Celebrating Janet Abbott Fast: and 25 Years of Chesapeake Style - September 1,2023

Celebrating Janet Abbott Fast: and 25 Years of Chesapeake Style - September 1,2023

The final edition of Chesapeake Style Magazine - forward by Carol J. Bova This issue is a tribute to Janet Abbott Fast for all she has achieved and a celebration of twenty-five years of the magazine she created, Chesapeake Style . My connection to Chesapeake Style dates back to 2012, the same year G.C. Morrow and I created The Ditches of Mathews County project. Janet gave me the opportunity to write a column in each issue of Style. For seven years, I shared stories and photos of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) road drainage maintenance failures and described VDOT’S responsibility which we had proved throughroad plans, state highway plat books, land deeded to the Commonwealth, and other VDOT records. The columns led me to write my book on environmental hydrology, Drowning A County: When Urban Myths Destroy Rural Drainage . Janet’s support and encouragement through Style and her critique group, The Rappatomac Writers , also helped me create a number of other published works, and like other staff writers, I wrote interview articles, book reviews, and shared stories about writing for Chesapeake Style . Janet served on the Chesapeake Bay Writers Board of Directors for many years. She shared the club’s history with me and others, so we were able to pass it on to new board members ourselves years later. Thearticles in this issue show a cross-section of how Janet has touched the lives of so many, and their appreciation ofall she has done. Chesapeake Style was a remarkable publication for twenty-five years, and we thank Janet Abbott Fast for it, and wish her well-deservedgood times in her retirement.