The Great Falls Historical Society has announced that Jacque Olin has been chosen as the 2019 Tibbetts Award Honoree. The Society applauds Olin’s tireless, passionate, and enduring advocacy on behalf of numerous community projects in Great Falls for more than forty-eight years. The award will be presented at the Annual Tibbetts Award Dinner on Feb. 12, 2019.
Olin served as President of the Great Falls Historical Society from May 2000 until May 2002. She presented many interesting historical programs such as the Great Falls Civil War history, the history of horses in Great Falls, the Potomac River Watershed, and activities which lead up to the integration of Fairfax County schools, to name a few.
Olin formed a Committee for Inventories of Great Falls Historical Sites, which included photos and writings. She organized oral histories, which were taken in the 1980s, to be made available to the community. Olin also produced Great Falls Day, Old Schoolhouse Day, and Grange and Community Day. Two beautiful Great Falls calendars were produced and sold to the Community.
Olin serves on the Board of the Analemma Society, the astronomy club her husband Charles founded. Her leadership also helped the successful outcome of a Curatorship for the Turner Farm House on Great Falls Pike.
Both Jacque and her husband Charles attended Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. They moved to McLean in 1963 to take full-time positions with the Smithsonian Institution. A chemist by training, Olin pioneered archaeological analysis of collected objects at the Smithsonian, founding the department of Archaeometry, a specialized field of Archaeology. Olin has authored and edited numerous articles on this special analysis of museum objects.
Olin’s love and appreciation of Great Falls began in 1971, when she and her husband moved to Great Falls. She has been devoted in her belief that the Great Falls Historical Society must fulfill its role as educator, collector, and the conservator of the Great Falls heritage.
The Tibbetts Award Dinner will be held on Feb. 12, 2019, 6:30 p.m. at The Old Brogue, Great Falls. For information. visit www.gfhs.org