December 15-21, 1952 

"I know I won't win but it won't hurt to try," Mrs. Mary Ellington of Ware Street in Reidsville told her mother as she entered a contest sponsored by a national shoe company. 

She was not prophetic. She did win. Ed Lewis, manager of a Reidsville shoe store, delivered a $500 check to the tobacco factory worker, her prize for being named second place winner. 

"Santa Claus has come early," she shouted to her 5-year-old son as she accepted the check. 

Frances Forbes, a slender, sandy-haired 16-year-old youth, has been missing from his home in Leaksville for several days. Authorities said the boy has not been seen since attending Sunday school. ... William J. Armfield III of Greensboro, president of the Children's Home Society of North Carolina, was guest speaker at the Madison Lions Club's Christmas party, telling them about the society's 50-year history of providing homes for babies until their mothers can take care of them or suitable homes can be found for them. ... Joy Dalton this week became the first Negro woman to serve on a Rockingham County jury in an assault trial in Superior Court. She was foreman of the jury, which returned a guilty verdict. 

Santa Claus suggestions: 24-inch baby doll, $4.99; metal doll house, $3.98; electric train, $19.88; tricycle, $4.99; rocking horse, $5.98.