Transcription
Feisty humor [19 May 79]
Park dedicated to Dumfries resident
By EILEEN MEAD
It was a big day for Dumfries and for
Cecil W. Garrison Saturday, the 230th
birthday anniversary of the historic
town.
The dedication of Cecil W. Garrison
Park was done in the spirit of Garrison
himself, feisty and with humor.
A long-time friend and Odd Fellows
Lodge brother, James Bishop, told the
story of a pig who told a cow how after
he was dead would give bacon, pork and
even pigs feet while all the cow would
give was milk.
"I give when I'm living, not when I'm
dead," Bishop said the cow told the pig.
"We believe in giving a man red roses
while he's living, not after he's dead, "
Bishop said of the tribute being paid to
Garrison.
Ed Fraley, Mayor from 1961 to 1970,
said Garrison had served with him as a
councilman all those years.
He recalled the time the town burned
and Garrison raced to the Quantico
Marine Base and got the commandant
of the base out of bed to get approval for
the firefighters to go off the base to
fight the fire.
"The Squire of Dumfries," former
Mayor A.L. Mountjoy called Garrison.
Mountjoy said during the time he was
mayor, Garrison served as vice mayor
and he was the person everyone always
turned to with a problem.
"The fact that we now have a park
next to the town hall was largely
because of Brother Garrison,"
Mountjoy went on.
"Brother Garrison joined the lodge in
1918 and has been a member for over 60
years, and was active in supporting the
lodge's home for children and later for
the old-folks," Former Mayor Paul
Clary said.
He recalled Garrison's love of ice
skating and said he had continued to
skate until just a few years ago.
"When we asked him recently if he
was eating health foods, Brother
Garrison said, 'Lord, I don't fool with
none of that stuff, I need all the
preservatives I can get,'" Clary joshed.
In a more serious tone, Clary told of
how when Garrison was in his 30s he
used to voluntarily get up every morning
and build a fire in the old Dumfries
schoolhouse, so it would be nice and
warm when the teacher and the
children came to school, and in the
summer he would go in and open all the
windows so a nice cool breeze blew
through.
"Kids in the town looked forward
every year to the (Methodist) church
picnic and the Christmas program, and
Cecil and his wife put them on every
year," Clary recalled.
There were congratulations from the
White House, Sen. Harry Byrd and Sen.
John W. Warner read at the ceremony,
andother dignitaries including former
Dumfries Supervisor Dr. A.J. Ferlazzo,
former Mayor K. Jack Garrison and
Mayor Willard Mountjoy were present.
Under the Dumfries Town sign, there
was a new sign reading, "Cecil W.
Garrison Park," and when Garrison
took the red cloth covering it off, he
looked around to make sure that the
sign could be read from both sides.
When Mabel Spooner, 90, of Triangle
made her way up to congratulate
Garrison, he gave her a big hug.
Afterwards, Mrs. Spooner confided,
"I seldom go out anymore, but Cecil
and I play bingo together and he told me
if I didn't come, he'd hit me over the
head with his bingo card, and I think he
would."
A former boyhood friend, Randolph
Kloman Wheat came to the ceremony
from Washington, D.C., and brought
with him a picture of himself with
Garrison and Randolph Brawner taken
in about 1930 when they went to what is
now Prince William Estates to hunt in
Garrison's Model A Ford.
"I remember that day, we killed one
rabbit and one fifth," Garrison said.
Wheat told of how when they were in
teacher Nellie Speak's classroom as
children, she would send them out to get
a switch when they were bad, and
Garrison used to cut a notch in his, so it
would break the first time he was hit.
Garrison was cited for being a
member of the Dumfries United
Methodist Church since 1916,
Superintendent of the Sunday school
from 1918 to 1953, a member of the
advisory board from 1969 to 1977.
Garrison led the effort to reopen and
restore the Dumfries Cemetery, and
was a charter member of the Dumfries
Town Council from 1961 until 1974. He
served on the Dumfries Planning
Commission from 1974 to 1977 and is a
life member of the Dumfries-Triangle
Fire Department since 1944.
Surprise tree of life
honors Annie Shumate
By EILEEN MEAD
A tree of life, planted in honor of long-time
resident Annie Shumate, was the
surprise presentation at the 230th birthday
celebration in Dumfries Saturday.
Mrs. Shumate will be 90 years old on
May 28, and town residents wanted to do
something special for her years of
service to the community.
As the wife of Dr. D.C. Cline, an early
doctor in Dumfries, she helped deliver
many of the children in the town before
there was a hospital in the area.
She has always opened the historic
Henderson House, where she lives with
her husband, the Rev. A.H. Shumate, to
Marines from the Quantico Marine
Base. She once housed 40 Marines when
the mud on the unpaved road was knee-
deep and they couldn't get back to the
base, according to Mayor Willard
Mountjoy, who made the presentation.
Mrs. Shumate spoke of the early days
and of how she would go to the cotton
mill in Occoquan, and what it was like
in early Dumfries.
The first shovel of dirt was put on the
tree by Mrs. Shumate after which she
she was assisted by her relatives, Cecil
Garrison, the mayor and others.
There was a little rain about midway
through the festivities, but only a few
residents left.
The Dent family of Cherry Hill Road
was busy baking shad and frying fish to
feed the large crowd and town women
furnished home-made potato salad.
Members of the stage bands from
Woodbridge and Gar-Field high schools
played nostalgic "big band" songs
throughout the day and at one point,
Helen Tobey, candidate for Dumfries
District supervisor, sang.
Eileen Stout, wearing a King's
Dominion T-shirt, was busy serving up
food, as she has often done at town
activities.
Eleanor Gum was responsible for
putting together the entire celebration
with the help of a committee.
The Dumfries Methodist and Baptist
churches combined to form one choir.
James Bishop presented a citation, in
a hand-made walnut frame, to the town,
commemorating the reactivation of the
town in 1961.
He also presented a frame plaque
which read, "Search all your parks in
all your cities. You'll find no statues to
committees."
It was a committe, he said, which
was responsible for the reactivation.
Jack Ratcliffe of Manassas told about
the history of Dumfries, and the
Homemakers of Manassas presented
an old-time fashion show of the 1920s.Transcriber
Adam KitchenLanguage
English