Alice Correll is 78 years old and she is from Stafford County Virginia. She moved here with her husband in in 1984 when he got a promotion to be president of, what was then called, the United Virginia Bank here in Lexington. Her husband Frank grew up in Christiansburg Virginia and liked the idea of a small town. Their son started first grade here at Waddell school and went all the way through the Lexington system.
Can you tell me about your schooling and your work history?
Okay uh I went to Stafford High School I went two years to Lynchburg College and then transferred because I had decided when I was about in a 10th grade or so I wanted to be a physical therapist. This is back in the early 60s when most people hardly had ever heard of it, but I had read a book about a family that rehabbed a child and it just touched me. I read the book a dozen times I thought 'that's what I want to do.' There was only one school in the state that offered physical therapy back then that was in Richmond - MCV (Medical College of Virginia.) So I applied and they took me! I graduated with a BS in physical therapy. I really enjoyed PT I did outpatient, inpatient, home visits, I probably did everything. I worked at Riverside Hospital, which was a big 600 bed hospital, a great place to learn. I met my husband in Newport News and when we moved to Charlottesville for four or five years, and then moved here.
Can you tell me about your family background?
My husband's name is Frank and our son's name is Frank Jr. We discussed it when the baby was born and my husband said he wanted him to be a Jr. I said, "So two out of three people in this house will have the same name?" Obviously, I lost that battle.
When we moved here, it was a different town than it is now. At least in my experience, to me there was a palpable attitude that Lexington didn't need us because we moved here not being born here or having any family here. I'd say it was three or four years and what finally turned the tide was I started playing tennis again. And I have a good serve! I held my own and I think that was the beginning. Just the perseverance of staying and all that stuff that I was joining and working in ( I was Treasurer of the PTA, I volunteered in the classroom at the elementary school, I taught Sunday school) and all that. Lexington had a tighter knit, more closed community. But obviously it changed enough that I chose to stay here.
What was the most pivotal year of your life and why?
I guess having a child - we have one son - that had a few complicated medical issues his first year. I think having a child is having a family. Trying to juggle everything that you have to do. We barely moved into our first house in Newport News, so we were house poor. I cut all the coupons! I was probably four or five years behind my peers, having a child, so luckily they donated all this stuff. He never wore anything brand new until he was about four. I nursed him because we didn't have money to buy milk. It was tight. We budgeted and balanced a lot of stuff the year he was born - in '78. We'd been married six years and just weren't sure that a family was even in the picture for us. So when it happened, I had just taken a new job and had morning sickness that morning. So that was kind of a surprise for all for everybody!
Do you have a family tradition that has special meaning to you?
My family now is very, very small. I have a sister in Fredericksburg, my son is in Fairfax, and I'm here. When my husband died in 2018, I think that we had to develop some new strategies for coping. We've always had Christmas here in Lexington and my son and my sister - everybody came to Lexington. So when he passed away, and particularly when I moved and sold the big house within a year or so, we started a new tradition of going up to Fairfax for Christmas. So we'd stay three or four days with him, till he just about votes us off the island. We have a little tiny tree, about one or two feet tall, and laugh about that the whole time we're up there. So we just started that as a brand new tradition. We now get together for birthdays. I think as we shrink in number, we value it even more. Three of us is a very small family. I have some cousins that I haven't seen in 20 or 30 years because we were never very close but that's it.
Do you have a favorite family recipe that you feel should be preserved?
I have a recipe for an apple cake, fresh apple cake. You peel the apples! I’ll give the recipe to you if you’d like!
Is there a family heirloom that is precious to you?
Some pictures, you know, over there in that secretary. Pictures of my mother and my my father, he died when I was 14. And there's a picture of him in the Navy. You know, he was in World War II. And my mother, there's a picture of her when she was, I don't know, I'd say maybe 25 or 30. I just decided, when I moved here, I didn't have that kind of stuff in it before and I thought 'I just want to have some family up there.' I have a box of photographs too. There's one or two dishes and things there that my mother really liked that I've kept.
Do you have any advice to give to people who want to live a long and happy life?
Find something you'd like to do it! Reading a book or playing your sport or sewing. Just make time for it. You can almost always find time. I mean, even if you're the mother of the year: young children, you work full time, your husband's out there full time, a house and the kids - you found time. Because you like it and it feeds you a little bit. So, you just, you find time to do it. And that includes enjoying time with your family. Going on a picnic or, you know, go to church together I guess? I think that gives you some release. I played pickleball this morning. I like pickleball. It clears the cobwebs out of my head. For an hour or two, all I have to do is think about Pickleball, which is not earth shattering by any means. I just want to win a couple games, or I don't even have to do that! I think that's really, really important.
Fresh Apple Cake:
*Tip from Alice: more more flavor, add 2-3 tsp of cinnamon. This recipe can also be made in two loaf pans.
