Dec. 22
100 Years ago – 1924
Ad: “Christmas Flowers. Fine Premier and other Roses, per dozen, $3 to $12. Corsages of Roses and Lily of the Valley, each, $5 to $15. Pot Plants, each, $2 to $6. REMEMBER: If your credit is good in Martinsville it is good in Roanoke. We wish to deal directly with the citizens of Martinsville rather than through amiddleman. The more hands an order passes through the harder it is to execute and fix responsibly, with the best intentions on everyone’s part. We are sure we have the largest equipment west of Richmond … Use telephone or telegraph the last few days previous to Christmas rather than the mails. Fallon Florist, Martinsville.”
75 years ago – 1949
Most local industrial plants closed for a short holiday which would run from Thursday, Dec. 22, through Tuesday, Dec. 27. Plant officials handed out Christmas gifts, some of them bonuses, to employees. The three Jobbers Pants company plants were the first to close, on Wednesday, Dec. 21.
1960
The Henry County Sheriff’s Office was helping Mrs. Charles Hamilton of Rangeley, the widow of a former county jailer. She was in her late 70s and had been a widow for 7 years.
A family of 12 was left homeless after a fire destroyed their small four-room house on North Banks Road. It was the home of John W. Grey and his wife, eight children and two grandchildren. He was at work at Pulaski Veneer and Furniture Corporation when the fire occurred. It was caused by an overheated coal stove which had flames shooting out of an opening where the flue joined a wall. The family was given shelter in a three-room duplex apartment on Griggs Road, owned by the pastor of their church. The Grey children were John III, 8; Robert, 9; Frances Ann, 8; Daniel, 5; Mary, 4; Evangeline, 3; Alvin, 2; and their married daughter, Priscilla, 23, and her two children, Samuel, 4, and Jennifer, 2.
25 years ago - 1999
State legislators unveiled bills to help displaced textile workers by expanding unemployment and retraining benefits. Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Ridgeway, and state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Ridgeway held a joint press conference. Del. Barnie K. Day, D-Meadows of Dan, also was involved with the legislation.
Vickie Helmstutler took her oath of office to become Henry County’s new circuit court clerk.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.