Feb. 9 through time
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
1924
The Home Improvement Committee met at the County Farm Agent’s office. Members included Mrs. W.R. West, Mrs. R.P. Fagg and Mrs. George T. Winn of Axton; Mrs. Charles Clark of Mount Olivet; and Miss Nellie Pace and Miss Georgia Griggs of Ridgeway. The new Henry County Farm Agent was Mr. J. Nick Jones. Mrs. May Campbell recently had resigned as County Home Demonstration Agent.
1949
ABC agents stationed in Martinsville destroyed a 300-gallon still, 1,200 gallons of mash and 12 jars of whiskey in the Bowles Mill section of Henry County. They also arrested a man at an establishment on Fayette Strett for possessing a small quantity of illegal whiskey.
1960
Today in Charlotte college students crowded into the lunch counters at Woolworth’s and Kress in Charlotte, in the fifth day of protests in North Carolina. Woolworth’s closed its lunch counter and Kress followed suit. Police were at both locations.
1974
The nationwide strike by independent truckers had been going on for 9 days but showed signs of potentially coming to an end when cargoes of meat from the Midwest and produce from the South started heading northeast Saturday, Feb. 9.
Globman’s ad: “Wind Song girls only want one thing. The Unforgettable One! Wind Song. By Prince Matchabeli. Girls that wear it are unforgettable. Men that give it are unforgettable. So … Wind Song cologne spray mist, $5. Wind Song cologne, $3 to $6.90. Wind Song perfume, $7.50. Globman’s Famous Toiletries, Church St. Level.
1999
V. Rod Berry was Berry Elliot Realtors’ 1998 Rookie of the Year. He won the 1998 Silver Award for $1.5 million in sales.
United Way officers for 1999-2000 were Charles W. Davies Jr. of Tultex Corp., Noel Chitwood of Piedmont Trust Bank; Rob H. Gehman of Tultex; and James H. Ford, attorney.
Hendrick Motor Sports racing team would pay for 250 potential donors in the “Have a Heart for Kandis” bone marrow typing drive at the National Guard Armory. Kandis Joyce, 9, of Martinsville had leukemia and underwent an experimental cord blood transplant in December but would need a bone marrow transplant if her body rejected the cord blood transplant. A transcript from a WDBJ-7 news program on a Virginia Tech website said that hundreds of people showed up to that typing event to get their blood tested and their names listed on a national bone marrow transplant list, but Kandis died at Duke University Medical Center in March 1999.
2024
The Martinsville City Council has issued a proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month in the city of Martinsville. Events and/or displays are at the FAHI (Fayette Area Historical Initiative) museum (Executive Director Charisse Hairston), New College Institute, and the Martinsville Library (by the Rev. Tyler Millner).
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.