Two starring figures of the 1930s … one of the silver screen, and one of the blue skies … rest side-by-side under the same headstone at Christ Episcopal Church in Mathews.
Toby Wing, once called “the most photographed girl in the movies,” gave up her booming career after marrying famous aviator Henry T. “Dick” Merrill in 1938. She had an enviable list of movies to her credit.
Dick Merrill, who made daring and record-setting transatlantic flights in the 1930s, continued amassing new records until age finally removed him from the cockpit.
The passing years saw them visit Mathews County frequently, after Toby’s parents retired to the county in 1946, but they never lived here as a couple. A few years after Dick’s death in 1982, Toby purchased one home in Mathews (the historic home in Mathews Court House now operating as White Dog Bistro, where her photo close-up beams from the main dining room wall), then sold that and purchased a home on Stutts Creek, and eventually came back to stay.
Dic...