Truckin' on the Western Branch

Mary Shafer Mary Virginia Butt was born in 1916 in Princess Anne County, one of nine children in a family of farmers, and worked as a secretary to the commissioner of fisheries in Norfolk. Then her sister brought Garfield Shafer Jr. home to meet her.

“He was a nice looking fellow,” she said. “I guess I loved him from the start.”

They married in 1938 and came to Churchland when Shafer opened the new Churchland Elementary School as principal in 1958.

The couple settled in Green Acres, and she taught kindergarten at Centenary United Methodist Church before there were public kindergartens.

I remember the World War II blackouts. Garfield was captain of the neighborhood watch, and I got busted for having the tiny radio light showing through the window even though I had a cover on it.

I didn’t grow up in Churchland, but we found wonderful people there—very cordial and great friends ever since. Tyre Neck Road was a lane. The Churchland Bridge was wooden and rickety and people sold crabs in the middle of it. The Deanes always sold fruitcakes at the post office. There was a July 4th parade in Green Acres with the kids on bikes all decorated.

All the mailboxes were along Route 17 and one of her daughter Sara Shafer Hetzler’s favorite memories is the neighbors gathering there or walking there together to get the mail.

Garfield Shafer Jr. and Mary Virginia Butt Shafer. Images by Sheally

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