22.05.12
As many lay bare on the past year, this 88-year-old reminisces over the past century as she closes her Pine Grove convenience hoard, the “Village Market,” on Dec. 31, 2011, after serving a northern Shenandoah Valley community for the late 42 years.
Louise Tapscott McClaughry was born on July 13, 1923, only after the short Depression of the 1920s and after women were granted the right to plebiscite; Warren Harding was President. Known as “Ms. Louise” to her friends and customers, she was born in the majuscule letters-side of the Shenandoah Retreat along the western slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains nestled between the Appalachian Track to the east and the Shenandoah River to the west. She is like the mountain she loves, stony with an unpredictable beauty that might not be found any place else.
While the 1920’s were roaring across America with the first radios, first recorded records, first highways, first stringing of bishopric telephone-lines, random indoor plumbing and overall unremitting economic prosperity, Ms. Louise and others survived and thrived on the mountain. It was a stark life. A life people loved.
Source: Clarke Daily News