Dana and I grew up in Pinecreast and went to the same neighborhood pool. So I have known her a long time. I was too shy and she was too pretty so I never knew her well. Even at the twentieth reunion I was afraid to dance with her. I believe she was a very sweet person and I will miss her.
First, I’d like to apologize since I’ve never been good at social norms. I have never known what is proper or improper when it comes to speaking of the dead. When my mother died, her funeral service was 2 miles away but I did not attend. If anyone wants to delete any or all of these memories – please have at it.
My only memory of being 5 years old was running around with Dana Edwards, whose yard was 250 feet from mine in Pinecrest. My best memory was playing doctor with Dana. I remember walking up the alley that ran behind all of our houses and Dana’s mother coming up to me and asking me to stop playing doctor with Dana. I had to move my practice.
At age 6 Dana and I were in the first grade together at Lincolnia Elementary School. Back in those days when you read a book at home and your mother signed off on it – the next day in school you were given a gold star by your name on the bulletin board. Beside Dana’s name were so many gold stars that we thought Dana must have been cheating. Looking back today, any simpleton could have finished one of those books in about 5 minutes. In the first grade Dana was not only beautiful but she was smart too.
One of the parents in the neighborhood had said that Dana was adopted, and her brother Newt was also. I have no idea if that was true, looking back over 60 years later. Back then Dana’s house was made of many large glass exterior walls. There was a story of a piano tuner who was tuning Dana’s piano when he got so frustrated with it, he walked through one of the windows.
Personally, I liked to wrestle back then, and I was very good at it. Dana’s little brother, Newt, was a couple years younger and a foot shorter than I. I let him wrestle me to let him think he was one of the big boys. No matter what I tried to do with him, I could not move him. Later I heard that he won something like a state (or greater?) wrestling championship. Knowing this in retrospect made me feel a lot better, that only a state champion beat me.
Dana’s yard touched the backyard of a house that was on Pinecrest Court. In that house lived Susan Clemmer? Dana and Susan became best friends and they were in Brownies together. Back then, the Brownies must have been something very special, as they girls were taught very practical things. One summer day the two of them were riding their bikes down Elmdale Road alongside Pinecrest golf course. About 100 yards away they heard someone yelling frantically for help. This grabbed their attention and they saw 2 boys floundering in one of the golf course ponds. The two immediately went into action. Susan rode quickly to someone’s house to call for a rescue squad/ambulance while Dana dropped her bike and ran to the pond. Dana was a terrific swimmer and, like everyone else, lived in Pinecrest community swimming pool. She ran to the pond, jumped in and was able to rescue one of the boys. The other boy drowned. God bless the Brownies. Dana was taught CPR and applied it to the boy she saved. The two boys were black and were from a neighborhood just above Pinecrest. The Pinecrest covenants forbade the sale of houses to blacks or Jews. Later in the 1990s, when I bought the Lingle’s house on Park Road, there was the same old piece of shit covenants. If the boys had been allowed to use the community pool, they probably would have learned to swim. The rescue made all the papers and Dana and Susan were the pride of Pinecrest.
One day in the late ‘60s I was working hard to save a piece of land in Northern Virginia for wildlife. The group I worked with talked me into presenting our argument for the preservation of this land in front of the Fairfax County commissioners. I did a horrible job, as I was scared to death of public speaking. After the meeting was adjourned, one of the commissioners came to me and said how proud he was of me speaking before all those people. That man was Dana’s father. He went on to preserve some wonderful tracts of land in NOVA.
One of the most popular guys in High School was an athlete called John Ridlebach. If you go to the athletic records on the wall of the gym today, you may see some of his records still hold. Maybe when Dana was in her junior year she dated John for a while. Everyone knew sooner or later it had to happen, the jock and the beautiful girl. When it did happen, Dana came to school wearing a colorful silk scarf around her neck in an attempt to cover her hickies.
Now jumping ahead decades later, at our first class of 1969 reunion, Dana was just as beautiful as she was in HS. She was voted the “least changed” member of the class of ’69. I have never been able to picture Dana without visualizing her as one of the loveliest people I have known.
Lance, keep in mind that memories are part of keeping someone close to the heart & indeed alive. The Doctor thing was a bit edgy but part of that journey. I remember Dana well & thought of her often. Keep the memories, part of what makes us human. Peace my friend.
Pat Erickson (Kana)
Oh, I am so sorry to see this!! I thought in the 1966 reunion info, that I saw Dana lived in Dallas, Texas.
Since I live north of Fort Worth, I was hoping to have some contact with her. Very Sad.
Judith Weaver
Hoping that Dana found peace. We never understand someone until we walk in their shoes. I would have liked to talk to her again.
Stephen Masterson
Dana and I grew up in Pinecreast and went to the same neighborhood pool. So I have known her a long time. I was too shy and she was too pretty so I never knew her well. Even at the twentieth reunion I was afraid to dance with her. I believe she was a very sweet person and I will miss her.
Lance Morrow (Morrow)
First, I’d like to apologize since I’ve never been good at social norms. I have never known what is proper or improper when it comes to speaking of the dead. When my mother died, her funeral service was 2 miles away but I did not attend. If anyone wants to delete any or all of these memories – please have at it.
My only memory of being 5 years old was running around with Dana Edwards, whose yard was 250 feet from mine in Pinecrest. My best memory was playing doctor with Dana. I remember walking up the alley that ran behind all of our houses and Dana’s mother coming up to me and asking me to stop playing doctor with Dana. I had to move my practice.
At age 6 Dana and I were in the first grade together at Lincolnia Elementary School. Back in those days when you read a book at home and your mother signed off on it – the next day in school you were given a gold star by your name on the bulletin board. Beside Dana’s name were so many gold stars that we thought Dana must have been cheating. Looking back today, any simpleton could have finished one of those books in about 5 minutes. In the first grade Dana was not only beautiful but she was smart too.
One of the parents in the neighborhood had said that Dana was adopted, and her brother Newt was also. I have no idea if that was true, looking back over 60 years later. Back then Dana’s house was made of many large glass exterior walls. There was a story of a piano tuner who was tuning Dana’s piano when he got so frustrated with it, he walked through one of the windows.
Personally, I liked to wrestle back then, and I was very good at it. Dana’s little brother, Newt, was a couple years younger and a foot shorter than I. I let him wrestle me to let him think he was one of the big boys. No matter what I tried to do with him, I could not move him. Later I heard that he won something like a state (or greater?) wrestling championship. Knowing this in retrospect made me feel a lot better, that only a state champion beat me.
Dana’s yard touched the backyard of a house that was on Pinecrest Court. In that house lived Susan Clemmer? Dana and Susan became best friends and they were in Brownies together. Back then, the Brownies must have been something very special, as they girls were taught very practical things. One summer day the two of them were riding their bikes down Elmdale Road alongside Pinecrest golf course. About 100 yards away they heard someone yelling frantically for help. This grabbed their attention and they saw 2 boys floundering in one of the golf course ponds. The two immediately went into action. Susan rode quickly to someone’s house to call for a rescue squad/ambulance while Dana dropped her bike and ran to the pond. Dana was a terrific swimmer and, like everyone else, lived in Pinecrest community swimming pool. She ran to the pond, jumped in and was able to rescue one of the boys. The other boy drowned. God bless the Brownies. Dana was taught CPR and applied it to the boy she saved. The two boys were black and were from a neighborhood just above Pinecrest. The Pinecrest covenants forbade the sale of houses to blacks or Jews. Later in the 1990s, when I bought the Lingle’s house on Park Road, there was the same old piece of shit covenants. If the boys had been allowed to use the community pool, they probably would have learned to swim. The rescue made all the papers and Dana and Susan were the pride of Pinecrest.
One day in the late ‘60s I was working hard to save a piece of land in Northern Virginia for wildlife. The group I worked with talked me into presenting our argument for the preservation of this land in front of the Fairfax County commissioners. I did a horrible job, as I was scared to death of public speaking. After the meeting was adjourned, one of the commissioners came to me and said how proud he was of me speaking before all those people. That man was Dana’s father. He went on to preserve some wonderful tracts of land in NOVA.
One of the most popular guys in High School was an athlete called John Ridlebach. If you go to the athletic records on the wall of the gym today, you may see some of his records still hold. Maybe when Dana was in her junior year she dated John for a while. Everyone knew sooner or later it had to happen, the jock and the beautiful girl. When it did happen, Dana came to school wearing a colorful silk scarf around her neck in an attempt to cover her hickies.
Now jumping ahead decades later, at our first class of 1969 reunion, Dana was just as beautiful as she was in HS. She was voted the “least changed” member of the class of ’69. I have never been able to picture Dana without visualizing her as one of the loveliest people I have known.
Dana - 1969
Dennis Whitley
Lance, keep in mind that memories are part of keeping someone close to the heart & indeed alive. The Doctor thing was a bit edgy but part of that journey. I remember Dana well & thought of her often. Keep the memories, part of what makes us human. Peace my friend.