Finding aid to the Vetville Club Scrapbook

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24501
(434) 846-0501
VETVILLE CLUB SCRAPBOOK (1947-1954)
The Vetville Club was organized as a social club for the wives of World War II
veterans living in the First Lane of the James Street Housing Project (“Vetville”) in
Lynchburg, Virginia. The first meeting was held in January 1947 and the Club continued
until the Project was closed in 1954 to make way for the Expressway being built. The
scrapbook was kept by Hilda Harvey Wills (Mrs. Charles O. Wills) who served on the
Lynchburg Advisory Committee to assist veterans in finding places to live.
HILDA HARVEY WILLS (1900-1995)
Hilda Harvey, daughter of John Kirkwood Harvey and Mary Elizabeth Weinman,
was born 17 December 1900 in Lynchburg, Virginia. She married Charles O. Wills of
Lynchburg. Following World War II, Mrs. Wills served on the Lynchburg Advisory
Committee to assist veterans in finding places to live. When the Federal temporary
housing project was secured for Lynchburg in February, 1946, she was hired to manage
it. She had qualified as a civil service housing supervisor and took over the Vetville
office. When the Federal government turned over the project to the city in 1949, she was
appointed to continue management of the project.
Mrs. Wills also worked as a secretary for Walker, Mosby, and Calvert real estate
company for a number of years. She was a member of the Timbrook Woman’s Club and
a member of Grace Memorial Episcopal Church. She died on 18 August 1995 in
Lynchburg and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery.
[Vetville Club Scrapbook, MS1226, Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg, Va.; Obituary, Lynchburg News,
21 August 1995, Sect. B, p. 2.]

MS1226