Milestones
Our new Milestone's column is looking for news of our neighbors-- honors and awards, graduations, honor rolls, retirements, births and deaths. If you have information for Milestones, please call 703-941-0112 or email ckdonlan@aol.com.
Lake Barcroft was well represented on this year's J.E.B. Stuart Swim Team.
Assistant Coach is David Penland of Waterway Drive. David is a 1996 Stuart grad and a 2000 graduate of James Madison.
"The kids love him. He's so positive," said Norene Thomas, whose son Charlie swims with Stuart. "He knows how to give good feedback."
Both the Girls and Boys teams came in third out of seven teams in our District. Sixteen Stuart swimmers went to the Regionals including Lake Barcroft's Katy Connor, Ben Cooper, Maggie Lecos, Paul McKeag, and Will Rowcliffe. Katy went to the Virginia State Meet in Virginia Beach. She placed fifth in the 200IM and eighth in the 100 Breaststroke.
"I was proud to see that both Katy Connor and Maggie Lecos were part of five record-breaking teams," said Coach Penland. "Maggie broke the record for the Individual 100-yard Backstroke. Katy broke her own record in the 200 IM and the 100 Breaststroke, and they were both on Relay teams that broke the 200-Freestyle Relay record and the 200-Medley."
Alan Ladwig of Beachway Drive is the new CEO of the Zero Gravity Corporation (www.zerogcorp.com), a space entertainment and tourism company. Using a modified Boeing 727, ZERO-G offers a weightless flight experience similar to what astronauts encounter in space. As the jet goes through a series of roller-coaster-like maneuvers, passengers float gravity-free in the cabin for 30 to 45 seconds. Before joining ZERO-G, Ladwig managed a space consulting firm, and was the head of policy at NASA. Source: 703-575-9635.
Julie Abrams, 87, the wife of the late Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, died on Jan. 31 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. The Abrams made their home on Jay Miller Drive from 1957.The Abrams loved to boat and fish on the Lake - from the shore or off the side of their rowboat. Mrs. Abrams loved to have her grandchildren spend summers here, and most learned their basic skills for fishing success at her side at Lake Barcroft. Mrs. Abrams never missed a chance to drop a line in the water whether it was the rivers in Germany, trolling in the Gulf of Siam, deep sea fishing off Bermuda. Once, at a cocktail party at a waterside home in Hawaii, she requested a pole from the hostess. She proceeded to hike up her dress into her belt and wade out into the water.
Family lore has it that the grandkids have sunk at least two rowboats and accidentally dropped eight electric motors into the Lake.
Mrs. Abrams was born in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada and raised in West Newton, Mass. She graduated from Vassar with a degree in English, and married Creighton Abrams in 1936. Gen. Abrams died in 1974.
Mrs. Abrams active in military groups and was a 50-year member of the National Girl Scouts and served on its Executive Council.
She is survived by six children: Jeanne Daly of Lake Barcroft, Noel Bradley of Cheektowaga, N.Y., and Elizabeth Doyle of Gallatin, Tenn., Creighton W. Abrams, Jr. of Springfield, John N. Abrams of Annandale, and Robert B. Abrams of Carlisle Barracks, Pa. She also leaves 19 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.