Nov. 23 through time
100 Years ago – 1924
On the Spencer Road a Dodge tuck with 10 men, driven by Fletcher Boaz of Horsepasture, en route from Mayo to Horsepasture, went off the road in front of the Bill Grogan Farm. Killed were G.F. Boaz whose skull was crushed beneath the tires of the truck and Charlie Hylton, who was thrown against a fence post
Nov. 19-27 was Better Manners Week, and students of Martinsville High School compiled a list of good manners, which was published Nov. 25, 1924, in the Henry Bulletin. They included: Parlor – When sitting down try to take a dignified posture, never loll nor slouch, never, never tilt the chair, let it remain as still as possible, never rock back and forth; never yawn, stretch nor place the arms above the head in company; never walk between anyone and the light or fire; a gentleman should never snoke in the presence of a lady without her permission … Telephone – “If given the wrong number, do not be mad, the other fellow is just as much put out as you, so, ‘I beg your pardon’ or ‘I’m sorry’ is better than a gruff ‘I don’t want you’; be courteous to Central. Ask for your number with a pleasant ‘please.’; don’t carry on a long conversation over the telephone, the telephone is for the use of the public, not you.
75 years ago – 1949
Eleven churches planned together to host one Thanksgiving service in Bassett on this night before Thanksgiving, in the auditorium of John D. Bassett High School: Bassett Church of the Brethren, Fort Trial Baptist Church, Fort Trial Christian Church, Tabernacle Baptist Church, Stanleytown Methodist Church, Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church, Oak Level Baptist Church, Mt. Hermon Church of the Brethren, First Baptist Church of Bassett, Blackberry Baptist Church and Bassett Memorial Methodist Church. Busses operated from all sections around Bassett to the school to bring people to and from.
Another union Thanksgiving service was held in the Martinsville High School auditorium, attended by about 500 people. Rev. Chevis Horne, president of the Martinsville Ministerial Alliance, was a coordinator of it. Dr. O.B. Newton, pastor of the Wesley Methodist Church, preached, and music was by the Cathedral Choir of Martinsville. The exercises were under charge of Rev. C.M. Wales of Calvary Christian Church.
1960
Dr. C.P. Kearfott arrived in Martinsville in 1882 on the very first train ever to come to Martinsville. He established a pharmacy here. His son, Hugh S. Kearfott of Mulberry Road, took his six grandchildren on a train ride to Winston-Salem. It was one of the last trips the Norfolk & Western passenger train would take on the route that used to run once a day from Roanoke to Winston-Salem.
It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Mary Washington College students Ola Yeffstig, Francis Goins, Ann Hennessey, Barbara Cotty and Betsy Carper left Fredericksburg at 5:30 p.m. and arrived home in Martinsville at 11:30 p.m.
50 years ago – 1974
Prices at Taylor’s Supermarket, Northside & Clearview: Oranges, 3 cents each; bananas, 10 cents a pound; grapefruit, 10 cents each; celery, 29 cents; 1 lb. H&C Coffee, 99 cents; half gallon of Krafts orange juice, 79 cents; and turkeys, 49 cents a pound.
25 years ago - 1999
It was announced that Blue Ridge Technology Inc. would open a plant in Henry County to make environmentally safe paints and inks. Forty people would work there. Blue Ridge would invest $2 million in a 30,000-square-foot plant at Beaver Creek Industrial Park.
American of Martinsville filed suit in U.S. District Court in Danville saying that Pulaski Furniture Co. Inc. intentionally copied American’s Carmel line of hotel furniture with Pulaski’s Millbrook Collection. American said that its former employee, William Perdue, took the overall look of the Carmell line with him when he went to work at Pulaski.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.