Shenandoah Valley Academy (New Market Va)
Photograph showing a woman photographer. Taken from the Shenandoah Valley Academy's 1946 Yearbook on a page labeled Annual Staff.
The Shenandoah 1947, Shenandoah Valley Academy Yearbook Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
Photograph of the Latin Club taken from the 1945-1946 Edinburg High School Yearbook. Rosalie Clem Atkins is pictured in the back row, third from the right.
Hi-Lights 1946, Edinburg High School Yearbook Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
Mary Lou Polk Thompson was known for her involvement with the community and C.E. Thompson’s, an Edinburg building supply company that her husband was part owner of. Born on July 22, 1933 she moved to a house just south of Edinburg in 1961 following her marriage. The house was partially designed by her husband. In the Shenandoah Valley-Herald she noted the furnace malfunctioned on their first night and they “almost froze.” However, that didn’t dampen her love of winter sports. The couple added a ice skating rink and places for snowmobiles, and winter shooting matches on their properties. Outside of her home Mary Lou was deeply involved in the Edinburg Volunteer Fire Company’s auxiliary where she served as secretary and helped the organization raise the funds for its current fire station. She also was a member of the St. John’s United Methodist’s Methodist women. Mary Lou would die in May of 1985 at the age of 51.
Shenandoah Valley Herald Bound Copy Collection
Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC)
Pattie Moon came to Woodstock in 1975 with her husband William Crawford Moon who had been appointed the superintendent of Massanutten Military Academy (MMA). They moved into the home provided for the superintendent which was undergoing a major renovation. Despite the high grass and peeling paint she noted “it was still beautiful.” Eventually Pattie and her husband made the house, and the academy, into their home. She worked at MMA’s library for several years before returning to school to become a LPN. She also was known for refinishing furniture, including much of what the academy used, and for rescuing stray animals. Before marrying William she had worked at the Medical College of Virginia as an assistant supervisor for their pre-school. Patty and William stayed at MMA until 1991 when he retired. They had one son and two daughters.
When the Shenandoah Valley-Herald highlighted the work of Dr. Regina Karmy, they noted she believed “a woman’s place is in the home.” They also observed she just as firmly believed she was “entitled to a place in the operating room.” Dr. Karmy, who specialized in obstetrics and gynecology, certainly understood the challenge of being Shenandoah County’s first woman doctor and a mother of three. Regina came to Shenandoah County in 1978 with her husband Robert who was a partner in her practice. She lived a busy life holding office hours, performing surgery, delivering babies, and caring for her three children. While Dr. Karmy noted being the county’s first woman doctor was a little challenging, she never “felt unwanted or unwelcome being a woman doctor.” In fact, she observed she filled a gap in service with women who were often uncomfortable talking about their problems with male doctors. Have you ever had a woman doctor?
In 1979 Sallie Wetsel Gochenour retired from the County Extension Office. For the 25 years Sallie worked to provide the resources families needed to be successful. This included offering advice on nutrition, budgets, child rearing, sewing, cleaning, canning, and home economics. She did this through scores of classes, cooperation with local groups such as 4-H and home-demonstration, and by answering hundreds of phone calls from women and men seeking solutions to their problems. Sallie was born in Green County Virginia on April 27, 1919. She graduated from what is now James Madison University in 1944 and began teaching home economics in Albemarle County. In 1955 she became an Extension Agent in Shenandoah County. Sallie and her husband Raymond lived on a farm just outside of Woodstock. She died in 2013. Her obituary noted generations of local youth had acquired “the skills and education required to live a productive life in a changing world” from her. Who is the Sallie Gochenour in your life?
For residents at the Shenandoah County Memorial Hospital’s Extended Care Facility, Eva Mobley was a welcome site. As a volunteer at the facility in the 1970s, she played games with patients, helped feed them meals, and conducted a weekly story telling event, complete with pictures. Eva spent most of her adult life travelling with her husband Robert Mobely, a career soldier. After his retirement, they eventually moved to a mountain house near the Bryce Resort. After a fall forced her to stop working as a knitter at the Aileen plant, she became a devoted volunteer at the hospital and active member of the Woodstock Nazerene Church where she headed the Christian Life Program and an adult Sunday School Class. She observed “getting involved with others helps get your mind off your own problems” Eva’s husband died in 1985. She currently lives in Winter Springs Florida.
Mabel Runion spent most of her life in the Lantz Mill’s community. Her and her husband Peter moved there in 1938 after living for a few years in the Fairview Community. The Runions were known for the wide array of animals that lived on their farm. A stream bisected their property and they raised a large assortment of water fowl. The couple also had rabbits, pigeons, and lambs that they sold. In 1979 the couple had 86 sheep. In addition to farming, Mabel also worked at Windsor Knit and Rocco plants in Edinburg Virginia before retiring. She also raised four children, two sons and two daughters. In her spare time she was an active member of the Union Forge United Methodist Church. Mabel died in 1995 at the age of 83.
Henkel Maternity Hospital (New Market Va)
Martha Henkel always said “I loved my babies.” After delivering over 1500 of them, its apparent she did. Martha came to New Market in 1923 with her husband Stuart. She had grown up in Philadelphia and was trained as a nurse . In New Market she operated a boarding house until 1941, when she opened a maternity hospital, the only such institution in town. During her career, which spanned three decades, Martha delivered babies in towns from Woodstock south to Broadway and Timberville. She recounted births in homes, cars, and the street. Martha proudly boasted “ I never lost a mother or a baby.” Mrs. Henkel also cared for local “welfare children.” Many of these were sick and she “nursed them until they died.” Others were eventually adopted. As she lamented in 1979, “all stayed with me.” Martha Henkel died in 1982 at the age of 85. She was survived by two children, four grand children, five great-grand children, and thousands of babies that she helped enter the world.
If you had attended a community event in the 70s, or 80s you might have found Betty Showman there, dressed as the popular TV character Minnie Pearl. A resident of Conicville, Betty began performing as Minnie in 1963. She took her act to various firehalls, church groups, nursing homes, community clubs, and other charitable groups Besides performing, Betty helped her husband Bill operate their dairy farm which was founded in 1955. Her duties included sanitizing the dairy at 4:45AM and cleaning the barn after milking was complete. She also taught Sunday School at the Conicville United Church of Christ, was an expert seamstress, 4-H leader and active member of the Conicville Volunteer Fire Department’s auxiliary.
Photograph showing Stella Bly (left) and Isabelle Mowery (right) behind a car with their dog. The photograph was taken around 1930.
Mowery, Racey, and Strosnider Photos, 1901-1930, Shenandoah County Photograph Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
Photograph showing a group of miners in front an entrance to the "Jean Mine." The identifies of the miners, where the photograph was taken, and the name of the photographer responsible for its creation is unknown.
Photographs, unidentified, 1881-1936, Sheetz Family Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
Photograph showing "9 K.E.Y. girls" in July of 1914. Most likely they were members of the Toms Brook K.E.Y. Club.
Key Club Photographs, August 1913-July 1914, McKenzie Grimes Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
In 1930 Web "W.O." Riley and Rev. H.S. Coffey organized the "Scout Tom Cats" football team. This photograph shows the players beside the Woodstock Methodist Church, who sponsored the team, in 1930. Massanutten Academy's coach Leroy Glunt outfitted the team with discarded uniforms and equipment. They played other clubs from Luray, Mt. Jackson, Strasburg, and Massanutten Academy. At the time Woodstock and other county schools did not officially sponsored sports teams so youth participated in sports sponsored by community organizations or school clubs. Identified in this photograph are, from left to right: Row 1: Carl Kessler, Bob Lambert, Buck Ritenour, Howard (Alligator) Coffman, Dick Wickham, Lee Bushong, Chippy Lambert, and Bill Allen Row 2: Jim Buck Coffman, Buddy Rudy, Eeugene Pence, Ike Phillips, Jim Ambrose, Joe Lambert, Marshall Miller, and Talford Miller Row 3 (rear): Web O. Riley and Reverend Coffey.
Woodstock Methodist Church Football Team, 1930, Shenandoah County Church Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
Precisely at noon, on October 2nd, 1914, this unidentified woman was playing violin outside a Queen Anne style house. This is our call to arms to find this woman or her house. What can you do?
Lois Mark's "Snap Shots" book, ca. 1914, Series 7 Photographs, Mary Ann Williamson Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
Gwendolyn Tolliver Nickens Oral History Interview
Oral history interview featuring Gwendolyn "Gwen" Tolliver Nickens conducted on February 5, 2016 for the Shenandoah County Library's Black History Month Program. In 1963 Gwen became the first African American student to attend the formally segregated Central High School in Woodstock Virginia.
Shenandoah Voices Oral History Collection
Unidentified Boy and Men Playing Marbles
Photograph showing a group of three African American Men playing marbles with an unidentified boy.
Miley Family Scrapbook, Toms Brook Virginia, undated, McKenzie Grimes Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia
Newspaper article detailing a riot that occurred at Columbia and Liberty Furnaces west of Edinburg in Shenandoah County. It appeared in Shenandoah Herald on January 28, 1880. The incident was sparked by the furnace owners' decision to hire African Americans to work at the sites. It ended on January 21, 1880 when, after a brief conflict between workers and the local militia, the white employees agreed to return to work if the furnace owners fired all African American workers.
Shenandoah Herald, January-December 1880, Microfilm Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
The Historic Mount Jackson Colored Cemetery Brochure
A brochure printed to describe the history of the Mt. Jackson Colored Cemetery around the time of the cemetery's re-dedication in 2004.
The Historic Mt. Jackson Colored Cemetery Brochure, undated, Shenandoah County Document Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
Mt. Jackson Colored Cemetery Shenandoah Stories Entry: http://archives.countylib.org/tour/items/show/62
Hill Top Lodge Number 143, Knights Pythias
This photograph shows members of the Knights Pythias Hill Top Lodge number 143 in Strasburg Virginia. It was taken by an unidentified photographer on April 11 1908. Almost nothing is known about this organization except that it was one of the primary community organizations for African Americans in Strasburg. However, we do know that it was most likely a lodge in the “Pythia Supreme Jurisdiction North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.” This group had been formed in Richmond Virginia in 1869 after the Knights Pythias had refused to grant black lodges a charter in Virginia. No evidence exists of where the Hill Top Lodge met and no hall is listed on period maps of Strasburg.
Hill Top Lodge, Knights Pythias, Strasburg Virginia, April 11 1908, African American, Harold Gochenour Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
Handbill from the theatrical production "The Womanless Wedding" produced by the Woodstock Rotary Club as a fundraiser on March 21 and March 22 1929. The play was presented at the "New Theatre" in Woodstock and was directed by Myrna May Cole of Sympon Levie Producing Company.
Womanless Wedding, March 21 and 22 1929, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
"Toms Brook Hi Times," winter 1950. This newsletter was published by the Toms Brook High School on January 31 1950. It details school activities, academic accomplishments, sporting events, gossip, social activities, and local advertisements for the month of January 1950. It was published by the "paper staff" of the high school whose roster is listed on page 2. The newsletter appears to be a regular publication during the 1940s and 1950s, but the exact dates in which it was published is unknown.
Toms Brook High Times Newsletter, September 1949-January 1950, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
In 1941 five members of Edinburg Virginia’s Boy Scout Troop 54, called the “Hawk Patrol,” took this picture on the steel river bridge east of town during a scouting adventure. Pictured from left to right Douglas Hawkins, Frank Wilkins, William Davis, Stanley Getz, and Ernest Coffman. Scouting has been a popular past time in places like Edinburg for over 100 years. The town’s first Boy Scout troop was organized in 1912. Early activities were held at Narrow Passage and Luray. Over the decades the boys and their leaders would attend countless hikes, camps, regional assemblies, and special events like World Fairs and National Scout Jamborees. The troops have been sponsored by various organizations including the Methodist Church, the American Legion, and the Lions Club. Their efforts to support this organization have helped the various scout troops educate many local youth, including many that became prominent citizens and community leaders.
Edinburg Hawk Patrol, Troop 54, 1941, William Coffman Collection, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia.
Photograph taken by William Hoyle Garber showing an aerial view of Mt. Jackson Virginia. The image shows the area immediately adjacent to the interchange with the recently completed motel.
Hoyle Garber Collection, Mt. Jackson Museum
Photograph taken by William Hoyle Garber showing an aerial view of Woodstock Virginia.