Just an everyday, humorous incident

Stories need to be preserved before they are lost with the passage of time

History is the story of life. Sometimes life is sad and tragic. Other times it is filled with humor and happiness. All of these stories need to be preserved before they are lost with the passage of time. The following humorous story was found in the issue December 18, 1936, of The Dickenson Forum. It was simply titled Commiserations. The story, which appeared in the 1937 newspaper, is presented below and is not meant to ridicule or embarrass anyone. It is just an everyday, humorous incident.

The author of The Dickenson Forum column, Over the Backyard Fence wrote “We are generally considered pretty hard customers, and the laughing mention of some of our neighbor’s misfortunes in this column have not always been met with whole-hearted approval by the aforementioned personage. But, low gossip to the contrary, we still have a bit of the milk of human kindness left within our shriveled souls, and it takes an incident just such as this that we are reporting to break our rock-like calm and cause manly tears to trickle, freely and unashamed, down our swarthy cheeks.

“Roy Bentley (known locally as “Chug Robinson”), plumber extraordinary and sheikh supreme, ran plumb afoul of a catastrophe the other day. For many years ‘Chug’s’ pride, and indeed the pride of the entire neighborhood, has been his beetling and almost unbelievable eyebrows. In fact, so prominent had they become that they were the chief topic of conversation at meetings of the Woman’s Club and the Missionary Society and other functions at which the fair sex was wont to gather. But, alas, and also alack, they are no more!

“While pursuing his humble but honest calling the other day, Chug Robinson poured kerosene into an ailing furnace pipe and attempted to ignite it. It refused to ignite. But with characteristic reasoning and red-hot logic, he bethought himself of the old scientific principle of wind applied to glowing embers causing instantaneous if not violent combustion.

“Now, it is known to all that Chug’s capacity for wind is well nigh inexhaustible; so, with force unheard of, he applied it to the opening of the pipe. What happened afterwards can well be imagined by our readers. The soot and kerosene burst into immediate flame and rushed out to lick passionately at Chug’s more or less handsome phiz. When the smoke had cleared, it was ascertained by an excited populace that no painful injuries had been sustained by Hizzoner, but universal sorrow upon the discovery that the celebrated eyebrows were gone.

“We of the staff of this little rag of freedom are truly hurt and sorrowful over Chug’s great loss. We know him well and love him, and our sympathy for him is almost as deep and tragic as it was the time when he, in a moment of weakness, proposed—ah, but that’s another story!”

Roy Bentley’s proposal story is yet to be found by our researchers. However, we did locate an article which, we believe, tells us who Roy Bentley was. The Our Old People column found in the February 9, 1938, issue of The Dickensonian newspaper, which was written by Hampton Osborne was about Roy Bentley’s parents, Nancy Alva Ramey Bentley and Basil Bentley. Osborne wrote:

“Mrs. Bentley was born Jan. 6, 1887 at Elkhorn City, Ky. [She was the daughter of Alex Phipps and Pricey Ramey]. She was married to [Basil] Bentley August 1, 1901 at the home of Mr. Bentley’s mother at Elkhorn. [Basil’s parents were parents were James Bentley and Liza Moore Bentley.]

“Her first teacher was John M. Skeen (of Clintwood). Other teachers were Mitch Kennedy, Jack Webb and his wife Jenny. The school house was of rough plank structure, a one-room school. They used coal in the old pot-bellied stove. There was a coal mine near the school.

“She and Mr. Bentley began house-keeping at Laurel Fork of Pond Creek in Pike County, Kentucky, in a large one-room house. They lived there about four years.

“They sold out there and moved to the state of Washington where Mr. Bentley worked with a lumber company in the woods for two years. They then moved back to Pike County, Kentucky and lived there about one year. They moved to Clintwood, Virginia. He worked here as carpenter trade and helped build many houses . . . He worked several years for the Dickenson County Schools for several years before he retired.

“Mr. Bentley had a half-brother, Adam Ramey, a former citizen of Clintwood, now deceased. [He had] two sisters, Mrs. Cosby Senter and Mrs. America Phipps.

“Mrs. Bentley had one brother, Marion Ramey. Her mother was born and raised one mile below the mouth of Elkhorn Creek. “Mr. and Mrs. Bentley’s children were:

“Charles, who first married Miss Ollie Skidmore, a former teacher of Dickenson County. They had no children. He next married Elsie Branscombe of Carroll County, Virginia . . . They had one daughter, Nancy, who married Tommy Deasley. [Tommy and Nancy] one child, Celina.

“Roy Bentley never married. He was a carpenter and plumber and worked most of his time for Dickenson County School Board. [It is this Roy Bentley that we believe was called Chug Robinson.]

“Marjory married Ralph Cassell. They had two daughters, Alice and Martha Ann. Alice married Darrell Shupe. [Alice and Darrell] had one son, Christopher. Martha Ann married Grady Barbee. They had no children. Marjory and Ralph Cassell lived in Yadkinville, N.C. where he had a shoe shop. He, also, operated the Johnny Deloach Shoe Shop here [in Clintwood] for five years . . .

“Mrs. Bentley belonged to the First Baptist Church in Clintwood. She was baptized 33 years [before the original article was written] by Rev. Leon Lyles and Rev. M. W. Remines. Mr. Bentley was baptized at the same time by the same ministers. “Mr. Bentley built a nice home a short way up the Cranes Nest River from the bridge on the Clintwood – Fremont road . . . Rev. Rose and family now live in this house.

Nancy Alva Ramey Bentley passed away on September 23, 1978, at Pulaski Community Hospital, Pulaski, Virginia. Basil Bentley passed away on September 24, 1963, at[Johnston] Memorial Hospital, Abingdon, Virginia.

Roy Edwin Bentley, the son of Basil and Nancy A. Ramey Bentley, was born on November 23, 1906. He passed away on July 1, 1978, at Pulaski Community Hospital, Pulaski, Virginia. His death certificate lists his occupation as plumber. Roy Edwin Bentley and his parents, Nancy Alva Ramey Bentley and Basil Bentley, are buried in the Baker Cemetery, Clintwood, Virginia. All of our newspapers articles are reprinted in the Historical Society’s Stories of Yesteryear booklets. Currently, Volumes 1-12 are available for purchase.

For more information about this article, or any of our publications, or to make corrections or additions to an article, to purchase a local history book, or to inquire about a Historical Society event, please contact the Historical Society office at 276/926- 6355, P. O. Box 52, Clintwood, Va., 24228, or dchs1880@gmail.com. If no answer, please leave a message (which includes your name and phone number) and one of our volunteers will return your call. Or contact Edith Faye Redden at 276/926-4117.