Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
Stroller
Thursday, May 3, 2012
WEDNESDAY’S WORD was abstruse (ub-STROOSS). It means difficult to comprehend. The author’s new book is not as abstruse as his previous works and is likely to attract a much larger readership.
THURSDAY’S WORD is cachinnate (KAK-uh-nayt). The person sitting beside me at the table cachinnated through the entire dinner party, ruining the meal.
Gospel performer Debbie Bennett said she teamed up with several country artists and a few rockers from the 1960s on a CD project to benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Titled “Help For Today Hope For Tomorrow,” the CD costs $10, and all of the sale proceeds will benefit the foundation, Bennett said. To buy a copy or for more information, call Bennett at (336) 593-2908 or Double E Promotions at (615) 727-2141.
Have you ever wondered about your ancestors and how to find out about them? At 3 p.m. Sunday at the Martinsville-Henry County Heritage Center Museum in the former Henry County courthouse in Martinsville, author and historian Tom Perry will demonstrate how to find your ancestors in the Civil War through regional and online sources. The talk is free to the public.
If you would like to help the American Red Cross and have a chance to win one of a number of nice items that will be given away in a May 26 drawing, call the Red Cross on Spruce Street. Tickets are $1 each. Here are some of the donated items and their retail value as reported by the Red Cross: Queen Anne accent table by Hooker Furniture, $756; accent chest by Bassett Furniture, $500; upholstered chair from Shenandoah Furniture, $500; wall mirror by Bassett Mirror, $300; women’s sterling silver bracelet from Henebry’s Jewelers, $240; stone top accent table by Bassett Furniture, $178; two tickets for the Oct. 28 race at Martinsville Speedway, $130; two home interior pictures by Reita Phelps Bowles, $80; and an accent table by Ridgeway Furniture Outlet, $78. You do not have to be present to win at the 3 p.m. drawing on May 26 at Frith Hall at Patrick Henry Community College.
The Hairston-Gallent family reunion will be held Aug. 2-5 at Myrtle Beach, S.C. Bus seats cost $60 each, and the deadline to register is July 2. For more information call Bubbee McGhee at 957-3475.
Virginia’s first drive-in movie theater was built during World War II. Before the decade was out, more than two dozen of them were operating around the state, and within another decade, their number multiplied six times over to more than 140 instate drive-ins. According to a website on Virginia drive-ins, since the late 1950s heyday of Virginia’s drive-ins, their number has declined sharply, and 95 percent of them have gone “dark” or been demolished. There are eight remaining in the state; none are in the Martinsville area.
The subject of drive-ins was brought up recently by Charlotte Love of Collinsville, whose husband, the late Kyle C. Love, operated Kyle C. Love Building Contractors. She said her husband built the Castle Drive-In, near Wagoner Road in Collinsville. She recalled that Mrs. Jessie Carper, who lived on Mulberry Road in Martinsville at the time, had the drive-in built. She also remembered the 220 Drive-In on what now is Koehler Road, behind Bojangles in Collinsville. The drive-in had speakers for each vehicle, but when there were live shows, people who lived in the Villa Heights/Gaynor Heights area could sit on their porches and listen to the shows for free. In the late 1960s, Love said Loretta Lynn performed at the drive-in. Other drive-ins locally included the Family Drive-In at Bassett (Forks) and the Martinsville Drive-In. If you know of any others, call the Stroller at 638-8801, ext. 230.
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