EDITOR’S NOTE: Looking Back features past articles from The Tidewater News with commentary by local history buff Clyde Parker. The series commemorates the 50th anniversary of Franklin becoming an independent city.

July 3, 1961

NEW ADDRESSES ASSIGNED

In about a month, between 650 and 700 Franklin-area households will no longer be on rural routes for mail delivery. Franklin Postmaster Hudson Lankford said regular services will be extended to Hunterdale and Camptown. Delivery will be by truck.

The post office plans to replace rural route designations to street addresses with house numbers. The Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors has voted to provide street signs for the Camptown area.

Signs have been erected and house numbers assigned in Hunterdale and other areas surrounding Franklin.

VANN TO HEAD AG GROUP

P.D. Vann of Courtland was elected president of the Virginia Vocational Agriculture Teachers’ Association during the group’s recent convention at Virginia State College in Petersburg. His duties will take him to a regional meeting at Pennsylvania State Teachers’ College this summer and a national meeting in Kansas City in December.

Vann, a teacher and coach at Southampton Training School near Courtland, will serve as president for two years.

“My number one goal will be to encourage a professional agricultural program suited to the needs of present-day farming”, he said.

TOWN TO PURCHASE TRACTOR

Franklin will get a new tractor with mowing attachments to replace one donated by the Navy in 1945. The new tractor, which has a hydraulic lift and is designed for mowing roadsides, parks and ball fields, will cost about $3,000.

Also, at the meeting, Town Manager Harold Atkinson told Council that several public works projects, previously approved, are scheduled to be completed during the summer. Projects include extension of water and sewer lines along High Street to the new Southampton Memorial Hospital.

Pine and Fair streets will get curbs and gutters. Installation of sewer and water lines on Cobb, Bracey, Stonewall, Andrews and Hogart streets is nearing completion.

1961 CORVAIR WILL BE GIVEN AWAY

A new 1961 Corvair will be given away in Franklin as the climax to Franklin Goodwill Days. Fifty–six Franklin-area businesses are participating. All are Franklin Chamber of Commerce members.

Tickets for the shiny new car are available at all participating businesses. A.W. Livesay, vice president for the Chamber Retail Division, is the organizer. Herbert Lewis, Starr Beaton, Ben Skinner, Emerson Jones and Elle Bailey are actively involved.

Union Bag-Camp Paper Corp., Hercules Powder Co. and St. Regis Paper Co. will have industrial displays in the downtown area.

LIONS CLUB INSTALLS OFFICERS

New Lions Club officers and directors were recently installed by R.H. Powell. Installed as president was Starr Beaton, along with vice presidents John Beale, E.B. Gatten Jr. and R.E. Johnson. R.E. Watson was installed as secretary-treasurer along with J.J. Finley Jr. as his assistant.

Wesley Wills and Wayne Pixley were installed as Lion Tamer and Tail Twister, respectively. Installed as directors were Ernest Evans, J.H. “Dutch” Holland, J.E. McGowan and R.C. Councill.

CREDIT BUREAU ELECTS OFFICERS

New officers for the Tri-County Credit Bureau of Franklin are Herbert M. Lewis, president; Starr Beaton, vice president; A.W. Livesay, treasurer; and Horace Pierce, secretary. Directors are Emerson Jones, E.B. Gatten Jr., Bob Phillips, Bobby Worrell and Thomas Carter.

CAMP ELECTED BY HEART ASSOCIATION

John M. Camp Jr. of Franklin was recently elected president of the Virginia Heart Association during its annual meeting at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.

Camp is a member of the association’s board of directors, its budget and finance committee and its executive committee.

Dr. Julian R. Beckwith, professor of internal medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Virginia, was chosen president-elect.

Other officers are Robert L. Fletcher of Newport News, vice president; Elizabeth J. Vaughan of Lynchburg, secretary; and John B. Organ Jr. of Richmond, treasurer.

MOTEL BIDS TO BE ASKED IN 60 DAYS

The Airway Lodge, the area’s new motel to be built on Route 58 east of Franklin, will have 26 units and be constructed in two-story fashion.

The motel will be under local ownership and managed by John T. Claud of Drewryville, according to Robert C. Ray, president of the Franklin Chamber of Commerce.

Other motels in the area are Phillips Motel on Route 258 about six miles south of Franklin and the Oak Motel on Route 58 near Courtland.

HARRISON, GODWIN TO SPEAK

Gubernatorial candidate Albertis S. Harrison and his running mate for lieutenant governor, State Sen. Mills Godwin will appear in Courtland outside the Courthouse on Monday at

2 p.m. They will visit in Franklin at noon at Harrison-Godwin headquarters outside the office formerly occupied by R.J. Tucker on Third Avenue.

The two will compete against Lt. Gov. A.E.S. Stephens and State Sen. Armistead Boothe in a Democratic primary on July 11.

Local campaign workers for the Harrison–Godwin ticket include Ben Williams, Dr. Darden Jones, Del. Sam Pope, L.A. Clements, Mrs. Lloyd Allen Applewhite, Mrs. Byron Bowden, Fletcher Beale, Mrs. E.L. Cobb, Mr. and Mrs. Vance Grissom, Mrs. Allan Grubbs, Garth Hancock, W.R. Joyner III and James H. Lee Jr.

Other campaign workers are H.B. McLemore Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Pope, Hatcher Story, Edwin P. Westbrook Jr., Marvin Whitley, Mrs. Ben A. Williams Jr., James D. Woodard Jr., Charles F. Urquhart Jr., W.B. Simmons Jr. and Joe D. Owen.

CLYDE PARKER is the retired human resource manager from the former Franklin Equipment Co. and a member of Southampton Historical Society. He can be reached at 757-647-8212 or ParkerC@seva-redcross.org.