A remembrance by Mary Sue Terry
I first met Jane Vitray in the old John Marshall Coffee Shop in Richmond following the 1977 Democratic primary. She was at one table and I was at another. We began a conversation and that was the last time in a figurative sense that we ever sat at different tables. Hers was a relationship that changed my life and today I grope for words that would do her justice.
Jane Vitray, born September 19, 1923,was a native of Hoboken, New Jersey who made Virginia her adopted home. When tragedy struck and her husband G. Alain Vitray died unexpectedly in June of 1966, she found herself confronted with the necessity to build a new life in order to support three sons (ages 15, 19, and 20) and one daughter, Jeanine, who was eight at the time.
Jane took a job with the Democratic National Committee for then Chairman Robert Strauss, as assistant director of Women’s Affairs and became active in Democratic politics in Fairfax County. Later she left the DNC, worked for the Fairfax County Electoral Board and was elected Chair of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. Her professional career was capped by her selection as Secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board, where she served from 1982 to 1993.
That did not end Jane’s leadership and involvement with the party, her community or her church. She continued to be a mentor and adviser to countless Democratic candidates, a tireless volunteer at party headquarters and a dedicated poll worker. A devoted Presbyterian, Jane was an ordained elder of the church.
Her abiding devotion, however, always was to her children and grandchildren, in whom she took great delight and who will miss her greatly.
Jane taught me a lot about tough love. She was an encourager who at the same time did not shy away from telling me what I needed to hear, whether I wanted to hear it or not. I spent countless nights in her home over three decades.
In recent years Jane and our mutual friend, Maggi Luca, who served as Secretary of the Electoral Board following Jane, visited me on the farm. They would arrive on Friday afternoon armed with food, beer and wine, and we would spend Saturdays together. On her visit last October, she drove our tractor, Putt Putt., with a smile that went from ear to ear. On Saturday nights we would sit and talk for hours at the dining room table. On Sunday morning, Jane would catch “Meet the Press” before heading back home.
Jane was thoughtful, tireless, strong, caring, and she held strong beliefs about our country and our party. She walked the talk, and we will miss her. She leaves an empty place which no doubt she expects us to fill.
Jane Vitray died on Sunday, March 29, 2009. She was 85 years old.
She was a graduate of Bucknell University, where she met her husband, Al. She served two terms as chair of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee in the 1970s and played a key role in countless local and state campaigns, including serving as treasurer and a close adviser to Chuck Robb’s campaigns for governor and senator. She also served as aide to Ray Vickery.
Jane was devoted to furthering the cause of women in politics, government and society. She was a past chair of the Fairfax County Commission for Women and was instrumental in starting the first shelter for battered women in the county. She also served on the State Commission of Women.
Jane was an active member of the Vienna Presbyterian Church, where she served on many Bible study committees, was a Circle member, and a supporter of the Haiti Mission Project.
A memorial service will be held at the church on Saturday, April 4, at 1 PM and Vienna Presbyterian Church, 124 Park Street, NE.
Memorial contributions may be made to The House of Ruth, 5 Thomas Circle, NW, Washington, D.C., or to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) at 424 E. 92nd Street, New York, NY.
16 Responses to “Jane Vitray – Founding Mother – 1923-2009”
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Jane was truly a shining light. There are too many campaigns that I know I would not have gotten thru without her constant volunteer help and support. She was and will continue to be an inspiration to many – I will miss her immensely – and I am so glad I got to say goodbye. I love you Jane.
Thank you to Mary Sue, (and thanks to Susan Platt and Maggie Luca who I know contributed) for this wonderful tribute to my Mom. We are all going to miss her.
Jane was always a shining beacon of light on what sometimes could feel like the darkest day. She always knew we could get through the tough times – and during a campaign, there were always tough times. She would inadvertantly have us all in hysterics, just when we needed it most. She knew how to laugh at herself, as she had literally seen it all! She will be deeply missed, and will always be a significant part of one of the most cherished times in my life.
I only worked w/ Jane briefly, but she left an impact on my (at the time) 20-something self. I echo Bryson’s sentiments. Jane knew how to laugh and bring humor into any situation; a trait especially valued in the intense campaign environment in which she thrived. We will all miss her.
Jane Vitray spent years working in the vineyards of Virginia politics which benefitted many of us who came later. During her years of volunteer work, she never asked for anything, never sought recognition, and was always motivated by good causes and the greater good. She was tireless and spent countless hours answering phones, stuffing envelopes, and making lists. She always had a smile and was happy to help anyone who asked. Jane will be missed but not forgotten.
It’s so hard to say goodbye to my mentor and dear friend. How fortunate I was to have her as both for all the time I did. We had such great times together; so many important experiences and laughs. Try counting cows!! Not to mention all that she taught me. And boy, she was a tough teacher. She touched so many Virginians’ lives as much as she touched mine. From electing George Rawlings and ending the Judge Smith era, to the 2008 campaigns, and everything in between, we have so much for which to thank Jane. I will endeavor to keep her spirit going strong.
Jane will be missed. We knew each other for over 30 years. I wrote a tribute to her that is on the Fairfax County Democratic Committee website.
Jane was my mentor and friend. I would never have run for Democratic Party office without Jane’s encouragement. In 1978, Jane told me to run for second vice chair of the Democratic Party. I was running against Ray Colley. Jane suggested that I go talk with Lt. Governor Chuck Robb. My friend Chuck told me that he “didn’t see it in the cards” for me to win. When I went back to report to Jane, she said, “Well, what does Chuck know! You need to run, anyway.”
Jane was loved by many and will be greatly missed.
I feel blessed to have known her.
I grew up next to the Vitrays in Vienna and remember their generosity and kindness. I now work at the Virginia Historical Society and realize that Jane Vitray is an important part of Virginia’s history. I just knew her as neighbor and loving mother to her children. She was a wonderful example to everyone whose life she touched.
What an exceptional woman! She was respected throughout this Commonwealth. Her passing also comes after the recent loss of my own mother, who also knew Jane. I had the pleasure to work with her in several of her roles.
I first met Jane at the old Democratic headquarters in Falls Church city in the early 1970s. I later had the pleasure of working with her on five House of Delegates re-election campaigns of her dear friend, the late Dorothy McDiarmid. If I am not mistaken, it was Jane who coined Dorothy’s motto: “The Lady’s Got Clout!”
She was also the Secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board when I first ran for office. In all of these roles I found Jane to have a huge dose of common sense and she always seemed to me to have a zest for life.
Jane and I were together early in the political career of CSR. THE LISTS still in use today with continual updates began with Jane and I working on a predecessor of the computers used by everyone today. This was always after hours in the office of a gentlemen named Ron whose surname I cannot bring to mind. Jane had the patience of Job in instructing me as to how to work this office equipment. We always worked after hours and late into the evenings. There was always a deadline. THE LISTS were the lifeline of the entire campaign I recall our care in closing the office down, checking the lights and always carefully checking the doorlocks. Before entering, we would double check our cars together, too. There is not a time that I drive by that 2-story office building on Maple Avenue or out Lawyers Road that I don’t think of her as I pass Marshall Road. Semper Fi!….God Speed, Jane.
Jane Vitray was a pioneering spirit, an sncourager in chief. She was resonsible for shining the light for generations of candidates. She truly made a difference and used her time on this earth to promote the public good. She will be missed but her spirit and example live on.
Jane Vitray Remembrances
Mom always said she was a child of the depression and that was why she was so frugal. I think that was a myth she created to avoid embarrassing my father. Mom’s mother died when she was 4 years old and her father felt she should be under the care of her Aunt Edith, during Mom’s early formative years. Thus, during the depression, Mom lived with her Uncle Doc in Hoboken, NJ. He was a successful doctor and they lived in one of the largest brownstones on Hudson Street. Her father was a dentist who also made a decent living. He would often take Mom to Broadway shows. (Mom always said she learned all of the important lessons of life from the lyrics of Broadway musicals.) Although I’m sure money was tight, Mom lived fairly comfortably. After she married Dad, however, she had to learn to make do on a lot less. In the years before Dad died, she was feeding a family of six on the meager salary of a government employee. That is when Women’s Day Magazine recipes for meals like tuna casserole and eggplant Parmesan became important. My brother Bob remembers an article titled “How to Feed a Family of Four on a Dollar a Day.” With a little rice, Mom could stretch a dollar to feed a family of four.
Mom always had a political bent even before she got into politics. Mom and Dad were active in the civil rights movement and Janine and my brothers and I were expected to participate. When we were old enough to drive, we got involved driving people to the polls and canvassing for candidates. Even before that, we participated in the first integrated swim in Fairfax County. My parents joined the effort to integrate the schools after touring the local elementary school “Louise Archer”, and seeing the truth of “separate but equal”. Janine was among the first white children to attend that school. Many letters to the editor by Mom appeared in the Washington Post around this time. Although the sentiment was certainly Mom’s, the writing was of a professional caliber of the level of my Dad. My father, of course could not openly participate in party politics because he was a government employee.
When Dad died, Mom was devastated. I was just 18 years old and I was scared for her. She seemed hopeless and lost. Nevertheless, she got it together and helped me get financial aid so I could continue in college. I think politics saved her. I will never forget when a few years later, I attended a Fairfax County Democratic Committee meeting that my Mom was chairing. It was in a high school auditorium and it was full of people, mostly professional men in business suits. And there was my Mom at the podium banging the gavel and calling the meeting to order. She ran the meeting with style and confidence. She would call for voice votes, declare the winner, and handle objections, occasionally with the slam of the gavel and an appropriate reference from Robert’s Rules of Order. I was impressed as I’m sure were most of the people in the room. Mostly, I was glad that she had found herself, that she had come out from under the wing of my father to become a confident, self-assured person in her own right.
Mom loved the beach. Every year for the past 40 years our family has rented a house on Bethany Beach for a week in August. Mom would get up at the crack of dawn every day and walk to the water tower and back (about a three mile walk on soft sand). I tried to go with her a few times and she just wore me out. She loved to watch the birds and the dolphins jumping in the ocean. This January, Mary and I decided to invite Mom to go with us on the auto-train to Florida. We were taking my car and we had reserved a sleeping cabin for two. We told Mom we would arrange another sleeping cabin for her. She said we should not waste the money; that she would be fine sitting up in a coach seat all night. I told Mom I wouldn’t be able to sleep and I would I never live it down if I traveled to Florida in a sleeper with my mother spending the night in a coach seat. Only then did she reluctantly allow me to reserve a sleeper cabin for her. We visited Rick and Alethea in Altamonte Springs and spent a week in a condo on Fort Meyers Beach. She walked a mile on the beach every day and loved seeing the pelicans dive-bombing into the ocean. That was just a month ago. We are all sad that she went so quickly but we were blessed that we had her for such a long full life.
Randy Vitray
April, 4, 2009
Thank you Mary Sue and everyone who has left a comment about my mom. This site has been a comfort to me and my family in this difficult time. Below I’ve put the words that I spoke at my mother’s service at the Vienna Presbyterian Church.
Rick Vitray
This is my church.
Over 50 years ago my mother brought me to this church to nursery school while she worked as the church secretary.
Of course then the church was just the old wooden chapel.
I was married in that chapel.
My father’s funeral was in the new chapel on the top of the hill which has since been turned into class rooms.
And now I’m here for my mother.
My mother taught me so much.
She taught me to drive (that was scary, for both of us).
She taught me to read.
She taught me how to live.
She used to say everything she knew about life she learned from Broadway musicals.
Her mother died when she was a child and one of her most cherished memories was of her father taking her to those musicals. It was their special time together.
My special time with my mother was when I would come home, usually late at night, and we would sit and talk about family, friends, and politics.
She and my father took me to my first Broadway musical when I was still in elementary school.
Fiorello.
It’s the story of a rag tag bunch of loser democrats working on the side of the angels and unbelievably defeating the unbeatable Tammany Hall machine.
A few years later she made perhaps her first mark in Virginia politics fighting with her own rag tag outfit against the unbeatable Byrd machine candidate Howard Smith.
AND THEY WON
(the primary, they lost the general election because all the dixie democrats finally realized they were really republicans).
My mother didn’t do what she did for power or glory (or, heaven knows, money). She did it to make things better.
At her eightieth birthday celebration my mother gave me one of her last lessons. Typically, it came in the form of the words of a song from an old Broadway musical.
“Oh it’s a long, long while, from May to December
But the days grow short, when you reach September.
And these few precious days, I’ll spend with you.
These precious days, I’ll spend with you.”
The Good Ole Girls brunches will not be the same without her.
She was much appreciated and will be sorely missed.