It will be some time, if ever, before things return to normal at Sandy Run Regional Park.

On Tuesday morning park operations continued as usual but with Julia Shew, perhaps the park's most frequent and popular visitor, missing since Saturday, the mood is somber.

"I really miss her," Park Manager James Short said. "I miss seeing her smiling face every morning."

Since moving to Lorton three years ago, Shew renewed her passion for sculling, a type of rowing, after a 40-year hiatus. She was attempting to comlplete 3,000 miles of rowing in the year prior to her 65th birthday, which is later this month.

"She was here every day," Short said, pointing to one of the boathouses. "She would come in and sign out a boat and then be out on the water for two or three hours. Sometimes longer. Every day."

Shew would leave Sandy Run and head out on her own to one of the neighboring marinas and then come back, all smiles. There's no question that the physical aspect of rowing was appealing to Shew, but Short suspects it was more than that.

"She loved being out there. All the fisherman along the shoreline knew her. When she came back she would sit down on the bench and show me the pictures she took while she was out there," Short said. "I can still see her sitting on that bench."

Shew was an active member of the Occoquan Boat Club, volunteering for every event or function possible, bringing her bright disposition to everyone she met.

"It could be pouring rain, but every day was sunshine for Julie," he said.

With that, Short returned to work, but looked out over his shoulder onto the water, perhaps hoping that he might catch a glimpse of Shew one last time.