In 1969, West Springfield resident Norma Vermillion moved into a house off Rolling Road amid the farms that once occupied those rolling hills. Her husband was in the Army working at the Pentagon and she raised three children.
"It was quite rural," Vermillion said. "There were farms all down Old Keene Mill [road]. It's changed a lot."
Vermillion became immersed in local politics and was the president of the West Springfield civic association from 1984-88. Her concern with the community dominated her feelings back then and she decided to make a difference. Now, in her 70s, she isn't as heavily involved but keeps abreast of things. She even spoke out against the proposed baseball stadium.
"It was a busy job, I think it's very important," she said.
Supervisor Elaine McConnell (R-Springfield) also noticed Vermillion's perseverance and named her Lady Fairfax in 1987, with the Lord of Fairfax being Charles Robinson, then the mayor of Vienna.
"Supervisor McConnell had named me," Vermillion said. "We got to ride around in the back of a convertible" at Fairfax Day.
MAUREEN KELLY remembers a simpler time around Springfield as well. She moved into North Springfield in 1956 and has been one of the religious educators at the St. Mary's Catholic Church in Fairfax Station since 1969.
"When we moved in, my house was the last house on the street," Kelly said. "I thought we were moving into the wilderness."
Eventually, Kelly began to see a new trend. "It seemed like everybody was moving out this way at the time," she said.
Kelly has raised three children in the area, who all attended Annandale High School. At St. Mary's, she's learned a lot about the Civil War-era church as well.
"This bell is really old, 1858 I think," she said.
A MONTH after graduating high school this year in Bend, Ore., Kali Shafer relocated to the Springfield area to start a new life. She immediately landed a job, met a few people and survived a Northern Virginia traffic jam, but things were happening, unlike life in Oregon.
"I moved here because I wanted to do something in my life. There's a lot going on in this area, every time I turn around there's a music show or something," she said.
After walking around Springfield Mall a few times and seeing the faces in the traffic jams around Springfield, she noticed a difference in attitude.
"I noticed there were a lot more people working around here," she said. "People seem to be more educated."
Shafer now lives with her father and stepmother in Kingstowne and has got her sights on taking classes in the fall at the Northern Virginia Community College. At 17, she has her mind set on education for starters.
"I'm not really sure what I want to do, I love computers," she said.
A new face at the Springfield Interchange Project is Kerrie Hunter, a temporary employee who's been on the job since February. Hunter originally came into town from California, via North Carolina, and is a teacher by profession. She will start at an Alexandria school in the fall but for the rest of the summer, her eyes are on the "mixing bowl" project.
She's already had to navigate the weaving involved with changing lanes.
"I'm surprised they didn't do it before," Hunter said.
But as for California, with all its budget woes, "I don't want to go back there. They're laying off teachers," she said. Hunter teaches fifth grade.