Prior to this move, Larry and his mother and sisters had experienced a life of frequent relocations and relative poverty. By the time he entered George Mason Junior/Senior High School (GMHS) in the 9th grade, he had already attended 11 schools. None of them were as challenging or equipped to prepare their students for academic and life success as GMHS. In second grade, Larry’s family moved to Ozark, Alabama, where he was surprised to find that students in his segregated school were just beginning to learn to read and write at a level he had mastered before 1st grade. In 5th grade, he went to a one-room school with eight grades and a single teacher in the woods of Northern Idaho, where he read every one of the school library’s twenty or so books and clamored for more! By 7th grade, he was attending an inner city junior high school where academic achievement was discouraged by bullying that inclined him to conceal his desire to learn.
As a new freshman at George Mason Junior/Senior High School, he was academically and socially behind his classmates. Fortunately, he found himself in a challenging and nurturing educational environment where, just as you might expect, enlightened teachers like Maxine Ropeshaw and Alice Rooney saw that he was bright, capable, and interested in learning. They invested additional attention to help him catch up and thrive. He did well in all subjects, and by the time he graduated, he was ranked in the top 5 of his class, was accepted at every university he applied to, and became the first member of his family (except his new stepfather) to attend college. If you ask him, he will tell you that he hadn’t even imagined going to college before coming to Falls Church.
In college, Larry studied engineering and architecture and enjoyed a rewarding career in architectural design, retiring as Director of Facility Design for the Smithsonian Institution. Without hesitation, Larry will tell you that the chance to finish his pre-college schooling in Falls Church and the resulting opportunity to pursue higher education – unimaginable before he moved to Falls Church – is one of the most impactful things that has ever happened to him.
When Mary Ellen Shaw announced her retirement in 2004, and the Falls Church City Public Schools superintendent vacancy was announced, I told Larry I was thinking about applying. His response was, “Why wouldn’t you? The schools are great. Look what they did for me.” Of course, I did apply, and the rest is history. During my seven years as superintendent, I saw many aspects of the secret sauce at work and play, but the most outstanding ingredient for me was the schools and what they did for Larry.