Article

1969

Events that took place in Fairfax County in 1969:

January

• January 7 – 20-year-old Margaret A. Wisniewski is struck by two cars and killed as she attempts to cross Columbia Pike at Bennett Drive in Annandale. Wisniewski is taken to Fairfax Hospital, where she is pronounced dead.^[1]
• January 10 – Pendleton R. Wilson is sentenced to three years in prison by Judge Percy H. Thornton for the fatal shooting of 31-year-old construction worker James F. Clark in Springfield on July 26, 1968.^[2]
• January 13 – 44-year-old William B. Waugh is fatally injured when he is crushed by an earth scraper at a construction site in Lorton. Waugh is taken to the Fairfax Hospital, where he dies that afternoon.^[3]
• January 16 – 22-year-old James D. Stover is convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing Francis P. Koerner with a bayonet during a fight at a McLean gas station on July 25, 1968.^[4]
• January 20 – 31-year-old Earl J. Scott settles an argument with his 27-year-old wife Mattie by stabbing her 26 times in her home at 7927 Richmond Highway in Alexandria. Mattie Scott is taken to Fairfax Hospital, where she is pronounced dead.^[5][6]

February

• February 1 – The U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service creates the Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge to provide a habitat for the bald eagle, which was an endangered species at the time.
• February 7 – Karl J. Ingebritsen, a former CIA employee, is named the first executive director of the Reston Homeowners Association, a position roughly analogous to a town manager.^[7]
• February 21 – The door of Annandale High School is damaged when someone sets off a blasting cap in front of the school, shattering the glass.^[8]

March

• March 15 – 13-year-old Charles B. Tenebaum is killed by a 17-year-old hit-and-run driver as he rides his bike along Fox Mill Road near Monroe Street in Herndon.^[9]
• March 15 – 29-year-old Willie E. Rodgers, Sr. unintentionally kills himself on the Capital Beltway in Alexandria when he falls asleep behind the wheel of the mail van he is driving and rams into the rear of a flatbed tractor-trailer. It takes over an hour to free Rodgers from the wreckage.^[10]

April

• April 19 – 58-year-old Sylvia Bailor is fatally stabbed by her 65-year-old common law husband James C. Hill to settle an argument in their home at 5922 Old Falls Road in McLean. Bailor is taken to Fairfax Hospital, where she is pronounced dead.^[11]

May

• May 1 – Dr. Lawrence M. Watts is appointed as the new Superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools by the Fairfax County School Board.^[12]
• May 7 – 31-year-old Earl J. Scott pleads guilty to second-degree murder for fatally stabbing his 27-year-old wife Mattie in Alexandria on January 20.^[13]
• May 29 – Ronald W. Pryor, a member of the Pagan's motorcycle enthusiast club, shoots and nearly beheads 22-year-old Marine Corporal Walley L. Gaddis, Jr. in Lorton, leaving his nude corpse to be discovered two days later in a wooded area near the intersection of Silverbrook and Lorton Roads.^[14][15][16]

June

• June 11 – Disregarding the recommendations of both the Fairfax County Planning Commission and the Fairfax County Hospital and Health Center Commission to purchase a 68-acre site on Lockheed Boulevard for construction of a hospital, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors instead votes to purchase a smaller 40-acre site in Gum Springs from Ellen Parker Harrelson.^[17]
• June 17 – 57-year-old George C. Crown is shot to death in the basement of his home at 7300 Rolling Road in Springfield by 21-year-old Frederick C. Wininger, a Vietnam veteran.^[18][19]
• June 20 – Fairfax County Police Inspectors A. Harry Crosen and Stanley H. Dodson are promoted to the rank of Major.^[20]
• June 20 – Judge Barnard F. Jennings sentences 31-year-old Earl J. Scott to 10 years in prison for the January 20 murder of his wife Mattie in Alexandria.^[21]
• June 28 – After subsisting in the woods in southern Alexandria for 11 days following his murder of George C. Crown in Springfield, Frederick C. Wininger is arrested by Fairfax County Police Officers Daniel Mustaine and Gene King.^[22]

July

• July 1 – American Bar-B-Que & Catering is founded in Lorton.^[23]
• July 3 – 20-year-old Carol Ann Colley is killed when she loses control of her car and crashes into a culvert on Route 66 near the West Ox Road overpass in Fairfax. Colley is taken to Fairfax Hospital, where she is pronounced dead.^[24]
• July 5 – 43-year-old Sergeant First Class Donald M. Bowers is killed while crossing Route 1 near Fort Belvoir when he is struck by a taxi driven by William W. Farrar. Sergeant Bowers is taken to Fairfax Hospital, where he is pronounced dead.^[25]

September

• September 29 – The trial to determine whether the City of Alexandria will be allowed to annex 8.3 square miles of Fairfax County begins before the three-judge panel of Barnard F. Jennings, Edward P. Simpson and James C. Godwin.^[26]
• September 29 – 36-year-old Henry S. Robinson chases his former girlfriend, 40-year-old Ethel J. Marsh, into her neighbor's townhouse at 7309 Jon Paul Lane in Alexandria and shoots her to death in an upstairs bedroom. Robinson flees the scene and is found suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his house at 6320 Hibbling Avenue in Springfield. ^[27]

October

• October 13 – 4-year-old Dorothy Jean Diggs is killed when she is struck by a car door as she attempts to jump from the moving vehicle, which had rolled backwards for nearly a block on Laburnum Street in McLean. She is taken to Arlington Hospital, where she is pronounced dead.^[28]
• October 20 – Following a petition drive by the Better Transit Now Committee, the AB&W Transit Company begins offering local bus service between Springfield and the Bradlick and Landmark Shopping Centers.^[29]

November

• November 1 – 46-year-old Milton C. Payne is struck and killed by an Army bus as he walks along U. S. Route 1 in Lorton when he steps into the roadway and is clipped by the bus's mirror.^[30]
• November 9 – 19-year-old Richard E. Smith is shotgunned to death by 23-year-old Larry Lucas at a party at 7606 Broadway Drive in Falls Church. While searching for Lucas, 27-year-old Falls Church Police Officer Arthur L. Bennett is struck by pellets from a shotgun when 5 other people attempt to revenge themselves on Smith's killer.^[31]
• November 19 – Citing the low pay of the office, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Frederick A. Babson, Jr. announces his resignation.^[32][33]
• November 24 – 24-year-old Willy T. Flowers fatally injures 79-year-old Mary M. Merryman when he loses control of the truck he is driving and plows into the car she is riding in on Huntington Avenue at Kathryn Street in Alexandria. Merryman is taken to the Alexandria Hospital, where she dies on December 2.^[34]

December

• December 7 – 25-year-old Army Specialist Charles R. Harris is fatally shot by 30-year-old Sergeant Leonard L. Malenovsky to settle a dispute between the two soldiers in Ginn's Restaurant in Engleside.^[35]
• December 10 – Fairfax County School Board chairman Dr. William S. Hoofnagle is appointed Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors by Circuit Court Judge Arthur W. Sinclair.^[36]
• December 13 – Following a high speed chase from the City of Alexandria into Fairfax County that ended in a crash, Alexandria Police Private Robert T. Osborne shoots 27-year-old Floyd A. Byrd once in the back of the head after arresting him on Route 1 near Fort Hunt Road in Alexandria. Osborne claims his revolver went off accidentally when both men stumbled and fell on muddy ground.^[37][38]
• December 23 – 12-year-old Patrick J. McCaffrey drowns when he falls through the ice while skating on a pond at the Springfield Country Club in Springfield. His corpse is recovered by divers about two and a half hours later, 15 feet from shore.^[39]
• December 24 – On his way to join his wife at a holiday party, 22-year-old Kenneth Ball is killed by 33-year-old Robert C. Plummer when he T-bones Ball's car on Route 50 at Westmoreland Road in Falls Church. Ball is taken to the Fairfax Hospital, where he is pronounced dead.^[40]

Crime

There were 8 murders and other homicides in Fairfax County in 1969.

References

1. ↑ "Girl, 20, Is Killed, Hit by 2 Cars on Columbia Pike" Evening Star, 8 Jan. 1969, Four Star Stocks Final, p. 28. NewsBank. Accessed 7 Jan. 2018.
2. ↑ Klose, Kevin. "Wilson Gets 3 Years in Triangle Slaying." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): E5. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Jan 11 1969. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.
3. ↑ " Workman Killed In Lorton Accident" Evening Star, 14 Jan. 1969, Four Star Stocks Final, p. 29. NewsBank. Accessed 7 Jan. 2018.
4. ↑ "Arlington Man Guilty In Slaying With Bayonet" Evening Star, 17 Jan. 1969, Four Star Stocks Final, p. 54. NewsBank. Accessed 17 Dec. 2017.
5. ↑ "Woman Slain, Husband Held." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Jan 22 1969. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
6. ↑ "Man Gets 10 Years in Slaying." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Jun 21 1969. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
7. ↑ "Reston Fills Group Post." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): C17. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Feb 08 1969. Web. 24 June 2012.
8. ↑ "Blast Damages Door of Annandale School." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): A22. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Feb 22 1969. Web. 21 Feb. 2012.
9. ↑ "Youth, 17, is Arrested in Fatal Fairfax Hit-Run." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 49. Mar 16 1969. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
10. ↑ "Beltway Crash Fatal To Norfolk Mail Man." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 49. Mar 16 1969. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
11. ↑ "Va. Woman Stabbed Fatally." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 27. Apr 20 1969. ProQuest. Web. 9 Feb. 2017.
12. ↑ Klose, Kevin. "New York Educator Appointed to Head Fairfax School System." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 2. May 02 1969. ProQuest. Web. 7 May 2014.
13. ↑ "Fairfax Man Admits Guilt in Stabbing." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. May 08 1969. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
14. ↑ "Nude Body of Man Identified as Marine." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Jun 02 1969. ProQuest. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.
15. ↑ "'Cycle Rider Held For Gaddis Death." Daytona Beach Morning Journal 21 July 1970: 10. Print.
16. ↑ Curry, William N. "'LSD Tripper' Guilty in Marine's Death." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Dec 10 1970. ProQuest.Web. 24 Aug. 2016 .
17. ↑ Bredemeier, Kenneth. "Gum Springs Site Picked for Hospital." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Jun 12 1969. ProQuest. Web. 25 Jan. 2018.
18. ↑ Bredemeier, Kenneth. "Former AID Audiovisual Specialist is found Slain in Rural Fairfax Home." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): A3. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Jun 19 1969. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.
19. ↑ "Court Admits Confession of Murder." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): A17. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Oct 07 1969. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.
20. ↑ "Police Promotions." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): B2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Jun 21 1969. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
21. ↑ "Man Gets 10 Years in Slaying." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Jun 21 1969. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
22. ↑ "GI Arrested 11 Days After Fairfax Slaying." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): C5. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Jun 30 1969. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.
23. ↑ "American Bar-B-Que & Catering." Lorton, VA Patch. Patch.com. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
24. ↑ "Woman, 20, Killed in Rte. 66 Crash." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Jul 04 1969. ProQuest. Web. 9 July 2017.
25. ↑ "Taxi Hits, Kills GI Crossing Rte. 1" The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 21. Jul 06 1969. ProQuest. Web. 9 July 2017.
26. ↑ Bredemeier, Kenneth. "Hearing Set Today on Alexandria Bid to Get County Land." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Sep 29 1969. ProQuest. Web. 16 June 2017.
27. ↑ Bredemeier, Kenneth. "Fairfax Mother of 4 Killed; Accused Slayer Shoots Self." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Sep 30 1969. ProQuest. Web. 2 June 2014.
28. ↑ "McLean Girl Killed as Car Rolls by Tree." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Oct 14 1969. ProQuest. Web. 9 July 2017.
29. ↑ "Local Bus Service Starts in Springfield." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1996). Oct 21 1969. Web. 3 Dec. 2012.
30. ↑ "Pedestrian Dies After being Hit by Belvoir Bus." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Nov 03 1969. ProQuest. Web. 9 July 2017.
31. ↑ "Officer Shot in Fairfax." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): C1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1994). Nov 10 1969. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.
32. ↑ "Babson Quits As Fairfax Superviser" Evening Star, 19 Nov. 1969, Three Star NIGHT FINAL, p. 33. NewsBank. Accessed 14 Jan. 2018.
33. ↑ Klose, Kevin. "Babson Quits Board in Fairfax." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): B1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Nov 20 1969. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
34. ↑ "Woman Dies from Injuries in Accident." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Dec 03 1969. ProQuest. Web. 9 July 2017.
35. ↑ "Soldier Arrested in Fatal Shooting." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): C4. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Dec 09 1969. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.
36. ↑ Bredemeier, Kenneth. "School Unit's Hoofnagle Named Chairman of Fairfax Supervisors." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): A1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877-1995). Dec 11 1969. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
37. ↑ "Police Shooting Held Accident." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Dec 15 1969. ProQuest. Web. 26 Dec. 2017.
38. ↑ "Police View of Slaying is Backed." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Dec 31 1969. ProQuest. Web. 26 Dec. 2017.
39. ↑ "Boy Is Drowned, Second Skater Saved by Girl" The Evening Star, 24 Dec. 1969, p. B-2. NewsBank. Accessed 27 Aug. 2017.
40. ↑ "Man Dies on Way to Party." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973): 1. Dec 26 1969. ProQuest. Web. 9 July 2017.

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Fairfax County by Year
1968	·	1969	·	1970

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