March 12 through the years
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
Furniture man and Kiwanis Club member John D. Bassett sent this letter to the editor of the Henry Bulletin: “If you Henry County folks think I’m asleep down here in this Florida sunshine, you are widely mistaken. Just take a look at this clipping from the Palm Beach paper, the editor of which is such a good church man that he is a regular George Washington telling the truth. We are having fine luck fishing here this time. The weather is fine now and this is a great place.” The attached Florida newspaper clipping reads, “On their fishing boat, the ‘Eva,’ Mr. C.C. Bassett, Mr. J.D. Bassett, Mr. T.C. Vaughan and Mr. R.E. Weaver spent Monday catching kingfish, amberjack and a sailfish that weighed 70 pounds and was seven and a half feet in length.”
75 years ago – 1949
An ad for Lee Telephone Co. featured a drawing of a pretty lady wearing a long-sleeved blouse, a knee-length skirt and high heeled shoes, standing in a doorway, with a man in work clothes sitting down on the floor with a tool box next to him, smiling up at here. It reads: “Here’s a man with important connections. The telephone installer is truly a man with important ‘connections’ today. Connecting new telephones is his Number One job, and hid is doing his work just as rapidly as cable and central office facilities permit. Demand for telephone services continues to break all records …”
1960
In order to meet revenue needs, Virginia’s General Assembly passed a measure to tax cigarettes 3 cents per pack. The measure was predicted to bring in between $24,000,000 and $39,000,000 over a 2-year period. They allotted $15,000 for both Fairy Stone and Claytor State Parks, approving the request made by William F. Stone and Woodrow Byrd. They remained unable to make progress in the fight over desegregation of schools as the session came to an end.
50 years ago – 1974
The French Club at Drewry Mason High School were conducting projects to raise $1,500 to help build a school in GbotoVodoughbe, a village in Togo, West Africa. They sold their artwork, perfume and valentine cookies and held a basketball game and car wash. Jessie Musser was the club president and Regina Hudson was the vice president.
25 years ago - 1999
Harvey Gardner Upholstery at 3360 Oak Level Road was destroyed by fire. Meanwhile, on the other end of the county, on King’s Mill Road, Sam Sparks’ house was on fire, and 7-year-old Derek Depeau was credited with discovering it and rushing quickly to get his mother, Lisa Depeau, to call 911.
PHOTO: 1924, Prillaman’s Market
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.