[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 52 (Thursday, March 26, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E795-E797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING THE LIFE OF FRANK RAFLO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 26, 2009

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I want to share with our colleagues today 
the recent passing of Frank Raflo of Leesburg, Virginia. He died on 
March 15, 2009, at the age of 89.
  A long-time resident of Leesburg, Frank was a giant in his community 
who made public service a priority. He was a member of the town council 
for several years, as well as serving as mayor for two years. During 
his tenure as mayor, Frank oversaw the effort to build an airport in 
Leesburg. He was also a member of the Loudoun County Board of 
Supervisors for 14 years, including a year as chairman in 1985.
  Frank served his community in unelected positions as well. He was one 
of the charter members of the Leesburg Kiwanis Club in 1957. The club 
holds the annual Kiwanis Halloween Parade that local children look 
forward to year after year. With his wife Frances, Frank championed 
parks and outdoor spaces in Loudoun County. They were influential in 
the creation of the W&OD Trail in Leesburg, and a park along the trail 
was subsequently dedicated for them. In more recent years, Frank wrote 
a column in the local paper, the Leesburg Today.
  The town of Leesburg and the Commonwealth of Virginia will greatly 
miss the service of their friend, Frank Raflo. His legacy will not soon 
be forgotten.
  I would like to share an in memoriam of Frank Raflo that ran in the 
Leesburg Today on March 18, 2009:

                [From the Leesburg Today, Mar. 18, 2009]

                  Frank Raflo: In Memoriam, 1919-2009

                          (By Margaret Morton)

       Small in physical stature, but towering in intelligence, 
     integrity and love of community, Frank Raflo, who died Sunday 
     at age 89, was one of the pantheon of legendary Loudoun 
     leaders during the second half of the 20th century.
       All this week, tributes poured in for a man whose breadth 
     of interests was phenomenal. A generous dispenser of advice 
     for others making their way in the world, Raflo retained all 
     his long life a curiosity into what made people and 
     institutions tick.
       Blessed with a sharp brain, with a penetrating eye for 
     fiscal detail and a consuming interest in all that went on 
     around him, Raflo lived an extraordinary life in which he had 
     a number of careers-businessman, journalist and columnist, 
     author, radio commentator and local elected government 
     representative.
       In his later years, Raflo's column, Just Being Frank, in 
     Leesburg Today, in which he dispensed his particular brand of 
     down-home wisdom, had a loyal following. Readers were drawn 
     to his often whimsical but always knowledgeable observations 
     on a variety of subjects, ranging from the quirks of human 
     beings, government malfeasance, the price of coffee, hemlines 
     going up or down, how to find good tomatoes or a good shovel, 
     whether a sale price was a true sale or not, and so on. In 
     addition, Raflo wrote a number of books detailing Leesburg's 
     and Loudoun's history, among the best known being Within The 
     Iron Gate.
       Serving on both the Leesburg Town Council and the Board of 
     Supervisors, Raflo's love of both was remarkable. Director of 
     the Loudoun Office of Transportation Services Terrie Laycock, 
     who started work with county government in 1977 as an aide to 
     board members, worked closely with Raflo, who served on the 
     county board from 1972 to 1986, including as chairman in 
     1985. ``You never questioned that his motives were anything 
     other than for the good of Loudoun County: No politics, no 
     personal advancement, it was always from his perspective for 
     what he felt was best for the county,'' she said.
       He was a dedicated Democrat and an equally dedicated 
     Kiwanian, a charter member of the Leesburg Kiwanis Club, and 
     founder of the Kiwanis Halloween Parade in Leesburg.
       Growing up in Leesburg, Raflo attended Leesburg High School 
     where he always was at, or near, the top of his class. That 
     keen intellect led to his being accepted into the College of 
     William and Mary in Williamsburg, from which he graduated as 
     a Phi Beta Kappa student.
       As a businessman, Raflo and his wife, Frances, operated a 
     women's dress shop on South King Street, a characteristic 
     partnership in all his endeavors that that lasted until 
     Raflo's death. Loudoun Museum Executive Director Karen 
     Quanbeck remembered her days on The Fashion Board at Loudoun 
     County High School.
       Raflo created the group, comprised of junior and senior 
     girls who would model fashions from his store at charity 
     fashion shows, typically on weekends, Quanbeck recalled. ``It 
     takes a lot to get teenage girls out of bed at 6 a.m. on 
     weekends, and make it fun.'' She recalled Raflo as ``very 
     jolly and very supportive of the girls on the board. He was 
     always interested in us and what we were going to do with our 
     lives.''
       A strong believer that local government was the most 
     effective form of public service to be found, Raflo served 
     two terms on the Leesburg Town Council from 1949-1951 and 
     1953-1955, as well as serving as mayor from 1961-1963.
       Whether or not people agreed with him, ``they always knew 
     where he stood,'' his son Alan said this week, recalling the 
     tales of many battles that came home with his father during 
     his years of public service.
       Raflo enjoyed a long working partnership with the late B. 
     Powell Harrison, who, while never an elected official, shared 
     many similar ideas about the future of Leesburg and the 
     county. Harrison's widow, Agnes Harrison, recalled the long 
     partnership between the two men, who worked together on many 
     projects to better both the town and the county. Their 
     offices were next door to each other, and, both being notable 
     talkers, ``they would meet on the street on the corner and 
     discuss many, many things,'' she said. ``If everyone who 
     lived in Leesburg were as public minded as Frank Raflo it 
     would be an even better place than it is,'' she said.
       Alan Raflo similarly recalled his father talking to 
     everybody he met on the street in his retirement. When once 
     he asked him whom he was waving to, his father replied, ``Oh, 
     I wave to everybody.''
       Both Agnes Harrison and longtime friend Mac Brownell 
     recalled the courage shown by both Raflos in the face of 
     family tragedy, having lost two of their children in car 
     accidents. ``They suffered serious sadness and 
     disappointment, but they kept going. They were a brave 
     couple,'' Harrison said.
       ``I always had great respect for Frank. I saw a side of him 
     that so touching, that people didn't often see, particularly 
     the way he spoke about children. He had a very tender 
     heart,'' Brownell said.
       Laycock also spoke of Raflo's interest in those who were 
     less fortunate, whether from a financial standpoint, or if 
     they had physical or mental disabilities. ``He was always

[[Page E796]]

     looking out for those who often don't have opportunity.'' 
     Raflo felt that whenever possible patient should be brought 
     out of mental institutions, ``deinstitutionalizing'' them and 
     returning them to their communities. ``He felt strongly that 
     if people could stay near their families or where they'd 
     grown up, they would have a better quality of life,'' Laycock 
     recalled.
       Among the many awards and honors Raflo received in his 
     lifetime was one he received in 2003 and treasured highly-the 
     highest award granted by the Kiwanis Club. Neatly suited 
     during his government days, Raflo would always wear his 
     Kiwanis button on his lapel.
       The lifelong public service of Frank and Frances Raflo also 
     was recognized by the Town of Leesburg in the naming of the 
     park along Harrison Street at the W&OD Trail in their honor.
       Former Farmwell Middle School principal Rocky Fera called 
     him ``Mr. Kiwanian.'' Fera accompanied Raflo on a 1992 
     Kiwanis trip to Lithuania, from whence Raflo's family 
     originated.
       Describing Raflo as ``a bit of gadfly, with his fingers in 
     everything and as smart as can be,'' Fera joined the Kiwanis 
     in the 1970s and got to know Raflo well.
       When Lithuania broke away from the Soviet Union, ``Frank 
     pitched to the club: `We need to take the notion of service 
     clubs to this new nation.' '' Fera's responsibility on the 
     trip was to ``take care of Frank, keep him out of trouble, 
     and not let him go off on some tangent.''
       It was a great trip, Fera said, saying he thought of Raflo 
     as a father figure. ``He was just a fine man. I looked up to 
     him.''
       Raflo's love of his hometown was deep. A scrappy fighter, 
     he was ``such a fierce defender of Leesburg on all levels, 
     pulling no punches to make sure the town's position got 
     protected,'' Loudoun attorney Liz Whiting recalled.
       Leesburg Realtor Tom Jewell, owner of Carter Braxton Real 
     Estate Company and a longtime admirer, said Raflo ``brought 
     Leesburg out of the Dark Ages'' and was the most important 
     county leader during the second half of the last century. 
     ``He always had his facts together. He never went into a 
     meeting unprepared.''
       One of Raflo's signal victories was construction of 
     Leesburg Airport at Godfrey Field. As mayor, Raflo presided 
     over the controversial effort to build the airport, in 
     partnership with council members George Hammerly and Stanley 
     Caulkins. Although the faction supporting the airport was 
     defeated by future Mayor Kenny Rollins and his supporters in 
     May 1963, the airport did get built-just.
       ``Leesburg got within one day of not having an airport,'' 
     Caulkins recalled with a chuckle. ``We signed the contract 
     with Earthwork Construction and the FAA, and the next day we 
     were voted out of office.'' It was after that ousting, and 
     before the new council took office, that ``we decided the 
     town had to have a manager and could not elect a whole new 
     slate at once,'' Caulkins said. The new structure, in place 
     today, consisted of electing mayors every two years and 
     council members for four, staggered, terms.
       Caulkins praised Raflo as being ``very, very dedicated, and 
     community spirited,'' noting he was responsible for getting 
     $50,000 for the new wing of Loudoun Memorial Hospital, 
     introduced the first two-way radios in Loudoun, and the first 
     ambulance in Loudoun--``a big old Cadillac.''
       In addition, Raflo was the first town businessman to permit 
     the use of credit cards in his store, Caulkins said, 
     recalling the almost universal derision then greeting the 
     innovation.
       After serving on the Leesburg Town Council, Raflo ran for 
     the Board of Supervisors, where he served from 1972 to 1986. 
     He also served on the Virginia Commission for Local 
     Government for many years, having been appointed by both 
     Democratic and Republican governors to that post, where his 
     experience in local government planning and budgets aided 
     other communities around the commonwealth.
       Raflo's son recalled his father was a firm believer in 
     ``planning for growth,'' and his earlier work in Leesburg 
     would ``culminate in his years serving on the Board of 
     Supervisors in the 1970s and 1980s. He was an early advocate 
     of capital improvements and adequate public facilities 
     planning to service growth, particularly water and sewer, as 
     well as ensuring quality and sufficiency of water.
       ``He worried about approving houses if the infrastructure 
     were not there,'' according to his son. Several colleagues 
     agreed, citing his frequent comments on community planning 
     that ``you will grow to the capacity of your toilets'' and 
     ``if you can't flush, you can't build it''--highlighting the 
     essential role in utility service in community development. 
     His interest in being prepared to manage growth responsibly 
     led him to join other county leaders on a trip to England to 
     look at planning progress there in 1972. The trip was 
     organized by Powell Harrison, founder of the Piedmont 
     Environmental Council.
       Raflo's interest in tying adequate infrastructure to 
     housing approvals presaged repeated efforts by county boards 
     into the 1990s to seek state enabling legislation to adopt 
     the local growth controls, each meeting without success.
       Among the champions of that effort was Supervisor Jim 
     Burton (I-Blue Ridge). ``We had many good conversations about 
     it,'' Burton said. ``I had a lot of respect for him.''
       Burton recalled the deliberations of the Leesburg 
     Restaurant lunch group, of which Raflo was a member, as the 
     town's political, judicial and business leaders met each day 
     at the diner's large table, ``solving the problems of the 
     world.''
       In her years providing assistance to board members, Laycock 
     recalled Raflo's frustration with constant comments by staff 
     members that the board had to have studies and analyses 
     before they could decide on various topics. Raflo's response 
     was to ``come into the board meeting, pulling a kid's wagon 
     behind him, with a stack of studies in it. He loved to do 
     theatrics to prove his point.''
       Jim Brownell, who served on the county board for 30 years 
     called Raflo ``such an interesting fellow'' and ``the hardest 
     working member of the board in my time.''
       ``He was always real good with figures, and very intense 
     with it. He always wanted to be right,'' Brownell laughed as 
     he recalled Raflo's constant visits to then Director of 
     Finance Kirby M. Bowers for information.
       Bowers, who will retire as county administrator April 1, 
     Tuesday recalled Raflo as a tough budget reviewer. ``Men I 
     was budget manager he was in my office almost every day.''
       ``Frank would go to see him and find out what was going on, 
     so often, that Kirby finally had to go to [then] County 
     Administrator Phil Bolen and say, `Mr. Raflo's always here. I 
     can't get my work done!' That led to a resolution that no one 
     supervisor should go to see a department head ``about 
     anything,'' Brownell said.
       Former Loudoun Supervisor and, later, State Senator Charles 
     Waddell recalled Raflo used to do the same with Bolen, 
     constantly going to him with ``big ideas'' on policy change. 
     ``Phil's standard reply was, `Frank, do you have five votes?' 
     '' He rarely did, Waddell said.
       ``He was as honest as the day was long. He had no hidden 
     agendas. He was very hard working and if anyone was 
     `government,' he was it,'' Brownell recalled. ``I always 
     thought of him as my best friend,'' Brownell said, laughing, 
     as he recalled a common description of the two colleagues as 
     ``Frank as the bantam rooster and me as the old setting 
     hen.''
       Hard working as he was, Raflo always had time to help 
     others. Waddell first met Raflo in 1963 several years after 
     coming to live in the county. That year, he became chairman 
     of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee. In 1967, Waddell 
     ran successfully for the Board of Supervisors, joining 
     Brownell as freshmen members. ``He was a great help to me in 
     my campaign as Democratic chairman and also as a member of 
     the board.''
       Raflo's assistance did not stop there, as Waddell recalled 
     he helped him in his initial campaign for the state senate 
     and afterward.
       Waddell said he recalled to Raflo years later going to the 
     dress shop on King Street for help on speeches or statements, 
     and Raflo would say, ``Charlie, come on downstairs to my 
     office,'' then proceed to translate Waddell's ideas into 
     correct prose on his trusty Underwood typewriter.
       ``He was a detail man on the budget, which was his 
     specialty. He always said, `It must be necessities, not 
     niceties,' '' Waddell remembered. Describing Raft as a 
     ``brilliant man,'' who could be a little abrasive and 
     controversial at times, ``there was a lot of substance in 
     what he did,'' Waddell said. A favorite saying of Raflo's was 
     ``hold on to your tax bills, they'll never get any smaller.''
       ``He cut out a niche for himself, he made a difference in 
     the last half of the 20th century.''
       It's not widely known that Raflo was instrumental in the 
     creation of the W&OD Trail and securing parks for Loudoun 
     County, including Algonkian Park.
       Purcellville Councilman and longtime member of the Northern 
     Virginia Regional Park Authority Board of Directors Jim Wiley 
     recalled he and Raflo were the first two appointed members 
     from Loudoun to that board.
       ``He was the father of regional parks in Loudoun,'' Wiley 
     said, noting that Raflo and Brownell were responsible in 1972 
     for NVRPA coming to the county.
       Wiley was then chairman of the county's advisory board for 
     parks and recreation. ``The supervisors kept promising us 
     $100,000 per year for parks, but it never came through,'' 
     Wiley said. Then, the park authority offered to do regional 
     parks for the county. To Wiley's frustration, the supervisors 
     turn down that offer, too.
       ``So, in a huge fury I publicly resigned,'' Wiley recalled. 
     The next day, he got a call from Brownell. ``I met with him 
     and with Frank. They had decided it was a good idea after 
     all, and we both got appointed to the [NVRPA] board.'' That 
     was in 1973. Raflo became a ``great park advocate,'' Wiley 
     said, and the governmental spokesman for Loudoun until his 
     resignation in 1986.
       Raflo was very much involved with both land purchases--for 
     the W&OD and Algonkian Park.
       ``We had some great conversations, we rode back and forth 
     together to NVRPA meetings,'' Wiley said. ``He was extremely 
     effective, a great communicator, who got along with everyone, 
     and always meant what he said.''
       As dear to his heart as parks became, Democratic politics 
     was a true avocation.
       Longtime Democratic activist and former member of the 
     Loudoun Electoral Board Til Bennie termed Raflo ``a true 
     Democrat, who stuck by his principles, never bent, even when 
     under pressure to do so.'' She recalled that the Young Turks 
     of the party sometimes would ``poo poo his ideas,'' and 
     showed

[[Page E797]]

     irritation with Raflo's tendency to tell stories.
       ``They'd strum their hands on the table and dismiss him 
     because it was all so whimsical, but he was so often proved 
     true.''
       Raflo would say that the Democratic Party was sliding down 
     the tube in Virginia, ``and it did,'' Bennie said, recalling 
     that Raflo kept telling the party it would have to do things 
     differently if it were to succeed.
       ``He was always looking into the future, and had enormous 
     experience. And he was often right.''
       Raflo was the son of Joseph Raflo and Fannie Bulitsky 
     Raflo. He was predeceased also by his daughter Joe Raflo; son 
     Philip Raflo; and brother Harry Raflo. He is survived by his 
     wife Frances Atwell Raflo; sons Paul Raflo of Stevensville, 
     MD, and Alan Raflo of Blacksburg; grandson John-Paul Raflo; 
     and great-grandchildren Josephine, Luke, and Delaney. Funeral 
     services were held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Congregation 
     Sha'are Shalom in Leesburg, followed by interment at Union 
     Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to be sent to 
     Leesburg Kiwanis, PO Box 445, Leesburg, VA 20178, Attention 
     Bob Wright; Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company, PO Box 70, 
     Leesburg, VA 20178; or Capital Hospice, 209 Gibson St. NW, 
     Suite 202, Leesburg, VA 20176.

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