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Attendees at the Greenbriar Civic Association’s Annual Meeting at the Cale Community Center on June 4 honored and congratulated Robert G. “Bob” Callahan on receiving this year’s Greenbriar Citizen of the Year award. GCA President Rebecca Gotwalt noted that Bob exemplifies the criteria for the award, having served our community and the county with various volunteer activities over the past 13 years.

Bob was a senior officer with the Fairfax County Police Department, retiring after more than 30 years of distinguished service. After retiring from FCPD, he worked as an administrator in the Fairfax County Public School system. For the past six years, he has served as a deputy executive and executive of the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Academy, providing law enforcement training to jurisdictions within the National Capital Region. In retirement, he continues to assist the academy on various tasks.

Bob and his wife, Virginia (“Ginny”), moved to Greenbriar in the early 1990s. They raised three daughters — Katie, Meghan and Claire — who attended Greenbriar East Elementary School, Rocky Run Middle School and Chantilly High School. Ginny accepted a teaching position at GBE and continues to serve as a substitute teacher there.

During the COVID-19 period, Bob stepped up to serve as a GCA block captain when no one wanted to perform the task. He has worked tirelessly to advance the needs of the association. He leads by example  and is always willing to listen to the opinions of his fellow neighbors. Following winter storms, he always helps neighbors deal with the snow. This past winter, Bob and Ginny assisted an elderly neighbor who has serious mobility issues by removing snow from his driveway and vehicles. Bob also assists this neighbor with maintenance issues around his home.

While being an active father of three outstanding athletes, Bob always found time to pursue multiple volunteer activities within the community and beyond. For the past 13 years, he has utilized his vast building skills to benefit Habitat for Humanity on projects within Northern Virginia. On his compressed workday off and on many Saturdays, he worked to complete different construction projects for Habitat, usually under tight time constraints. And Bob is the “go to” person for anything related to construction in the neighborhood. He helps anyone who requests his assistance on home maintenance projects or building unique holiday displays. He has assisted neighbors on Majestic Lane with the creation of building permit plans and helped them obtain the required approvals. He helps neighbors complete their projects and tasks and is always willing to provide guidance on how to improve a project.

For more than a decade, Bob has also supported Scouts BSA Troop 1547 in Greenbriar by serving as a mentor and advisor for more than a dozen Eagle Scout projects, including redoing the front walkway at the Cale Community Center and assembling picnic tables and designing and laying concrete pads at the rear of the facility. Projects also included several at the Greenbriar Pool Club and at GBE and other local elementary schools. His patience, dedication, kindness and skills in mentoring these Scouts through the supervisory and building requirements of their respective projects was amazing. Bob also devoted countless additional hours with the planning, resourcing and delivery of critical materials for these projects. 

George C. Blackwell Jr. and Richard Fitzgerald nominated Bob for this year’s award, stating that Bob’s “superb performance in a variety of volunteer positions over a 13-year period markedly demonstrates his value within the Greenbriar community and Fairfax County.”