Another anniversary worth noting is the appearance of Betty Wrenn Day’s food column for 40 years. You can find a retrospective this week on page 1B.

Betty began her popular column in February 1979 and since then has traveled to every corner of Gloucester and Mathews counties, to neighboring counties, cities and states, in pursuit of interesting stories and worthwhile recipes that you can find in your kitchen. She always welcomes suggestions; call her at 804-725-2191 with yours.

We doubt you will find a food writer of longer tenure in many places, and we suspect that she is the dean of Virginia’s food columnists, although no one is keeping score.

But these anniversaries, while worth noting, are not about us.

They are essentially about you, the reader, and about the people, groups, schools, churches and officials who make up this lovely corner of the world.

Long ago local boosters declared Gloucester County the “Land of the Life Worth Living” and Mathews Coun...