Feb. 2 1925 - 1950 - 1975 - 2000
100 Years ago – 1925
The initial/organization meeting of the stockholders of the Pannill Knitting Co. was held. The proposed knitting mill would make men’s undergarments. Directors elected were C.T. Womack, J.S. Querns, W.L. Panill, R.P. Gravely, H.A. Ford, R.S. Brown and J.R. Smith. Officers were C.T. Womack, president; J.S. Querns, vice-president and W.L. Pannill, secretary-treasurer.
The Martinsville School Board held a special called meeting to develop standards for high school athletes because, board members and school staff said, it appeared that many students only went to school to play sports and did not care about scholastics. The board set a new rule that only students who had passed all classed in the term prior would be allowed to play sports – and that a notice claiming a student’s eligibility to play school sports be published in the Henry Bulletin and mailed to the student’s parents.
75 years ago – 1950
The first forms were laid for the extension of the sidewalk leading west from the new Patrick Henry Elementary School alongside City Park.
1961
Lester Bros. Supply on Roanoke Road had an advertisement to sell clothes washer, refrigerator, water heater and clothes dryer, “All of the Above Can Be Financed Thru Your Local Bank” – and “Be Foxy – Install a Flameless Electric Clothes Dryer – 10-Day Free Home Trial – No Obligation – SPECIAL FOR THE LADIES! No. 30 Bowl Brush, only 49 cents; Heavy Duty Dust Mops, Only $1.75, Colors to Choose From.”
50 years ago – 1975
Appalachian Power Company customers were due to receive a court-ordered refund of $39.2 million because the West Virginia Public Service Commission determined that the utility company had been overcharging. Apco had begun a series of rate increases in August 1971. Meanwhile, Apco had requested a $36.2 million increase for Virginia. Most of Apco’s power generating plants were located in West Virginia but served both states. The West Virginia ruling was of great concern to the power company and to Virginia.
25 years ago - 2000
Almost 200 people went to Richmond by bus to speak at a General Assembly public hearing on the Textile Workers Relief Act of 2000. They included sisters Maceo Sneed and Dorothy Draper, who had worked a combined 62 years at Tultex. Draper’s son, Darryl France of Martinsville, had worked at Tultex for 17 years and got a job in Madison, N.C. The group wanted legislators’ support of House Bill 1369 and Senate Bill 763. The Act, which called for an extension of benefits to textile workers who lost their jobs because of plant closings, was introduced by Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Collinsville. Carolyn Franck, 80, spoke, asking the House Labor and Finance Committee to support the Textile Workers Relief Act of 2000, and got a standing ovation from the audience of about 250. Her father had founded the company, and her husband had run it. He had established the knitting industry in Mayodan, N.C., and 15 years later, a group of Martinsville businessmen asked him to establish a knitting mill here to employ the wives of the men working in the furniture factories. Meanwhile, his brother, William G. Pannill, headed Pannill Knitting Co. until it was bought by Sara Lee Knit Products. Her husband, William F. Franck, headed Tultex until he turned it over to their son, John F. Franck, and others. In 1999 and 2000 Tultex’s president and CEO was the Francks’ son-in-law, Randoph Rollins. . Other speakers included Kenny Hairston, Danny Towler, Bishop Joseph Adams, Kim Adkins, Paula Burnette, Gene Teague, Sandy Sowers, Deborah Wade, Ronald McDowell and Clifford Broady.
Jerry Greenwood Rigney, 42, of Applewood Road, died when his 1969 Chevrolet pickup was hit by a transfer truck/car hauler on Highway 220 in Bassett Forks.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.