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1994 SESSION

LD1211749
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 67
Offered January 20, 1994
On the death of Vinton Liddell Pickens.
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Patrons--Waddell; Delegates: May and Mims
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WHEREAS, Vinton Liddell Pickens, an internationally known artist and the first chairman of the Loudoun County Planning Commission, died on November 25, 1993; and

WHEREAS, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Vinton Pickens moved to Loudoun County in 1934, and settled on Janelia Farm, a 286-acre estate adjacent to what is now Lansdowne, in 1936; and

WHEREAS, in the late 1930s, Vinton Pickens led the members of the Leesburg Garden Club and other nearby clubs in a campaign against billboards in Loudoun County, which led to a petition, in 1940, to create zoning, then unheard of in rural areas, as a way to protect the appearance of the county; and

WHEREAS, in 1941, the board of supervisors appointed the first planning commission, and named Vinton Pickens chairman; and

WHEREAS, under the stewardship of Vinton Pickens, the Loudoun Planning Commission gained national fame for proposing a zoning ordinance in what was then an agricultural county; and

WHEREAS, also during her tenure on the planning commission, which lasted until 1964, the first subdivision ordinance was adopted, planning and zoning maps were created for development and expansion, Dulles Airport was built, and the county's first major rezoned area, Sterling Park, was approved; and

WHEREAS, following World War II, Vinton Pickens was a full-time painter, who worked in Mexico and Ceylon, as well as in Virginia, and whose work was exhibited in New York, Paris, and Washington, D.C.; and

WHEREAS, during the long and extraordinarily fruitful life of Vinton Pickens, many changes occurred in Loudoun County, and she was the driving force behind many of the best of them; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly mourn the loss of a singularly accomplished Virginian, Vinton Liddell Pickens; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Vinton Liddell Pickens as an expression of the great respect in which her memory is held by the members of the General Assembly and the citizens of Loudoun County.