Most of us who attend events at Glenwood Park are blissfully unaware of all it takes to keep the venue as pristine as it is and ensure that its events run smoothly. It's enough for us to plan our tailgates and enjoy the steeplechase and horse trials under an autumn blue sky. But we know this doesn't happen without the efforts of good and competent people. At Glenwood, that work falls into the hands of the park's Board of Trustees, race officials and eventing staff.

These behind-the-scenes folk all need to work together and their good working relationships ensure the magic of well-run events. So it was that the Trustees of Glenwood got to know, respect and truly cherish Terrie Hanback who for many years was the Race Secretary of the Middleburg Fall Races. In light of that affectionate remembrance, a group of race committee members and park trustees have banded together to help raise funds to erect a new building at the park and name it in memory and honor of Theresa "Terrie" S. Hanback.

Terrie Hanback was a beloved fixture of the Virginia horse world and when she died this spring, her loss was felt throughout the close-knit community. Among the many hats she wore over the years (executive secretary of the Virginia Gold Cup, active member of the Virginia Steeplechase Association, first female starter of a sanctioned steeplechase race) Terrie Hanback was most recently relied upon as secretary of the Virginia Fall Races.

For months each autumn Terrie worked away in what is amiably known as the "Beer Parlor" at Glenwood Park. No beer, or any other beverage for that matter, has been sold out of this particular facility in decades, but it once was and the name stuck. The structure, such as it is, now barely serves its purpose as an "office" but it was here in the slightly dilapidated, plywood-sided, tin-roofed, barely windowed structure, that Terrie, by all accounts, happily fulfilled her duties as race secretary.

Victor DuPont had just joined the board of trustees last year when he went to Glenwood to see about what lay ahead for him. While there he saw that someone was at the Office and went in to introduce himself. According to DuPont, "It was Terrie and she was so nice and so pleasant that from then on, if ever I went to Glenwood and saw her car there I'd stop in and visit. She was just a wonderful person."

That is absolutely the consensus view on Terrie Hanback. Now retired, longtime Glenwood Park Trustee Chuck Hoovler, who knew Terrie from when she was a teenager, is not about to disagree. He is more likely to expound upon her many virtues ("she was so honest, so sincere, so polite, so upbeat – you never left Terrie Hanback with a frown.") And it was he who somewhat jokingly first suggested, to Hanback herself in fact, that the Trustees should replace the old Beer Parlor with a safer, better located structure and name it after her.

As Hoovler recalls, one day Hanback came to work and discovered that her laptop had been stolen (securing the Beer Parlor was one of its many challenges.) In discussing the theft, Hoovler and Hanback began to conjure up plans, in a half serious, half daydreaming manner, to one day build a new office. Hoovler's concern was not only that the current structure was a danger in and of itself but that its location, just about in the middle of an access way, also posed a threat to park participants by making it difficult for emergency vehicles to pass.

The two walked about the park discussing the perfect spot for the new office and while doing so found exactly such a site, one that went so far as to provide a view of nearly the entire race course. At this point Hoovler turned to Hanback and said, "If ever we build a building here I'd name it after you." And Hanback, Hoovler recalls wistfully, laughed. "But that wasn't the name of the tune," says Hoovler, suggesting that the comment was never meant to portend a need for any type of memorial to the vibrant person before him.

When Hanback did pass away this spring, the notion of replacing the old office with something worthy of memorializing its most beloved occupant came up again in Cricket Bedford's eulogy. Bedford, a Virginia Fall Race Committee member, pledged to do what she could to improve the park's office in memory of her long time friend and Race associate.

Professional plans have now been drawn up and the site decided upon. The hope is to start construction after the Fall Races and complete the project before the Spring Races. Everything is in good order short of actual funds. One anonymous benefactor has already made a generous donation but approximately $40,000 more are needed to meet their goal.

Hoovler, Bedford and DuPont all point to the many improvements and upgrades (insulation, ventilation, security and storage, plus a safer location) that the new building will provide its users. As Hoovler points out, the Trustees are always working to make the Park as user-friendly as possible, and the Terrie Hanback Building will go far in this regard.

Donations may be made to the Glenwood Park Trust (with a notation made that it is for the Terrie Hanback Building Fund) P.O. Box 467, Middleburg, VA 20118.