The Mathews Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) celebrated its 80th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 5, with a Freedom Fund Banquet at the Church of Francis de Sales in Mathews. The guest speaker was Gaylene Kanoyton, president of the Hampton Branch and regional vice president of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP. Mathews High School graduate Brian Robinson, currently finishing up his bachelor’s degree in strategic communications at Old Dominion University, was awarded a $1,000 Beatrice Bobo Scholarship, his third one since matriculating. Shown, from left, are NAACP Mathews vice president Wilnet Willis and president Edith Turner, Robinson, Kanoyton, Pastor Marcus Stallworth of St. James United Methodist Church in Hampton, and Middlesex NAACP president Dawn Moore.
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