This year’s Mathews Christmas Parade, to be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, will honor two people who have deep, lasting ties to the county and a commitment to public service—Mathews Memorial Library Director Bette Dillehay and Gwynn’s Island Museum Director Tom Edwards. The two will serve as grand marshals of the parade, which this year has the theme “Jingle on the Bay.”
A Mathews native, Dillehay grew up in the Cobbs Creek home of her grandparents, farmer and fisherman Herbert Lewis and his wife Lucy, after her father passed away when she was two years old. Her mother, Myrtle Hudgins, was a beloved teacher who taught history and government at Mathews High School and served as the principal at Cobbs Creek Elementary School.
“People adored her,” said Dillehay. “I walked around in the warmth of that glow. She was my hero. But when I walked into her classroom, I wasn’t her daughter, I was her student. She was known for not fooling around.”
Dillehay said her mother always told her, “Bette, you go and get an education and make something of yourself. Don’t you just come back here.” So, upon graduation from Mathews High School in 1953, Dillehay did exactly that. She enrolled in the Richmond Pan-American Secretarial School before moving on to Richmond Polytechnic Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University) and earning a bachelor’s degree in history. In 1957, she married her hometown sweetheart, the late John Robert Dillehay, who passed away in 2023, and in 1958, she began a 30-year career as the librarian for A.H. Robins Pharmaceuticals in Richmond.
In 1988, the pharmaceutical company closed, and Dillehay went on to a second career as the data administrator for the Commonwealth of Virginia, a position she held for 10 years, earning a master’s degree in public administration along the way.
In 1998, Governor Jim Gilmore appointed Dillehay to handle the looming international Y2K problem involving global computers, and after she successfully brought the state through that issue, Gilmore appointed her to the position of Deputy Secretary of Technology in his gubernatorial cabinet. That prestigious appointment ended her 12-year career with the state, however, since the governor’s cabinet is dissolved when he leaves office.
Dillehay said she was contemplating what to do with her future when she got a call from her cousin, Mildred Hudgins, who had recently retired as the director of Mathews Memorial Library. The director who had been appointed to replace her, Ashby Wilson, had died in a car accident, and a substitute was needed until a replacement could be found. Could Bette step in and help out?
Dillehay agreed and “once I got here, I fell in love with it,” she said. The library was in the middle of a major renovation, and “creating this space was a marvelous adventure.” When interviews began for the permanent position, Dillehay decided to go for it, and thus began her third career. She also earned her second master’s degree, in library science.
Over the years that Dillehay has been library director, she has overseen not only that initial renovation, but expansion of the library into the adjacent building, a former technology and dime store. While the initial idea was for a conference room, she said, it was decided that a special space was needed for teenagers, and thus the Teen Territory was born.
A small conference room was included in the addition, and over time it has been equipped with the latest digital technology so that small groups have the ability to screen their presentations and stream their meetings.
“It’s used about 85 times a month,” said Dillehay. “We have three or more meetings a day scheduled.”
Dillehay has also instituted a plethora of programs: author talks and book clubs; digital literacy classes and concerts; various clubs for teenagers and a monthlong summer activity program for youth, complete with field trips and the much-loved Highland Games.
“The biggest challenge is enticing young people age 12 and older,” she said. “Transportation is an issue. A lot of kids ride the bus, but how do they get home? I would love to see that room fully engaged.”
All of the effort Dillehay has put in has not gone without notice. In 2005, the library was named the “Best Rural Library in the United States” by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
But Dillehay’s service has not stopped with her library duties. She has also been a driving force behind the Mathews Main Street Committee for the past decade, serving as chair for many years and overseeing fundraising for the local match for design and engineering plans for VDOT’s Main Street Enhancement Project.
“There’s a lot of opportunity on Main Street,” she said, “but there are a lot of challenges. You don’t want to lose the character.”
Last month, Dillehay reluctantly agreed to step down from her position as library director as of the first of the year, but she will continue to serve on the Main Street Committee.
“Once the Main Street project is complete, we’ll continue our beautification efforts and holiday activities and continue encouraging people to visit,” she said. “There are things still to be done.”
Tom Edwards
A history buff through and through, Gwynn’s Island Museum Director Tom Edwards is happy to talk about his Gwynn’s Island roots.
Although Edwards himself was born and raised in New Jersey, his ancestor Thomas Elliott Edwards came to the island in the 1830s when he married an island woman and bought Buckschase Plantation. He lost his wife and eventually married the widow who had inherited Green Plains Plantation, then sold Buckschase. Over time, the 350-acre Green Plains was divided among Thomas Edwards’ descendants until Tom Edwards’ grandfather, a farmer and fisherman, was left with a 10-acre farm along Milford Haven and Edwards Creek. As so many young Mathews people have done over time, Edwards’ father, Henry Gwynn Edwards, left the county for work and eventually became the chief comptroller of the New Jersey-based company Standard Brands. Henry inherited two acres when his father died, and in the late 1960s, he built a two-bedroom home there, moving back to the island after he retired.
Edwards himself graduated from high school in New Jersey in 1954, and he joined the U.S. Marines and became a radar technician. In 1957, he left the marines and enrolled in the Colorado School of Mines in Boulder. After graduating as a geologist and civil engineer, he joined the U.S. Forest Service and had a 35-year career “out west.” His job involved locating and surveying land; designing projects such as bridges, trails, campgrounds, visitor centers, and other facilities; writing and administering contracts; and overseeing maintenance of National Park properties. He has vivid stories to tell about building fire lines during forest fires in national forests in Denver, Glenwood Springs and Fort Collins, Colorado.
All the while he worked, Edwards was raising his children with his first wife, Marjorie. In 1980, when son Tommy had just finished high school and daughter Helen was 10 years old, Marjorie died. Edwards remarried, and he and his second wife, Carol, moved to Mathews in 1994, renting a home on Queens Creek and buying their first boat.
“My dear dad was still alive,” said Edwards. “I drove up to his dock, and the wind was blowing me off the dock. I did not know one thing about driving a boat.”
Edwards’ father suggested he join the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and thus began a long-term commitment to service in Mathews. Edwards became qualified as boat crew and coxswain and would go out as part of a crew and help boaters who had run into trouble—perhaps they had run out of gas or had mechanical problems or had become disoriented and didn’t know which way to go.
He also joined the Mathews Lions Club, volunteering at festivals to help raise funds for the various initiatives the club supports in the areas of vision, hearing, diabetes awareness, hunger, environment, disaster relief, and others. He recalled the leadership of Gerald Jones and Johnny Horner, and the time the club made over $20,000 during one Mathews Market Days festival.
The Gwynn’s Island Civic League was yet another way Edwards found he could serve the community. He was president for several years, and fondly recalled working with the late Cricket Call on many activities. He said Call would contact him whenever an attendant was needed at the Gwynn’s Island Museum, and he was happy to oblige. When Jean Tanner decided to retire as director there, Edwards agreed to take over and run the museum.
Now living in the home he inherited from his father, Edwards enjoys managing the museum—caring for the displays, planning activities, and greeting visitors. He said he has a particular interest in gathering information about Mathews veterans and other residents who have served in various wars, including merchant marines and women.
“That’s an exhibit I’m personally motivated to keep current and obtain as much information as I can,” he said.
Edwards said it gives him satisfaction to answer questions that visitors pose, and he finds it personally rewarding to be able to help people find information about their relatives someplace in the museum.
With a life that’s been all about service, Edwards said, “I wouldn’t sleep very well if I didn’t do something to benefit the community where my dear dad lived and retired.”
