Thursday, July 15, 1976
UNCLE SAM
Who else but Uncle Sam to lead the Bicentennial Pioneer Days Parade! In a surprise appearance just as the parade started Saturday, Uncle Sam came forth as Parade Marshal.
Circuit Clerk Houston Simmons was dressed in as fine an outfit as you could find, made by his wife, Mary White, and it certainly well represented this well-known gentleman.
MISS POCAHONTAS
Marla Chestnut, of Dunmore, was crowned Miss Pocahontas 1976 by Susan Viers, Miss Pocahontas 1975, at Thursday’s red, white and blue pageant.
Connie Campbell, Little Miss Pocahontas, gave out the trophies.
Miss Chestnut won the talent competition with a recitation and a song, the swimsuit competition and was named the overall winner by the judges. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Murl Chestnut, of Dunmore, and she was sponsored by the Marlinton Business and Professional Women’s Club.
Cheryl Dunbrack was elected Miss Congeniality by her fellow contestants.
Nathalie Dolan, of Arbovale, was first runner up. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Dolan, of Arbovale, and was sponsored by the Arbovale Extension Homemakers Club.
Miss Dunbrack was second runner up. She is the daughter of Mrs. Phyllis Jackson and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dunbrack, Sr., of Marlinton. She was sponsored by the Edray Extension Homemakers Club.
The pageant opened with a parade of flags and a dance and march presentation with the girls in white wearing Uncle Sam hats. Eugene Simmons was master of ceremonies, Linda Barker Hendrickson, a former Miss Pocahontas, entertained at the piano with a vocal solo, accompanied by Houston Simmons on the drums…
Helen Kellison was chairman of the Pageant Committee, and she was assisted by Ruth Taylor, Nora Workman, Donna Dunbrack, Dreama Burns, Frances Bussard, Eugene Simmons and Doug Dunbrack.
WINNERS
Winners in the Tobacco Spitting Contest, new this year in Pioneer Days, were Ricky Shearer, who spat a distance of 18 feet for first place; Kenneth Shearer, second; and Paul McNeill, third.
Junior Spelling Bee Winners
Mark Newkirk, first; Tom Daugherty, second; and Russell Jessee, third.
ANNIVERSARY
Jesse B. Eye, lineman with Monongahela Power Company, observed his 30-year service anniversary June 24.
Eye began his career with the power company in 1946 and served in the Elkins area prior to transferring to Marlinton in 1958.
He and his wife, Wanda, reside at 815 13th Avenue in Marlinton.
WEATHER
June 1976
Minimum Temperature – 31 degrees
Maximum Temperature – 88 degrees
Average high – 70 degrees
Rainfall – 5.47 inches
BIRTH
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Russell Wilfong, of Mill Point, a son, Jamie Lee.
DEATHS
Mark Allen Simmons, 14, of Marlinton, died Thursday, July 8, 1976, in the Greenbrier Manor at Fairlea. He had been an invalid since he suffered a severe illness when he was two years old. He was a son of the late Clem and June Estelle Sharp Simmons… Funeral service from VanReenen Funeral Home with burial in Mountain View Cemetery.
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Mrs. Mabel Taylor, 76, of Dunmore, a daughter of the late John A. and Kate Galford. Service from the Baxter Presbyterian Church with burial in the Dunmore Cemetery.
Archibald MacPherson, 62, of Buckeye, a World War II veteran, and a Catholic. Funeral service from the Episcopal church in Marlinton, with burial in Mountain View Cemetery.
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Winters D. Morrison, 92, formerly of Droop, died in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, at the home of his daughter. Born at Lobelia, he was a son of Silas and Minerva Cruikshank Morrison. Service from Wesley Chapel Methodist Church in Hillsboro with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery.