Monday, January 07, 2013

Good Deed

I recently discovered the following tidbit of island news from The Dare County Times, Friday, October 1, 1943, page 1:

"Thomas W. Howard, the beloved and genial retired Ocracoke postmaster, after 35 years of service to his people, decided upon a Labor Day holiday and went to Baltimore to visit his nephew, Stanley Wahab, the Ocracoke boy who has gone up in the world in the furniture business.  Before he saw Stanley, he stopped at a lunch counter and when he reached for his pocketbook to pay his bill, he discovered it gone through a razor slit in his hip pocket.  There was missing $65.  He reported his troubles to a nearby policeman who loaned him $3.  Mr. Howard was amazed to find a manifestation of such trust on the part of a stranger.  The next day Stanley sent the policeman a check and a note of thanks for the courtesy to his uncle."

Thomas Wallace Howard (Mr. Tommy, to most) was the grandfather of Betty Helen Howard Chamberlin, owner of Ocracoke's Captain's Landing Motel.

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of the day Charles Lindbergh landed on Ocracoke. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news112112.htm.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:00 AM

    Service to his people, it was indeed --that 65 dollars was no doubt a months salary = as postal workers were paid so little back then. Now paid a living wage, postal clerks as in any walk of life there are dedicated people who take their jobs seriously and do their best each day on the job. Thank you for supporting the USPS it is a changing universe

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  2. Anonymous3:12 PM

    Nice to have you back. You are always uncovering new (old) stories about your family. That reminds me, while in London did you trace your Howard ancestors?

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  3. Anon 3:12 -- I plan to post some photos and a video about my English Howard family in a day or two...and more about our trip soon after that.

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  4. Anonymous5:59 PM

    Great! I suspected you would not miss the opportunity to research while you were there--first thing I woud have done.

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  5. Just a "heads up": the English Howard family post may not be exactly what you'd expect. :-)

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