Massanutten Military Academy (Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Va.)
Unidentified Massanutten Military Academy (MMA) cadet standing in his school uniform.
Morrison Studio Collection - Shenandoah County Historical Society
IN COPYRIGHT - NON-COMMERCIAL USE PERMITTED
Same subject as in Morrison Studio Collection number 008725.
Portrait photograph of an unidentified couple with a young child between them. Probably, this was a family photograph.
Three unidentified children, one barefoot, arranged by a wicker chair. Part of an older unidentified woman is also visible on the left side. Probably, these were siblings.
Unidentified young Massanutten Military Academy (MMA) cadet wearing his school uniform, hat, and cape.
Photo of a portrait photograph of an unidentified young man.
Portrait photograph of Charles Franklin Plauger, of Fort Valley. He was the son of Joseph F. and Catherine (Peters) Plauger. His wife was Grace Mae Munch. Together, they raised seven children.
Identified in 2002 by Jeanette C. and George H. Ritenour, who had the same photograph at their home.
Unidentified young child propped against a pillow on a chair. The name, "Shaw", is written on the glass plate negative of this image.
Photograph of an unidentified man seated on a stool and wearing a double-breasted suit and polka-dotted tie.
Unidentified man, seated, with an unidentified woman standing beside him. Probably, this was a husband and wife. The name, "Lambert", is written on the glass plate negative.
Unidentified young man and woman are seated together outdoors. The woman is wearing a large hat and a wire fence is visible behind them.
Two unidentified young girls; one standing on a wicker chair and the other one standing on the floor beside her. Probably, these were siblings.
Portrait photograph of an unidentified man wearing a suit and print tie.
Portrait photograph of Cecil M. Newcorn wearing a U.S. Army uniform. He is best remembered for the years he served as Bandmaster at Massanutten Military Academy (MMA) in the late 1930’s. Cecil was from Plainfield, New Jersey, the son of William (1868-1946) Newcorn and his second wife, Mamie (Miller) (1878-1942) Newcorn. His father was a lawyer and judge. His mother’s obituary noted she was “one of the outstanding women in Jewish life in Plainfield and New Jersey”. Cecil was a 1924 graduate of MMA. After that, he spent a few years working aboard passenger ships, shuttling back and forth from Europe to New York City. Several Crew lists from the 1927-1929 timeframe include him as Assistant Steward, then Clerk, and finally, Assistant Purser. His first wife was Florence Lustig, the daughter of wealthy parents from Manhattan, New York. They married in 1932. At that time, he was a manager for a vegetable oil company, Palm Products Syndicate, in New York. The marriage did not last. By 1935, Cecil lived in Dallas, Texas. In 1937, Cecil accepted a teaching position at MMA. He replaced a well-loved music teacher, Fred Spiker, who had died. A history of MMA written by Robert Mallory Klein in 2001, said this about Cecil Newcorn’s contribution: “Under … the leadership of Cecil Newcorn, the band raised its performance to a still higher plateau than it had earlier enjoyed.” In 1938, not long after Cecil came to Woodstock, he married Georgia Marie Boyer (1917-2004), born in Woodstock. She was the daughter of Clarence L. and Bashie (Frye) Boyer. In 1940, Cecil Newcorn lived with his wife’s widowed mother and family on West Spring Street in Woodstock. Under Newcorn’s leadership, the MMA band gave bi-weekly concerts on the Woodstock Courthouse Square, weekend events at the academy, and various local churches, clubs and organizations. They also gave public concerts as radio broadcasts and regularly did road trips to perform at high schools in Pennsylvania and as far away as Ohio. Finally, the band participated in several parades, including Apple Blossom in Winchester, where they were often awarded first prize. The most prestigious parade in which the ensemble played (during Cecil Newcorn’s tenure) was the confederate veterans’ parade in Washington D.C. in 1941. MMA’s position of march in that event was just behind the U.S. Army Band and in front of the U.S. Navy Band. The years of Cecil Newcorn’s involvement at MMA, 1937-1941, seem to have been the band’s most successful period in MMA history. During the war, in 1942, Cecil left MMA to work in a defense plant. He never returned. The 1950 census found him and his wife, Marie, living in Dunkirk, Chatauqua County, New York, with their 10-year old daughter, Cecelia F. Newcorn, who was born in Virginia. Cecil managed the Dunkirk Airport for AA Airways, and he is mentioned in many local newspaper articles related to the airport’s operation during his years there. He and his family did not stay in New York. A census from 1957 found the family living in Roeland Park, a suburb south of Kansas City. Cecil was a Commanding Officer of one of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) groups for Kansas City. Sometime in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s, Cecil and Marie’s marriage ended. The early 1960’s found Cecil living in Santa Rosa, California, where Cecil’s title was Executive Director. By then, his third wife was with him. Her name was Veronica Pauline Cumming (1910-2002). Cecil died in Las Vegas, where he worked as the Executive Director of the Clark County Health Department in Nevada. Surviving relatives were his wife, Veronica, and his daughter, “Celia” Limbaugh of Los Angeles, California.
Biographical information was compiled from public records.
Information about the MMA band's achievements was extracted from "An American Century - The History of Massanutten Military Academy" by Robert Mallory Klein, 2001, page 90.
Identified by library staff based on other images of him in the Morrison Studio Collection.
Unidentified Massanutten Military Academy (MMA) cadet standing in the studio and wearing his school uniform.
Photo of a portrait photograph of Jessie Clayton Wine wearing glasses and a suit and tie. Of his many accomplishments, he may be best remembered for the handcrafted dogwood canes he made and gave away to friends. He was born in Forestville, son of Jacob David and Kitty Sipe (Huffman) Wine. His wife was Naomi (Zirkle) Wine and he had a daughter, Mary Sue (Wine) France. He worked for the army during World War II at Fort Belvoir as a manager of the tailor shop and dry cleaners. He entered the insurance business in 1945 and worked in Alexandria, Winchester, Mount Jackson, and Woodstock, where he retired in 1975 from Interstate Life and Accident Insurance Co. after 30 years of service. In 1966, he became a charter member of the Woodstock Rescue Squad, where he drove an ambulance for 10 years and served as treasurer for 16 years. He also had a vineyard and was a professional grape pruner going to as many as 60 places per year from Harrisonburg to Winchester.
Identified in 2002 by Virginia Rutz, who remembered that the subject was a Freemason along with her husband.
Additional biographical information was compiled from public records, including his obituary posted on the Find-A-Grave website.
Jessie Clayton Wine appears in Morrison Studio Collection. numbers 003411 and 004975.
Photo of a photograph of an unidentified man holding a baby outside. An unidentified little girl is standing in front of him and a wood fence is visible behind them.
Photo of a framed photograph of Imogene Santmiers, as a young girl with curls in her hair. She was the daughter of George Robert (a farmer in Hamburg) and Mary Elizabeth "Mayme" (Bowman) Santmiers. She had a brother named Elwood.
Identified in 2008 by Nancye L. Bowman, who was a cousin of the subject. She had the same picture at home.
Portrait photograph of an unidentified woman with curly hair and a pin on her dress.
Photo of a photograph of an unidentified man standing in the doorway of a brick building and holding a shovel.
Photo of a portrait photograph of an unidentified woman, possibly teen-aged, with a bow in her hair.
Unidentified man, seated, and holding a young child on his lap. The name, "Howard Miller", is written on the glass plate negative of this image.
Portrait photograph of an unidentified Massanutten Military Academy (MMA) cadet wearing his school uniform.
Linden Alton Fravel at four years old. He is standing beside a toy bird in a cage. Linden was the son of William Dallas Fravel (1888-1962), of Woodstock, and Olive Catherine (Stultz) Fravel (1889-1982). Linden had finished 2 years of college when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943. He became an aviation cadet and completed primary and basic pilot training before becoming an aerial gunner in B-24 Liberators. Linden served in the 15th Air Force, 459th Bomb Group, 756th Bomb Squadron in Italy during his WWII service. After the war, he married Mary Jane (Haislip) Fravel (1924-2018) in 1948. She was born in Salem, Virginia, and worked as a secretary for Lewis-Gale Hospital there when they married. Her parents were Walter Armstrong and Mary Leone (Johnston) Haislip. The couple lived in the Stephens City area of Frederick County for much of their married lives. Linden operated "Fravel's Plant and Fish Garden" as a nurseryman in his later years.
Identified in 2006 by the subject's son, P.M. Fravel, of Stephens City.
Portrait photograph of an unidentified young man wearing a suit jacket, vest and tie with a pin on his lapel.
Portrait photograph of an unidentified young woman wearing glasses and turned to the side, almost in profile.