Mason residents honored as Lord and Lady Fairfax

Celebrate Fairfax features a carnival; bands (Good Charlotte and Sugar Ray); a beer festival; 5K race; aquatic dog competition; videogame competition; comedy hypnotist; petting zoo; and donut-eating, karaoke, and 90s trivia contests; fireworks, and much more.

Local residents Mel Cotner and Sarah Shannon will be honored as Mason Distict’s Lord and Lady Fairfax of 2018, Supervisor Penny Gross announced in the Falls Church News-Press May 24. Both are being recognized for their volunteer and civic activities.

Each member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors selects two constituents to be designated as Lord and Lady Fairfax every year. Those honored will be formally recognized at a BoS ceremony June 5 and at the annual Celebrate Fairfax festival. That event is June 8-10 on the grounds of the Fairfax Government Center.

Cotner helped organize the Falls Church Community Service Council in 1969 and, now in his 90s, still serves on the board. He and his late wife, Clara, helped establish the Seven Corners Childrens’ Center. In 1988, he was appointed a charter member of the Fairfax County Human Services Council. A long-time member of the First Christian Church of Falls Church, Mel Cotner continues to inspire service, as the church explores housing options for low-income seniors.

Shannon was an active PTA member and, as social chair of the Sleepy Hollow Citizens’ Association for 19 years, she organized Halloween parades, Easter egg hunts, potluck picnics, and the popular Taste of the Hollow wine and cheese event. She serves as secretary of the Bailey’s Crossroads Rotary Club, secretary-treasurer of the Arlington Moose Lodge in Bailey’s Crossroads, and interpreter for Columbia Baptist Church’s healthy cooking class called “Food Matters.”