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President's September Message

HONORED TO BE VALE CLUB’S NEW PRESIDENT
Welcome back to a new year at Vale Club. I am honored to be your President. I truly love this club—I love how we care for each other and how we reach out to the community. I welcome our new members and encourage you to get involved with this wonderful group of women.

I will be hosting a New Member Cocktail party on Tuesday, Oct. 6 to allow new members and potential members to meet with board members and activity chairs to learn about the club and activities. New members will receive an invitation, but if you have friends who are potential members, let me know and you and your guest can come too.

On Sunday, Oct. 4 from 3-5 p.m., we will have a Music on the Lawn event open to the community. You should have received a blast about this. It replaces our Fall Fair this year and features the band Night and Day which plays jazz, big band and swing and specializes in music from the Great American Songbook. Please join us and invite your friends.

Many thanks to Patti Cooksey and Nancy Singer and those who donated and worked to secure, put together, and deliver backpacks and supplies for students through Shelter House. This generous effort helps kids return to school prepared and supported and is much appreciated.

Thanks also to Pam Guffain who organized the Eagle Scout project to rebuild our stage and to Elizabeth Fribush for her work in getting sprinklers installed and to all the members of FVS for all the work they do in overseeing our building and grounds.

Finally, thanks to all the activity chairs and volunteers who provide so many opportunities for us to gather and have fun.

Looking forward to a great year and to seeing you at our meetings (where our VP Michelle Melinger has planned some great speakers) and also at other events.

Diane Wakeham
Vale Club President

FVS History Highlights: “A Place to Tie To” 

‘History 101 of the Vale Schoolhouse’
As we begin a new year of Vale Club meetings and activities, it’s a good time for a refresher on the history of our building and our club, and to introduce our history to those who are new to the club or the area.

Our schoolhouse was built, beginning in 1884, as a one-room school to serve the children from the neighboring farms when their chores permitted them to attend school. The first use as a school was in 1888. The teacher was Florence Leeds, whose duties included building the fire in the schoolhouse stove and sweeping every day. In 1912 a second room was added when a room from Floris school was brought by horse and wagon. This allowed for separating the younger and older children into different rooms. In 1988 we hosted a Centennial celebration with many former Vale School students either attending in person or sending us a written summary of their school days. Our history archives allow us to experience their education in a small, rural country school.

In 1931 Fairfax County closed the school as part of a consolidation process. The building sat empty for several years. In 1934 a local woman named Florence Jodzies gathered some local farm wives together for support and socialization; the group became the Vale Home Demonstration Club. One month after the founding of the club the county announced the sale of the building and land. The women of Vale worked hard to raise funds to buy the schoolhouse. In 1937 they offered $270 for the purchase of the building and property and six months later, in February 1938, the deed for purchase was recorded. How wise and forward-thinking of these women.

In 1950 there were about 90 families living in the Vale Community and 19 members in the Vale Home Demonstration Club. In another act of wisdom and foresight, the women in the club formed a small group called Vale Associates as the decision-making group responsible for maintaining the building, and in 1979 the deed was transferred from Vale Home Demonstration Club to Vale Associates, protecting our ownership of the property. Vale Associates became Friends of Vale Schoolhouse in 2003 with a 501(c)(3) designation, allowing donations to be tax deductible.

The schoolhouse has Fairfax County designation as a historical site (1979), is listed in the Virginia landmarks registry (2011) and also received recognition in the National Register of Historic Places by the Department of the Interior (2011). It has claimed its place in history and claimed a place in the hearts of residents of the Vale Community as our “place to tie to.”

Darlene Williamson
Historic Preservation Chair

Vale Club

Vale Club is dedicated to enriching the lives of women in the Vale community. Our goal is to provide our members with a variety of social, educational, and volunteer opportunities throughout the year. The majority of our members live within the Oakton community. We have multiple member activities each month, primarily scheduled from September through May, with a few Special Interest Groups meeting during the summer months ...
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Vale Schoolhouse

A brief history of The Vale Schoolhouse as recorded by the Fairfax County Public Schools of Yesteryear and Today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUOCcwvqBB0

Vale Schoolhouse, at the corner of Vale and Fox Mill Roads in Oakton, VA, was built c.1884 as a one-room public school. A second room was added in 1912. The school closed in 1931 when many Fairfax County schools were consolidated ...read more

Friends of Vale Schoolhouse, Inc. is Vale Clubs 501(C)3 charity for the maintenance and preservation of the historic Schoolhouse property which was placed on the VA Landmarks Register and the National Register ...read more