Burke Mom Fights To Preserve Family's History, Support Seniors

BURKE, VA— Moms do so much for everyone around them. We try to celebrate them all year long, but Mother's Day is a perfect opportunity to shout it from the rooftops and post it on Patch: Mom rocks!

Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize the awesome moms and mom figures in communities like yours.

This submission comes from Joshua Foley, who nominated Corazon Sandoval Foley of Burke.

What makes your Mom extra special?

Corazon Sandoval Foley and my father Michael Daniel Foley were married for almost 50 years (1973–2022) until my father died on April 12, 2022 at the age of 75 years old. They were both principled, loyal and smart—quintessentially American in every way—and raised my sister Melinda and me in the same way, and were always very proud of all that their children and grandchildren accomplished. My mother Corazon Sandoval Foley and my father worked as Intelligence officers (she with the State Department and he with the CIA) and defended our American principles and community all their lives. When my mother and father retired after some 30 years of service to our country, my mother founded in 2007 the Foley Community Center Project (aka Burke/West Springfield Senior Center Without Walls) to support the families of seniors in our under-served Springfield District. She has served as Founding Chairman for many years and received several community awards: the First Filipino American Lady Fairfax in 2009, the 2017 Virginia Women in History Award and the 2020 Virginia AARP Andrus Award for Outstanding Community Service. While contributing to our community, my mother and father spent countless hours raising their grandchildren Daniel Padraig and Ciara Kathleen Foley, and my mother helped them win in the first-ever contest for schoolchildren by Virginia Governor Northam to honor Asian American Heritage in Virginia with their winning submission to honor Filipinos in the US Navy that was installed in Virginia Beach in 2022. Meanwhile, my mother succeeded in getting the State of Virginia to correct and install an ACCURATE historical marker for our Burke's Station hometown in 2022. My mother in retirement has also written over 10 books on local history, honoring the Good Neighbors in our Burke, VA hometown—and writing the first-ever historical book on the Fairfax County Asian American History Project (the heritage and contributions of the largest minority in Fairfax County since 1990). As the Golden Gazette 2023 headlined: Corazon Sandoval Foley Documents the Past while Looking to the Future.

Why do you feel your Mom deserves the spotlight?

In 2023, my mother Corazon Sandoval Foley, petitioned for weekends at the library to honor the American Patriotism of my father, Vietnam veteran Michael Daniel Foley by naming the center that she founded the Michael Daniel Foley Community Center (aka Burke/West Springfield Senior Center Without Walls). The Fairfax Board of Supervisors ignored my mother's request and made her understand that the Board names facilities for supervisors, i.e., politicians, and ignores American Patriots like my father who fought in Vietnam and his ancestors who fought in WWII, WWI and at the 1777 Battle of Saratoga in support of the Founding of our American Republic/Democracy. And so, my mother Corazon Sandoval Foley decided to run as Independent Green Candidate for Springfield Supervisor 2023—the First Filipino American, the First Asian American, and the ONLY Woman Candidate—who voluntarily pledged, if elected, to donate the pay raise bulldozed by this Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to the Foley Community Center Project (aka Burke/West Springfield Senior Center Without Walls).

Happy Mother's Day to Corazon Sandoval Foley, and thank you for all you do!

This content is brought to our community in partnership with T-Mobile.

Know an amazing mom? Nominate them here.