DOWN MEMORY LANE

July 29, 1965

The relocated Post Office at Flint Hill was officially dedicated in a ceremony held Saturday afternoon with U.S. Postal, state and federal officials and a large number of friends present.

The ceremony was opened by Mrs. Barbara Gentry,

Postmaster of Flint Hill, who expressed pride in the renovated building that formerly housed the bank. She said this is another step in the long history of postal service in Flint Hill, which was begun in the early 1800’s. Included in the long list of postmasters is Miss Alma Rickets who retired in 1952 and lives just across the street from the present post office.

Acting as master of ceremonies was Charles F. Shuler,

Postmaster of Elkton, who introduced a long list of guests in attendance.

A word of welcome was given by H. S. Barksdale,

president of the Flint Hill Fire Company. His warm welcome completed with the weather, which as in the upper 90s.

Assistant Director Frank J. Brizzi paid tribute to Mrs. Gentry. During her 12 years of service as postmaster here, he said, she has dedicated herself to improving the service of the post office. She is editor of the Virginia postmaster’s publication.

Friday night was election night at Rappahannock Library. All the board members who have served for the first two-year term of the library’s existence were re-elected for two more years. William M. Carrigan, who was recently re-appointed to a four-year term as a trustee by Judge Rayner Snead, was re-elected chairman of the Board. Mrs. C. E. Johnson Jr. was asked to continue as secretary and Mrs. B. M. Miller was voted in to serve two more years as treasurer.

Since there is a need for professional library assistance in the cataloging of books and other library procedure, the board appointed Mrs. M. H. Forward as Consultant to Mrs. R. E. Patzig and Mrs. B. M. Miller, who have the acting volunteer librarians.

A new sign has been prepared by “Doc” Daugherty of Front Royal and donated by him to the library.

May 20, 1998

Three students from George Washington Carver-Piedmont Technical Education Center saved a stranger’s life Saturday, April 25, at the Civic Center in Roanoke, where the students had been participating in skills competition.

Travis Dodson, 17, sprang into action when a woman suffered cardiac arrest just moments after an awards ceremony ended at the annual state Vocational and Industrial Clubs of America skills competition.

The three teenagers were chatting with friends around 8:45 p.m. when Dodson became aware of the emergency outside the Civic Center and yelled for Meehan and Baker.

“I was in the entrance way of the Civic Center,” explained Dodson, a senior at Rappahannock County High School, “and all of a sudden a woman came past me yelling, ‘Emergency, emergency. I need to use the phone. I’ve got to call 911!’ Being a rescue person (as a junior member of Amissville Volunteer Fire and Rescue), I thought maybe I could help so I walked over there and asked the person what was the emergency. She said her mother was having a heart attack . . . I called Jay and Ronnie and told them to come over with me.”

They found the woman on a bench slumped over in her husband’s arms outside the Civic Center; she was unresponsive to their questions. As a number of VICA competitors and instructors looked on, the three students took charge of an emergency situation.

The three continued CPR until the rescue squad arrived and began treatment. “I ran down and met the ambulance,” Meehan said. “The rescue squad didn’t bring the airway kit over to where the woman was, which I had always been trained to do, so I ran back down to the ambulance to find it. I also grabbed the backboard — the stretcher — and ran back.

The eye-catching yellow Victorian house across from Sperryville’s Mountainside Market on Lee Highway is the latest addition to the Sperryville business community. It is both a charming new gift, home and garden shop called Southern Grace, and it’s the home of Kenny and Shannon Lowry and their 15 year old daughter, Kennon.

“We are trying to create an atmosphere. This will look like little Eden when it is done,” Lowry said. Shannon Lowry calls him the “plant person,” and rumor has it that this is a plant store. They insist they are not selling plants except for a sale in the fall when they will part with the outside potted plants.