March 29, 2024

Pax to Present

Posted by A. Shane Mattingly
Shane Mattingly Law Offices
Pax Leader

“Reminiscences II,” does the unusual for a local history book – it takes us into the present. And it does something else. It blends local history with the naval history that has supported the community for a half-century.

Among the accomplishments of Dr. J. Roy Guyther’s eighth regional history is the concise storyline provided of the U.S. Naval Air Station at Patuxent River.

Dr. Guyther chronicles Naval Air Station Patuxent River from its 1943 commissioning, through the Base Realignment and Closure Act’s ensuing expansions of 1993, 1995 and 1997 and includes  current commands, missions and fleet support activities.

As much as a history book,  Dr. Guyther has provided a concise accounting of the agencies and events that have carried this community into its particular present, or at least into 2011.

Dr. Guyther was born in Mechanicsville, Maryland in 1920 and opened his medical practice in his  home town January 1, 1948. He practiced for half a century with his wife, Elizabeth Tyric Guyther, working as his nurse. His earliest historical work involved the more traditional regional-history style of researching and bringing to light former times.

In his latest history, “Reminiscences II,” he carries numerous local agencies, such as the hospital, the public school system, prohibition and the electric cooperative, from their founding into their present status within the community.

He opens with Pax River, celebrates the “work  proudly accomplished at the Naval Air Station every day,” and also quotes local historian, Robert Pogue of the earliest despair: “The sudden eviction of the people of Cedar Point was one of the most pitiful events ever to occur in our County. These were no ordinary people the Government evicted from their homes. They were like human trees whose roots were deep in their land.”

Leave it to Dr. Guyther to give you a little lesson, make you squirm a bit along with his pleasant smile.

Upon the occasion of dedicating the Cedar Point Lighthouse cupola, the outcome of a long fought historical battle, he reprints the complete speech given by Beth McCoy, another unflinching local historian who wrote, “The Methodist Church built in the late 1800s, stood right on the proposed aircraft runway. It was demolished – the lovely stained glass windows grace the altar area of Lexington Park Methodist Church and one hundred graves were moved to the Ebenezer graveyard on Chancellor’s Run Road.”

Still, the physician-writer concludes that the largess that falls upon his community is right and good and states early in this chronicle, “The County is alive and well. What a great place to make more memories!”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQLPy77-I2Q]

To obtain a copy of “Reminiscences II” contact Xlibris Corporation or call 888-795-4274.

 

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