Purcellville: A Love StoryI am not a native of Purcellville, just - like so many others - a wanna-be, twice-removed.
Following high school (O'Connell) and college (George Mason), I headed west in 1972 for San Francisco. Thirty years later, I returned with 23 California natives - husband, 12 kids, 2 sons-in-law, 8 grandkids - to settle back in to a culture I didn't have the maturity to appreciate when I went wandering.
Having grown up in Falls Church in a family without a car, I'd never been out far enough on Routes 50 or 7 to see Middleburg or Leesburg. But the first time I saw Purcellville - even with hundreds (thousands?) of new homes - I fell in love.
Oh, how I wished I could have grown up in such a town!
I felt that same sort of pride on Sunday when Purcellville woke early to welcome home and say goodbye to a fallen hero. To see so many families and flags waiting patiently for the motorcade bearing Stephan Lee Mace and his family was a testimony to the community spirit which - despite its rapid growth - still binds the hearts in Purcellville together.
Listening to the speakers at Stephan's funeral Monday - who reminisced about bringing up families in Kingsbridge with the children playing, roaming from home to home - it made me appreciate a slice of life so devalued by those with more "sophisticated" tastes.
Last spring, my husband went to talk to a teacher who'd made some remarks about how Valley students desperately needed exposure to more diverse ideas to overcome the limitations of their parents' provincialism. This, in addition to habitual putdowns of conservatives and their values, had deeply offended several kids in the class who were afraid to speak out (Teachers, do you know how wrong this is?).
When the teacher tried to defend his remarks, Tripp said, "Did it ever occur to you that many parents from more "sophisticated" backgrounds settled here because we respect Purcellville and want to bring up our children in this kind of community?"
Nothing makes me cringe like those who've moved here and see themselves as agents of change. I'm more inclined to feel like Billy Joel in "I Love You Just the Way You Are"
Don't go changing, to try and please me
You never let me down before
Billy Joel was singing about a woman, but don't you think you can feel that way about a place too?
I said I love you and that's forever
And this I promise from the heart
I could not love you any better
I love you just the way you are.
I did not know Stephan Mace, but after attending his funeral, I wish I had. I wish I had roots like so many wonderful families whose kids now go to school with mine .
Purcellville has much to be proud of - a way of life that nurtured a young man who gave his life for his country and for freedom.
We grieve for him together.
The love story continues.
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Pictures of the 10/11 Motorcade honoring Stephan Lee Mace
This was my biweekly column for the Purcellville Gazette 10/16:
