Meet The 2009/2010 Living Legends: Rodger Digilio, Pat Troy, Michael Miller

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(Friday) February 5, 2010

Now in its third year, Living Legends of Alexandria is an ongoing 501(c)(3) photojournalistic project to identify, honor and chronicle Alexandria’s Living Legends.  The project was conceived by artist-photographer Nina Tisara to create an enduring artistic record of the people whose vision and dedication make a tangible difference to the quality of life in Alexandria.  The project is funded in part by a generous donation from the Rotary Club of Alexandria.

These are three of a series of 12 profiles that will appear this year. For more information or to nominate a Legend for next year’s program, visit www.AlexandriaLegends.com .

Rodger Digilio

Which identity do you select to profile Living Legend Rodger Digilio?

You can choose from among soccer coach, historic preservationist-developer, anti-drug activist, former school board member, or economic advisor. If there is a single theme to Rodger’s involvement, it is his desire to be of service to Alexandria citizens, especially the children.

A native of Philadelphia, Rodger graduated from Lehigh University before spending three years in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he earned a graduate degree in Politics. It was his Rhodes connections that brought him to Alexandria when he began a career in the Federal government while he worked as a Systems Analyst in the Department of Defense. Rodger worked on South East Asia which he steadfastly refused to visit, preferring his analyses to be based on the data, not on tours organized and controlled by the military.

Rodger and his first wife Alice moved to Alexandria because Rodger was attracted by the developmental potential of Old Town properties. The vision Rodger saw for Alexandria historic properties took second place for over a decade while Rodger pursued his career in the Federal government. In addition to the Department of Defense, his service included the State Department and the National Advisory Council for Drug Abuse Prevention. He also spent three years working on transportation issues for Senator Richard Schweiker.

Rodger laughingly remarked that he was always working in new offices. “I figured that new offices had two years to get things done before the existing structure realized that you were there and came after you. Once they knew you existed and wanted to protect their turf, it was time to move on because you won’t get anything else done after that.”

At the early age of 26, Rodger had one of those moments when you know you have made a difference.  Early in the transition to the Nixon Administration, Rodger’s analyses caught the attention of Under Secretary of Defense David Packard.  He met privately with Rodger to question why Rodger foresaw American Army troops continuing to bear the brunt of the fatalities if the war continued to be pursued in its current form. Within a week of that meeting, a new directive was issued changing the conduct of the war. “After our meeting, they ‘Vietnamized’ the war. South Vietnam troops took over the main role that American troops had been fulfilling  I had had a role in changing the conduct of the war.  It was a big moment for someone as young as I was.”

When he left Federal employment, it was the time to fulfill his vision of restoring historic properties in Alexandria. He formed OTV, Inc. and his first project was the conversion of the nursing student residence of the old Alexandria Hospital into the Swann-Daingerfield Condominium.  Restorations which followed included the Courts Condominium at 1006-1016 Prince Street, the Bank of Alexandria at 133 North Fairfax Street, the Cotton Factory at 515 N. Washington Street, the Doniphan Building at 101 N. Columbus, Durant House at 708 Pendleton, the Coca Cola Plant at 1500 King Street, and assorted other smaller buildings and townhouses around the city. In nominating Rodger for the Living Legend Award, Linda Holland points out that “Without Rodger’s vision, energy, and commitment to the city … these historical structures would have been lost not only as buildings but as part of the living history of Alexandria.”

Rodger’s interests were not limited to Old Town.  Properties large enough to be viable development properties are finite and the supply was drying up in Old Town.  The first project he redeveloped in the Mount Vernon Avenue area was the Post Office building at the corner of Howell and Mount Vernon Avenue. He also built Potomac Town Square on Mount Vernon Avenue.

Historic properties are only one area in which Rodger has had an impact on Alexandria.  He served as the first Chairman of the City of Alexandria Alcohol and Drug Abuse Control Coordinating Committee, was Vice Chairman of the Northern Virginia Drug Abuse Task Force, a member of the Virginia Drug Abuse Control Council, and a member of the Virginia Substance Abuse Advisory Council.  He was a member of the Alexandria Jail Study Committee. Rodger was a member of the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee, a member of the board of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the City Manager’s Economic Round Table. He was both an appointed and an elected member of the Alexandria School Board which included serving as Chairman,  Rodger was a member of the Alexandria Early Childhood Commission, a member of the Northern Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association, and a board member of the Alexandria Crew Boosters Club. Rodger is currently serving with the Healthy Families Alexandria Resource Development Committee and is Chairman of the King Street Gardens Park Foundation.

Rodger has a fascinating hobby of buying, selling and collecting old cameras. He buys cameras in need of attention, cleans them up and makes minor repairs and then usually sells them, although he occasionally comes across one he keeps. His collecting instincts go way back. Even as a youngster he was always collecting something and somewhere cameras came into the mix. “I go around to shows where I have a table. I buy at these shows or off the Internet.”

Although Rodger and Alice are no longer married, they share two sons, products of the Alexandria school system. Ed is a land surveyor and he and wife Laura are the parents of three-year old Julia. David is a screen writer who wrote the script for the Disney film 8 Below and the television series Traveler. He lives in Manhattan Beach, California, with his wife Kim and their six-year old son Alex and three-year daughter Ella.

David played matchmaker for his dad and suggested that he take out the widowed mother of one of his high school team members and good friend. Today, Rodger and that mother, Fredde Ottinger, an interior designer, live above a store on Upper King Street. “I love living in the city. I step outside and everything is right there on my doorstep, wonderful places to eat, great shopping.”

It seems fitting that this Living Legend should enjoy living in the area he helped so much to shape.
Written by Sherry Wilson Brown

Pat Troy

Pat Troy may have been born in Ireland, but for the past 40 years he has called Alexandria his home. When the former butler and friend to presidents, prime ministers and busboys first opened Pat Troy’s Ireland’s Own in Alexandria, he instantly became a part of the business and civic community.

Troy was raised near the banks of the Shannon River in Kilcormac County, Ireland. In the 1960s, a 21-year-old Troy emigrated to the U.S. with $50 in his pocket. A deeply religious man, he has been a parishioner at St. Mary’s Catholic Church for more than 30 years. Troy has been married to his wife, Bernadette, for 45 years.

For decades, Pat Troy’s Ireland’s Own has been a gathering place for lovers of Irish music, food, humor, beer, and, of course, whisky. Patrons used to travel from throughout the metropolitan area just to watch a costumed Troy lead them in “The Unicorn Song”. On St. Patrick’s Day in 1988, Troy, a staunch Republican, hosted then-President Ronald Reagan. After Troy roused the crowd with Irish songs, Reagan took the stage. “When I was a little boy, my father proudly told me that the Irish built the jails in this country,” Reagan said. “Then they proceeded to fill them.”

Troy has also welcomed numerous Irish ambassadors. On Inauguration Day, 2009, he hosted a celebration of President Barack Obama’s swearing-in. “After all, he is partly Irish and we all wish him well,” he said.

In recent years, Troy’s daughter Kathleen has assumed responsibility for the day-to-day management of the restaurant. Despite his deteriorating sight, he still makes his way from his home on Wolfe Street to chat with patrons nearly every day.

“I can’t read newspapers anymore and it’s hard to recognize people unless I am very close to them but I still like to get out and walk around Old Town,” he said.

Troy led the effort to begin the St. Patrick’s Day parade 29 years ago. It is held the first Saturday in March, making it “the earliest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the United States,” Troy said. On March 6, 2010, Alexandria will hold its 29^th annual celebration of its Irish heritage.

Through the years, he has raised funds to supplement the City’s contribution and has attracted local and national celebrities to serve as the Parade’s Grand Marshal, including Alexandria’s own Willard Scott. After 9/11, Troy invited the Chief of the New York Fire Department to serve as the Grand Marshal for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. He is supportive of Alexandria’s public safety community and gives generously to their charities.

Troy was also instrumental in starting the City’s Irish festival, which helps raise money for various local charities. The festival and the parade attract thousands of visitors to Old Town each year.

Troy is a tireless advocate for small businesses and has twice run for a seat on the Alexandria City Council. “I’m running because someone has to speak up for the small business owner,” he said during his first campaign in 2003.

Although his campaigns were unsuccessful, he continues to appear before Council to advocate for streetlights to be replaced and for Council to support its small businesses, which are “the life blood of the City,” Troy has told Council. He vigorously opposed the statewide smoking ban in restaurants and spoke against it at every opportunity. “People deserve a choice,” he said.

Troy served two terms as a Governor on the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association. In 1980, he founded The Ballyshaners for the purpose of organizing and raising funds for the parade and to promote Irish culture.

“Alexandria’s history is filled with the contributions of the Irish people who lived here,” Troy said. “It is appropriate that we celebrate and recognize their contributions.”

T. Michael Miller

By alexandrianews.org staff

Nobody knows or has written more about the City of Alexandria than former City Research Historian T. Michael Miller.  He has served on the Board of the Alexandria Historical Society for 12 years as a member, vice president and president. Miller has devoted 32 years to writing, living and breathing Alexandria’s history.

“Alexandria is so significant in being an American City. It had the longest occupation of any city in the United States during the Civil War. The City was enormously important to George Mason, who was a City Trustee for more than 20 years and who is considered the father of the Bill of Rights,” he said.

“He is the most published author about Alexandria’s past in history,” said Alexandria Archaeologist Pam Cressey. “History is the underpinning of everything we do in Alexandria, and he (Miller) has an institutional knowledge of Alexandria that really is significant.”

Historian William Seale, formerly of Alexandria, who nominated Miller said “In writing the statement it occurred to me (as a historian) that Mike’s work will be read a century and more from now and used by scholars and those interested in the city’s past. It is obvious, but he is at the core of the period of most prolific historical research and production ever known in Alexandria. Imagine that. Seems late in such a place that has been famous since it was only 25 years old, but it’s true. I think his interest in everyday life makes his studies of the city unique and very modern in approach. Before very recently most history has been written about the great and powerful. He has included those, but has used public records to bring back the world of Everyman, with diversity and even handedness.”
Miller, 61, joined the City as a volunteer in 1977 and worked with Cressey to excavate the site of the current courthouse in the 500 block of King Street. A native of Southern Maryland, Miller received a Bachelor’s degree in history from Alderson-Broaddus College and a Master’s degree in international relations from American University. His career included work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Library of Congress, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the World Bank.

“My father first brought me to Alexandria when I was 12 years old, and he took me to the birthplace of Robert E. Lee,” Miller said. “Alexandria was supremely beautiful and captivating, with its brick-lined streets and beautiful architecture and homes that lent themselves to being admired. And, it was the hometown of Robert E. Lee and George Washington.”

From 1978 to 1980 Miller was the curator of the Lee-Fendall House. Miller has published 10 books on Alexandria, sometimes revealing its dark side. In 1981, Miller wrote “Where Is It?”,  an authoritative guide to historical source material on Alexandria. Over the next six years he wrote three more books that focus on various parts of City life from its founding to present day. In 1988 he released “Murder and Mayhem – Criminal Conduct in Alexandria, 1749-1900″, which documented more than 100 serious criminal cases featured in the Alexandria Gazette Packet.

Miller’s crowning achievement may have been in 1987 when he rediscovered Freedmen’s Cemetery, where the forgotten remains of 1800 freed black slaves and their children were buried. Located in the 1000 block of South Washington Street, Miller discovered its location by reading 19th century Washington Post articles and burial records.

Lillie Finklea, co-Director of Friends of Freedmen’s Cemetery said that Miller’s efforts helped spark her work to limit the footprint of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project. “I read one of Michael’s articles in the Washington Post in 1997 that talked about the existence of an all-black cemetery and that maybe it could stop the bridge from being constructed. Without a doubt, without his help, I would not be here today, or would many of the people who you see here (at Lloyd House) have had their lives changed by him.”

The Freedmen’s Cemetery Memorial Park is expected to open in 2010.

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