June 10

By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion

100 Years ago – 1924

The summer of 1924 marks the first time advertisements for home refrigerators were showing up. Richardson Electric Co. of Martinsville advertised a Frigidaire, “Economical Electric Refrigeration,” priced from $250 and up. The ad states, “At temperatures above 50 degrees bacterial life increases, making food unsafe to eat and causing it to spoil quickly … The average temperature of the ordinary ice-box rarely gets below 55 degrees and rises from this point as the ice melts.” [The USDA now recommends keeping food below 40 degrees to prevent spoilage.]

75 years ago – 1949

Snow Creek Grocery was a popular store and social center for farmers who would sit around the old coal stove. The store was operated by Gordon Overstreet and his wife, Doris. The couple grew up in the valley between Turkeycock and Chestnut Mountains. Gordon Overstreet had been blind since he was 17 years old. He and a 15-year-old friend had been squirrel hunting. They shot a squirrel that didn’t fall out of the tree, so Gordon climbed up to get him. His friend shot him, blinding him. Gordon’s brother came with a well rope to get him down, then took him to Jefferson Hospital in Roanoke, where he stayed for 22 days. He graduated from the school for the deaf and blind in Staunton in 1938 and then the Virginia Workshop for the Blind in Charlottesville.

1960

Father’s Day ad from Globman’s: “How to make Pop lose weight instantly: revolutionary, next to no weight – Viralite – So light, a pound of this 45% woold 55% Dacron polyester blend spins a thread 25 miles long! Imagine how light and cool an HS&M Viralite suit is! Will it wear? We’ve observed Viralite in use for four summers. It wears and tears. And keeps its good looks: the press stays in through the muggiest summer day, wrinkles hang out overnight. … $69.95”

50 years ago – 1974

E.R. Hall of Sam Lions Trail went through a series of mishaps while out at Smith Mountain Lake. First his lost his credit cards in his boat. When he reached for them, his eyeglasses fell into deep water. His son, Tommy, could have helped him out, but he already was headed for home. The father made a call to Robertson’s Store five miles away to intercept him. As Tommy approached the store, about five people were blocking the road and waved him down. He returned to the lake and dove twice into the water to search, but didn’t have any luck. A neighbor lent a pair of diving goggles for a better search. Then a Roanoke fireman who was passing by calculated the distance the glasses would have drifted with the current – and following his directions, the glasses were found.

25 years ago – 1999

Groundbreaking was done for Roselawn’s new four-unit mausoleums. Each of the buildings would be 23 feet wide and 58 feet long and have 392 burial spaces across seven levels. The total cost would be more than $1 million, if all four were built. So far just the first one was going to be constructed. Charley Humkey was the manager.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.