Fred and Bettie Lee Gaskins of Urbanna, owners and publishers of the Southside Sentinel, received the annual Preservation Award of the Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society on Oct. 9. This year, the Sentinel marks its 127th year of reporting weekly on life in and around Middlesex County, recording those events for posterity week by week.
The couple purchased the paper in 1966 from John and William T. Bareford. They had been married six months. Both had graduated from the University of Richmond. Fred had minored in journalism, and Bettie Lee had experience working on the Rappahannock Record, then owned by her father Emory Currell. After his death in 1993, the Gaskins couple also assumed management of that paper.
During their tenure they have rebuilt the newspaper office, made the transition from hot type to offset to computerized production. The paper is printed in Arlington.
The preservation award was presented in a reception at Rosegill Plantation....