Feb. 25
100 Years ago – 1925
Dr. M.E Hundley (he was head of the Lucy Lester Hospital) were witness to a huge fire in Philadelphia. They had just gotten into a cab and were riding along the streets when the windows of the cab were broken and his face was showered in shards of glass. The Gulf Oil and Refinery Co. plant had just exploded, and the doctor saw the whole countryside along the banks of the Schuykill River in flames.
75 years ago – 1950
A committee was formed to look into the possibility of establishing a YMCA in Martinsville: Chairman D. Hurd Goode, president of Martinsville Novelty Corp.; J. Clyde Hooker Jr. of Hooker-Bassett Furniture Co.; Ralph E. Seidle of American Truck and Body Co.; Julius Hermes of Fontaine Converting Works; I.M. Groves Jr. of Piedmont Trust Bank; S.S. Flythe of First National Bank; and William C. Barnes of WMVA.
1961
The 1960 annual report of the Children’s Home Society of Virginia showed that eight babies from Martinsville and Henry County were among the 429 in that organization’s care. One hundred forty-one babies had been placed in adoptive homes in 1960 and 151 new babies had been received.
50 years ago – 1975
A class in sewing men’s knit fabric trousers began at Patrick Henry Community College.
25 years ago – 2000
Tiffany Craighead, 14, the daughter of Kenneth and Flora Craighead of 126 Ross Drive in Bassett, fell unconscious at Bassett High School and was pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital. She had had a heart problem. A team of three school administrators went from one classroom to another to notify the other students.
A ground-breaking ceremony was held for the $2.5 million Oak Level water system.
Larry Aydlett retired after 32 years as executive vice president of the MHC Chamber of Commerce, which gave him a roasting at a dinner at the Dutch Inn.
James Robinson became the new chaplain of the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry, replacing Richard Morris, who left to be the pastor of a church in Danville. Robinson was an ordained minister who had taken classes at Teamwork Bible School in Martinsville.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.