I was very sad to hear the news that Fairfax City Councilwomen Joan Cross has passed away after battling with cancer. And this isn't just generic condolences, either. I was a spry 25 year old when I joined the Fairfax City GOP committee way back in 2006 . . . and if you know anything about Fairfax City, you would know I was about 20 years younger than the next oldest person. While many of the members of the City Council would call themselves Republicans or ask for our support, Joan Cross (and Patrice Winter) where the only Council members that made every monthly meeting. Her and her husband Ron were always sitting there. Because nobody else would really do it, Jim Kaplan asked me to be his vice-chairman for a little while, and while I was sometimes stumbling my way through things Joan would always be very supportive and very interested in what I was doing. The last time I saw her was back during Steve Hunt's special election campaign; they asked me to speak before the City committee to try and get some volunteers. Joan was very excited to hear I was engaged and things were going well. I really value the time I spent on those nights at City Hall with our little group of Republicans in a part of Fairfax county that can be politically very disingenious with the insistance that they are "independent." There was also the time I was put in charge of setting up the yearly city committee dinner that doubled as our big fundraiser in 2007. Through some of my blogger channels, I was able to get Bill Bolling to come. I was also in charge of the fundraising because Jim was a federal employee. A lot of people helped me, because I didn't have much experience, and Joan was one of them. I got to know a lot of those people on the city committee well, and I think they liked having me around if anything because I was so young and excited about everything. Those were good people to learn from, and Joan Cross was a women who did politics the right way.
She was a wonderful women. Clearly, since she was constantly reelected, the people of Fairfax City respected her leadership. And she was a good Republican, always working the polls and helping the party. She will be missed.
God bless you, Joan Cross.
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