Nov. 27
100 Years ago – 1924
More of the Martinsville High School students’ list of manners, compiled for Best Manners Week Nov. 19-27: When at a card party, never criticize another’s playing; always be a good mixer when you are in the house with other people; at church conduct yourself with dignity and reverence. Never talk, giggle or stare at anyone in the audience. Never look back to see those entering. When the services end, leave promptly and quietly, never stand in the aisles to talk; young people should sit with their families at church. The courtesy of close attendance upon your family, especially your mother or elder kinswoman, Is a mark of good breeding that no young person should fail in.
75 years ago – 1949
It was the first reported death of a worker on Philpott Dam: Ephriam Ellsworth Thompson, 45, died in Martinsville General Hospital Sunday of internal injuries suffered Saturday in an accident while working on the dam. He was attempting to remove a nipple from a high-pressured pneumatic air line. He was a native of Beaver City, Utah, and had been living in Bassett for 2 months. Survivors included his widow, Mrs. Edna V. Thompson, and two sons, William and Tommy Thompson, all of near Bassett.
City workers began putting up Christmas lights with decorative material attached to them. They would be turned on Dec. 2 when Santa Claus arrived.
Father Robert E. O’Kane said that work would begin during the week on a new convent to be erected by the St. Joseph Parish next to the Catholic rectory at 110 Myrtle road. [Where is that? Presently, Myrtle Road house numbers start at 901 from Chatham Heights Road, and the numbers go higher from there, not lower). The convent would cost $16,000 to $18,000. It would be brick, 36 by 42 feet, with a full basement and one story. The basement would be a temporary chapel until a larger building program could be carried out. Four nuns would live in the convent, which would have a chapel, five bedrooms, a dining room, a living room and a kitchen. The nuns would come from the Missionary Helpers of the Sacred Heart from the Motherhouse in Townsend, Md. They would visit people throughout Henry and Patrick County offering service. Next, a parochial school for 200 students was being planned to be built on Fairy street, as soon as funding became available. Once that was done, the nuns would be teachers for that school.
1960
Activities offered during the week at the Community Recreation Center on Cleveland Avenue: Home Demonstration Club meeting, open house, dancing classes, youth swimming, mental health classes, recreational swimming, Family Night, Girl Scouts, baton classes, English seminar.
50 years ago – 1974
Greyhound buses resumed their Martinsville routes, after a week idled by a nationwide strike.
25 years ago - 1999
The Christmas parade was held, and the theme was “People Helping People – All Year Long.” The grand marshal was the Shriners. Jeanne Lawson was the first vice president of the Christmas Parade Association.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.