Total Solar Eclipse on the Day My Grandparents Married in 1904

There’s a narrow gold wedding band I wear on my left hand along with my own. It is my grandmother’s wedding ring that was left to me when she passed away many years ago.

Inside is engraved my grandparents’ initials and the date of their wedding … August 21, 1904 … 113 years ago today.

John Francis Osborne was from Grayson County in southwestern Virginia. Mollie Beatrice Kennedy lived just across the state line, on the other side of the New River, in Allegheny County, N.C.

The two young lovers met at an all-night dance, a tradition during those days in the mountains where the young people would meet at someone’s house for a dance party. The social gatherings would last all night because folks lived such long distances from one another and it was difficult and dangerous to travel through the mountains after dark.

Grayson County’s first snow, autumn 2014

By Lynn R. Mitchell

First day of November and there’s 6.5 inches of snow in Grayson County. This photo is by my cousin who lives outside Independence in southwest Virginia. It’s beautiful! In the Shenandoah Valley we’ve got overcast skies, blustery winds, and temps in the mid-40s. It’s fall in Virginia….

Photo by Linda Osborne
November 1, 2014

Core Health & Fitness brings 250 new jobs to Grayson County

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Grayson County is located among the scenic mountains and quiet isolation of southwestern Virginia so the news of 250 new jobs is welcomed especially since Nautilus closed several years ago after 34 years as a county employer. Core Health & Fitness LLC, a leader in developing and marketing advanced strength and cardio equipment for the fitness industry, will invest $2 million to expand the former Med-Fit operation in Grayson County. They will locate in the former Nautilus facility in Independence.

Headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, the company markets and distributes the legendary StairMaster StepMill,^® StairMaster StairCimber^®, Schwinn^® indoor cycling bikes, Star Trac^® strength and cardio products and Spinner^® bikes worldwide.

Memorial Day … remembering an uncle killed in WW II Germany

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Memorial Day is a time for my family to remember the uncle I never knew, Clarence Franklin Osborne, who was born on August 1, 1917, and killed in action in Germany during the closing days of World War II, on March 21, 1945. He was 27 years old. Married for five years, he left behind a young widow but no children. My mom was in her final year as a student at Thomas Dale High School in Chester, Virginia.