Citizens for Denise Moore Pierce
Phone 703-450-4260
Civic Activist Looking for Fact-Based Solutions to Loudoun’s Challenges
Denise is a 26-year resident of Loudoun County, and a 20-year resident of Lowe's Island, where she lives with her husband, Bob. Raised in Northern Virginia, Denise attended public school and received her BS from Radford College in Art Education and Political Science. She taught public school in Maryland for ten years, and later had a successful career in computer graphics.
Denise became interested in local government when she lived in Sterling in the 1980s after realizing her supervisor was not a supporter of public education. After moving to Lowes Island in 1991, she joined the Democratic Committee, serving as Secretary and District Chair, and later served on the League of Women Voters as a Board member. Denise has also sought to influence local policies through her support of various candidates and issues; to this end, she has been an advisor in a number of local races, including those of Susan Buckley and Bill Bogard.
Since the '50s Denise has been coming to Loudoun County when as a child she visited her family’s farm and went to swim in the community pool in Purcellville. She fell in love with Loudoun County then, and she continues to love the fact that Loudoun County still has both city and country. This is what makes Loudoun unique and she wants to preserve that uniqueness with a policy of managed growth.
As a former teacher, Denise has followed issues affecting education at the local and national level since leaving the classroom in 1980. She considers many of the people on the School Board to be her friends, and will try to find the right balance between an outstanding education system and the cost of that system.
As a computer graphics specialist, Denise drove to Arlington daily, and she understands how much commuting takes away from our family lives. She decided she couldn’t even own a dog while commuting so far from home. From this experience, she feels Loudoun needs support for transportation from the state and Federal government and rail to Loudoun is a must that can’t be delayed.
My Family Values: Hard Work and an Education
My mother’s family believed in women’s education. Her great aunts both graduated from Chowan College in the early 1900s and went on to be teachers. One aunt married a teacher who was appointed Superintendent of schools in Guam in 1917. The other aunt made her living as a piano teacher. Although she lived very modestly, she made sure we received our subscription to National Geographic every year from her. In her will, she left money for an endowment for a scholarship to the University of North Carolina for disadvantaged children. She could have left the money to my family, but she knew my parents would see that I got a college education. Next, both of my grandmother’s sisters graduated from college and became teachers in public school in the 1920s. One of those aunts who taught first grade, taught me to read when I came to visit for summer vacation. She had no TV or even indoor plumbing until 1956, but she had a large library. She always sent me the latest award-winning children’s books for my birthday that inspired my life-long love of reading.
On my father’s side, his mother was one of 14 children who were raised on farms. They didn’t have the benefit of an education as they had to go to work at a young age, but they valued an education. Her parents and younger siblings owned a dairy farm 6 miles from Dulles airport. They never had a vacation as the cows had to be milked every day. My great uncles, Martin and John Byer, who ran the farm knew the value of an education and even though they had very little money, helped pay the tuition for their nephews so they could go to college.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have relatives that place such a high value on education. As a Loudoun County supervisor, overseeing the school budget is one of the major priorities and it will certainly be a major priority for me. Public schools exist not only to improve individuals but society as a whole. Our children must be prepared to take the technology-focused jobs that are coming to Northern Virginia.
Authorized and Paid For by Citizens for Denise Moore Pierce
