RAAC’S BOARD

Matthew Black, is President of the RAAC board.  He lives full-time outside of Sperryville with his wife, Barbara, after many years as a weekender. As an economist, he specialized in research, policy analysis, and management consulting. He was Senior Vice-President at SRA International before retiring. He and Barbara lived on Capitol Hill for 35 years where they raised their two children. He’s an avid photographer and an aspiring tennis player, runs with the Sperryville Rescue Squad, and helps with the Foothills Forum and RappCE initiatives. Beyond bush hogging, his new joy is grand-parenting.

Barbara Black is co-chair of RAAC’s Claudia Mitchell Arts Fund and serves as RAAC’s liaison to the Rappahannock schools. She is a retired development professional and wellness educator. She shares a home studio with husband/photographer Matthew and sister/artist Darien Reece, where she creates collages. She enjoys walking Rappahannock’s beautiful country roads, playing pickleball, working in her garden and being grandmother to 4 young grandchildren.

Pat Burke moved to Rappahannock in 2002 with her husband, Walter Sorrell,  following a 40 year career in museum management, most recently as director of exhibitions at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Pat joined the RAAC board in 2011 and helped launch the Claudia Mitchell Arts Fund.

Tim Carrington co-chairs RAAC Talks. He reported for The Wall Street Journal for fifteen years and now writes for The Rappahannock News, through the Foothills Forum. In a distinguished career he also worked for the World Bank, focusing on development issues in Africa and elsewhere, and wrote The year They Sold Wall Street, in 1985. Tim and his wife Merrill have been part-time Rappahannock residents since 2006. Tim paints as well as writes and has shown his work in the Washington DC area and Richmond, where he grew up.

Claire Cassel co-chairs the annual Fall Art Tour, and the Ephemeral Art Exhibit. She moved to Castleton with her husband, Derek Capizzi, in 2016, following a 30+ year career in communications for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and more recently the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Claire served on the Benevolent Fund’s Celebrity Waiter Dinner Committee in 2019 and 2020 and has been on the Board of the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection since 2018. She is enthusiastic about native plants, connecting children to nature and life in Rappahannock County. Claire also enjoys hiking the Blue Ridge, cooking with her husband and taking care of her grandbabies (when called on!).

Lynn Dolnick is Vice-chair of the RAAC Board, and Co-chair of the Mitchell Fund Committee.  She and her husband, Ed, have had a home in Rappahannock  since 1995. Now they spend summer and winter in Rappahannock and spring and fall in Brooklyn, NY—to be close to kids and grandkids. Lynn is a biologist, and worked at the National Zoo for over two decades in many capacities, lastly as Associate Director for Exhibit Planning. She serves on the Foothills Forum board and the Virginia League of Conservation board. Shis passionate about art, science, and conservation.

Tina Falkenbury and her husband, Paul, moved permanently to Rappahannock County in 2020 after first purchasing a weekend cabin in Huntly in 2018. From her first memories as a child Tina has been creative. After a career in interior architecture, Tina started her ongoing portrait photography business in 2006. Since moving here, she has indulged her creative impulses in theater, painting, collage, landscape photography, and graphic design. Currently Tina is venturing into the world of audio book narration.

Always creative staying creative is Tina’s motto.

Betsy Hille writes RAAC’s Look & Listen newsletter. She and her husband Rodger have lived in Castleton since 1999.   She happily returns to the RAAC Board, having served from 2003-2008.   She has also served as a liaison on the RAAC Mitchell Fund Committee since 2015.   She spent much of her 30-year career handling business development for such companies as Classical 103.5 WGMS Radio, WJLA TV (ABC7) CBS Radio and WMATA, including DC’s Metro.  A REALTOR since 2002, she is licensed with Washington Fine Properties, based in Rappahannock and Middleburg.

Beverly Jones co-chairs RAAC Talks. She recently returned to the RAAC Board, having served from 2005 through 2011. In 2002, after eight years as a weekender, Bev left her career as a lawyer and corporate executive, to create a work life that would allow her to make Rappahannock home. Today she is an executive coach. She also is a writer, her new book is Find Your Happy at Work, and her podcast, Jazzed About Work, is on NPR.org. Bev and her husband, Andy Alexander, are active in nonprofit activities, including the local journalism group Foothills Forum.

Sallie Morgan is RAAC’s Treasurer, chairs the Community Theatre Committee, and organizes the Soup & Soul series. She and her husband Tod were founding members of RAAC in 1982. Sallie has been a teacher, legislative assistant, consultant, and community support director. She was formerly the executive director of the Mental Health Association of Fauquier County. She is currently also on the boards of The Path Foundation and Rapp at Home.

Pete Pazmino is RAAC’s Secretary and organizes the RAAC Reading Series, and co-chairs the Ephemeral Art Exhibit. A full-time resident of Rappahannock County since 2011, his fiction and non-fiction have appeared in many journals and magazines. He’s served numerous Fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and in 2015 was recognized as a Scholar by the prestigious Sewanee Writers’ Conference. He’s also been the recipient of two awards from RAAC’s Claudia Mitchell Arts Fund. When Pete’s not writing, he serves as Senior Training Manager for the Child Welfare Reviews Project at JBS International, Inc. He lives high on a mountain with his wife Sheila, Anna the dog, Suzy the cat, and 8 nameless chickens.

Andrea Salley co-chairs the annual Fall Art Tour. She and her husband, Tom, have been in Rappahannock County since 1998. They started out camping on their property with their two children until a bear flattened their tent. They built a house on the campsite and moved to Rappahannock full-time in March 2020. Andrea recently retired from Georgetown University, where she worked for 27 years as a land-use lawyer, most recently as the senior advisor for real estate. She enjoys practicing yoga and taking long walks with Tom, their neighbors, and everyone’s dogs. She’s learning how to fly fish, speak Italian, and tap dance.

Heather Wicke and her husband Bob Hurley have been weekenders for nine years and now spend more and more time in Rappahannock as their family and career obligations lessen. Heather has a PhD in Natural Resources and spent her career with various organizations including the US Senate Environment Committee, Environmental Law Institute, Piedmont Environmental Council, and National Wildlife Federation. She and Bob have two daughters working in environment-related policy jobs in DC. Heather is also a painter and is now moving into mixed media abstract painting.

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