Lorton's Irma Clifton Honored With Volunteer Fairfax Lifetime Achievement Award

Lortonian Irma Clifton was honored with the lifetime achievement award at the 2013 Fairfax County Volunteer Service Awards ceremony on Thursday in Springfield. 

"I'll never retire from loving Lorton and loving Fairfax County. It's in my heart, it's in my genes," said Clifton, who was born in Lorton and lives in the house her parents bought in 1944. 

Clifton worked at the Lorton Reformatory for 26 years, and has been tireless in ensuring that its historical integrity was preserved when it closed in 2001 after 90 years in operation. Fairfax County bought a parcel of the property for $4.2 million in 2004, and the Workhouse Arts Center opened in 2008 on 55 acres of the former prison site.  

"Irma is a real force in Fairfax County," said Sharon Bulova, Chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. "Whatever the issue, she is very much out it front - making things happen." 

The compliment was echoed by Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland. "Irma never gives up. She's the constant in the Lorton community," he said. "No one knows more about that area than her. She worked there, lived there and then when the prison went to the community and was closed, no one worked harder to preserve its story."

Clifton was the first president of the Lorton Arts Foundation, and  is now treasurer of the South County Federation, president of the Lorton Heritage Society, member of the Fairfax County History Commission, chair of the Workhouse Prison Museum Operating Committee and occasional writer for Lorton Patch. 

"Lorton is very unique because it has the best of everything that Fairfax County has to offer," said Clifton. "It has great recreation, a great location, a great community spirit and it also has the Workhouse Arts Center." 

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