PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DAR ALLEGHANY CHAPTER
Alleghany Chapter honored two individuals for their outstanding community service work in our local area.
A reception was held on Thursday, April 10 at the Luther Memorial Lutheran Church in Blacksburg to present these individuals with the DAR Community Service Award. Those honored are Jimmie Lee Price and Dr. Wendy Baldwin.
Baldwin is Chair of the Montgomery County Dolly Parton Imagination Library. She has organized volunteers, raised funds, and enrolled children where the Imagination Library distributes free books through the mail each month to children ages birth to five. Books are provided without consideration of economic status, race, gender, ethnicity or any other characteristic. As of this date, over 18,000 books have been mailed to children in the county on a monthly basis. Baldwin’s work with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library has been extensive and this keeps her very busy. She is a person who would rather work and be useful. Wendy is also a volunteer Board Member of the Blacksburg AARP and Chair of the Social Development Committee of the Mt. Tabor Ruritan Club.
Price, son of coal miner Henry Price, is a Blacksburg resident, minister and local historian. He is the author and co-author of several books on millstone makers and the history of coal mines in Montgomery County. Price founded the Coal Miner’s Heritage Association. His uncle perished in the April 18, 1946 coal mine explosion in Montgomery County. Jimmie says “for those who lived through it, it is a day no one can forget.”
Price is involved with helping the Coal Mining Heritage Association which holds its annual Coal Miners Day. This event honors the 12 men who died at the Great Valley mine in 1946. Price also was involved in developing The Price Family Historical Society which is a local organization with founding members Jimmie L. Price, Suzanne P. Jones, James Price and Edith P. Sloop. This organization was formed in 2006 and the society’s mission is to identify, research, record, and preserve the Price Family history for future generations. As a local historian, he says he is proud to honor the founding pioneers, while promoting local history, knowledge and tourism in western Virginia and Montgomery County.
National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Alleghany Chapter
