December 1, 2023 Coats Museum News
Tomorrow –December 2, 2023-it will be exactly one year that H.L. came into the house and said- “Shug-get your stuff together and we’ll go help the volunteers decorate the museum square for Christmas. I have two more spotlights to put up and I’ll be finished here.”
It was a cool morning and was on a Friday because he had prepared for the Saturday Coats Museum Board of Directors meeting the next day. I recall hopping out of the car carrying a bag of lights to go around the brick wall. He stayed on in the car and had a call from his dear friend Stacy Avery. I heard him say-“Stacy, I can’t talk now-we’ll talk later.”
That is when he called “Gayle-come here” (seldom was I Gayle to him) so I knew something was not right. He said take me down to the fire station and let them check me out. Upon getting some staff out to the car, they immediately recognized that he was having a heart attack and made plans to take him to the Wake Heart Center. His last words at the fire department were call –Lenee.
H.L. was a tall man big in statue and was thought to be in excellent health for a man of his age- exercised, checkups and blood work twice a year, non drinker or smoker and ate the healthiest of food except in later years did eat at Hardees with the morning crew just to listen and exchange views of current events. In other words, other than somewhat not liking that he couldn’t work nonstop in the yard without taking short breaks to rest on the club car.
I am very certain that size has nothing to do with fear as he rode in the rescue vehicle to Raleigh. However, it just so happened that one of the attendants recognized that H.L had taught him drivers education many years earlier. I can only imagine that conversation.
When Lenee and I arrived, he was talking away to the nurses and one of them was the daughter of our local pharmacist Diana Lischin. What a calming effect that must have been. Upon examination it was discovered that he did have two blockages and the value in the back of heart was not opening and closing allowing the bloods to mix.
The cardiologist determined that H.L was strong enough to do all procedures at one time and thus was the case. He responded well to the surgeries. In fact, our son who is a veterinarian shared with the Dr. Bolton that he had performed a similar surgery on a dog and it was comforting to Lenee and me that Bryan could tell us what those sixteen monitors were measuring.
Everything went south after he was moved to a step down level in the hospital. Not once did we hear him complain as they did everything to save him. With all the hospital apparatuses on and in him he could not communicate well except for a wink from his brown eyes. His last request and only request to Lenee and me was ‘Help me” and we watched the heart beat monitor slowly drop from 100 to 0 thus bringing to an end to a man that we always felt safe and loved in his presence.
Who was H.L Sorrell and why was he what he was? H.L was born in Johnston County on a small one mule farm where family was important and values of hard work were taught. Several events occurred in his life that impacted the path he took.
As a senior in high school, he and two other classmates were throwing out firecrackers at Christmas. The car belonged to a man who built ponds and there was dynamite in the car. One of boys threw a firecracker and it landed they think in the back where the dynamite was. The car exploded but all survived.
H.L. had shards of flying glass embedded in his eyes and most of his body. A large piece of metal penetrated his lung. He said he could hear his mother crying as she looked at him on that hospital bed. He never told me if he bargained with God but he did say he promised himself that if he survived that he would be a good person and try to make a difference for the better.
He graduated from Cleveland in 1956 and a sister of his mom encouraged him to go with her that summer to East Carolina College where she was renewing her teaching certificate. His parents could not afford to send him so Aunt Nell Penny Williams said she would help him. She helped him financially through school and after H.L. and I were married he was still paying her every penny back plus interest.
H.L. was a business major but for some reason he also earned a degree in education and driver’s education. He often said “I don’t know why I did that” but we know that was meant to be. Because the draft was in tack he was told by all the banks he interviewed that they would hire him if he could get his service behind him for they feared they would train him and he would be gone.
Back in Coats High School a teacher had resigned to get a masters degree. H.L.’s Uncle Howard Penny, Sr. came to the Sorrell farm to tell H.L and the rest is history for he was hired by Joe Hawley to teach sociology, economics and others courses out of his training. The next year he was in his field of business and made a tremendous educational impact on both male and female students.
H.L made good his promise to make a difference for the better. Right out of college, he was a teacher of the youth at Providence Presbyterian Church. He became involved at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church where his print is on most of the church improvements.
Every organization that H.L. was a member (and there were many) he gave 100 % of his time and money to make sure projects were a success. He had boxes of plaques and other honors that never seem to faze him. H.L. never forgot how hungry he was in college from lack of money. He never forgot the gift of an education because of the generosity of his Aunt Nell. I think that is why he worked so hard to create scholarships and endowments that would benefit those who needed or earned them. He was probably the most generous person I have ever met and that’s why it is so sad that it had to come to an end.
The date on the calendar was December 27, 2022- 4:55 PM and it was over. Our H.L. was here no more –only the good lessons he taught us on how to make a better society by sharing our talents and money.
H.L and I have two children and four grandchildren. Bryan Sorrell and Liz own the award winning General Booth Veterinary Hospital in Virginia Beach. They are parents of Ethan Sorrell who is a senior at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. His younger brother Austin is a junior at the Norfolk Academy.
Lenee married J.B. Smith from Mitchell, South Dakota. He earned the rank of Major in the US Army and he and Lenee both work in the software industry. They are parents of Blair Johnson Smith who graduated from the NCSSM and is a senior at the University of North Carolina. She proudly tells everyone that she was H.L.’s favorite granddaughter. Her younger brother is Edwin Smith and he is a junior at the Southern Wake Academy.
All of H.L.’s organizations were important to him but the last one -the Coats Museum was so dear to him because of the great public support that came from over the US and because of that my children and I wanted to have a party to thank the many people who have made a difference at the museum.
Tomorrow from 2 to 4 on the Heritage Square the H.L. Sorrell, Jr. family is sponsoring this our first Christmas without him. YOU are invited to come and see the amazing Coats Museum and have food and tours.
Hope to see you tomorrow.
Tomorrow –December 2, 2023-it will be exactly one year that H.L. came into the house and said- “Shug-get your stuff together and we’ll go help the volunteers decorate the museum square for Christmas. I have two more spotlights to put up and I’ll be finished here.”
It was a cool morning and was on a Friday because he had prepared for the Saturday Coats Museum Board of Directors meeting the next day. I recall hopping out of the car carrying a bag of lights to go around the brick wall. He stayed on in the car and had a call from his dear friend Stacy Avery. I heard him say-“Stacy, I can’t talk now-we’ll talk later.”
That is when he called “Gayle-come here” (seldom was I Gayle to him) so I knew something was not right. He said take me down to the fire station and let them check me out. Upon getting some staff out to the car, they immediately recognized that he was having a heart attack and made plans to take him to the Wake Heart Center. His last words at the fire department were call –Lenee.
H.L. was a tall man big in statue and was thought to be in excellent health for a man of his age- exercised, checkups and blood work twice a year, non drinker or smoker and ate the healthiest of food except in later years did eat at Hardees with the morning crew just to listen and exchange views of current events. In other words, other than somewhat not liking that he couldn’t work nonstop in the yard without taking short breaks to rest on the club car.
I am very certain that size has nothing to do with fear as he rode in the rescue vehicle to Raleigh. However, it just so happened that one of the attendants recognized that H.L had taught him drivers education many years earlier. I can only imagine that conversation.
When Lenee and I arrived, he was talking away to the nurses and one of them was the daughter of our local pharmacist Diana Lischin. What a calming effect that must have been. Upon examination it was discovered that he did have two blockages and the value in the back of heart was not opening and closing allowing the bloods to mix.
The cardiologist determined that H.L was strong enough to do all procedures at one time and thus was the case. He responded well to the surgeries. In fact, our son who is a veterinarian shared with the Dr. Bolton that he had performed a similar surgery on a dog and it was comforting to Lenee and me that Bryan could tell us what those sixteen monitors were measuring.
Everything went south after he was moved to a step down level in the hospital. Not once did we hear him complain as they did everything to save him. With all the hospital apparatuses on and in him he could not communicate well except for a wink from his brown eyes. His last request and only request to Lenee and me was ‘Help me” and we watched the heart beat monitor slowly drop from 100 to 0 thus bringing to an end to a man that we always felt safe and loved in his presence.
Who was H.L Sorrell and why was he what he was? H.L was born in Johnston County on a small one mule farm where family was important and values of hard work were taught. Several events occurred in his life that impacted the path he took.
As a senior in high school, he and two other classmates were throwing out firecrackers at Christmas. The car belonged to a man who built ponds and there was dynamite in the car. One of boys threw a firecracker and it landed they think in the back where the dynamite was. The car exploded but all survived.
H.L. had shards of flying glass embedded in his eyes and most of his body. A large piece of metal penetrated his lung. He said he could hear his mother crying as she looked at him on that hospital bed. He never told me if he bargained with God but he did say he promised himself that if he survived that he would be a good person and try to make a difference for the better.
He graduated from Cleveland in 1956 and a sister of his mom encouraged him to go with her that summer to East Carolina College where she was renewing her teaching certificate. His parents could not afford to send him so Aunt Nell Penny Williams said she would help him. She helped him financially through school and after H.L. and I were married he was still paying her every penny back plus interest.
H.L. was a business major but for some reason he also earned a degree in education and driver’s education. He often said “I don’t know why I did that” but we know that was meant to be. Because the draft was in tack he was told by all the banks he interviewed that they would hire him if he could get his service behind him for they feared they would train him and he would be gone.
Back in Coats High School a teacher had resigned to get a masters degree. H.L.’s Uncle Howard Penny, Sr. came to the Sorrell farm to tell H.L and the rest is history for he was hired by Joe Hawley to teach sociology, economics and others courses out of his training. The next year he was in his field of business and made a tremendous educational impact on both male and female students.
H.L made good his promise to make a difference for the better. Right out of college, he was a teacher of the youth at Providence Presbyterian Church. He became involved at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church where his print is on most of the church improvements.
Every organization that H.L. was a member (and there were many) he gave 100 % of his time and money to make sure projects were a success. He had boxes of plaques and other honors that never seem to faze him. H.L. never forgot how hungry he was in college from lack of money. He never forgot the gift of an education because of the generosity of his Aunt Nell. I think that is why he worked so hard to create scholarships and endowments that would benefit those who needed or earned them. He was probably the most generous person I have ever met and that’s why it is so sad that it had to come to an end.
The date on the calendar was December 27, 2022- 4:55 PM and it was over. Our H.L. was here no more –only the good lessons he taught us on how to make a better society by sharing our talents and money.
H.L and I have two children and four grandchildren. Bryan Sorrell and Liz own the award winning General Booth Veterinary Hospital in Virginia Beach. They are parents of Ethan Sorrell who is a senior at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. His younger brother Austin is a junior at the Norfolk Academy.
Lenee married J.B. Smith from Mitchell, South Dakota. He earned the rank of Major in the US Army and he and Lenee both work in the software industry. They are parents of Blair Johnson Smith who graduated from the NCSSM and is a senior at the University of North Carolina. She proudly tells everyone that she was H.L.’s favorite granddaughter. Her younger brother is Edwin Smith and he is a junior at the Southern Wake Academy.
All of H.L.’s organizations were important to him but the last one -the Coats Museum was so dear to him because of the great public support that came from over the US and because of that my children and I wanted to have a party to thank the many people who have made a difference at the museum.
Tomorrow from 2 to 4 on the Heritage Square the H.L. Sorrell, Jr. family is sponsoring this our first Christmas without him. YOU are invited to come and see the amazing Coats Museum and have food and tours.
Hope to see you tomorrow.