Irma Henderson Smathers was born in Madison County in 1910 to Carlene “Jenny”and Logan Henderson. Growing up in Marshall, “Irma painted her dolls with Mercurochrome and did surgery and suturing on their sawdust bodies. She told everyone she was going to be a doctor. They said, “No, dear, you mean you are going to be a
Perhaps you read our story a couple of weeks ago about Asheville Mayor Gallatin Roberts, who committed suicide in February 1931 rather than face trial for banking law violations. You may have wondered about the fate of the other defendants in the case. When a Buncombe County grand jury indicted Roberts, along with other public and
The Asheville Citizen, 11/16/1934, reported that “Nearly 40 teams of men and women began a walkathon-marathon at an arena at 63 Biltmore Avenue shortly after 9 o’clock last night that is scheduled to continue 24 hours a day for two to three weeks – until there is only one team remaining on the floor.” The