Victim of Vienna Fire Remembered for Years of Service

From the Sun Gazette:

An 86-year-old woman who was a longtime Vienna resident died on June 13 after her house caught fire in the early morning hours, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department officials said.

Virginia Casey, who had lived at 308 Plum St., S.W., since 1953, was found dead at the scene, officials said.

"The last thing she did on this Earth was to come save me," said her son, Richard Casey II, who also lived at the house. "She woke me up. I thought she was behind me, but she wasn't. The smoke was down on the floor. It was evil, poisonous."

Firefighters responded to the blaze at 4:20 a.m. Upon arrival, they encountered heavy fire coming from the rear and sides of the one-story house. The home and a nearby shed were fully engulfed in flames, fire officials said.

Firefighters sounded a second alarm, which brought more than 60 emergency personnel to the scene. Fire crews extinguished the blaze in about 40 minutes, officials said.

A smoke alarm sounded, which allowed two of the house's occupants to escape with non-life-threatening injuries.

Two men were displaced by the fire, which also killed the family's dog, an Australian shepherd named Dexter. One man was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital and the other the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Fire investigators said the blaze caused about $300,000 damage and that the house is a complete loss. The fire's cause is under investigation.

Casey's death was Fairfax County's fourth fire fatality this year.

Casey was born Virginia Clark in Arlington on Oct. 13, 1921, and graduated from Washington-Lee High School. She later graduated from the Washington School for Secretaries and served as a secretary for the U.S. State Department during World War II.

She and her husband, Richard Casey, married in Hutchinson, Kan., in 1945 after his discharge from the U.S. Navy. They had a son, Richard Casey II, and a daughter, Margaret Casey, who died 10 years ago.

Virginia Casey worked with the American Textile Association and later for the Resource Recovery Administration, from which she retired in 1992 after her husband died.

Casey over the years was active in the Lions Club Auxiliary, American Legion Post 180, American Association of Retired Persons and the Holland Point Civic Association in Anne Arundel County, Md., where the family had a beach cottage.

Casey enjoyed genealogy and had belonged to the Church of the Holy Comforter in Vienna, said Martha Clark, her sister-in-law.

Vienna resident Shirley Martin said Casey was an outgoing hostess who reached out to help others.

"She was very interested in everything," Martin said. "She read [about] everything that was happening. She had some strong opinions about things, which was good."

Vienna Town Council member George Lovelace said Casey frequently spoke with him about issues affecting the town.

"She became my conscience for quite a while," Lovelace said. "I'll definitely miss her charges, her directions to me."

Council member Dan Dellinger called Casey "a great lady" and said Vienna had lost one of its great citizens.

In addition to her son, Casey is survived by a grandson, Troy MacDaniel, and two great-grandchildren.

There will be a visitation on Friday, June 20, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Money & King Vienna Funeral Home. Burial services will be held at 2 p.m. that day at Quantico National Cemetery in Triangle, Va., where her husband and daughter are buried.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks well-wishers to donate to their favorite charities.