People
Jay Pace 1945 -2004
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 by Jen.
Following graduation from Randolph-Macon College, Jay Pace became Director of Public Relations from 1968 to 1972. He joined the Herald-Progress staff in 1973, became editor in 1978, and then editor/publisher when he purchased the paper and printing company in 1981. Jay Pace was a member of the Board of the Society of Alumni at Randolph-Macon. [...]
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John R. Fleming Aug. 13, 1912–Feb. 5, 1998
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 by Jen.
John R. Fleming, a former vocational agriculture teacher and assistant principal, was the first African-American to serve on the Hanover County School Board, serving from 1977 to 1981. An early proponent of what was known then as the vocational curriculum, Mr. Fleming’s support and encouragement influenced hundreds of students, effectively steering them to college and [...]
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Jordan Wheat Lambert 1851-1889
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 by Jen.
While a student at Randolph-Macon College, Jordan Wheat Lambert showed his flair for chemistry and business that would lead to his later success in inventing Listerine and founding the pharmaceutical company that bears his name. Lambert first invented the product as a safe disinfectant for surgical procedures, and named it “Listerine” after the English physician [...]
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Lester Jackson 1915 -1991
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 by Jen.
Growing up in Ashland, Lester Jackson attended the Hanover County Training School (later John M. Gandy), where he organized the school’s first baseball team and doubled as player and coach. In 1933, eighteen-year-old Jackson started his professional career with the Jacksonville Redcaps in the Florida State Twilight League. He made it to the highest level [...]
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Lewis F. “Shirts” Blanton 1917-1982
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 by Jen.
A native Ashlander, “Shirts” Blanton was a natural athlete who played semi-professional baseball. In 1955, he was shot during an attempted robbery at the Wallerstein Real Estate Company in Richmond where he worked. Told by his doctor that he would only live a few more years, Shirts returned to Ashland as a paraplegic to wait [...]
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Liberty Ladies
Posted on Apr 07, 2010 by admin.
Louise Jones and her sister, Dorothy, were the original “Liberty Ladies” of Ashland. They made special appearances at the 4th of July parades and the Ashland Musical Variety Shows. Their nieces, Sarah Byrne and Sandra Lynne, took over their roles as “Liberty Ladies” to continue the tradition.
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Mary Higdon Workman “Sunshine Sue” 1911-1979
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 by Jen.
Sunshine Sue was the nationally known star of the wildly popular country music variety show, The Old Dominion Barn Dance. She was known as “Queen of the Hillbillies” through her appearances on live broadcasts coast to coast every Saturday night over WRVA radio from the Lyric Theater in Richmond. As the nation’s first female radio [...]
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Oral History Projects at Randolph-Macon College Capture Ashland & College Memories
Posted on Jan 24, 2011 by Nancy.
The One Ashland, Many Voices Oral History Project web site at the McGraw-Page Library, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA has audio interviews captured in 2008 with over 50 Ashland residents. Transcripts are also available for many interviews. The Living Legacies and Macon Memories Oral History Projects web sites, also at the McGraw-Page Library, host audio interviews [...]
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Paul and Lois Watkins
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 by Jen.
Paul and Lois Watkins came to Ashland from Chicago in the summer of 1933. Paul was a veteran newspaper executive who had edited the Evanston News-Index and served as promotions manager of the Chicago Daily News. Their arrival began a 49-year family dynasty that saw the newspaper prosper and reach its greatest circulation. Paul Watkins [...]
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Richard S. Gillis, Jr. 1914 – 2001
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 by Jen.
Dick Gillis was the enthusiastic Mayor of Ashland for sixteen years who proclaimed Ashland as the “Center of the Universe”. He graduated from Randolph- Macon College and served on the Hanover County Board of Supervisors. He served as Executive Vice-President of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and publisher of the Commonwealth Magazine of Virginia. He [...]
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Ruth Blakey, circa 1896-1897
Posted on May 29, 2011 by Nancy.
Ruth Blakey was the daughter of Charles Gunnell Blakey and Laura Virginia “Jennie” Rice. In 1890, The Blakeys built the house at 805 South Railroad Avenue beside the Rice home and raised their two children, William and Ruth. Below are two photos of Ruth as a child. Ruth Blakey with her dolls and doll carriage [...]
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Secretariat Has Links to Ashland
Posted on Jan 31, 2011 by Nancy.
Secretariat, “America’s super horse” has taken the country by storm again with the recent inspiring true story movie and book. Secretariat was born at the Meadow in nearby Caroline County owned by Christopher T. Chenery. Chris, born Sept. 16, 1886, was the son of Ida and Jimmy Chenery and grew up as a boy in [...]
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St. George Tucker 1828 – 1863
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 by Jen.
Born in 1828, St. George Tucker was the son of Henry St. George Tucker, legislator, congressman, and judge in the early years of the Republic. Tucker was a lawyer who served as the clerk of the Senate and House of Delegates of Virginia during the 1850’s. Having also started the Ashland Male Academy in 1857, [...]
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Who lived in Ashland 150 years ago?
Posted on Mar 10, 2011 by Nancy.
The 1860s Census is rich in detail, compared to the previous ones. We get a picture of the kinds of people living in Ashland. There were twenty-two households and 148 people in the St. Paul’s Parish District. Of those households and the probable Ashland households in the Upper Revenue District, there were 18 carpenters, 6 [...]