Obituary: Alberta Carten, Writer

The former Alexandria Gazette reporter died earlier this month.

Former Alexandria Gazette reporter Alberta Carten, 97, died April 18 in Alexandria, reports The Washington Post. She wrote for the Gazette in the 1960s and 1970s under the pen name Ann Robinson and covered social activities in the Belle Haven area. Carten was born in Clarksburg, W.Va. as Alberta Robinson Annon. She graduated from the University of Chicago in 1935. She was a member of Alexandria's Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill where she was a volunteer and choir singer. Carten also was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, according to her obituary.

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Alexandria Resident, Holocaust Survivor Charlene Schiff Dies

The former Shulamit Perlmutter of Poland told her story to Alexandrians and throughout the country via the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

Charlene Schiff was an integral part of Alexandria’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Alexandria resident and Holocaust survivor donated the large, gold electric candelabra that is part of the city’s commemoration that day. Agudas Achim Rabbi Jack Moline in a column said it was Schiff who inspired Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) to establish the United States' first civic commemoration of the Days of Remembrance of the Sho’ah, or Holocaust. Schiff spoke of her life as a Holocaust survivor and the terrible atrocities she suffered during World War II as well as the will to live. At that time, she was named Shulamit Perlmutter born in Horchow, Poland. Schiff, 83, died Jan. 19, reports the Washington Post. She died of a brain tumor at the …

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Longtime Basketball Coach and Alexandria Native Woollum Dies

Woollum attended Mount Vernon Community School and George Washington High School in Del Ray.

The state’s athletics community is mourning the loss of Alexandria native C.J. Woollum, a longtime men’s basketball coach and athletics director at Christopher Newport University. Woollum passed away Wednesday following a battle with brain cancer. He was 64. Woollum, who attended Mount Vernon Community School and George Washington High School in Del Ray, coached basketball at the Newport News school from 1984 to 2010, winning 502 games and leading the Captains to NCAA Tournament appearances. He also served as the university’s athletic director for 25 years beginning in 1987.  “His tireless efforts had a positive impact on the lives of thousands of student-athletes, coaches and colleagues,” reads a statement on the CNU website. “C.J. led …

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Dixie Pig Owner Adelaide 'Addie' Arthur Dies At 73

Del. Scott Surovell paid tribute to Addie in his 'The Dixie Pig' blog named after a favorite restaurant of his grandmother's.

Hayfield Farms resident and entrepreneur Adelaide 'Addie' Arthur died on Thursday, March 22, 2012. She was 73. Addie's family was the owner and operator of many businesses, opening the Dixie Pig BBQ restaurants, according to the Legacy obituary in The Washington Post. "People from all across the country have raved about the Dixie Pig, including weatherman Willard Scott," the Legacy obituary reads. "The restaurant was also featured on an episode of CSI." According to The Washington Post, the first Dixie Pig opened in 1924 on Powhatan Street in Alexandria. Now it's Vaso's Kitchen, but the old Dixie Pig signage still sits atop the restaurant. The second Dixie Pig location opened on Route 1 in 1946. Although the location at Beacon Hill Road …

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Alexandria's Weber, Author of 1971 Education Study, Dies

Controversial study attributed poor reading skills of low-income students to schools

Alexandria Recalls Betty Ford as 'Engaged, Down-to-Earth'

As funeral services are held this week in California and Michigan, Alexandria recalls Betty Ford as a mother and wife involved in the community, before she stepped onto national stage as first lady.

As Betty Ford's friends, family and national dignitaries gathered Tuesday for funeral services for the former first lady in Palm Desert, Calif., and prepare for services in Grand Rapids, Mich., Alexandria recalled Ford's years in the city where the family raised their four children. The Fords, especially Betty, could often be seen out and about in Alexandria in their years here from the mid 1950s to 1974, whether it was strolling through their Clover neighborhood, visiting their sons’ high school, T.C. Williams, shopping for groceries at Safeway near Bradlee Shopping Center or dining at Chez Andree on East Glebe Road. “I remember going to Safeway with my Mom and Dad, and she would say ‘hi’ and talk to everyone who was up there,” said Lee …

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