1956
Events that took place in Fairfax County in 1956:
Contents
January
- January 1 – Following a New Year's Eve celebration, 45-year-old retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Robert B. Rueger drunkenly shoots 35-year-old obnoxious party guest Leonard Dodson in the driveway of Reuger's house on Beulah Road in Franconia. The party had been broken up by a fistfight between Rueger and Dodson, and as Dodson was leaving, Reuger shot him six times, the last three after Dodson had collapsed on the ground, just in time for Fairfax County Police Private Robert E. Pillow to witness the shooting as he and Private Phillip Powell pulled up in their squad car.[1][2][3]
February
- February 13 – Trial Justice Court Judge Harry L. Carrico is elected to a newly-created seat on the bench of the 16th Circuit Court.[4]
May
- May 20 – 21-year-old Wayne T. Hulvey is killed when he drunkenly falls out of a car driven by off-duty Fairfax County Police Private Robert E. Pillow on South Kings Highway near State Route 1440 in Alexandria.[5]
- May 27 – The Emmanuel Lutheran Church is formally organized in Vienna as a unit of the American Lutheran Synod.[6][7]
June
- June 22 – 45-year-old retired Navy officer Robert B. Rueger pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting Leonard Dodson following a fistfight at a turkey shoot at Rueger's Franconia farm on January 1.[8]
August
- August 28 – The Fairfax County Fair begins its 10-day run in Annandale.[9]
- August 28 – Circuit Court Judge Arthur Sinclair sentences retired Navy officer Robert B. Rueger to five years in prison for fatally shooting 35-year-old Leonard Dodson at a turkey shoot on Rueger's Franconia farm on January 1.[10]
September
- September 28 – 37-year-old Phillip L. Terrell, Jr. empties a .38 caliber revolver into 37-year-old Sam Brown to settle an argument at Brown's house at 1722 Richmond Avenue in Alexandria.[11]
October
- October 1 – 39-year-old Branford Dews fatally shoots his 21-year-old wife Celestine at their cabin in the Merrifield region of Fairfax.[12]
- October 14 – Circuit Court Judge Arthur W. Sinclair sentences 19-year-old Robert L. Sigmon to life in prison for the March 18, 1955 murder of his aunt, Isabel Harris.[13]
November
- November 8 – 16-year-old laborer Robert F. Jerman is mortally injured when the side of a gravel pit on Franconia Road in Springfield collapses, burying him up to his neck. Jerman is dug out and taken to Alexandria Hospital, where he dies.[14]
- November 14 – 7-year-old Barbara Jean Minnick and her 4-year-old sister, Gloria Kay, are mortally injured by 27-year-old Melvin L. Carney when he runs over the sisters with the gravel truck he is driving on Franconia Road in the Franconia region of Alexandria. Barbara Jean dies in the Alexandria Hospital two hours later, while her sister lingers until November 16.[15]
December
- December 1 – 19-year-old Walter E. Critchfield loses control of his car on Telegraph Road near S. Kings Highway in Alexandria and crashes into the nearby woods, throwing both Critchfield and his passenger, 17-year-old William N. Ennis, Jr. from the car, where they lay injured for several hours in the snow before they are discovered. Ennis suffers a brain injury and falls into a coma that will last for 21 months before he finally dies on August 21, 1958.[16][17]
- December 13 – The Fairfax County School Board votes 5-1 to sell $3 million in bonds despite having to pay an interest rate of 4.74%, which equates to having to pay an extra $735,000 over the 25-year term of the bonds. The money is to be used to construct Graham Road Elementary School and Kent Gardens Elementary School, as well as finance additions to Herndon High School and three other elementary schools.[18]
References
- ↑ "Retired Officer Charged In Fairfax Party Slaying" Evening Star, 2 Jan. 1956, Holiday, p. 1,11. NewsBank. Accessed 11 Aug. 2017.
- ↑ "Lt. Cmdr. Reuger Held for Grand Jury Hearing." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 42. Jan 12 1956. ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2017.
- ↑ "Navy Veteran Sentenced in Manslaughter." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 3. Aug 29 1956. ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2017.
- ↑ "Hosmer, Carrico Voted to Bench." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 18. Feb 14 1956. ProQuest. Web. 15 Sep. 2014 .
- ↑ "Auto Death Investigated in Fairfax." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 3. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). May 22 1956. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.
- ↑ "Lutherans to Organize Vienna Church." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 28. May 26 1956. ProQuest. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
- ↑ "History." Emmanuel Lutheran Church. Emmanuel Lutheran Church, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
- ↑ "Guilty Plea is Entered by Rueger." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 25. Jun 23 1956. ProQuest. Web. 2 Jan. 2018.
- ↑ Graves, Aubrey. "Art, Animals Feature Fairfax County Fair." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 16. Aug 29 1956. ProQuest. Web. 3 Aug. 2014.
- ↑ "Navy Veteran Sentenced in Manslaughter." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 3. Aug 29 1956. ProQuest. Web. 2 Jan. 2018.
- ↑ "Alexandria Man Held in Slaying." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 24. Sep 29 1956. ProQuest. Web. 26 Jan. 2017 .
- ↑ "2 Held in Fairfax Murder Cases." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Oct 20 1956. ProQuest. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.
- ↑ "County Youth Gets Life in Aunt's Slaying." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 17. Oct 06 1956. ProQuest. Web. 13 Aug. 2016.
- ↑ "Boy Laborer Killed when Pit Caves in." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Nov 09 1956. ProQuest. Web. 27 June 2017.
- ↑ "2d Child Dies Victim of Truck." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): A15. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Nov 17 1956. Web. 7 Jan. 2012.
- ↑ "Parents Forgive Driver as Son Remains in Coma." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Jul 04 1957. ProQuest. Web. 1 Nov. 2016 .
- ↑ "Area Youth in Coma 21 Months Dies; Victim found in Snow After Crash." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Aug 23 1958. ProQuest.Web. 1 Nov. 2016.
- ↑ Guinn, Muriel. "Fairfax Sells School Issue at 4.74 Rate." The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959): 1. Dec 14 1956. ProQuest. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
| Fairfax County by Year | ||||
| 1955 | · | 1956 | · | 1957 |
