Thursday, May 25, 1950
Panthers in Bath County
It is not a panther, but panthers to be reported this week. On last Wednesday, a party of gentlemen saw, in broad daylight, a pair of immense panthers or mountain lions in Bolar Draft in Bath County. The clear view, the large size, the buff color, and the long tails of the great cats leaves no shadow of doubt as to their identity as to a pair of mating panthers.
Bolar Draft lies between Mt. Grove and Hickory Lodge. The area is part of the immense estate of Judge Thomas Gathright. Much of this area is abandoned farms. It is ideal deer range and the concentration of deer there is really heavy. Only a few weeks since, I had report of a herd of 37 deer by actual count seen by woodsmen on return from their work at end of day.
Wherever deer have come back in numbers, it is now known that the panther will soon appear to live upon the deer herds. While it has been about 60 years since a panther was killed in these parts, of late years the sight of panthers has been reported by many reliable persons. Only a few months since, a panther was seen and heard on Back Creek. This was one a few miles from Bolar Draft, where the pair of panthers was seen last Thursday.
Honor Students
In Hillsboro High School the top student to graduate this year is Margaret Kellison, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Kellison, of Hillsboro. Second place goes to Mildred Underwood, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Underwood, of Mill Point.
In Marlinton High School, the first honor student is Dan Moore, son of Mrs. Margaret K. Moore, of Marlinton. the second in line is Harper Thomas Callison, son of Mrs. Hycie Callison. There was a mere fraction of three tenths of one percent in the scholastic standing of these young gentlemen.
In the Green Bank High School, the high-ranking members of this years’ graduation class is Martha McCutcheon, daughter of Mrs. L. C. McCutcheon, of Green Bank, and Gloria Dean Eye, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Eye, of Durbin
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About 25 years ago, at the suggestion of the late Anderw Price, the Kiwanis Club encouraged and underwrote recognition of graduates of the Marlinton High School who had maintained a scholastic average of 90 or better during their four-year high school course. The token was a golden horseshoe pin. The earnest, persevering, ambitions and smart young people were dubbed Ladies and Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. The idea of the token was from Governor Spottswood’s Knights of the Golden Horseshoe.
After the local Kiwanis Club subsided in depression years, other organizations kept the good custom going. This year the donors are Marlinton Masons, Eastern Star, Lions, Rotary and Woman’s Clubs.
The following students received a golden horseshoe: Dan Moore, Harper Thomas Callison, Ann Yeager, Hale Alderman, Dave Gibson, Joyce Thomas, Robert Pyles, Jimmy Moore, Mary Underwood, Floyd Davis, Sue Harper, Lucy Rose, Herbert Mace, Carolyn Thomas and Barbara Burns.
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Honor students who graduate at Hillsboro High School this year with a four-year average of 90 percent and better are Margaret Kellison, Mildred Underwood, Minnie Merle Beard and Dottie Dalton.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. George Warren Fowler, of Hillsboro, a daughter, Linda Lou.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. John Stanley Chappel, of Hillsboro, a daughter, Ramona Nell.
DEATHS
Marvin Alderman, aged 47 years, died May 10, 1950. His body was laid in the family cemetery near the Docks on Douthards Creek with military honors. The deceased was a veteran of the first World War.
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Adam Simmons, aged 39, of Valley Head, died in a mining accident on Point Mountain May 18, 1950. He was a son of the late Patterson and Virgie Hannah Simmons, of Pocahontas County. His body was laid in the Oddfellow Cemetery at Elkins.
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Funeral service for Mrs. Mertie Waybright Newman was held Saturday at her home on Knapps Creek. Mrs. Newman had passed away at twilight, Thursday, May 18, 1970, at the age of 72 years. Born at Crabbottom, Virginia, a daughter of the late David J. and Mary Snyder Waybright… She was married to Claude D. Newman, and to this union 12 children were born.
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Mrs. Malinda Sharp Hannah, aged 83, died May 22. She was a daughter of the late Silas and Sarah Sharp, of Slaty Fork. Of her father’s family, there remains her brother, L. D. Sharp. Funeral was held from Mary’s Chapel. Interment in the Gibson Cemetery.
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Mrs. Martha Florence VanReenan McNeill, age 80, widow of the late J. Luther McNeill. Funeral service from the Marlinton Methodist Church with burial in Mt. View Cemetery… The deceased was a daughter of the late Cornelius and Martha VanReenan. Her father was a native of Holland.
