100 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 22, 1925
from the Mathews Journal
A silver cup is offered as a prize in the Trap Shooting Contest at the Mathews Fair Grounds on Wednesday, the second day of the Fair. The time of this event is 12 o’clock, and the contest is open to all.
The Exhibit Hall at the Fair will be open on Monday at 1 p.m. Everyone who can should bring their exhibits on this day. Exhibits will be received up to 12 o’clock Tuesday.
Cobbs Creek School was greatly saddened by the death of one of their pupils, Miss Regina Rainier, which occurred on last Friday night. A very large crowd attended the funeral at Mathews Chapel on Sunday afternoon.
90 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 24, 1935
from the Gloucester Gazette
The third grade at Hayes School has organized a Good Health Club with the following officers: president Arthur Tillage; vice-president, John Catlett; secretary, Alice Marie Newbill; and treasurer, Mary Pierce Anderton.
from the Mathews Journal
The Cobbs Creek basketball team lost a fast game to New Point at Botetourt gymnasium on Oct. 17. The score was 25-20.
Friday afternoon the Garden Club of Mathews planted a native cedar on the court green to be used as a community Christmas tree. The tree is a beautiful specimen and about 15 feet tall. Mrs. Hollerith donated the tree, and the Garden Club had it moved by professional landscape gardeners with the cooperation of Mr. George Upton and the expert assistance of Mr. Upton’s gardener.
Wilkins Sanders of the Modern Radio Shop, Philco Radio dealer, said today that he is experiencing a veritable landslide of new business.
80 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 25, 1945
from the Gazette-Journal
Mrs. Clementyne W. Jones and her advanced pupils will appear in a music recital at Union Zion Baptist Church, Ware Neck, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28, sponsored by the choir. Mrs. Eliza Lee, president, said the public is invited.
Mr. and Mrs. Will Owens and Mrs. Butts Sadler, all of Mathews, spent the weekend in Farmville. Accompanied by their daughters, Miss Elaine Owens and Miss Mildred Sadler, students at State Teachers’ College, they enjoyed a motor trip over the Sky Line Drive.
70 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 20, 1955
from the Gazette-Journal
The auditorium of the Watkins Business Center in Gloucester is now open for the winter, with indoor games and socials scheduled. On Friday evening, Oct. 21, there will be a turkey supper, square dance, ping pong, cards, games, and other amusements. Turkey supper (or your choice of other meats) will be served in the Circle Tea Room each Friday from 4 p.m. throughout the evening. The menu will also include candied yams, peas or greens, creamed potatoes, and ice cream pie.
Miss Virginia Ward, Billy Brown, Gary Wayne Brownley and John Sadler, all of Mathews, accompanied by C. E. Kline and S. E. Sutton, spent Wednesday in Waverly, where they participated in the Southern States Cooperative Farm Talent District Elimination Contest on Wednesday night.
60 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 21, 1965
from the Gazette-Journal
Amory P. Rilee of Gloucester has announced he will open a new barber shop in the Edgehill Shopping Center today. Rilee is a former employee of Hodges & Bryant, Inc., and also operated a barber shop between Newton Motor Co. and Ordinary Appliance Co., on a part-time basis.
Annual Men’s Day service will be observed at Zion Baptist Church, Miles, on Sunday. Guest speaker for the 4 p.m. service will be Joseph A. Byrd, principal of Thomas Hunter School. The FFA quartet of Thomas Hunter will render several selections. Members of the planning committee are Charles H. Clark, Ellis G. Foster, Len Ruff, Russell E. Foster and Wormley Diggs.
The Mathews High School SCA is sponsoring a powder-puff football game between the junior and senior girls on Monday at 7 p.m. at the school.
50 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 23, 1975
from the Gazette-Journal
The new Gloucester High School on Short Lane will be dedicated Sunday with ceremonies that begin at 3 p.m. The GHS Band and the Choral Department will provide the music for the ceremony. Speaker John Warren Cooke will be the guest speaker. Following the official ceremonies tours will be conducted of the facility and refreshments will be served. Principal J. D. Briggs said the public is cordially invited and that he looks forward to a large turnout.
The Mathews County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to act Tuesday on a proposed ordinance regulating boat traffic in Milford Haven. The law is designed to control boat wakes which reportedly have caused erosion, damage to oyster beds, and have created hazardous conditions for workers at docks and railways on the haven. It was stated Tuesday night during a work session that the board will also consider a request from citizens of the Stutts Creek area for similar controls.
40 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 24, 1985
from the Gazette-Journal
Granny’s Attic Bazaar, sponsored by the Abingdon Junior Woman’s Club, will be held from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday in the clubhouse at Wicomico. A variety of country, Christmas and other craft items will be available.
The Colonial Garden Club of Mathews will present a flower show, “Herald the Holidays,” on November 16 at 5 p.m. at Chesapeake National Bank, Mathews. The show will be divided into two sections, horticulture and design, and will be judged by standards of the National Council of State Garden Clubs, Inc., a spokesperson said. Mrs. Raymond M. Dripps and Mrs. John R. Pierce are co-chairmen.
30 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 26, 1995
from the Gazette-Journal
The Ware Episcopal Church Women will hold a covered-dish supper meeting at 6:30 tonight in the parish house on Route 14. Beth Haskell, owner of Kelsick Gardens, will speak and demonstrate short cuts for holiday entertaining.
Emmanuel United Methodist Church, Bohannon, will present a musical at 7 p.m. Sunday. This is the third and final program of 1995 to raise money for and to honor Mathews County charitable organizations. The program will benefit the Christmas Blessing Fund. Performers will include the Emmanuel Choir, Nancy Hudgins, Lillie Chambers, Katie Bunting, Kathryn Diggs, Thelma Rice, The Joyful Noise, Deborah and Carl Roane, Virginia Anne Shipley and daughters, and Shari Dameron.
20 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005
from the Gazette-Journal
Gloucester Cheer Extreme competition squad took second place in separate events held Oct. 2 and 9 in Denbigh High School and first place last Sunday in a Hampton contest. The squad includes Desiray Johnson, Shelby Cameron, Shannon Weaver, Brooke Kestner, Megan Mercado, Crystal Kirby, Macey Lynchesky, Kaitlyn Moore, Alicia Johnson, Jasmine Gardner, Ashley Meyers, Kristen Hickman, Taylor Sites, Alaina Melton and Jessica Fleet.
For the second year in a row, Mathews ranked at the top of the list of 15 jurisdictions in the Greater Hampton Roads Quality of Life Survey, an annual measure of the perceptions of Hampton Roads residents. Mathews County was the only jurisdiction to receive an index score of over 60, increasing slightly from last year (60.6 to 61.14), with York County placing next with a score of 57.53. Gloucester ranked fifth with a 56.68, behind Virginia Beach and Poquoson. Dr. Joshua Behr, professor of political science and geography at Old Dominion University, compiled the report.
10 YEARS AGO
Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015
from the Gazette-Journal
The Gloucester High Robodukes team “B” made it to the semifinals of a regional robotics tournament on Saturday in Haymarket, missing a last-minute chance to compete in the finals. Team members were Zach Phillips, Melissa Wishmeyer, Nick Hoskins, Macie Wishmeyer and Byron Guju.
Mathews residents will again have a chance to record their memories of days gone by when students and staff from the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program of the University of Florida return to the Middle Peninsula this weekend to continue their folklore and oral history research for a second year. Both scheduled and walk-in audio-only interviews will be conducted from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at Mathews Memorial Library. A dozen interviews have already been scheduled, said library spokesman Becky Barnhardt.