It’s original name was the Wakefield Park RECenter. Former Annandale Supervisor Audrey Moore played a major role in the park’s creation, and in 2002 the RECenter was named in her honor.

Moore died peaceably at her home Dec. 12, 2018, at age 89. (Legacy.com: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/springfield-va/audrey-moore-8085786 ) A Celebration of Life gathering was held at Demaine Funeral Home on December 22, 2018. Contributions in Audrey’s memory may be made to Friends of Accotink Creek, http://www.accotink.org/.

The Washington Post considered Moore a political maverick in the days she served the county. She was elected to the Annandale District Supervisor position in 1971 and served in that post for 16 years. She was a slow-growth proponent, battling developers and, sometimes, other supervisors.

The board underwent a major change in 1987 when three supervisors were replaced in November elections by candidates promoting a slower growth rate for the county after it had seen rapid development. Moore was elected chairman, defeating three-term incumbent Republican John F. Herrity, for whom the Herrity Building in the Fairfax County Government Center complex is named. That pivotal election swung control of the board from a 5-to-4 Republican majority to a 7-to-2 Democratic majority.

The $850,000 campaign for chairman set a record at the time for being Northern Virginia’s most expensive local election. The Washington Post reported that the vote was seen “as a referendum on the county’s future and a popular endorsement of Moore’s campaign theme that transportation and development policies need to be balanced.” The population of Fairfax County, currently more than 1.1 million, had increased from 596,901 in 1980 to 704,757 in 1987.

Moore’s concern about overdevelopment stemmed from a childhood spent in suburban New York City where she watched buildings take over open spaces and add to pollution problems. While voters were initially drawn to her slow-growth approach, she was defeated for the Board chairmanship during a recession in 1991.

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In 2002, Moore was honored for her county service when Fairfax County renamed Annandale’s Wakefield Park RECenter in her honor. Moore had said it was her involvement in the creation of Wakefield Park that spurred her interested in the slow-growth movement.