Thursday, August 10, 1967
Dog days end with this week and they certainly have been wet.
Katydids started singing Saturday; this is an accepted sign that it is six weeks until frost.
We saw a wooly worm Saturday that had equal amounts of black at both ends with a big expanse of brown in the middle. This, of course, indicates a cold winter early and late with moderate weather in between.
Ollie Tacy says the bees are busy this year and he has a wonderful garden. He commented, as have others, on the heavy foliage; this is supposed to be an indication of heavy snows and a bad winter.
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Johnnie B. Hill had people guessing Sunday at the picnic as to the identity of some gray stone-like sets on a bracelet. He had gotten the bracelet the day before at the Williamsburg Fair from the Rev. Bernard Skeen. Nobody guessed what they were and even after he told us they were Job’s Tears, nobody had heard of such things except Mrs. Paul Haddock, who had known them to grow around Cumberland, Maryland. They are hard as a rock and certainly resemble a stone. We sent an inquiry to Roy B. Clarkson at the University for some information on them.
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An old garage building was torn down last week by Ray Landis on the west bank of the Greenbrier River at Marlinton. Notice the big improvement made by Mr. Landis and Delmas Kincaid when you drive that way. Back to the garage – it used to be a blacksmith shop, owned by Clark Gum and later by Baber. John Hayslett Friday remembered the blacksmith shop had a huge oak beside it and in his youth it was the reality of the words of the poem “Under the spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands.”
Boys in Service
Aviation Machinist Mate Third Class William Craig Rudder (Sherbs), foster son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Sherbs, and grandson of Mr. Lanty Underwood, of Huntersville, who was aboard the USS Forrestal CVA –59 that caught fire July 29, called his mother, Mrs. Sherbs, and said he was safe but that he had lost everything but what he had on his back, but his belongings were not important – the important thing was the Good Lord was with him and let him live. He said it was the most horrible thing anyone would ever experience.
Fire Department Plans
The Marlinton Volunteer Fire Department, in line with ongoing plans incorporated in the Community Betterment Contest, has secured an option on lots owned by Mr. and Mrs. Clark Brumagin below the present fire station. The option to buy extends to December, and Fire Chief Fred Burns, Jr., says the Department plans to exercise the option to buy at that time. Mr. and Mrs. Brumagin were most benevolent in the terms that they offered the lots and buildings to the Fire Department and we feel in time they will prove a great asset to the community.
While no construction is planned in the immediate future, it is hoped a modern fire station, municipal offices and community center can be built in this section.
Science Camp
Twelve students from Pocahontas County attended Science Camp at the Youth Camp in Greenbrier county last week:
Marlinton – Terry Wooddell, Roberta Jo Sharp, Donna Sue Stemple, Vonnie Myers, Susie Smith, Lois Sharp and Dianne Kellogg. Durbin – Mark Kane. Green Bank – Pamela Wooddell and Jetta Lou Bowyer. Arbovale – Susan Waslo. Hillsboro – Shirley Fowler.
Phyllis Hill, of Hillsboro, was Junior Counselor.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Merrill Thomas Peacock, of Marlinton, a daughter, named Theresa Lynn.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Delmare Arbogast, of Marlinton, a son, named Jimmy Lee.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Curtis Galford, of Dunmore, a son, named Douglas Wayne.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Lyndell Brooks, of Lynchburg, Virginia, a son, named Jeffrey Allen.
DEATHS
Blifford Biller, of Elkins; burial in the Cochran Cemetery.
Wise T. Gum, 46, died in North Carolina. Born at Mountain Grove, Virginia, a son of the late Henry W. and Mary S. Gum.