Gertrude Ashton Evans - Honoree, 2025 Loudoun Laureate
On April 24, 2025, the Loudoun Laurels Foundation announced it has chosen Gertrude Evans and Doug Fabbioli as its 2025 Loudoun Laureates, seeing in them the personification of qualities it seeks in all candidates for the annual honor: selflessness, integrity, creativity, wisdom, and courage. This year’s selections were drawn from a deep and diverse pool of worthy candidates. During its deliberations, the Advisory Committee expressed its admiration for the large number of individuals in Loudoun County who contribute so much of their time, energy, and resources to make the county a better place. In the end, they found Gertrude and Doug to be great examples of that generous spirit. Gertrude Ashton Evans, a native of Leesburg, played an important role in forging the inclusive community we have come to take for granted in Loudoun County today. Through activism and a dedication to using art and storytelling to convey her own human experience, Gertrude helped the county overcome the segregation policy that prevailed during the time of Virginia’s “Massive Resistance” to the 1954 Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court desegregation ruling. In one instance in 1963, as a 14-year-old, Gertrude and her brother, Gene Ashton, demonstrated outside the Tally Ho Theater to desegregate it. The Tally Ho would desegregate, but a similar action aimed at the Leesburg volunteer firemen’s swimming pool proved less successful. It remained segregated, was eventually sold, and was ultimately filled in with rocks and cement so Black people could never use it—events that speak to a fraught past that Gertrude and her peers faced bravely through peaceful protest. Gertrude Evans’ professional career spans 25 years of service in Loudoun County administration. Her volunteer activity includes work on committees related to the Historic Douglass High School, where she was a graduate, and extensive involvement with public school students at all grade levels on local history, including Black History Month programs. Gertrude’s nominator for this year’s Laureate honor aptly concluded a statement of support by saying, “Her remarkable legacy of service and leadership has significantly shaped Loudoun County and she represents the very best of our community.”
Mt. Zion UMC - Leesburg's James P. Roberts was a Loudoun Laureate honoree in 2011. Annually, the foundation awards scholarships for $40,000 to high school graduates to support their college studies. In 2018, one of Mt. Zion UMC - Leesburg's high school graduates was a recipient of a Loudoun Laurels scholarship.
The Loudoun Laurels Foundation will be honoring the new Laureates at the 2025 Celebration of Life & Leadership Gala for their community stewardship and leadership on Saturday, September 27, 2025. Please visit the Loudoun Laurels website for additional information about the work of the foundation and to purchase tickets to attend the gala to support the honorees and the foundation. Our Cooperative Parish church family is very proud of Gertrude and this prestigious honor!