May 27 through the years
100 Years ago – 1925
Department store owner Ed Townes discovered that burglars had broken glass on the front door, entered and ransacked the store, taking about $1,000 worth of merchandise. That included 20 of the store’s best suits, but the thieves just took the suits and left the hangers on the racks.
75 years ago – 1950
Women of the Martinsville American Legion Auxiliary hit the streets with baskets of bright red crepe paper poppies to pin on the coats of passersby. Disabled veterans at veteran hospitals had made more than 35 million crepe paper poppies for the annual observance of Poppy Day. The flowers were replicas of the European wild poppy which inspired Canadian medical officer Col. John McCree (1872-1918) to write the famous poem “In Flanders Fields”:
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky / The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago / We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie / In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw / The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die / We shall not sleep, though poppies grow / In Flanders fields.”
50 years ago – 1975
Henry County Administrator John E. Longmire quit, leaving with quite a parting shot: “I hope my decision will have the effect of waking up county residents that many candidates for the board in the upcoming election are not qualified,” he said in a statement he read at the start of a board of supervisors meeting. However, the 34-year-old said he wasn’t leaving for political reasons but rather that he had received a better job offer. He also said, “Local government is more desirable than state or federal levels of control because we all have an opportunity to participate.”
Henry and Patrick counties and the City of Martinsville formally agreed to merge into a regional library system. It would come into effect on July 1.
25 years ago - 2000
The Dodson Five, the Bassett choir, Chatham Choir and Henry County 200 voice community choir (ages 6-15) held a fundraising gospel concert “Feed the Children” at the Bassett High School auditorium. The theme was “Children Helping Children.”
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.