Vola and David Lawson’s sons: McArthur Meyers (left), David Lawson (center), and Peter Lawson (right). Photo by Vernon Miles.
There’s no shortage of memorials in Alexandria to Vola Lawson. There’s the Vola Lawson Animal Shelter in West Eisenhower. There’s the Vola Lawson lobby at City Hall. But among her friends, family, and peers gathered in Parkfairfax, there was unanimous approval that the most fitting tribute to Vola and David Lawson was across the street from their home and in the heart of the neighborhood they fought to save. The new plaque at the corner of Gunston Road and Valley Drive, commissioned by the Parkfairfax Condominium Owner’s Association and unveiled on Sept. 19, honors their years of public service in the city and in the neighborhood.
“This was the spot for the next high rise,” said David Lawson, son of Vola and the elder David Lawson, pointing towards the woods behind the new memorial. “In the middle of the larger metropolitan area, Parkfairfax is one of those neighborhoods that feels more like a small town.” David Lawson looks around and can point out the apartment he grew up in and the streets he learned to ride a bicycle on. For an event that drew nearly every member of the City Council and the mayor, it’s a fairly quiet Saturday in Parkfairfax. More traffic is headed towards the yard sale down the street. For David Lawson, it feels comfortable. It feels like home. And it brings back stories about his parents.
One day, they were driving down a nearby road and saw a broken down bus full of migrant workers. As they passed the same bus on their way home, Vola Lawson reached out to the community and the local church and organized a series of car trips to retrieve the stranded workers and house them in the neighborhood for the night.
Vola and David Lawson’s civic activism is legendary among the their gathered friends and family, having their small home be the the centerpiece of a political event would not have been out of the ordinary. Andy Evans recalled working with them in the 1970s on the campaign trail to elect Ira Robinson, the city’s first black council member since Reconstruction. For Evans, the campaign started, and was basically run, out of their home in Parkfairfax. Four weeks before the election, however, a young black man’s murder in Del Ray sparked riots in the city. Evans thought it was all over, but Robinson took Evans and David Lawson with him right into the heart of the riots. The three of them walked through the neighborhood in turmoil, and Evans recalled the extremely tall and very white David Lawson seeming somewhat out of place. But he followed the group closely and they came across an Alexandria police officer who’d gotten caught in a crowd during the riots. The three of them, Robinson in particular, helped to talk the crowd down and let the police officer go.
“It was a defining moment,” Evans said, “it was the moment that changed the campaign.”
Robinson was elected to the council a few weeks later.
“When the black and white community were separated, they were right in the middle,” said Evans.
This was the Vola Lawson that Mayor William Euille first met when he was a teenager, and later the same Vola Lawson that he asked for advice before running for City Council.
“Their loss has devastated us,” said Euille. “But they encouraged us to keep caring and to keep protecting our environment.”
While Vola Lawson brought new development to Alexandria as city manager, another of her famous battles was keeping the new Redskins stadium out of Potomac Yard. Vola Lawson and Mayor Patsy Ticer stood up to Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and Redskins owner Jack Cooke to maintain Alexandria’s historic atmosphere and preserve the future of Potomac Yard.
“Vola and David were my friends,” Ticer recalled at the memorial’s dedication. “It was a great memory to have with her, and she’s still with my every day.”
The Lawsons’ biggest fight, though, was keeping developers from taking over Parkfairfax. Ronnie Yoder, one of the cofounders of the Parkfairfax Citizens Association, recalled how Vola took on the residential developer who hoped to turn the open space where the plaque sits today into high rise apartments. Vola took the fight to the City Council and won.
“I know how we loved Parkfairfax and how we and all of its current residents love it,” said Yoder. “It very likely would not be here without Vola and David.”
“It’s a very appropriate way to remember them,” said Ticer, “among these trees.”