After more than 35 years in the picture framing business, Pat’s Gallery & Gifts Ltd. in Deltaville is going out of business effective Dec. 31, said owner Pat Tinsley.

Since 1985, Tinsley’s business has operated on General Puller Highway (Route 33) across from Hurd’s Hardware. However, Tinsley started her business a few years earlier, shortly after she and her late husband Cliff moved to Deltaville. They had built a house in 1980 and she started framing pictures in a 40-foot-long office trailer. Less than a year later they built a framing shop in their yard.

When the current building on Route 33 became available in 1985, she moved to the permanent location. It took a while to convince some people that she was “the framer,” said Tinsley, explaining that many thought her husband Cliff did the actual work. “I always wanted to put up a sign that read, ‘The framer is a she.’” Tinsley started learning her craft in 1978 when she took a part-time position with a small needlework and ...