On December 6, in ceremonies at Middleburg's National Sporting Library and Museum, the Mosby Heritage Area Association recognized its 2016 Heritage Heroes and Educator of the Year Award. Speakers included Jennifer Moore, the incoming Executive Director of the Mosby Heritage Area Association and Richard Gillespie, retiring Executive Director of MHAA.

Heritage Heroes

The Heritage Hero award is given to individuals or groups in the Mosby Heritage Area who have demonstrated stewardship responsibility over many years. Honored in December were:

Mary Thomason Morris, whose family has lived in the Front Royal area for over 250 years. In 1987, she began part-time work at Winchester's Handley Archives, the Warren Heritage Society, and the Clarke County Historical Association. She set up the original archives at the highly respected Warren Heritage Society. In 1990, Mary left the Society to serve as Archivist of Clarke County Historical Association. Among other works on Clarke County History and genealogy, she is the author of "Connections & Partings: Marriages & Deaths from Clarke County Newspapers 1859-1884."

Al Van Huyck has lived in Loudoun County since the 1960's and has long been a leader in heritage and environmental protection. A retired International Planner, a former Board member of the Virginia Citizens Planning Association and the Older Americans Humanities Corporation. He was a member of the Loudoun County Planning Commission from 1996 to 2003 and was Chairman when the County's Revised General Plan was prepared. He was active in preparing the Mountain Overlay District and the River and Stream Corridor Overlay District. He is a member of the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce, the Waterford Foundation, the Friends of Oatlands, and Young Life Loudoun. He is a founder and past President of the Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Most recently, he is the current chair of the Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition. He has promoted smart growth policies and continued to have a fundamental role in amending the Loudoun County Comprehensive Plan especially in the area of "rural conservation".

Previous winners of the Heritage Hero Award include Sen. John Warner, Karen Hughes White, Janet Whitehouse, Hope Porter, Linda Newton, Robert H. Smith, Su Webb, Lori Kimball, Bob Sinclair, Robert Lee, Walter Nicklin, John and Mary Fishback, Mitch Diamond, David Blake, Scott Kasprowicz, Gayle and Tom DeLashmutt, and Paul Ziluca.

Educator of the Year

The Educator of the Year Award is given to an educator who effectively incorporates the local historic landscape and its stories into their teaching and community outreach. This year's honoree is:

Richard Deardoff, a United States Coast Guard Veteran who has spent four decades teaching US Government, History, and American Civil War History at Fauquier High School and Kettle Run High School, from which he recently retired. Deardoff has earned Master's Degrees in both Administration and Political Science. He is a member of the Civil War Trust, Longstreet Society, and the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation. The Brandy Station Foundation awarded him the Volunteer of the Year in 2007. Rich's classes were required to participate in local community service projects, often focusing on history or education. His students started the "Save the Waterloo Bridge" Facebook page, which currently has over 2,800 likes since its creation several years ago, and is meant to share its history and advocate for its preservation. Because of Rich's many efforts, he has twice been named the Fauquier County Teacher of the Year in 2007 and 2008, the Civil War Trust Teacher of the Year in 2011, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans Teacher of the Year in 2011.