Bryson has dedicated much of her life to preserving history

After living in Culpeper all of her 70 years, Patricia Bryson has witnessed a significant portion of the area’s history, and she’s dedicated much of her life to preserving it.

After working for a telephone company for 30 years, Bryson has spent her retirement doing volunteer work. She’s been an active member of area chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the National Society of Colonial Dames of the 17th Century. Through those organizations, she’s led efforts to preserve historical sites and markers and award crosses and medals to local veterans.

“I’m more of a preservationist than a historian,” said Bryson, one of six winners of this year’s Culpeper Colonel awards. “I guess you can say I’ve been around trying to do what I can. It’s basically what we’ve spent the last part of our lives doing.”

When she says “we,” Bryson is referring to her husband, George, who has worked alongside his wife during many of the projects that helped win her the award.

“I’m her gopher,” George said. “I try to help out how I can.”

Patricia Bryson has worked tirelessly to help create and preserve monuments to men and women who helped shape local history.

Through the DAR, she’s helped restore five books of historical information at the county clerk’s office and was also instrumental in the restoration of the Betty Washington Lewis grave site, the final resting place of George Washington’s only sister.

“She caught poison oak clearing out the area around that grave,” George said.

Patricia and George are both lifelong residents of Culpeper, along with their two surviving children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Those deep ties to the community have helped inspire her work.

“In my lifetime, I have become aware of what important monuments and historical sites are here and the history of people,” Patricia said. “It just boggles your mind when you hear about it. When you hear about it, it makes you want to act on it.”

She’s seen a lot about Culpeper change, but said it’s crucial that as the area grows people work to keep some of the history alive.

“People’s outlook on these type of things is not the same as it used to be,” she said. “You just hope you have someone in each generation that will take an interest and take care. When you see something, it’s great to have everything documented in books and so forth, but when you can actually see something it’s more meaningful.”

She’s also done work to help honor those who have played a role in our more recent history. In November, Patricia will finish a project that helped award crosses and medals to local veterans of every war from World War II to present. She has helped more than 440 veterans receive their awards.

And though she says the work hasn’t always been fun, overall she doesn’t regret the way she’s spent her golden years.

“I’ve really enjoyed the work that I’ve done to preserve the true history,” she said.