By Kristin Davis Just a few years after college graduation, Jacqueline “Jaci” McClain Kelly ’06 had achieved most everything she’d dreamed of. She’d launched a career, putting her Mary Washington political science education to work as a project analyst for a government contractor. She’d married Darryl Kelly, her sweetheart ever since he’d brought her a corsage on their first date to a high school banquet. They’d started a family. But when Darryl’s work with the Air Force meant a family move to Wichita, Kansas, Jaci knew it was time to fulfill her most ambitious goal. Since childhood, she’d dreamed of becoming a lawyer. Maybe the dream started in Newport News, where she grew up in the loving embrace of an aunt and uncle who raised her as their daughter. Or maybe the dream started even earlier, on a farm in southwest Zimbabwe, where Jaci’s grandfather glimpsed in his tiny granddaughter the intelligence and spark of a scholar. And now, with a husband whose career … [Read more...]
From the Ground Up
By Emily Freehling Photos by Norm Shafer On a January morning, Kerri Barile ’94 crunched through the remnants of snowfall along downtown Fredericksburg’s riverfront to survey two carefully covered sections of upturned earth. As team members from Dovetail Cultural Resource Group bailed water from tarps, Barile consulted with archaeology division manager Brad Hatch ’07 about plans to inspect the foundations of an icehouse and an antebellum residence below the grassy surface. The work was part of a weeks-long process of documenting historical evidence on a site along the Rappahannock River where the city of Fredericksburg plans to develop a park. Barile and her team at Dovetail – the firm she founded with colleague Mike Carmody in 2005 – have been a visible presence in Fredericksburg’s historic district. Their studies of the sites of major developments in the area have lent context to sensitive development debates. They also have preserved buildings undergoing restoration and … [Read more...]