Sunday, September 18, 2011

TIME MACHINE ... Community Superstars of Pocomoke's Past; A favorite beach location In 1865; Half Of U.S. covered by dust cloud!

Every era of Pocomoke City's history has seen civic minded citizens step forward to give of their time and talents for the benefit of the community. The following snapshots in time from the years 1973, 1963, and 1957 reveal some of many contributors from those eras.

February, 1973

Pocomoke City service organizations would participate in a campaign to honor senior citizens and also to raise funds for Hartley Hall. Spearheaded by the Pocomoke Ruritan Club, members of the public would have an opportunity to vote for selected Senior Citizen Of The Year nominees at 25-cents a vote or five votes for a dollar. The nominees were:

Phillip A. Creath.. Elks Club

Mrs. Doris Duncan.. Junior Women's Club

Verlin C. Krabill.. Ruritan Club

R. Cephia Perdue.. Kiwanis Club

Mrs. Nettie Richardson.. Fire Auxiliary

R. Harlan Robertson.. Rotary Club

Miss Annie Ross.. Soroptimist Club

John T. Smullen Jr. .. Lions Club

Mrs. Upshur Stevenson .. Women's Club

Henry H. Watson .. Pocomoke Volunteer Fire Co.



April, 1973

Mrs. Upshur Stevenson, sponsored by The Women's Club, received the most votes during the week of voting by Pocomoke City residents to select the Senior Citizen Of The Year. Mrs. Stevenson was cited for her work as a Hartley Hall volunteer and for her longtime service to Pocomoke Presbyterian Church. The winner was announced during a banquet at the 5th street fire hall where a capacity crowd of more than 200 were in attendance. Certificates of merit were presented to all of the senior nominees. The ten Pocomoke service organizations participating in the campaign raised $1,252 for Hartley Hall. The funds were presented to Klein Leister, Chairman Of The Board for Hartley Hall. Ruritan Club president Raymond Dryden was master of ceremonies.


January, 1963

New officers installed by the Pocomoke City Kiwanis Club were:

Robert Pike, President

Gene Lusby, Vice President

William Murdock, Secretary-Treasurer

Board Of Directors:

A.T. Harmon
Paul Ehrenwald

Woody Selby

Ben Cohen
Norris Outten
Elmer Pryor

William Buchanan (outgoing president)

Receiving perfect attendance pins were Mr. Cohen for nine years; Mr. Selby eight years; Mr.Pryor and Mr. Outten seven years; Reds Harmon four years; and Mr. Buchanan one year.



February, 1957
New Pocomoke City Chamber Of Commerce president Leonard Scher announced committee assignments:

Richard Shively- Industrial Development chairman

Edward Ham- Retail Merchants Division chairman

Irvin Scher- Retail Merchants Division co-chairman

Dr. George W. Perdue- Publicity chairman

Jack Peacock- representative to The Community Civic Council

Prentiss Porter and Dr. Perdue- Civic Improvement Committee

Mervin Blades and Hartley Stevens Jr.- Roads And Transportation

James Vincent- International Counciller

Richard Shively- National And World Affairs

John Smullin III- Education

L. Paul Ewell- Constitution And By-laws

Carmel Wilson- Membership

Robert Givens- Halloween Program

Robert Hayman, Dawson Clarke, Pete Melson, Tommy Lee Sexton, and James Mapp- Christmas Decorations.





Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or two or more if you wish. Your name won't be used unless you ask that it be. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!




1865

Before the time of Ocean City, Green Run Beach on Assateague Island was a vacation destination for lower Eastern Shore residents as well as visitors from other states along the eastern seaboard. Its Ocean House Hotel began attracting visitors in 1865. The Ocean House was noted for its local seafood menu and featured live music in a large dance hall, a bowling alley, and a bar for the gentlemen. After making their way to Snow Hill, visitors were taken by horse drawn hacks to Public Landing where the sailing sloop "Fairfield" helped complete their journey to Green Run Beach about 20 miles south of where Ocean City came into existence in the mid 1870's.


February, 1880
(The Cedar Rapids Times- Cedar Rapids Iowa)

Winter wedded a very early Spring in Accomac County, Va., the other day when Egbert G. Bailey, seventy-two years old, led Maggie Bennett, bride of fourteen, to the altar.





ACROSS THE USA
May, 1934
(Syracuse Herald- Syracuse, N.Y.)

Dust Storms Darken Half Of Country

Sand Blown As Far As N.Y. City; Thousands Suffer In West

Dry Spell Unabated

Grain Prices Leap In Chicago As Farmers Lose $2,000,000 Daily
By United PressThe greatest dust storm on record drifted across more than half of the United States today to the Atlantic Seaboard, adding to the devastation of a prolonged drought in the Midwest grain land, and causing wide discomfort in Eastern states.

Meteorological authorities said the storm's extent was almost unprecedented, and the dust clouds, raised by winds from the scorched plains of the West, might continue to drift high in the air for many miles.

The cloud, estimated in the West as 1,500 miles long and almost 1,000 miles wide at one time, made the sky a haze, sifted through tiny window cracks and laid a fine coat of dust inside countless homes and stores and skyscrapers in New York.

In addition to injuring or killing many head of cattle in the West, the dust caused discomfort and injury to humans. New York hospitals report twice normal number of patients seeking removal of foreign matter from their eyes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The greatest dust storm on record drifted across more than half of the United States.... Meteorological authorities said the storm's extent was almost unprecedented..."

It was caused by Global Warming and we all know that was George Bush's fault.

The Public Eye said...

I remember a large number of those names especially Nettie Richardson, I lived right beside her for 13 years on Clarke Ave.