April 25, 2025 Coats Museum News
Each week as I type the date on the Coats Museum News column for the Daily Record, I am keenly aware that there is a growing distance between my birth date and the current one. I was often reminded by my late husband H.L that we all will have to die and then I think of something my dad use to say, “You are not just here to take up space, you are here to make a difference.”
As I write the article each week, there is almost always news of the death of someone from the Coats area. To be honest, as I read about that person’s death, my mind flashes up my memories of that individual. Who was this person? Did they make enough difference that the readers can recall the contributions that person made in a church, a school, a business, an occupation, an organization and the list could go on or did they just take up space?
The question was asked earlier by someone if there had been any other triplets born in the Coats area before Monica and Ronnie Stewart’s triplets? My mind wants to think that while we were researching for the heritage of Coats, that there was mention of triplets being born in Four Oaks but since we were only researching Coats history, I cannot verify for certain that was the case. I am aware that there countless cases of twins being born to Coats parents.
I do know that Grandmothers Audrey Stewart and Faye Denton helped bathe and feed the triplet babies in the mornings. Wesley Denton and LeRoy Stewart, grandfathers of the triplets, were deceased.
Amy Cook had visited Virginia where she once had lived. She had attended the graduation of her grandson, Jeremiah, who had received a full scholarship to James Madison University. Amy and Bartley were hosts to Amy’s Aunt Bernice Bayles’ 79th birthday party.
One of the loveliest ladies in the Coats area is Jutta Turlington who came to this area with her military husband, Kenneth Turlington. In June 1995, Pat Godwin and Jutta had spent three weeks in Germany which was Jutta’s native land. By the way we have another German lady, Llona Lukas, in our community, who along with her husband is very active in the Coats Senior Center. I could listen to both these ladies talk all day and so admire how gracious and giving these two ladies are.
The Coats Town Board had held a public hearing concerning adult businesses in the town. The amendment to the zoning ordinance identified and regulated adult-oriented businesses such as bookstores, movie theaters and massage parlors.
Bobby and Claudia Tart, owners of the Coats Video and B.J.’s Video in Dunn, were the only citizens to appear before the board. Attorney Marshall Woodall told the board that the video rental stores, if they did not offer viewing on the premises and are not strictly adult-oriented, would not come under the ordinance. The board then passed the amendment unanimously.
Other town business was in regard to houses, with limited street access, were allowed to be built on lots after commissioners voted unanimously to endorse the proposal. Larry Ryals requested permission to move his poolroom to East Main Street from the Village Square. The board approved the move.
Durane Currin shared information about a six-house subdivision on Stewart Street. The houses would be 1,000 square feet and built on site for sale at approximately $50,000. The board approved a forty foot right away rather than a 50-foot one. Deputy Town Clerk Jean Coats reported for Town Clerk Elaine Keene there was a surplus of approximately $40,000 out of the $600,000 total budget.
Darrell Smith announced that the town seal was almost ready. The competition for the design of the seal was over and the winner had been selected. The Town hoped to put a granite marker at the Coats Recreational Park to tell about Gerald Langdon’s donation of the land for the park. The memorial stone was to be 3 by 4 feet and in the shape of an open book (Daily Record July 14, 1995). Did Gerald Langdon make a difference?
Just for now (many more later), allow me to mention a few who have made a difference in Coats on our travel through time. John McKay Byrd- a Harnett County Sheriff, a state legislature, a graduate of the first Campbell Academy class and a very successful businessman in the second decade of Coats history. Then there was W.E. Nichols who gave a gift of love to the community by donating the land for the current Coats Heritage Square which houses the Coats Community Building and Coats Museums. More current, we have Billy and Peggie Pope who gave the old Coats School building that was transformed by hundreds of supporters to house thousands of artifacts that otherwise may have landed in yard sales or in the county dump.
A special thank you goes to Ralph and Lorena Denning, to Linda Ennis Kimbrough and to Mr. and Mrs. Gary McLeod who are making a “difference now” in the Coats Museum.
Each week as I type the date on the Coats Museum News column for the Daily Record, I am keenly aware that there is a growing distance between my birth date and the current one. I was often reminded by my late husband H.L that we all will have to die and then I think of something my dad use to say, “You are not just here to take up space, you are here to make a difference.”
As I write the article each week, there is almost always news of the death of someone from the Coats area. To be honest, as I read about that person’s death, my mind flashes up my memories of that individual. Who was this person? Did they make enough difference that the readers can recall the contributions that person made in a church, a school, a business, an occupation, an organization and the list could go on or did they just take up space?
The question was asked earlier by someone if there had been any other triplets born in the Coats area before Monica and Ronnie Stewart’s triplets? My mind wants to think that while we were researching for the heritage of Coats, that there was mention of triplets being born in Four Oaks but since we were only researching Coats history, I cannot verify for certain that was the case. I am aware that there countless cases of twins being born to Coats parents.
I do know that Grandmothers Audrey Stewart and Faye Denton helped bathe and feed the triplet babies in the mornings. Wesley Denton and LeRoy Stewart, grandfathers of the triplets, were deceased.
Amy Cook had visited Virginia where she once had lived. She had attended the graduation of her grandson, Jeremiah, who had received a full scholarship to James Madison University. Amy and Bartley were hosts to Amy’s Aunt Bernice Bayles’ 79th birthday party.
One of the loveliest ladies in the Coats area is Jutta Turlington who came to this area with her military husband, Kenneth Turlington. In June 1995, Pat Godwin and Jutta had spent three weeks in Germany which was Jutta’s native land. By the way we have another German lady, Llona Lukas, in our community, who along with her husband is very active in the Coats Senior Center. I could listen to both these ladies talk all day and so admire how gracious and giving these two ladies are.
The Coats Town Board had held a public hearing concerning adult businesses in the town. The amendment to the zoning ordinance identified and regulated adult-oriented businesses such as bookstores, movie theaters and massage parlors.
Bobby and Claudia Tart, owners of the Coats Video and B.J.’s Video in Dunn, were the only citizens to appear before the board. Attorney Marshall Woodall told the board that the video rental stores, if they did not offer viewing on the premises and are not strictly adult-oriented, would not come under the ordinance. The board then passed the amendment unanimously.
Other town business was in regard to houses, with limited street access, were allowed to be built on lots after commissioners voted unanimously to endorse the proposal. Larry Ryals requested permission to move his poolroom to East Main Street from the Village Square. The board approved the move.
Durane Currin shared information about a six-house subdivision on Stewart Street. The houses would be 1,000 square feet and built on site for sale at approximately $50,000. The board approved a forty foot right away rather than a 50-foot one. Deputy Town Clerk Jean Coats reported for Town Clerk Elaine Keene there was a surplus of approximately $40,000 out of the $600,000 total budget.
Darrell Smith announced that the town seal was almost ready. The competition for the design of the seal was over and the winner had been selected. The Town hoped to put a granite marker at the Coats Recreational Park to tell about Gerald Langdon’s donation of the land for the park. The memorial stone was to be 3 by 4 feet and in the shape of an open book (Daily Record July 14, 1995). Did Gerald Langdon make a difference?
Just for now (many more later), allow me to mention a few who have made a difference in Coats on our travel through time. John McKay Byrd- a Harnett County Sheriff, a state legislature, a graduate of the first Campbell Academy class and a very successful businessman in the second decade of Coats history. Then there was W.E. Nichols who gave a gift of love to the community by donating the land for the current Coats Heritage Square which houses the Coats Community Building and Coats Museums. More current, we have Billy and Peggie Pope who gave the old Coats School building that was transformed by hundreds of supporters to house thousands of artifacts that otherwise may have landed in yard sales or in the county dump.
A special thank you goes to Ralph and Lorena Denning, to Linda Ennis Kimbrough and to Mr. and Mrs. Gary McLeod who are making a “difference now” in the Coats Museum.