Vernon Peterson celebrated his 80th birthday on March 13. His wife of 23 years, Sharon, planned a large celebration for Vernon and for once she said, was able to keep a secret! It was a wonderful surprise for him. As she and Vernon walked into the American Legion hall in Middleburg, to the joyous strains of Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday", Vernon was overwhelmed. It was a very emotional moment for everyone present!

Born in the Hamlet of Rock Hill (near Bluemont) on March 13, 1931, Vernon was the 6th child of Louis Adam and Mary Magdalene Peterson. Over the next 14 years, seven more children were born to the couple. "Life was very hard", he remembers. The country was still in the Great Depression and segregation was the law of the south. He remembers that in order to go to school, especially in the winter, they had to walk a long way on treacherous roads. Vernon's sister Gloria, in a touching testimonial to her brother wrote "This brother will see you through sadness and share your pain-will stand and protect you until you are well again-will do what is necessary to send you to school-but only if you work hard and prove that you're no fool..."

In 1951 Vernon went into the Military and served his country in the Korean War. Upon returning home five years later, he found that all was not well at home. His family needed him and he gladly answered the call. Vernon spoke beautifully about his faith and about doing good in the world. "If you do good for others it will come full circle. It always does."

As the years past, Vernon became a father himself. He told a wonderful story of a child named Reggie that he and Sharon had taken in when the boy was only a few months old. "He was in a very bad situation and when we had the chance to take him we did. At first it was difficult. The birth mother was in and out of jail mostly on drug charges. She kept trying to take Reggie back but would not take care of him. The courts at first tried to help her, thinking a child belonged with his natural parent. They ordered the Petersons to let him go but gave them liberal visitation rights. 'Every time we picked him up he was dirty and in rags' remembered Vernon. 'We would send him home with nice new things and she would sell them for drug money. Finally the Judge reversed his decision and Reggie came to be with the Petersons on a permanent basis. Reggie is 23 years old now and Sharon and Vernon love him as they love their own children. The feelings that the Peterson's have for their family is evident. One need only to spend a little time in their presence to see and feel the closeness. One grandson, Zach, took the microphone to honor his grandfather and said that now that he was in college he hoped to make Vernon proud. One by one family members and friends came forward to speak of their love and admiration for this man.

Besides his family, the other love of Vernon's life is his work at the Rock Hill Cemetery. He tells of driving by one day more than 50 years ago and seeing that it had fallen into complete neglect. "You couldn't even see the tombstones for all the weeds" he declared. Not only did Vernon have family in the graveyard but felt that it was big part of black history in our area. According to Eugene Scheel, historian and mapmaker, Rock Hill Cemetery was founded in 1889. The land was purchased from former slave-owners for $100 for one acre. This was well over the going price said Mr. Scheel. "white people lived in the neighborhood and a person paid dearly for breaking the color line." It took 11 years for cemetery trustees to pay off the debt. At the time, with the exception of one cemetery at the county poor farm, there was no other graveyard for African Americans in the Unison-Bloomfield area. Poor blacks and whites were simply buried in their backyards. The new cemetery was called Rock Hill after the village it was to serve. Today there are only three houses in the whole village. When Vernon Peterson was born there in 1931 it was the largest black community between Bluemont and Upperville. The cemetery was created 3 miles east of the village on Furr road. "It's a lot of work but people tell me it's the prettiest cemetery in the whole area" smiles Vernon. Vernon also proudly tells of discovering the graves of a black Union soldier. The graves had an unusual symbol on the headstones and it took a lot of research to finally discover what they were. You will find the same symbols on graves in several other small graveyards in both leesburg and Aldie.

For the last 5 years Vernon has fortunately had the help of his friend Richard Holmes, a retired Middleburg Bank employee and Saint Louis resident. He is, however, genuinely concerned that he will not be able to find a younger person to take over his stewardship. "It will take a very dedicated person to do this" He said. After all these years he is very afraid that it will all have been for naught.

Vernon and Sharon also live in Saint Louis and own the oldest house in that historic community. Sharon's family, the McQuays and Berrymans played a significant role in African American life as it developed in this area from at least the early part of the nineteenth century.