Thursday, November 27, 1975
SENATOR BYRD
U. S. Senator Robert Byrd and his famous fiddle paid a flying visit to Pocahontas County High School Friday. Learning only the day before that the Senate would not be in session, he drove down to visit PCHS and Webster County High School.
In a short talk before the music, he urged the students to work hard at everything they had to do and strive to win. His own life has been an example of such effort; he earned his law degree when he was 45. He stressed that students should have faith in God, the will to work, and respect for authority.
The lively and capable fiddling of “Cumberland Gap,” “Rye Whisky,” and “Cripple Creek” brought the house down.
FRESHMAN FOOTBALL
The Pocahontas County High School Freshman Football team ended the season with a record of five wins and two losses. After losing to White Sulphur 6-0 and to Webster County 14 – 3, the freshmen won their last five games without being scored on.
The young Warriors played 22 consecutive quarters without giving up a touchdown. The Warriors won over Franklin 36-0; Elkins 6-0; Petersburg 40-0; Franklin 52-0; Richwood 48-0.
Members of the team include Julian Montgomery, Richard Oref, Glenn Arbogast, Grant Galford, Ronnie Sharp, Jeff Barb, Keith Pondexter, Greg Rose, Phillip Hill, Craig Doss, Shawn Nottingham, Mike Ryder, Conrad Smith, Rick Ervine, Scott Kelley, Tim Galford, Mark Kinder and Mike Williams.
COACH OF THE YEAR
First year football coach Harold Brooks has been named the recipient of the initial NRVC Coach of the Year Award. By the recommendation of former NCHS Coach Daryl Bannett, the NRVC will select a Coach of the Year in both football and basketball. Coach Brooks inherited a group of inexperienced and extremely small young men and quickly turned them around. the Grizzlies responded to his tutoring , winning the NRVC football championship.
LETTER
Editor, Pocahontas Times,
Your editorial in the June 26 Times was very interesting. My mother, Mrs. Ada Grimes, of Huntersville, gave the Bradshaw Bible to William T. Price several years ago when he was writing the history of the county. Bradshaw’s daughter, Mrs. Samuel Hogsett, was my great-great-grandmother, the mother of Renick Hogsett, of Huntersville, who still owned two farms on Browns Creek, formerly owned by his grandfather Bradshaw; the land around Huntersville and on Browns Creek for many years was owned by Bradshaw’s relatives, Moores and McLaughlins. I am 73 years old now, but when I was a kid almost everyone I knew was a cousin. Charlie Moore, our nearest neighbor on Browns Creek, married a tiny woman who gave him 14 children, three of his daughters were the only schoolteachers I ever had (Grace, Beulah and Madge). In those days we never had any newcomers to the community of farmers. I am surprised and distressed at the crime reported in The Pocahontas Times now. In the old days nobody locked their doors. The only stealing I ever heard of was shortly after my folks had made their cane molasses. Someone took a gallon or so from the cellar. Mother was very distressed, not by the loss but by the fact that part they stole was to be improved by more boiling; if she gave anyone anything or if they stole it, she wanted it to be the best…
In those days, we children were not allowed to go anyplace except church. My grandfather, once a year, sneaked me to Marlinton to a circus. He loved the clowns and the oranges which could only be bought on trains and at the circus. We were in disgrace on our return home, and many prayers were offered for our sins. I loved the circus as any nine-year-old would.
I came home with seashell necklaces and other trinkets (no dime stores anywhere then). We went in a road wagon, took our lunch, and picked up the neighbors and their children as we drove the 10 miles to Marlinton…
I am a widow now. I live with my daughter who works for NBC in broadcasting here in Washington, D. C. My other daughter is a supervisor with Allegheny Airlines at Washington National Airport, and my son has two music stores and sells Hammond organs and pianos.
Vera Ritchie
Falls Church, Va.
BIRTH
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Lee Anderson, a son, Melvin Lee.
DEATHS
Mrs. Mamie Hudson Brown, 86, of Green Bank, a daughter of the late Oscar L. and Nebraska Orndorff. Funeral service from Liberty Presbyterian Church with burial in the Arbovale Cemetery.
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Evan Lilburn Sharp, 34, of Madison, Virginia, formerly of West Virginia, was killed November 19, in the National Forest in Augusta County, Virginia. His father, Ivan Sharp, died earlier this year. He was a grandson of the late L. D. Sharp. Funeral service from the Madison United Methodist Church with burial in the Slaty Fork Cemetery.
