10 Years Ago
Week of July 21, 2016
PCVHG Disposes of 37 American Flags
The Pendleton County Veterans Honor Guard recently disposed of 37 unserviceable American flags donated for disposal by local citizens.
Unserviceable American flags are those that have become tattered, torn, faded or otherwise no longer suitable for use. Out of respect for the American flag, these should not be placed in the trash, but honorably and respectfully disposed of by burning during a proper ceremony.
The PCVHG is continuing to collect unserviceable American flags for the next disposal ceremony.
The PCVHG also provides military graveside rites for deceased military veterans.
SUGAR GROVE: Lores Have Been Passed Down by Generations
Before 1920, persons living in the rural areas of Appalachia had no radios or daily newspapers. In order to tell the up-coming weather, they had to depend on their knowledge of nature, which had preserved in oral tradition for generations.
If the farmer rose early in the morning to prepare for mowing and found no dew on the grass, he delayed his mowing for there would likely be rain that day. Or, if the early fog rose quickly and hung around the hilltops, he would be pretty sure that there would be rain.
There were numerous rules for carrying out the work on the farm and about the house. There were rules for planting, for harvesting crops and for preparing and preserving the crops through the winter months.
There were rules for the treatment of livestock and domestic animals.
This treasury of unwritten knowledge of folk heritage has been pretty well forgotten and cast aside today. One can now receive weather information from television, radio and newspapers. And so life goes on, following the seasons.
20 Years Ago
Week of July 20, 2006
Relay Raises $57,000 For Cancer Research
This year’s Relay for Life, which took place on Friday night and lasted through early Saturday morning, raised $57,094.66 for cancer research.
The annual Relay for Life activities here make Pendleton County one of the biggest per capita donors in the fight against cancer in the Middle Atlantic portion of the US.
SUGAR GROVE: Summertime Lay-Aways Make Good Treats
Canning season in the heat of summer was a time to dread. It completely disrupted the home-life rhythm. Every member of the family participated in the chores. Endless bushel baskets had to be lugged to the scorching kitchen. Here, peaches were peeled, peas shelled, cucumbers chunked, beans snapped, apples cored, and other work to keep pace with the maturing fruits and vegetables. No sooner was one crop sealed in their glass containers, than another reached peak ripeness, necessitating immediate preserving. By summer’s end, canning was over. Memories faded at the satisfying sight of shelves filled with jar after jar of colorful fruits and vegetables.
Drying vegetables, fruits and herbs was the cheapest way of preserving foods. Metal racks equipped with tiers of trays hastened the drying process. In dry weather, foods were spread or hung. Green beans snapped into pieces and strung on twine were called “leather breeches.” To dry apples, one would peel and core apples, slice, spread on clean cloth in the attic, rooftop or any dry well-ventilated place or in low oven until dry. Apples were made into pies.
Dried beans required one to pick well-matured white corn beans or half runners when vines were dry. Beans were broken and strung with two or three beans in each section. Beans were not washed. With a large needle and twine, beans were strung to three- or four-foot lengths. They were hung in dry, breezy places until beans were completely dry.
30 Years Ago
Week of July 11, 1996
Cooking On “Glass”
(NAPS)—Are you hesitant to get a smooth-top range because you think of glass as delicate? The panel you see atop today’s smooth-top ranges is actually Ceran® glass-ceramic and it is a far cry from the glass in your front window or, for that matter, from glass bowls or measuring cups used in cooking.
Ceran’s special properties make it extremely durable, and allow it to withstand very high heat and sudden and severe swings in temperature. This allows heat to be transmitted quickly from the heating elements to the cookware, while the adjacent area remains relatively cool and can be used as additional work space when food is cooking.
Glass-cermaic cooktop panels are so easy to clean because they’re non-porous and tough enough to stand up to daily use.
DAHMER
Cherry picking time is around the Fourth of July and was a going thing in the community 60 years ago. Money was scarce and then there were large families to feed. Parents had to do like the little chipmunk—store up food for winter use.
Those cherry pies sweetened with maple sugar and those cherry preserves had a wonderful taste.
Bushels and bushels of cherries were picked at the Ananias Pitsenbarger place and the Tommy Propst place on Capito Hill, both of big red sweet and blackhart cherries. Some kind of disease killed the trees.
People came to pick cherries from Straight Creek, VA, Sugar Grove, Brandywine, Smith Creek, Propst Gap, Thorn, Dickenson Mountain, etc. The most comical looking after picking cherries was Jacob A. Propst, who was such a hustler, and took such big handfuls. The cherry juice would drop from his elbows.
Uncle Bud Dahmer looked comical seeding cherries. He would throw a handful into the cherry seeder and then often throw a handful into his mouth.
The writer was lucky to pick two gallons of blackhart cherries on Capito Hill July 6.
Bonnie J. Murphy Is County Belle
Bonnie J. Murphy represented Pendleton County Homemaker Extension Clubs as the County Belle at the 47th Annual West Virginia State Folk Festival June 21-23 in Glenville.
As representative for Pendleton County after being voted County Belle by the club, Bonnie will represent the county in local festivals and parades. She has been an active member of the Spruce Knob Extension Homemakers Club for 37 years. She has been president, vice-president and reporter for the club.
She is the mother of three children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
40 Years Ago
Week of July 17, 1986
Gardening Ranks Number 1 In Outdoor Activities
Gardening ranks as the country’s number one leisure activity. Last year 39 million households were involved in food and flower gardening and the number is expected to grow.
Motivated by the desire for fresh, nutritious, better-tasting food, the postwar baby-boomers are swelling the gardening ranks. “They garden because they like to, not for the economic reasons of past generations,” says Charles Scott, president of the National Gardening association in Burlington, Vt.
Baby-boomers are only one off-shoot of the planting craze. Special gardens are sprouting up for almost everyone. The young and old, the handicapped, prison inmates, and corporate employees, all have their private plots. So do Bible-lovers, history buffs, Asian refugees, and married couples, among others.
Gardens for the inner-city kids, such as the one at the National Arboretum, have been especially beneficial. Gardening is fun, watching things grow, and then eating them is the reward.
The gardens have been so successful in Massachusetts that correctional institutions there have converted their cannery in Concord into a freezing plant. It operates five days a week, four months a year, and produces about 500 pounds of vegetables and 100 gallons of tomato puree weekly.
Cultivating difficult areas has long been a specialty of the Hmong people, many of whom have migrated to the United States from the mountains of Laos.
Many companies have found that gardens ease executive tensions as well as help employees at the lower end of the pay scale.
50 Years Ago
Week of July 15, 1976
U.S. Hockey Team Will Be Selected At Madison College
The 1976 United States Field Hockey Team will be selected at Madison College this week.
Thirty-three of the nation’s top field hockey players will be competing for a spot on the U.S. team. The 33 athletes were selected from the approximately 50 field hockey players that participated in a camp at Madison last week.
The final tryouts will culminate with an exhibition game between the United States and Canada on Friday, July 16th. The U.S.—Canada game Friday is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at Madison Stadium.
The United States team, which is sponsored by the United States Field Hockey Association, will be coached by Vonnie Gros, head coach of defending national collegiate field hockey champion West Chester State College.
70 Years Ago
Week of July 12, 1956
DAHMER
Basic Education was designed.
To teach new words with ease; Most basic of them all, I find…
Are “Thanks” and “If you please.”
Week of July 19, 1956
Over 1000 Persons Expected to Attend Lutheran Mission Rally At Thorn Spring Park
Each year on the last Sunday in July, the Lutheran churches of Pendleton, Grant and Hardy counties, sponsor a mass Mission Rally at the Thorn Spring Park. Well over a thousand people from this county and neighboring counties annually attend this Mission Rally to hear outstanding speakers.
The Franklin High School band will play for the morning service as well as render a concert prior to the noon meal on the grounds. The band will be under the sole direction of Mr. Walter B. Judy of Franklin. The junior choir of Faith Lutheran Church will render a special anthem during the morning service. Special music for the afternoon service will feature the Men’s Chorus of Grace Lutheran Church of Petersburg, under the capable direction of Mrs. Lynn Riggleman.
Social Security Approved for Teachers; Bus Drivers Employed, Given Pay Hike
School bus drivers will get a hike in pay and Pendleton County school teachers will receive the benefits of social security coverage as a result of decisions made during the regular July meeting of the Pendleton County Board of Education.
The board also opened sealed bids for furnishing a 60-passenger bus. Successful bidder on the chassis was Sites Chevrolet, Inc., while the body will be furnished by Baker Equipment Engineering Company of Clarksburg. The total cost of the bus delivered will be $4,411.33.
Earlier in the year, the board purchased two 48-passenger busses making the total expenditure for the three busses $12,418.40
Telephone Company Mails 700 Local Directories
Approximately 700 new Franklin telephone directories were mailed over the weekend, according to Boyd Hiser, manager of the C. and P. Telephone Company of West Virginia here.
Upon receipt of the new directories, subscribers are asked to destroy the old copies. If the new directory has not yet been received, subscribers should notify the telephone business office.
Telephone users are asked to consult the new directory before making calls, because of the large number of new listings and number changes. Personal number lists should be checked with the new directory and corrections made where numbers have been changed.
For convenience, space is provided on the inside front cover of the new directory for keeping a record of important telephone numbers. Long distance calls go through faster when you give the operator the number of the party you are calling.
