Elwood "Woody" Hauver, son of former Mayor Stanley Hauver, remembered getting "drafted" as a child to read the town's water meters. His father was devoted to improving the Smithsburg's water system, Hauver said.
Former Smithsburg police officer Homer Myers remembered Mayors Stanley Hauver and Paul Boswell as hard-working leaders who "made up their own rules." In an act that gained nationwide publicity, Boswell once turned off the water to the Smithsburg post office during a dispute with the postmaster over mail delivery to Town Hall, Woody Hauver recalled.
"He said, 'You don't have any water because I don't have any mail,'" Hauver remembered.
Slick said former Mayor Hoy D. Newman, a personal friend of Henry Ford, made the first phone call when the dial system came to Smithsburg in the early 1950s. Former Mayor Louis Hershberger, whose two daughters attended the ceremony, owned the town's first ice cream fountain. And former Mayor John W. Ferguson, whose descendants were also present Tuesday, was known as the "Boy Mayor of Smithsburg" because he was first elected at age 21, Mildred Myers said.
Martin remembered learning the town office ropes from former Mayor John O'Neal, who bought the town's first computer. O'Neal's son, Doug, thanked Smithsburg officials for remembering the contributions of his father and other past leaders.
Several audience members also thanked Myers for her devotion to the town.
"It's a wonderful job," she said. "It gets tough at times, but there are many rewards."
