Byrd Street's 2024 Citizens of the Year
Ellen Wessel and Dan Hornick honored for their work on behalf of community
As 2024 draws to a close, Byrd Street honors two Citizens of the Year for their remarkable dedication to the greater good: Ellen Wessel, a tireless community volunteer whom a close friend describes as an “ethical humanist,” and Dr. Daniel Hornick, the extraordinarily focused and forward-looking superintendent of the Orange County Public Schools.
Ellen Wessel: The “ultimate civic-minded person”
Let’s start off with Ellen Wessel, 73, who grew up in White Plains, N.Y., and New York City and lived in northern Virginia before moving to Orange in 2006. In the 1970s, just a few years after graduating from college, she cofounded Moving Comfort, a pioneering women’s athletic wear company. As a competitive long-distance runner, Wessel was determined to fill the gap in comfortable, stylish clothes for runners and other female athletes.
Wessel told me that she and her business partner, Elizabeth Goeke, complemented each other well. Goeke “was the merchant. I was the missionary or the messenger. She loved selling; she loved design. She was an entrepreneur driven by the fun of it, the joy of bringing products to market. I was more excited about motivating people.”
Moving Comfort’s slogan—“A fit woman is a powerful woman”—resonated with a great many women and girls. However, Wessel said that her male colleagues in the athletic wear industry sometimes took it the wrong way. For those assuming that power meant domination, she explained that “power can be for good, not dominance.” That’s a credo Wessel continues to live by.
Four years after the two women sold Moving Comfort, Goeke moved to Orange County to run a B&B with her husband, Jay Billie. At that point in her life, Wessel could have lived pretty much anywhere, but she, too, chose Orange County because she wanted to be near her close friends. When Billie found a house on Little Skyline Drive that he thought Wessel would like, she trusted his judgment, bought the house and happily embraced Orange County’s rural beauty.
Instead of settling into an early retirement, she took a position at James Madison’s Montpelier as executive assistant to the estate’s president and CEO, and often ran to work instead of driving. She retired from Montpelier in 2018 and increased her involvement in community service. She credits her mother, the late Yvette Wessel, with inspiring her to work on behalf of others: “She was always doing something or coming up with a new thing to do for the community. The older I get, the more I see how much she influenced me and how I spend my time. She was my biggest influence.”
Kat Imhoff, former president and CEO of Montpelier, knows Wessel well. The two have stayed friends since their time working together and meet up every month for a hike. Imhoff said that Wessel is “such an understated person” that it can take a while to find out about her considerable accomplishments in the business world, but the pleasures of being around her, including her sense of humor, are quickly apparent.
In her view, Wessel is a role model, especially in this fraught era. “She’s an ethical humanist,” Imhoff said. “She tries not to stay in her bubble and puts herself in situations where she gets to know a wide variety of people in our highly polarized and siloed world.”
Elaborating on the challenges of working across the aisle in one’s daily life, Imhoff said, “I think it’s really hard. It requires a degree of empathy and kindness that I know I don’t always have. I think Ellen spends a lot of her time figuring out how to interact with people in a kind and compassionate way, whether she agrees with them or not.”
Imhoff added, however, that Wessel does not hold back when her foundational principles are on the line. “She’s very passionate about democracy and not willing to put up with any prejudice. She’s fierce in that way. But it would be unfair to make her sound like she’s not fun. She’s fun, she’s adventurous—she’s going alone to Tanzania” in the coming year.
Among her volunteer activities, Wessel is communications committee chair of the Orange County African American Historical Society (OCAAHS), program chair of the Rotary Club of Orange, treasurer of the Orange County Democrats and co-chair (with Sunithi Gnanadoss) of the Women’s Diversity Forum. She also does a weekly shift at the Love Outreach Food Pantry in Orange.
OCAAHS President Bruce Monroe has known Wessel a long time and considers her a dear friend and an asset to the county.
“She made the effort to introduce herself to the neighbors, creating connections and fostering a sense of community.” —Bruce Monroe
He wrote, “I met Ellen soon after she moved to the neighborhood where I grew up and where my 94-year-old father still resides. She made the effort to introduce herself to the neighbors, creating connections and fostering a sense of community. On her early morning walks, she would kindly pick up the morning newspaper from the end of our driveway and drop it off at the kitchen door. My father adores her for that and her many other kind deeds. Additionally, she actively participates in community clean-up efforts at the historic Fisherman’s Lodge Cemetery. Ellen is always ready to assist in any way possible, consistently making valuable contributions to our community.”
They have gotten to know each other well in their collaborative work for OCAAHS. “As president, working alongside her has been an absolute pleasure. I have witnessed firsthand the passion and commitment she brings to every endeavor. Her leadership is truly inspiring, and I am deeply grateful for her dedication,” Monroe said. “Ellen and I have worked together on voter registration drives, restoration of rights and other initiatives to encourage citizens to engage in their communities and participate in civic life. She is a strong advocate for human and civil rights and is equally passionate about the protection of animals.”
Like Monroe, Jamie McConnell has gotten to know Wessel, a fellow Rotarian, over many years. He wrote to me, “Ellen Wessel has been our neighbor and a cherished friend since she moved to Orange, along with her constant sidekick, Bug, a Jack Russell Terrier. Ellen has been, and continue to be, the ultimate civic-minded person as both neighbor and close friend.”
McConnell said, “Aside from all of her community activities, Ellen is a great leader and an interesting person partly due to her extensive travel and inquiring nature. She is always ready with a great book recommendation (or five!). The arts, travel, family and fun seem to be her stock in trade.”
Though she acknowledges that Orange County is much more conservative than the places where she previously lived, Wessel likes living in a small community where she’s constantly running into people she knows, and she fervently believes in the values of the civic organizations she supports. But, conscious of the risk of becoming insulated, she intends to keep seeking out people whose views differ from hers: “I just become more and more aware of all the gray. I’m fine with the ambiguity.”
And now, meet our other Citizen of the Year, Dan Hornick.
Dan Hornick: “The right person at the right time” for Orange County schools
During his third year as Orange County’s superintendent of schools, Dr. Daniel Hornick has had his hands full. He’s dealt with the lingering impact of the pandemic on student achievement and attendance, plus one homegrown dilemma after another.
This school year alone, in addition to the complexities of the usual tight budget, he has faced down a water crisis affecting schools and households at the eastern end of the county (including his own), the school board’s 3-2 decision to withdraw from the Virginia School Boards Association and the shocking discovery of a gun in a child’s backpack at Orange Elementary School. Time and again, Hornick, 41, has concentrated on the well-being of students and staff and stayed calm in the face of an often divided school board. Most recently, he has played a key part in moving the county, at last, toward selection of a building site for a Career and Technical Education (CTE) facility.
Outside work, Hornick, 41, enjoys family time with his wife, Stacy, and their children, Daniel and Madelyn, and, like Wessel, participates in many civic organizations. He’s active in the Rotary Club of Orange, the East Orange Economic Development Partners Group, the Orange County Chamber of Commerce and the Orange County Education Foundation. He and his family belong to Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Fredericksburg.
When I asked Hornick which of his accomplishments he’s especially proud of, he wanted to share credit with his administrative team.“I am proud of our collective efforts to increase the amount of targeted employee recognition,” he wrote to me. “In addition to the individual efforts being made at each building, we have added a division-wide focus through recognition activities at board meetings and our OC CHAMP program.”
He continued, “I am also proud of the academic achievement gains we have seen over the past two years. While it is important to recognize we still have gaps to fill and areas of improvement, we have seen some remarkable gains that are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our educators.”
Of note, Hornick also pointed to work done to upgrade and generally spruce up school buildings. “I am very focused on the appearance and efficiency of our physical plants. Over the past few years, we have made some key improvements to our facilities that have led to improved and more efficient learning and workspaces. Our maintenance and custodial teams are filled with tremendously hardworking and skilled employees who have a vested interest in properly maintaining our buildings. I am excited about the work we will continue to do in the future,” Hornick wrote.
Hornick’s energetic leadership of the Orange County schools has attracted admiring attention.
School board member Sandy Harrington (District 5) said, “I think that the Orange County school division is very fortunate to have Superintendent Hornick leading us. I’ve been absolutely amazed at his ability to handle multitasking and huge areas of concern, including the political issues going on in our county and nationwide.” Harrington said that based on her 17 years working in the upper administration of school divisions, Hornick “is at the top of the list of those I’ve had the pleasure and honor to work with.”
She noted that she’s impressed by the loyalty he has earned from his administrative staff: “We have people in our school division who could walk away tomorrow and retire.” They haven’t done that, in her opinion, because “they just believe in his leadership, and I do, too.” Looking ahead, she said, “My impression is that this is a young man at the beginning of a career that is going to go so far. He has the capacity, ability and willingness to manage multiple challenges, multiple personalities.”
“We are a stronger, better community because of Dan Hornick.” —Julia Lyman
Julia Lyman, who regularly attends school board meetings and participated in Hornick’s budget roundtable discussion in the fall, also speaks highly of the superintendent. She commented, “Dr. Hornick does his incredibly demanding job with vision, enthusiasm, good humor, patience and genuine concern for every student, teacher and staff member in the Orange County Public Schools. As an advisory board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Orange, I can’t say enough about his strong commitment to ensuring that kids and their families continue to have a safe and affordable option for after-school and summertime enrichment. We are a stronger, better community because of Dan Hornick.”
Another of Hornick’s supporters is Bill Hager, founding president of the Orange County High School Alumni and Friends Foundation. A longtime supporter of local CTE, Hager has helped raised large sums for scholarships awarded to OCHS graduates pursuing CTE training and licensure. Of Hornick, Hager wrote, “As we develop our new CTE center, Dr. Hornick is the right person at the right time to lead this effort. His dedication to education and energy will leave a legacy that will benefit generations of OCHS students and their families.”
Ellen Wessel and Dan Hornick, thank you for all that you do for the people of Orange County!
Toy Box helps bring Christmas cheer to 875 local children
It’s a wrap on the Orange County Toy Box for another year. On Dec. 21, volunteers distributed toys and other gifts to 315 local families in need. That translates to 875 children, including 40 foster children, according to the nonprofit’s founding director, Donna Waugh-Robinson.
In addition to the gifts that local residents dropped off at various collection sites around Orange, the Toy Box received cash donations. With those funds, the volunteer crew purchased more toys, plus gift cards. “Each family received a $35 restricted Food Lion gift card, and larger families received two gift cards. At Walmart, we spent $60 on children birth-age 9 and $70 on children ages 10-17,” Waugh-Robinson said.
Lots of kids wanted bicycles for Christmas, and the Toy Box worked hard to fulfill those requests, with a big boost from the Orange County Sheriff's Office. “The bikes came from some private individuals, but 90% came through a Walmart grant to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, ‘Shop with a Cop.’ They use our list of bike requests and match them up as best they can with the funds they are given. It’s a huge help for our budget,” Waugh-Robinson explained.
Although the Toy Box had a successful year, private donations were down by $12,000 compared to recent years. Waugh-Robinson told me, “We dipped into our reserves and hope people will continue to donate. We will continue to apply for grants like we do every year, but the community donations are also needed.”
She added, “We are a grassroots, 100% volunteer-run nonprofit with 96% of all donations going directly to the children. Our few expenses include mailings, postage, supplies such as tags, bags, markers and tape that we use to pack for each child, and a few IT services.”
Thank you, Donna and all Toy Box volunteers, for everything you do for our local families in need.
RSA to hold hearings on proposed rate increases
If you get your water from the Rapidan Service Authority, brace yourself for rate increases. For information on the proposed increases and a schedule of hearings (to take place in early January), click here.
Orange County’s big stories of the (partial) year
Byrd Street launched in June 2024. Here are 10 major news stories from June through December.
Lawsuit keeps massive Wilderness Crossing project on hold (Aug. 13)
Breaking news: Supervisor Keith Marshall arrested for assault and battery, public intoxication (Aug. 19)
VDH identifies chemicals that led to water ban in eastern Orange County (Sept. 4)
Arrest made in Orange Elementary gun case (Sept. 25)
Montpelier President and CEO Eola Lewis Dance resigns (Oct. 26)
Locust Grove teenagers charged with murder and defilement of newborn baby (Nov. 19)
ACP announces timeline for removal of Rapidan dam (Nov. 30)
Motion emotion: School board chooses OCHS site for proposed CTE building (Dec. 22)
😜Hypothetical New Year’s resolutions for 2025 😜
Mark Johnson, chair, Orange County Board of Supervisors: “I’ll respond promptly and politely to all inquiries from Orange County residents including journalists!”
Chelsea Quintern, vice chair, Orange County School Board: “I’ll leave the LGBTQ kids alone!”
Jason Cashell and Jeremiah Pent, members, Orange Town Council: “We’ll both move our families to the Town of Orange and live there year-round!”
Keith Marshall, vice chair, Orange County Board of Supervisors: “No arrests in 2025!”
Coming up soon
Rapidan River Master Gardener volunteer training registration deadline, Sunday, Jan. 5
Parks and Rec Introduction to Rugby for young athletes, age 10 and up, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11
Intro to Woodwork with Jim Fuller, The Arts Center in Orange (sign up in advance), 1:30-4:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18
Drop-in classes in clay, The Arts Center in Orange (sign up in advance), 6-8 p.m., Wednesdays
Drop-in sessions in ceramics studio, The Arts Center in Orange (sign up in advance), 12-2 p.m. Fridays
Register for Spring 2025 classes at Germanna Community College
Obituaries
William Bowen “Bo” Mickley Jr., 71, Rapidan; Mary Jane Spiers, 89, Orange and Baltimore; Charles Franklin Tinder, 86, Orange; Michael Theodore Malson, 68, Barboursville; Wade Lee Dickinson Sr., 63, Gordonsville; President Jimmy Carter, 100, Plains, Ga.
Kudos to Byrd Street's Citizens of the Year! And to Byrd Street for creating this honor. Great time to reflect on the many ways people lead.
Huzzah! I've had the pleasure of knowing Ellen since she came to work at Montpelier, and the greater pleasure of getting to know her better as we work together in some areas of mutual concern. Her enthusiasm and dedication are most admirable and inspiring.
While I do not know Dr. Hornick personally, I have heard him speak and been impressed.
Wonderful choices and congratulations to both! And thank you Byrd Street for being here and for creating this honor.