August 24, 2018 Coats Museum News
R.O. Stewart was a very popular name in the early history of Coats. In fact, he served as a postmaster in the town when the post office was located in the general area of Grady and Frances Matthews home. R.O. was father to Mrs. Esther Stewart Gregory, 57, of Fayetteville, who had died on Tuesday in Cape Fear Valley Hospital at Fayetteville. She was sister of Mrs. Alton (Meta) Bass of Dunn. The deceased was buried in the Coats Cemetery. Also surviving Mrs. Gregory were a son, Stewart Gregory and three brothers-Bonnie, Billy and Orton Stewart (Daily Record May 5, 1972).
The date on the Daily Record displayed May 10, 1972. Contained within that edition was the announcement by Mrs. Jane Mitchell that her daughter, Miss Glenda Carol Mitchell, was engaged to Ned Baxter Ennis. Baxter was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Preston Ennis. Glenda and Baxter were sophomores at Campbell College. The future would be good to Baxter and Glenda as he earned a successful U.S. Army military record retiring as a Lt. Colonel and later as an active political operative. Most recently Baxter has added newspaper publisher and author to his resume. Some folks in Dunn may remember how he worked with the Dunn All American City Committee in seeking and winning the title of an All American City for the first time.
Another individual involved with the Coats post office made the May 12th edition of the Daily Record. The Coats Post Office had honored C. Thomas Williams, a rural mail carrier and a native of Coats, with an award for 22 years of safe driving. Coats Postmaster Ophelia Roberts presented the award to Williams who was a veteran of WWII and had graduated from Coats High School and Campbell College. He became employed with the U.S. Postal Service after his discharge from the army. He was married to May Bell Parrish and was the father of three children-Gary, La Rue and Jenny.
When driving down McKinley Street, one can see a mural on a building honoring Alton Stewart, the first licensed aviator in N.C.; and inside the Coats Cotton Museum, there is a mural of a massive cotton field with a modern cotton picking machine doing what is was designed to do-harvesting cotton. These murals were the artwork of a much loved Coats graduate, Max Hayes Beasley in 2004-05. After military service, he pursued a career which took him away from Coats. By 1972, Max had returned to the small town in which he had grown up and was involved in activities to make the town better. Max Hayes Beasley was installed as the new president of the Coats Lions Club. Dr. Harold Dixon was vice president; Roger Simmons, second vice president; Albert Gregory, third vice president; Johnny Barnes, secretary–treasurer; and Joseph Lee, Jr., Wesley Pleasant, and M.O. Phillips were program chairmen (Daily Record May 17, 1972).
The Community Chapel of God in Coats had held a revival. Rev. Leon Parrish was pastor. The Coats Student Council officers were elected for 1972-73. They were Dan Ferrell, president; Mike Wood, vice president; Mike Weaver, secretary-treasurer and Sadie Moore, historian (Daily Record May 19, 1972).
While the school was voting on its student leaders, the new officers were named for the Business-Professional Woman’s Club. Mrs. Mary Jo Mann of Coats was vice-president. Other news in the paper shared that Julia Stewart and John Jackson were hospital patients (Daily Record May 19, 1972).
A wedding announcement of a popular Coats native was shared with the readers of the May 24, 1972 edition of the Daily Record. Miss Deborah Sue Turner and William Clyde Ennis, Jr., of Coats, were married in the Smithfield Baptist Church in Smithfield, Virginia. The bride was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Wilson Turner of Smithfield, VA. Parents of the groom were Mr. and Mrs. William Clyde Ennis of Coats. Donald Bruce Barefoot and William Rich Washington were ushers from Coats.
Do you wonder what happened to Clyde, Jr.? He lives in Lewisville and headed up a Belk store in that area where he retired a year or so ago. He makes visits back to Coats, visits his Aunt Millie Wiggins in Buies Creek and drops by the museum often with his cousin Bennie Harmon. Clyde gave the museum many items belonging to the Harmon- Ennis families. One interesting item he gave was his mother’s straw baby doll carriage. What a wonderful gift.
Death came to the Coats community and took with it a prominent Coats lady. Funeral services were held for Mrs. Ila Adams Weaver, 72, of Coats. She had died on Tuesday and her services were on Thursday at Prospect Primitive Baptist Church by Rev. Bill Robinson. Her burial was in the Harnett Memorial Park in Lillington. Surviving her was her husband, John Weaver; a daughter Jo Anne Weaver Tripp and four sons-Woodrow, Mack, J.D. and Charles Weaver. Her two sisters were Mrs. Florence Adams and Mrs. Sadie Parrish and one brother Percy Adams (Daily Record May 25, 1972).
A group of black students were unhappy with the Coats principal’s response to some of their 19 concerns. The black parents and students had asked that J.C. Hawley and Johnny Jones be removed from the Coats School in order to bring peace to the school and community (Daily Record May 30, 1972).Does anyone remember that current event? I personally don’t remember this event but do remember that the Coats was an outstanding school in that the black and white students participated side by side in sports and activities making it a pleasant place to teach.
Living to be ninety-three years of age is remarkable. Imagine not only watching your grandchildren grow up but likely several other generations of descendents. Mrs. Cornelia W. Godwin, 93, of Coats, had died on Wednesday. Her services were held at Gift Primitive Baptist Church on Thursday, conducted by Elder Shepherd Stephenson and Elder Worth Stephenson. Burial was in the Coats Town Cemetery. Surviving Mrs. Godwin were Mrs. Alton Grimes, Mrs. Huey White and Clem H. Godwin (Daily Record June 1, 1972).
It was graduation time for the Class of 1972 and they carried with them into the world many memories of their days at Coats High School. The students had entered Coats School in 1960 and had Miss Phyllis Buckner, Mrs. Edna Parrish and Mrs. Carroll to start off their joys and accomplishments during the school years ahead. They recalled the hard work of grade eight under Michael Smith, Mary Cole and Gayle Sorrell. The freshmen year saw Randy Suggs, Danny West, Shearon Roberts and Alex Castellanos as leaders holding class officers slots.
In the sophomore year, Gary Beasley, Shearon Roberts, Carletta Ivey, and Alex Castellanos took over the reins of class leadership. Alex Castellanos, Shearon Roberts and Danny West were marshals. Shearon Roberts was secretary-treasurer of the Student Council. Randy Suggs, Don Turlington, Jenny Eason, Carletta Ivey, Danny West, and Charles Ivey led the junior class. The Age of Aquaris was a great prom.
The final year of high school had arrived. Shearon Roberts, David Barnes and Linda Tart served them well. Ginger Dupree had served as editor of the Echoing Memories and Randy Suggs as Business Manager. H.L. Sorrell, Jr. gave them guidance as the sponsor of the yearbook.
The year book had preserved the activities for the classmates and community to revisit in the years to come. There were pictures of the Coats School Board made up of Max Hayes Beasley, Albert Gregory, Mrs. Billie Keene, Rupert Parrish, Charlie Ray, Hubert Rowland, and Mrs. Isabel Wolf.
Shortly after the Kress and Nell Penny Williams Exhibit Hall was opened to the public, we had a visit from John Bruce Parrish from Knightdale where he told us he served as a town councilman. From talking to him, we could feel his love for that town. He wanted his town council to come to our museum and we thought that one day he would bring some of them back to his home county of Harnett. Mr. Parrish died on August 10th at the age of 94. After reading his obituary in the News and Observer, we know now why he had made a lasting impression from his visit. This gentleman filled most of his ninety-four years of life serving his community and about one hour of those years was given to us at the Coats Museum-long enough for us to feel very sad as we read of his death and accomplishments.
A sincere thank you goes to the friends of Joyce Parrish Turner and her family who continue to remember Joyce with memorials to the Coats Museum. Patsy and Stacy Avery, Sherel and Brenda Daniels, Russell R. Myers, Emmett C. Aldredge, Jr., Dr. Joseph M. Juliano, Patsy Coats and Hilda Pope have been given for Joyce who dearly loved the town of Coats and was so proud to be the great-granddaughter of the town’s founder, James Thomas Coats.
We lost another gentleman who had Coats connections. Rex M. Dean of Garner died recently. He was brother to Genevieve (Margaret) Dean Johnson (mother of Jerry Gardner-Coats High Class of 1971), Jo Anne Dean Phillips and the late Alma Dean Tocci. Alma’s son, Mike Tocci, makes a trip from Sparks NV to NC twice a year to visit his aunts and cousin, Jane Barnes (Rex’s daughter) of Benson. A special thank you goes to Mike and Claudia Tocci for remembering their Uncle Rex with a memorial donation to the museum.
Again, you are invited to visit coatsmuseum.com ( July 25, 2014) to read what was going on in the Grove area in the 1940’s.While there, you might enjoy looking at some of the other records on the website.
R.O. Stewart was a very popular name in the early history of Coats. In fact, he served as a postmaster in the town when the post office was located in the general area of Grady and Frances Matthews home. R.O. was father to Mrs. Esther Stewart Gregory, 57, of Fayetteville, who had died on Tuesday in Cape Fear Valley Hospital at Fayetteville. She was sister of Mrs. Alton (Meta) Bass of Dunn. The deceased was buried in the Coats Cemetery. Also surviving Mrs. Gregory were a son, Stewart Gregory and three brothers-Bonnie, Billy and Orton Stewart (Daily Record May 5, 1972).
The date on the Daily Record displayed May 10, 1972. Contained within that edition was the announcement by Mrs. Jane Mitchell that her daughter, Miss Glenda Carol Mitchell, was engaged to Ned Baxter Ennis. Baxter was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Preston Ennis. Glenda and Baxter were sophomores at Campbell College. The future would be good to Baxter and Glenda as he earned a successful U.S. Army military record retiring as a Lt. Colonel and later as an active political operative. Most recently Baxter has added newspaper publisher and author to his resume. Some folks in Dunn may remember how he worked with the Dunn All American City Committee in seeking and winning the title of an All American City for the first time.
Another individual involved with the Coats post office made the May 12th edition of the Daily Record. The Coats Post Office had honored C. Thomas Williams, a rural mail carrier and a native of Coats, with an award for 22 years of safe driving. Coats Postmaster Ophelia Roberts presented the award to Williams who was a veteran of WWII and had graduated from Coats High School and Campbell College. He became employed with the U.S. Postal Service after his discharge from the army. He was married to May Bell Parrish and was the father of three children-Gary, La Rue and Jenny.
When driving down McKinley Street, one can see a mural on a building honoring Alton Stewart, the first licensed aviator in N.C.; and inside the Coats Cotton Museum, there is a mural of a massive cotton field with a modern cotton picking machine doing what is was designed to do-harvesting cotton. These murals were the artwork of a much loved Coats graduate, Max Hayes Beasley in 2004-05. After military service, he pursued a career which took him away from Coats. By 1972, Max had returned to the small town in which he had grown up and was involved in activities to make the town better. Max Hayes Beasley was installed as the new president of the Coats Lions Club. Dr. Harold Dixon was vice president; Roger Simmons, second vice president; Albert Gregory, third vice president; Johnny Barnes, secretary–treasurer; and Joseph Lee, Jr., Wesley Pleasant, and M.O. Phillips were program chairmen (Daily Record May 17, 1972).
The Community Chapel of God in Coats had held a revival. Rev. Leon Parrish was pastor. The Coats Student Council officers were elected for 1972-73. They were Dan Ferrell, president; Mike Wood, vice president; Mike Weaver, secretary-treasurer and Sadie Moore, historian (Daily Record May 19, 1972).
While the school was voting on its student leaders, the new officers were named for the Business-Professional Woman’s Club. Mrs. Mary Jo Mann of Coats was vice-president. Other news in the paper shared that Julia Stewart and John Jackson were hospital patients (Daily Record May 19, 1972).
A wedding announcement of a popular Coats native was shared with the readers of the May 24, 1972 edition of the Daily Record. Miss Deborah Sue Turner and William Clyde Ennis, Jr., of Coats, were married in the Smithfield Baptist Church in Smithfield, Virginia. The bride was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Wilson Turner of Smithfield, VA. Parents of the groom were Mr. and Mrs. William Clyde Ennis of Coats. Donald Bruce Barefoot and William Rich Washington were ushers from Coats.
Do you wonder what happened to Clyde, Jr.? He lives in Lewisville and headed up a Belk store in that area where he retired a year or so ago. He makes visits back to Coats, visits his Aunt Millie Wiggins in Buies Creek and drops by the museum often with his cousin Bennie Harmon. Clyde gave the museum many items belonging to the Harmon- Ennis families. One interesting item he gave was his mother’s straw baby doll carriage. What a wonderful gift.
Death came to the Coats community and took with it a prominent Coats lady. Funeral services were held for Mrs. Ila Adams Weaver, 72, of Coats. She had died on Tuesday and her services were on Thursday at Prospect Primitive Baptist Church by Rev. Bill Robinson. Her burial was in the Harnett Memorial Park in Lillington. Surviving her was her husband, John Weaver; a daughter Jo Anne Weaver Tripp and four sons-Woodrow, Mack, J.D. and Charles Weaver. Her two sisters were Mrs. Florence Adams and Mrs. Sadie Parrish and one brother Percy Adams (Daily Record May 25, 1972).
A group of black students were unhappy with the Coats principal’s response to some of their 19 concerns. The black parents and students had asked that J.C. Hawley and Johnny Jones be removed from the Coats School in order to bring peace to the school and community (Daily Record May 30, 1972).Does anyone remember that current event? I personally don’t remember this event but do remember that the Coats was an outstanding school in that the black and white students participated side by side in sports and activities making it a pleasant place to teach.
Living to be ninety-three years of age is remarkable. Imagine not only watching your grandchildren grow up but likely several other generations of descendents. Mrs. Cornelia W. Godwin, 93, of Coats, had died on Wednesday. Her services were held at Gift Primitive Baptist Church on Thursday, conducted by Elder Shepherd Stephenson and Elder Worth Stephenson. Burial was in the Coats Town Cemetery. Surviving Mrs. Godwin were Mrs. Alton Grimes, Mrs. Huey White and Clem H. Godwin (Daily Record June 1, 1972).
It was graduation time for the Class of 1972 and they carried with them into the world many memories of their days at Coats High School. The students had entered Coats School in 1960 and had Miss Phyllis Buckner, Mrs. Edna Parrish and Mrs. Carroll to start off their joys and accomplishments during the school years ahead. They recalled the hard work of grade eight under Michael Smith, Mary Cole and Gayle Sorrell. The freshmen year saw Randy Suggs, Danny West, Shearon Roberts and Alex Castellanos as leaders holding class officers slots.
In the sophomore year, Gary Beasley, Shearon Roberts, Carletta Ivey, and Alex Castellanos took over the reins of class leadership. Alex Castellanos, Shearon Roberts and Danny West were marshals. Shearon Roberts was secretary-treasurer of the Student Council. Randy Suggs, Don Turlington, Jenny Eason, Carletta Ivey, Danny West, and Charles Ivey led the junior class. The Age of Aquaris was a great prom.
The final year of high school had arrived. Shearon Roberts, David Barnes and Linda Tart served them well. Ginger Dupree had served as editor of the Echoing Memories and Randy Suggs as Business Manager. H.L. Sorrell, Jr. gave them guidance as the sponsor of the yearbook.
The year book had preserved the activities for the classmates and community to revisit in the years to come. There were pictures of the Coats School Board made up of Max Hayes Beasley, Albert Gregory, Mrs. Billie Keene, Rupert Parrish, Charlie Ray, Hubert Rowland, and Mrs. Isabel Wolf.
Shortly after the Kress and Nell Penny Williams Exhibit Hall was opened to the public, we had a visit from John Bruce Parrish from Knightdale where he told us he served as a town councilman. From talking to him, we could feel his love for that town. He wanted his town council to come to our museum and we thought that one day he would bring some of them back to his home county of Harnett. Mr. Parrish died on August 10th at the age of 94. After reading his obituary in the News and Observer, we know now why he had made a lasting impression from his visit. This gentleman filled most of his ninety-four years of life serving his community and about one hour of those years was given to us at the Coats Museum-long enough for us to feel very sad as we read of his death and accomplishments.
A sincere thank you goes to the friends of Joyce Parrish Turner and her family who continue to remember Joyce with memorials to the Coats Museum. Patsy and Stacy Avery, Sherel and Brenda Daniels, Russell R. Myers, Emmett C. Aldredge, Jr., Dr. Joseph M. Juliano, Patsy Coats and Hilda Pope have been given for Joyce who dearly loved the town of Coats and was so proud to be the great-granddaughter of the town’s founder, James Thomas Coats.
We lost another gentleman who had Coats connections. Rex M. Dean of Garner died recently. He was brother to Genevieve (Margaret) Dean Johnson (mother of Jerry Gardner-Coats High Class of 1971), Jo Anne Dean Phillips and the late Alma Dean Tocci. Alma’s son, Mike Tocci, makes a trip from Sparks NV to NC twice a year to visit his aunts and cousin, Jane Barnes (Rex’s daughter) of Benson. A special thank you goes to Mike and Claudia Tocci for remembering their Uncle Rex with a memorial donation to the museum.
Again, you are invited to visit coatsmuseum.com ( July 25, 2014) to read what was going on in the Grove area in the 1940’s.While there, you might enjoy looking at some of the other records on the website.