DOWN MEMORY LANE

From Back Issues of the Rappahannock News

Nov. 8, 1973

Rappahannock County High School’s cross country team took the district championship Saturday at Stonewall Jackson High with a score of 16. A perfect score is 15. The local team is composed of Bill Taylor, captain and coach John Toth, John Summers, Ronnie Nicholson, Harry Jordan, Earl Lilly, Tom Taylor and Jerry Thomas.

Vandalism has been on the upswing in the area recently. Sunday night or early Monday morning a tractor and a wagon loaded with corn was taken from a farm on Route 647 north of Flint Hill. The rig was owned by W.R. Welch, who had been doing custom corn harvesting. It was wrecked and damaged. Apparently the same tractor was used to run over and tear down panels of fence and gate post on the farm of T.L. Eastham.

Last Monday night, 40 citizens of Sperryville met at the VFW hall and organized themselves into a Sperryville Community Group. Supervisor Pete Luke chaired the meeting, at which the sewer and water problems were discussed. In Luke’s introduction he stressed the need for a citizens organization which could speak with one voice on the sewer problem, and which can work closely with county and state authorities.

Aug. 26, 1982

While out gathering tree limbs, Homer E. East of Flint Hill encountered a rattlesnake which measured 51 inches and had 10 rattles. East killed the snake by beating it with a tree limb; two weeks later he shot another rattlesnake that had arrived on his porch. In that instance, East was alerted to the presence of the snake by his dogs yelping. Although the second snake was longer, it had only eight rattles.

Libby Snead may be new to the seventh-grade classroom at Rappahannock County Elementary School, but she’s certainly not a newcomer to the county. The daughter of Judge and Mrs. Rayner V. Snead of Washington, she graduated from RCHS, attended Mary Washington University and served in the Peace Corps before coming back to her hometown and a teaching job at the high school last year.

“Hey turkey, get on the move!” That was the chant echoing through the halls of Rappahannock County High School last week as the varsity cheerleaders practiced routines they learned at summer cheerleading camp. It was the first time a squad from RCHS attended the week-long camp at the University of Virginia. The camp was the prize won through a round of fundraisers organized by the girls and their sponsor, Sally Brand.

June 25, 1992

The only thing reliable about the weather is that it changes. This spring has been no exception. While many spring seasons bring early warm weather and drought, this spring, Virginia and Rappahannock County have experienced

late damp and cool weather. Weather watcher Dennis

Wingfield of Sperryville reports that 3.5 inches of moisture per month is “normal” for Rappahannock. This January and February produced less than normal, with 3.14 inches in January and 2.37 inches in February. However, rainfall picked up with spring and the months since have resulted in greater than normal rainfall.

Marshall Jordan will be 90 this coming Tuesday. He has lived almost all of those 90 years in Gid Brown Hollow. He was born in a log cabin not far from his current home, one of six children, four girls and two boys. Only one sister is still living, and she is in Philadelphia. He didn’t have much opportunity for schooling. “My mother died when I was 13,” he said. “My father was old, and I had to go to work to take care of him and my sisters.” He did sharecropping and other farm work. They had a milk cow and raised some hogs. Once he was grown, he went to West Virginia briefly and worked in a lime plant. He received word that his father wanted him to come home to put in a corn crop and he came back and “stayed on.” When his father died, he married “Tom Timber's daughter, Lucy

Allen.” They had four sons; three lived and two are still living. The Rush River Company, a long- time friend in Rappahannock, has reorganized its methods for doing business. Once a cooperative- type market for artists, the store, which dates back to the last century, now sells on commission under the direction of its owner, Mary Simmons.