He's a former Air Force officer, a "terrible Francophone" with a propensity to pun and a singer who also loves farming and canning produce. Supervisor Gerry Hyland (D-Mount Vernon) recently sat down for an interview about himself and his work.
How long have you been in the community? I was assigned to Andrews Air Force Base and then when I left active duty in 1969 is when we bought our home here in the Mount Vernon District ... I'm a transplanted Yankee from [Worcester] Mass., from one commonwealth to another.
Education: I went to Holy Cross for undergraduate, a B.S. in economics, I came down here to Georgetown Law School ... then overseas for four years, to France where we had a child who was just married last weekend.
Family: I met my wife, Carmen, in law school. We started law school together. We had a class of 303, there were three women and she was obviously one of the three. We fell hopelessly in love in two weeks of dating each other and decided we’d spend the rest of our lives together, which we did ... our daughter has a French name, Christiane Gigi. Her first language was French, her second was Spanish and her third was English. And she speaks all equally well. She has her mother’s beauty, her mother’s intelligence and my stubbornness. And my eyes.
Describe your singing. We have two sets of twins in our family: I have a twin sister and my brother has a twin sister. My mother always felt that we should do things, either dancing or singing or playing a musical instrument. So at age 8, my mother sent us all off to tap-dancing lessons. And I have size 14 feet. And I loved to dance, and I could hold my own, but tap-dancing was not meant for me. So I used to go from football practice to singing lessons.
In your time in office, what is the biggest change have you seen in the Mount Vernon District? The biggest change is the metamorphosis that you have seen in Southeastern part of the district, in the Lorton-Laurel Hill-Newington area. It has gone through a light-year change, which is a result of the citizens down there 15 years ago deciding that they wanted it to change … it is now the fastest-growing area in Fairfax County, the increases in the assessments are higher there than anywhere else in the county … all of a sudden, you have one of the most exciting places in Fairfax County in terms of what it has available for the people who live there.
What is one of your favorite places to hang out in the community? Peking Duck is very good. That is my favorite Oriental restaurant. Italian would be Pima’s, I think it’s excellent … for sushi, which I love, the Kyoto. Alexandria for French, Le Refuge, right on Washington Street, which is wonderful. That brings back nice memories of France, Normandy where we were stationed for four wonderful years.
When you were younger, what did you want to be when you “grew up?” A policeman. I came from a family of public service: I had four uncles in the state police, a fifth uncle who was a city policeman. My dad was a security guard, my hero was one of my uncles who headed up the state police. My aunt was one of the first women to enter the women’s Army Air Corps from New England, and she was in active duty. So I had a family involved in public service and for them public service was something that was a positive thing to do, it was an honorable thing to do and they served. So they were all my heroes.
If you could go on a road trip anywhere in the country right now, where would you go? In the United States? Well my first trip, cause I’ve never driven all the way across the country, and I’d absolutely love to do that. I’ve flown to places all around the country, but to drive across the country and particularly into the Midwest, the west ... probably what I enjoy most is the opportunity to meet people at their level, their surroundings, and the fun part — and this is true of the Eastern Shore of Virginia — is having them accept you as you are, not knowing what you do, what your background is.
Personal goals: I’d be absolutely thrilled if our daughter and her husband were fortunate to be blessed with a child. To have a grandchild, for me, would be the ultimate … as far as this position, it’s my fifth term. I have a decision to make in January, which is when I will announce my intentions as to whether I will seek this office for yet another term. I still find it as challenging as I did the first day that I walked into this office. I love the chance to take a person’s problem and try to solve it, or help them with it. That’s the satisfaction of this job. So I’m still challenged by the opportunity to do that.
— Lea Mae Rice