Leigh Hutton Hooper | November 30, 1964 - February 20, 2026
In 2000, our beautiful Cameron Station community was basically a construction site. While the first residents began moving in at the end of 1998, it would take many years for Cameron Station to be fully formed. Those of us here in the early days quickly recognized that if we were going to build the kind of special community we wanted, there were things we needed to do…and quickly.
In addition to creating committees to protect our investment and provide opportunities to get to know each other, one resident had an idea for a fun way to contribute to our growing sense of community. Leigh Darcy recommended starting a newsletter that would be filled with articles highlighting upcoming events, social activities, interesting stories, and neighbors in the news, along with updates from our Board of Directors and committees.
A half-dozen neighbors jumped at the chance to be part of this project, and The Compass was born.
As you can imagine, putting together a newsletter at the beginning of the 21st century was very different than it would be today. Every issue was printed and at least a dozen pages long. The Compass crew, under Leigh’s guidance, wrote the articles, and Leigh did the layouts and prepared the artwork for production and printing. These were the days of “cut and paste,” old-fashioned typesetting, and unsophisticated copy machines. Leigh was also the liaison to Tucker Elementary and provided frequent updates on the Tucker Tigers.
Producing The Compass was a very challenging and time-consuming project, and what made it even more so was that Leigh had three young children, including one still in a playpen. Her youngest daughter spent many hours close by her mom as she cut and pasted at the dining room table! The Compass crew even got together each month to fold and stamp the newsletters so Leigh could rush them to the post office and get them in the mail. I seem to remember her once baking cookies for our mail carrier to thank him for speeding up delivery.
Founding members of the Newsletter Subcommittee in 2000
A few years later, Leigh and her family moved from Cameron Station to Fauquier County for a house and a yard and a bunch of family pets. A talented artist as well as cook (Leigh attended culinary school after high school), she devoted her time and talents to the family she adored, and also helped out with all the organizations her children were involved in.
Leigh passed away much too soon at the age of 62, on February 20, 2026, surrounded by her loved ones. We at Cameron Station owe Leigh many thanks for founding The Compass newsletter, which still exists today. While the format has evolved, the soul of The Compass has not changed. It remains an important, interesting, positive communication tool for our community.
For more information on The Compass, from the old days to now, including how The Compass got its name, go to the community website www.cameronstation.org, click on Get Connected, then The Compass Blog, page 12 for “Goodbye, Compass! Hello Compass!” To find out how The Compass got its name, click on Get Connected, then The Compass Archives, and scroll to January-February 2021, page 13.
Pat Sugrue is an original owner, moving to Cameron Station with her husband Tom in the fall of 1999. She was a member of the first Compass Crew, and later served as Editor-in-Chief for nine years. Pat’s professional career was in advertising – 30+ years in ad agencies in every department except art (no talent at all!); but her favorite position was copywriter, which she felt made a good fit for The Compass. She warns that she is here to stay, regardless of the format!
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