Thanks to a generous donation from the Audrey Louise Driver estate, Plains District Museum is now able to convert the old Indoor Yard Sale Room into a new climate-controlled archives storage room aimed at a more secure way of organizing and preserving our collections, exhibit materials, and documents into the future. These collections and materials are currently stored in the large storage room at the back of the Museum and subject to damage caused by both extreme heat and cold temperatures. At the same time, another part of the current storage room will be converted into a new Indoor Yard Sale Room with an entrance from a new handicapped ramp which will replace the old loading platform adjacent to the north side parking lot. Fix It Construction Co. will begin work on this project this month.
According to the trustees of her estate, Don Driver (nephew) and his sister Becky Driver (niece), Audrey Driver maintained a lifelong interest in the history, culture, and welfare of the people of the Shenandoah Valley. In her will Audrey expressed her desire that funds from her estate be provided to nonprofit organizations to preserve the history of the area. Audrey grew up on a farm in Long Meadows near Timberville. The farm (still in the Driver family) dates from the 1820s. The oldest of six children, Audrey, born in 1922 to Sidney and Ruth Driver, attended Timberville Elementary and graduated from Timberville High School. After high school, she moved to Broadway where she worked at various jobs before joining the Marines during WW II. She was assigned to a post in California. After serving in the Marines, Corporal Audrey Driver returned to the Valley, graduated from Bridgewater College on the GI Bill, and later did graduate work at RPI (Richmond Professional Institute). She then established her career as a child psychologist with Woodburn Crisis Center in Fairfax, VA where she remained until moving to the Bridgewater Retirement Community in July 2022. Audrey died in March 2024. She was 101 YEARS OLD.
In the process of settling her estate, Trustees Don and Becky Driver approached the Plains Museum Board of Directors about its future plans for the museum. They felt that the new building project presented met Audrey’s wishes. The Board is extremely grateful to Audrey Driver and the Driver family for its generous contribution to the future growth and preservation efforts of the Museum. Gifts like this enable the Museum to complete projects that are not possible through our normal donations, fundraisers, and memberships. THANK YOU!!!
VETERANS DAY PROGRAM AT THE MUSEUM
On Sunday, Nov.9, in recognition of Veteran’s Day, the Museum hosted approximately 50 people who came to hear David Wood speak on his new book, Chief’s Letters, a WW II Memoir. Through the reading of selected excerpts and pictures from his father’s correspondence, David did an excellent job of portraying the emotional impact of the war on both the family and the men who served. David’s father Harold Wood of Broadway was one of the early volunteers at Plains District Museum after it was founded in 1998.
OTHER NEWS
The Museum will remain open but will not schedule any special programs during the upcoming construction. Our OLDE BAKE SHOP will be open at Winter Festival at American Legion Park on Dec. 6 and 7—our last fundraiser of the year. BAKE GOODS are welcome. If you are a baker and would like to participate, please bring your donations to the Museum on Friday, Dec. 5- 1 to 4 pm.
