March 5 through time
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 years ago – 1924
The Red Cross and the State Board of Health had Diphtheria Clinics March 5 at Axton School and Stockton School and March 6 at Ridgeway School. The Schick Test would be given for all children over the age of 6: A drop of test fluid is injected into the skin. In four days it is possible to tell if the person is safe from diphtheria. Children who show by the test that they are not safe can be made safe by getting injections, one a week, of a small among of a harmless protective substance called toxin-antitoxin. They do not become sick from these injections and they do become safe from diphtheria.
75 years ago – 1949
A 22-year-old Pleasant Grove man turned himself into police at 10 p.m. and admitted taking about $120 from the home of John Wingfield in Pleasant Grove. That money belonged to Pleasant Grove Christian Church and had been stored in a strong box inside a cedar chest in the house. Police said the man confessed to waiting outside the house until the family left for church at 10:30 a.m. the previous Sunday, and then he got in through a window and broke into the cedar chest from the bottom. The police had been looking for him all week.
1960
The Stone Memorial Christian Church Circles enjoyed a presentation on African history from Ms. Addie Munday. The Bassett Garden Club Auxiliary enjoyed a luncheon meeting as they hosted other garden clubs from Bassett and Sanville. Mrs. Spencer Morton and Mrs. G. S. Parks are president and vice-president of the Auxiliary. Mrs. Jim Akers hosted the Little Slam Bridge Club. Mrs. C. M. Matrix won high score, Mrs. Rees Woody won second high, and Mrs. Rob George won bingo.
50 years ago – 1974
March was the Jaycee’s annual Apple Butter Month. They aimed to sell 1,800 jars of apple butter to raise $900 for the MARC Workshop and to benefit Camp Virginia Jaycees in Bedford County, for children with mental retardation. Jaycees included Mike Tilley, co-chair of apple butter; George Newcomb, Jaycee president; and Glenn Edwards, chair of the city Jaycee’s project.
25 years ago - 1999
The Henry County Courthouse was one of four places to get automatic external defibrillators (AEDs), which were new. General District Court Judge Morgan Armstrong was trained in its use.
PHOTO: Tim and Sallie Hall Slate lift the bottomless tub on their tobacco farm, 1978, Patrick County. Photo by Carl Fleischhauer, Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project collection, 1977-1981 (AFC 1982/009), Library of Congress.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.