| Notes |
- John Edwin and Columbus Chester Bassett were twins.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia,
January 22, 1988
Funeral Set Tomorrow for John E. Bassett Sr.
A funeral for John E. Bassett Sr., retired chairman of Bassett Furniture Industries Inc., will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Bassett Memorial United Methodist Church with burial in Bassett Cemetery. Mr. Bassett, who had been in declining health for several years, died yesterday in a Martinsville hospital. He was 86.
He headed the furniture company in Henry County that bears his family's name. His father, the late Charles C. Bassett, was one of the founders of Bassett Furniture Co., one of the largest manufacturers of wood furniture in the world.
John Bassett joined the furniture maker as a bookkeeper in 1922. He rose steadily in the management ranks and served as a vice president, president and then board chairman from 1966 until his retirement in 1981. In 1966, Mr. Bassett received the "Man of the Year" Merit Award form the American Furniture Mart in Chicago. In 1970, he received the James T. Ryan Award of the Southern Furniture Manufacturers Association. Both were for outstanding service to the furniture industry.
A native of Bassett, he was a graduate of Randolph-Macon Academy. He attended the University of Virginia and Randolph-Macon College and graduated from National Business College in Roanoke.
He was trustee emeritus of Ferrum College. His donations made possible the construction of Bassett Hall. The building's east wing was named for his wife, Ruby Williams Bassett, who died in 1986. Mrs. Bassett was a student at Ferrum in the early 1920s.
Mr. Bassett was a former chairman of the Ferrum board of trustees and of its executive committee. He also was a trustee of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and had been on the Advisory Council of National Business College.
A longtime Boy Scout advisory leader, he was a member of the Blue Ridge Council of the Boy Scouts of America and had earned the Silver Beaver Award, the Scouts' highest honor for service. Mr. Bassett was a member of the Roanoke Scottish Rite Bodies, the Bassett Pythian Lodge and Bassett Memorial United Methodist, where he was chairman of the finance committee and a former trustee and chairman of the administrative board. He also was a charter member of the Bassett Kiwanis Club. Randolph-Macon College awarded him an honorary doctor of laws degree, and Ferrum gave him an honorary doctor of humanities degree.
Mr. Bassett was known for his hobbies of fishing and small game hunting.
Survivors include two sons, John Edwin Bassett Jr. of Bassett and Charles Columbus Bassett III of Martinsville; a daughter, Mrs. Dwight L. Dillon Sr. of Bassett; two sisters, Mrs. Hal C. Rich Sr. of Danville and Mrs. J. Clyde Hooker Sr. of Martinsville; and 11 grandchildren, four stepgrandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The family suggests that memorial contributions be made to the Bassett Rescue Squad, the Bassett Memorial United Methodist Church Organ Fund or to a favorite church.
The Washington Post, District of Columbia
January 28, 1988
John E. Bassett Sr.
John E. Bassett Sr., 86, retired chairman of Bassett Furniture Industries, died January 21 in Bassett, Virginia. The cause of death was not reported. Mr. Bassett headed the furniture company that bears his family's name. His father, Charles C. Bassett, was one of the founders of Bassett Furniture Co., now the largest manufacturer of wood furniture in the world.
Crawson Rich on January 9, 1932.
THE HENRY BULLETIN, Tuesday, January 7, 1930, page 1, cols. 7 & 8 [edited]. The Bassett community and entire county were shocked and deeply grieved when news was received here of the death of Mrs. C. C. Bassett and the fatal injury to Mr. C. C. Bassett in an automobile wreck which occurred Friday at New Smyrna, Florida, as the family was en route to Palm Beach. The accident happened when the colored chauffeur, Francis Wade, who according to witnesses, was driving at high speed, suddenly put on the brakes, causing the car to skid on the wet pavement and crash into the rear of an ice truck, which was parked on the side of the road. Mrs. Bassett was instantly killed and Mr. Bassett, who sustained a fractured skull, was rushed to the hospital, where he died Saturday at midnight without regaining consciousness. The other occupants of the car escaped with minor injuries. Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Bassett, with their daughter, Miss Dorothy Bassett and their daughter-in-law, Mrs. J. E. Bassett, were en route to Palm Beach, where they were planning to spend several months at their winter home. They left Martinsville at six o’clock Thursday morning, after spending the night there with their daughter, Mrs. J. C. Hooker. J. E. Bassett, their son, who was attending the opening of the furniture market in Chicago, left immediately for Florida, upon receiving news of the accident. Mrs. R. E. Weaver of Bassett and Mrs. J. C. Hooker of Martinsville, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Bassett, accompanied by their husbands, left Saturday morning for Winston-Salem, where they took the train for New Smyrna. Mr. J. D. Bassett, brother of Mr. C. C. Bassett, and Mrs. J. D. Bassett, a sister of Mrs. C. C. Bassett, who were at their winter home at Hobe Sound, Florida, were communicated with at once and accompanied by their guests, Mr. and Mrs. T. G. Vaughan, of Galax, arrived a few hours later at the scene of the accident. The funeral party left Florida Sunday afternoon about five o’clock and arrived in Danville early Monday afternoon, where they were met by relatives and friends from Bassett. The bodies of the deceased were taken to the Bassett home, where the funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon. Temporary interment will be made in a private vault at the Oakwood Cemetery in Martinsville, pending the construction of a family vault at Bassett. Mrs. Bassett who was a native of Henry county, was 58 years of age, and before her marriage was Miss Roxie Hundley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Hundley. Mr. Bassett was about 60 years of age, was also a native of Henry county, and has been identified for years with the industrial development of county. Mr. Bassett was associated with his brother, J. D. Bassett, in numerous manufacturing and business interests here, being vice president of the Bassett Furniture Company of Bassett, the Hooker-Bassett Furniture Company of Martinsville, the Bassett Mirror Company and the First National Bank of Bassett, and a director and stockholder in other enterprises. He was a thirty-second degree Mason and an office holder in the Kiwanis club. Besides their three daughters, Mrs. R. E. Weaver of Bassett; Mrs. J. C. Hooker of Martinsville and Miss Dorothy Bassett and one son, J. Edwin Bassett, who survive their parents, Mrs. Bassett leaves three sisters, Mrs. J. D. Bassett of Bassett; Mrs. N. F. Burge of Martinsville, and Mrs. R. R. Burchfield of Roanoke and one brother, R. L. Hundley of Jenkins Jones, West Virginia; Mr. Bassett being survived by two sisters, Mrs. R. L. Stone and Mrs. J. W. Ramsey of Basset and two brothers, J. D. Bassett of Bassett, and Joe Bassett of Charlotte, N.C. [Ref. Paul Martin: SUPPLEMENT TO AN ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO . . . FOLLOW THE PERIWINKLE, page 4, Bassett Cemetery, Bassett, Virginia: Charles Columbus Bassett, 6/23/1869 - 1/4/1930; Roxie Hundley Bassett, 8/28/1871 - 1/3/1930].
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Bassett Family Association Database
1901 - 1988 (86 years)