Meet This Year's Braddock District Lord and Lady Fairfax

Charles Dane has been retired for 13 years but you wouldn’t know it from the busy volunteer schedule he keeps. His wife, Dottie, still works and finds time to keep an equally daunting volunteer schedule. So it’s no surprise that the Danes are being honored as this year’s Braddock District Lord and Lady Fairfax as part of Celebrate Fairfax.

The tradition of honoring the Lords and Ladies Fairfax began in 1984 as a way to recognize the accomplishments of the outstanding citizens of Fairfax County, according to Meagan Butkus, managing director of the festival now in its 30th year.

Each member of the Board of Supervisors selects two people from their district who have “demonstrated outstanding volunteer service, heroism or other special accomplishments” to receive the award. The Lords and Ladies are feted by the Board of Supervisors ahead of Celebrate Festival, which takes place June 10-12.

The secret to the Danes’  success as volunteers is combining service with things they are passionate about, the Annandale couple told Patch. For example, Mrs. Dane loves to quilt and is president of the Fairfax Chapter of Quilters Unlimited. For her husband, it’s education and organ donation. As a kidney transplant recipient, Dane serves on the Fairfax County Commission on Organ and Tissue Donation.

“We do our thing because we enjoy doing it,” said Mrs. Dane, who sells real estate with one of the couple’s two children. Her husband retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1998, then began volunteering in earnest. He figures he now spends four to five hours a day on volunteer work, seven days a week.

In addition to his work as vice chair of the Commission on Organ and Tissue Donation, Dane is a member of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations, He also volunteers with or has volunteered for the Fairfax County School Board, the Braddock District Citizens Budget Committee, the Fairfax Committee of 100, Stone Haven Civic Association and National Association of Active & Retired Federal Employees.

When asked what volunteer endeavors he enjoys most, Dane said “learning.” His wife said that he is so passionate about education that he testified before the School Board just two weeks after getting his transplant.  

Mrs. Dane is president of the Stone Haven Civic Association for the third time, and has held every key position in that association as well. She also is membership chair for Braddock District Council and scholarship chair of the local chapter of the Philanthropic Educational Organization. A scholarship is given each year in her name for a girl graduating from a Northern Virginia high school.

Mrs. Dane also is president-elect of the Fairfax Chapter of Quilters Unlimited, which has made quilts for injured troops, battered women and children and Habitat for Humanity, among others.  

The Danes were college sweethearts at Cornell University and moved to Annandale in 1977 from North Dakota. Not only does Mrs. Dane work with her son, but he volunteers as well, serving on the Community Advisory Action Board.   

Braddock Supervisor John Cook said he chose the Danes as Lord and Lady Fairfax because they are “great examples” of people who are engaged in the community.

“They both really represent what I’m trying to encourage people to do in the community,” Cook said.

What advice do the Danes have for would-be volunteers? They say get involved in your own community, because one person really can make a difference.  Looking for ideas? Mrs. Dane suggests going to www.fairfaxcounty.gov, type in “volunteer” in the search box and over 1,700 openings will show up, or check out www.volunteerfairfax.org.

Betty Washington and Frank S. Vajda are the Lord and Lady Fairfax for Mason District. Learn more about the Lords and Ladies .