Saturday, May 1, 2021

Where's Heidi?

 

You haven't seen WBOC meteorologist Heidi Weroasta recently because she has moved to Bismarck, North Dakota.  She has family there and is working at a TV station in Bismarck. She had worked at another station there previously.


Friday, April 30, 2021

Time Machine Preview

 This Sunday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye:

1986  ..  Recalling Pocomoke City's 'Doll Lady.'


1870  ..  An ad in a Baltimore newspaper is seeking a teacher for a Worcester County grammar school.

1934  ..  The grave marker of a pioneer Eastern Shore clergyman has been discovered near Princess Anne.

1963  ..  About 800 lower Eastern Shore residents have been afflicted by a mysterious disease.

2008  ..  Editorial-

                                        


Thursday, April 29, 2021

Mel Says

When are we going to hear from Mel again?

We caught up with Mel.  He's been thinking, he says, and has some things for us cooking in the oven but they're just not quite finished yet. 

If you missed Mel's first couple of postings or would like to read them again here's where you'll find them:

https://thepocomokepubliceye.blogspot.com/2021/02/mel-says.html

https://thepocomokepubliceye.blogspot.com/2021/03/a-fire-story-tanks-for-memory.html

And, by the way, if you have something of interest to share with Pocomoke Public Eye readers.. a sentence or two, a paragraph or more.. email it to us at tkforppe@yahoo.com and we'll post it for other readers to view. 


Sunday, April 25, 2021

Time Machine: 1923, 2004, 1971, 1877.

 


Miss Julia Robertson was a much admired elementary school teacher in Pocomoke City. She taught for nearly five decades well into the 1970's and she made valuable civic contributions to our community even long after her retirement.

March, 1923



Worcester Democrat

Footnote: Miss Robertson's essay, a treasure of early local history, was published in a later issue of the Worcester Democrat and can be viewed at the conclusion of today's postings.  

May, 2004 (excerpts)

(Daily Times, Salisbury)

December, 1971

Democratic Messenger

January, 1877

 Kentucky Advocate (Danville, Ky.) 


March, 1923
 (Text of winning essay by Miss Julia Robertson)

(Worcester Democrat)




 


Friday, April 23, 2021

Blessing Of The Combines is a no go again this year

 (WBOC)


View news story:

2021 Blessing of the Combines Festival Canceled - WBOC TV


(Updated) Chief Brumley is leaving, citing "unforeseen issues"

 
                     (file photo)

A Daily Times (Salisbury) news article states:

The issue doesn't involve the city or himself, Brumley said Thursday morning in a phone interview. It also doesn't relate to any litigation or investigation. 

Brumley didn't to want comment in detail on the matter "out of respect for the issue," adding more information might become public in the future. 

View original WMDT news story:

Pocomoke Police Chief announces resignation - 47abc (wmdt.com)



Time Machine Preview

 This Sunday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye:

1923  .. High School senior Miss Julia Robertson is the winner of an essay contest about Eastern Shore history.  Read her essay.

Miss Robertson became a much admired elementary school teacher in Pocomoke City and taught for nearly five decades.  She made valuable civic contributions as well even long after her retirement. 

2004  ..  More about the life of Miss Julia Robertson.

1971  ..  Pocomoke City volunteer firemen receive their annual pay checks. The largest is less than $40.00.

1877 ..  It's reported out in Kentucky that the best color butter is produced by Eastern Shore of Maryland farmers.



Thursday, April 22, 2021

The passing of a veteran of Delmarva airwaves


Wayne Cannon passed away this week at the age of 72.  His radio career spanned decades at stations on Delmarva. He retired from WGMD on the Delaware coast in 2013.  Wayne had a keen interest in our area's radio history with a hope of a broadcasting Hall Of Fame to be established to recognize local radio and TV personalities.  

View Wayne's reminiscing in this interview from a number of years ago: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZhAve2-1O8

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Worcester County Veterans hosting replica of Vietnam Memorial Wall

Veterans Memorial Park, Route 589 and Cathell Road

Thursday, April 22 – Sunday, April 25 2021

Open 24 hours a day

(Closes Sunday at 2:00 pm)

Free to the public

The Wall That Heals, a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will be hosted by the Worcester County Veterans Memorial at Ocean Pines Foundation.  The traveling exhibit honors the more than three million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed forces in the Vietnam War and it bears the names of the 58,279 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.

View more:

The Wall That Heals | Worcester County Veterans Memorial Ocean Pines MD (opvets.org)


Sunday, April 18, 2021

Time Machine: Leaving legacies in Worcester County- Dr. Norman E. Sartorius Sr. and environment defender Ilia J. Fehrer.

 


August, 1972








Footnote: At a ceremony in Pocomoke in March of 1982 Dr. Sartorius, at age 103, was awarded one of the highest honors given by Rotary by being made a Paul Harris Fellow in connection with the foundation that provides scholarships for study abroad.  Although Dr. Sartorius wasn't able to make a personal appearance at the ceremony many were on hand for the event in his honor. 



Daily Times (Salisbury)

Footnote: 103 year old Dr. Sartorius Sr. passed away in late April, 1982. Dr. Norman E. Sartorius Jr., his son who also was a longtime physician in Pocomoke, passed away in July, 1983 at age 70.

(PPE reader comment)

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dr. Sartorius was noted for being a bit unusual and also a bit tight with a penny. His office was on the second floor of a building on Market Street. Whatever your ailment, the treatment was always the same. He did not write prescriptions to be filled at a pharmacy but dispensed his own medicine.

Once you were diagnosed he would trudge up the stairs to his attic and return with a small bottle of red liquid. He would write the label by hand, lick it, and apply to the bottle. It always read the same, "Take two tablespoons in a wineglass of water three times a day."

One day Jimmy Daugherty ran into the doctor on the sidewalk outside of George Reid's soda parlor. Jimmy said, "Doc, my ear was hurting when I got up this morning. Do you think it could be serious?"

Doc looked at his ear and replied, " I don't see anything, you will be fine."

Two days later Jimmy got a bill in the mail for $10 for a medical consultation.

Before his death Doc Sartorius became a bit of a philosopher. His most famous quotations was thus, "There will come a time when politicians will think the City should engage in private enterprise and may even construct a building, possibly a restaurant, along the river. All will go well at first but eventually there will come a time with much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments."


                                                   

 July, 2007

*****

(Maryland State Archives)

 
Ilia J. Fehrer

(1927 - 2007)


Ilia Fehrer gave the citizens of Maryland many gifts - an unspoiled Pocomoke River and Chincoteague Bay, millions of dollars worth of land conservation, legislation to protect wildlife and water quality, and the education of thousands. Her legacy includes Assateague Islands state and national parks, the designation of the Pocomoke as a "wild and scenic river," the Nassawango Creek Preserve and the Worcester County rural legacy area. She battled offshore waste incineration, the building of an industrial park near Ocean City, the needless destruction of acres of wetlands and forests and the permitting of ill-planned communities.

Ilia Fehrer grew up on a family farm in central Maryland. In 1942, her family moved to Baltimore where she graduated from high school and attended Towson University. She taught elementary school in Baltimore, married Joe Fehrer Sr., and raised eight children. With their move to Snow Hill, her career as Worcester County's environmental conscience began

In 1972, she opposed the rezoning of 3200 acres in central Worcester County and appealed the county's decision to Maryland's highest court, curtailing damage to some of Worcester's prime farmland. From this effort came the Worcester Environmental Trust that today holds easements protecting ecological habitat within county subdivisions. For the next three decades she "watch-dogged" state agencies commenting on applications and attending hearings for wetland disturbances, reported soil and erosion control violations, called for hearings on water and sewer permits and opposed the hardening of our shorelines, while championing soft shoreline protections.

Mrs. Feher and her husband, Joe, canoed the Pocomoke, inventorying the river's environmental and wildlife assets. In the 1980s, they spearheaded the effort to establish a water quality-monitoring program, prevented the damming of Nassawango Creek and convinced the Nature Conservancy to preserve the creek and upland forest that has grown to 10,000 acres and founded the Nassawango Creek Stewardship Committee that oversees the protection of this area. In 2003, the Chesapeake Bay Trust recognized Mrs. Feher for her efforts on behalf of the environment with the Ellen Fraites Wagner Award; she and her husband also received the Feinstone Environmental Award at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 1987

During the 1990s, Mrs. Feher help established the Maryland Coastal Bays Program. She served a 5-year term on the Worcester County Planning Commission and was one of the first citizen stakeholders to serve on the habitat restoration subcommittee that advanced the coastal bays rural legacy area. In 2002, Mrs. Feher and her husband received that program's first Osprey Award for their efforts in protecting Maryland's coastal bays.

As a member of the Committee to Preserve Assateague, known now as the Assateague Coastal Trust, she testified before Congress to save the Island. Every New Year's Day Mrs. Feher led a nature walk on the island that now bears her name in remembrance.

Biography courtesy of the Maryland Commission for Women, 2009.


(PPE reader comment)

Ilia Fehrer was also known for living in the second largest house in Snow Hill. It was necessary because she was also known for having eight children, Christa, Celeste, Melissa, Michelle, Joseph, John, Douglas and Damien.




Friday, April 16, 2021

A financial helping hand needed for the Delmarva Discovery Center Museum

(WMDT)


View news story:

 $100K campaign to help a Pocomoke City museum - 47abc (wmdt.com)


(PPE reader comments)

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Delmarva Discovery Center never should have been opened in the first place. I remember when they asked the city council for $25,000 to fix the roof and Councilman Joe Jackson said the whole building wasn't worth $25,000. It's just a hole beside the river that sucks up money.

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I totally disagree with the previous comment. The Discovery Center has been and hopefully will continue to be a great asset to our community. The point is not the value of the structure in which it is located but the value of the unique services it provides to a wide range of the Eastern Shore public and the benefits to Pocomoke City that goes along with that.


Time Machine Promo

 This Sunday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye:

1972  .. Nearing his 95th birthday Pocomoke City physician Dr. Norman E. Sartorius Sr. reminisces his 65 years in medical practice.

2007  ..  Perhaps her name was not widely known to many but Worcester County's Ilia J. Fehrer left a more than impressive legacy as a defender of the environment on the lower Eastern Shore. 


Thursday, April 15, 2021

Tom Ayres launched The Pocomoke Public Eye in 2009

 

Obituary

Thomas (Tom) Alvin Ayres, age 59 of Pocomoke City, MD passed away at his home on April 11, 2021. He was the son of Lillie Mae Elliott Ayres (90 of Pocomoke City), and the late Thomas Wilson Ayres.

In addition to his mother, he is survived by twin sons, Thomas Wilson Ayres and Travis Ayres, both of Pocomoke City, MD, his wife Robin of Pocomoke City, two sisters, Diana Littleton and her husband Joe of Pocomoke City, MD and Pam Ayres of Princess Anne, MD, his great-niece Lily Morton, daughter of Stacey Morton, who was very close to his heart, as well as several nieces and nephews, and many special friends. He was preceded in death by his sister, Kathryn Horney, who passed on April 6th 2021.

For many years, Tom was a skilled mechanic, enjoying working on anything with an engine, as well as an avid boater. Until his health prevented him from doing so, you could find him under the hood of a car, on the water, or listening to all types of music.

Tom was always a strong person, no moment proved this more than winning his battle with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. His strength and passion were something few others shared and something that will be greatly missed.

A funeral service officiated by Rev. Dan Tarr and Travis Ayres will be held at 2pm, Wednesday April 21, 2021 at Holloway Funeral Home in Pocomoke City, MD, where family and friends will gather one hour prior to the service. A private interment will be held on a later date.

Arrangements are in the care of Holloway Funeral Home, P.A., 107 Vine Street, Pocomoke City, MD 21851. To send condolences to the family, please visit www.hollowayfh.com .

Wednesday, April 14, 2021