December 14, 2012 Coats Museum News
Do you know how many days it is before Christmas? Even harder, do you recall the last time it snowed on Christmas? I do know that the year was 1936 when the people in Harnett County had witnessed a white Christmas according to the Harnett County News January 2, 1936 edition. Does that mean the snow fell in 1935? The paper said that snow upon snow gave a nice blanket. Old-timers could not remember the last time a snow came at Christmas but most agreed that it had been a while ago.
Mrs. A.G. Johnson wrote a beautiful memoriam for Laura Parrish Sexton “who was called from us”. Has it been a while since you heard that expression? It does seem such a short time ago that she was being courted at her home in Coats by Roger Sexton of Lillington In fact it was in May of 1919 and they were later married and lived in the Lillington area according to the November 6, 1919 edition of the Harnett County News. She was the daughter of Barty Parrish.
The Coats Town Board met on January 14, 1936. Colored town citizens asked for police protection during church hours. The town board asked the colored town stores to close during church hours. At that same meeting, Fred A. Byrd and J.H. Parrish were asked to talk to owners of filling stations about closing hours. M.C. Stewart was paid for rent, locks, bushings, etc. Was this about the town cage and jail? E.D. Langdon was paid $8.00 for night watching (Coats Town Board meeting minutes, January 14, 1936). Many of our older Coats residents often share with me that Coats was once a lively town. The news is making a believer of me.
Members of the Page Book Club met at the home of Mrs. W.M. Keene where Mrs. W.E. Nichols presided at the meeting (Harnett County News January 23, 1936). In that same edition of the news, it was written that the Coats PTA met on January 16 when Principal Jerome reported that of the 592 students examined, that 438 needed medical attention. The greatest ailment was throat trouble with 292 students. There were 119 students underweight and only 9 where 20 percent overweight. “WOW !” did you say? Mrs. Roycroft reported twenty-two students received lunch through the PTA lunchroom project. Mr. Jerome reported that the students had missed eight days due to bad weather.
Most of you know Mack Reid Hudson. He shared with me that the food he remembered being served in the basement cafeteria operated by Mrs. Roycroft was soup and peanut butter crackers and had cost five or ten cents. He recalled when they opened the new Coats School cafeteria in 1957 that Kay Fish and his son Michael were the first and second students to go through the line. Isn’t it amazing how our brain saves such memories? Mack also shared with me that I could have called chitterlings-“casings” which were used for stuffing the sausage in my Hog Killing columns. Someone asked me if I had heard that some farmers would take the hog’s bladder and blow it up to make it a ball for the farm children to throw and kick. Did you say “Are you kidding?” Mack ` also wants me to write about “Mule Trading”. Does that sound like a good story?
The Coats PTA, under the auspices of the finance committee, sponsored an amateur program at the Oakdale School auditorium. The public had been invited to perform (Harnett County News January 30, 1936). Oakdale and Turlington were the only two schools that had not consolidated with the Grove # 3 Coats High (Union) School in 1936.
Construction had begun at the new building on the Coats School campus. There were 14 rooms and an auditorium that would seat 800. Wonder if any of those ladies in the Community Woman’s Club were praying that lights and opera seats came with the package. Recall that those ladies raised money for the lighting and seats for the top floor auditorium in the first building in 1921. About 800 students attended the Coats School in 1936. All modern conveniences were promised to be in the building that was to be ready for the 1936-37 school year (Harnett County News March 5, 1936).
The same copy of the newspaper wrote that Warden Jeff Turlington warned all the readers to “Watch your fire”. Several forest fires had occurred the past few months, while carelessly burning new ground by the farmers. Now that sounds like another story doesn’t it?-New ground!
The news continued with a story about Dr. J.R. Butler’s death of Coats and Dunn who had died at Rex Hospital. Dr. Butler had developed pneumonia after having influenza. He made his home in Coats but practiced dentistry in Dunn for nearly 20 years. The funeral was held at his home in Coats and his burial was in the Coats Cemetery. Do you know where he lived in Coats? His wife was Edna Roberts Butler. She was the widow of Dr. Harry Roberts who had died from injuries he had in a plane crash in Coats. His brother was Dr. C.R. Butler of Lynchburg, VA. Mrs. S.R. Pope, H.B. Cooper, A.C. Cooper, W.C. Cooper and D. T. Cooper were half-brothers and sister (Harnett County News March 5, 1936).
Professor J.T. Jerome, W.E. Nichols, Z.B. Stewart and Bernard Hudson, trustees of the Coats School, appeared before the Harnett County Commissioners and asked for a full-time vocational teacher at Coats School (Harnett County News April 9, 1936). Did Coats share a teacher with Angier at this time?
Fifteen members of the Coats Museum Board of Directors met on Saturday morning to transact business and to tour the museum at this stage of construction. Afterwards, Joe Tart presented the museum the flight suit that Dr. William Thornton had worn on his second space flight in the Challenger. The volunteers will now decide upon the mural wallpaper to be used as a backdrop in the exhibit. Tell Joe Tart thank you for all he does for the museum. We were glad to have Kim Lambert of the Daily Record and WRAL Channel 5 TV use the Research Library to interview Hazel Gunter Sorrell, Grace Penny, Verle Flowers, Beanie Ennis, Levin Beasley, Carsie Denning, James Grimes, Tony Stewart and H.A. Turlington, Jr. about their memories of Pearl Harbor and their days at the Coats High School. Jennifer Flowers puts lots of time into making this project happen-thanks, Jennifer. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if others who attended would write down some of their stories about Coats School and let us put them on file at the museum? A special thank you goes to Dorsey and Pauline Daniel for their memorial gifts to the museum to honor Nellie Carroll and to Robie and Lynda Butler who remembered Margaret Baker and Nellie Carroll. Peggy Senter has loaned memorabilia from her high school days. We appreciate you, Peggy. Everyone is talking about the beautiful magnolia wreaths on the museum and we have Misty Gil of the Daniel Tree Farm to thank for her generosity.
Do you know how many days it is before Christmas? Even harder, do you recall the last time it snowed on Christmas? I do know that the year was 1936 when the people in Harnett County had witnessed a white Christmas according to the Harnett County News January 2, 1936 edition. Does that mean the snow fell in 1935? The paper said that snow upon snow gave a nice blanket. Old-timers could not remember the last time a snow came at Christmas but most agreed that it had been a while ago.
Mrs. A.G. Johnson wrote a beautiful memoriam for Laura Parrish Sexton “who was called from us”. Has it been a while since you heard that expression? It does seem such a short time ago that she was being courted at her home in Coats by Roger Sexton of Lillington In fact it was in May of 1919 and they were later married and lived in the Lillington area according to the November 6, 1919 edition of the Harnett County News. She was the daughter of Barty Parrish.
The Coats Town Board met on January 14, 1936. Colored town citizens asked for police protection during church hours. The town board asked the colored town stores to close during church hours. At that same meeting, Fred A. Byrd and J.H. Parrish were asked to talk to owners of filling stations about closing hours. M.C. Stewart was paid for rent, locks, bushings, etc. Was this about the town cage and jail? E.D. Langdon was paid $8.00 for night watching (Coats Town Board meeting minutes, January 14, 1936). Many of our older Coats residents often share with me that Coats was once a lively town. The news is making a believer of me.
Members of the Page Book Club met at the home of Mrs. W.M. Keene where Mrs. W.E. Nichols presided at the meeting (Harnett County News January 23, 1936). In that same edition of the news, it was written that the Coats PTA met on January 16 when Principal Jerome reported that of the 592 students examined, that 438 needed medical attention. The greatest ailment was throat trouble with 292 students. There were 119 students underweight and only 9 where 20 percent overweight. “WOW !” did you say? Mrs. Roycroft reported twenty-two students received lunch through the PTA lunchroom project. Mr. Jerome reported that the students had missed eight days due to bad weather.
Most of you know Mack Reid Hudson. He shared with me that the food he remembered being served in the basement cafeteria operated by Mrs. Roycroft was soup and peanut butter crackers and had cost five or ten cents. He recalled when they opened the new Coats School cafeteria in 1957 that Kay Fish and his son Michael were the first and second students to go through the line. Isn’t it amazing how our brain saves such memories? Mack also shared with me that I could have called chitterlings-“casings” which were used for stuffing the sausage in my Hog Killing columns. Someone asked me if I had heard that some farmers would take the hog’s bladder and blow it up to make it a ball for the farm children to throw and kick. Did you say “Are you kidding?” Mack ` also wants me to write about “Mule Trading”. Does that sound like a good story?
The Coats PTA, under the auspices of the finance committee, sponsored an amateur program at the Oakdale School auditorium. The public had been invited to perform (Harnett County News January 30, 1936). Oakdale and Turlington were the only two schools that had not consolidated with the Grove # 3 Coats High (Union) School in 1936.
Construction had begun at the new building on the Coats School campus. There were 14 rooms and an auditorium that would seat 800. Wonder if any of those ladies in the Community Woman’s Club were praying that lights and opera seats came with the package. Recall that those ladies raised money for the lighting and seats for the top floor auditorium in the first building in 1921. About 800 students attended the Coats School in 1936. All modern conveniences were promised to be in the building that was to be ready for the 1936-37 school year (Harnett County News March 5, 1936).
The same copy of the newspaper wrote that Warden Jeff Turlington warned all the readers to “Watch your fire”. Several forest fires had occurred the past few months, while carelessly burning new ground by the farmers. Now that sounds like another story doesn’t it?-New ground!
The news continued with a story about Dr. J.R. Butler’s death of Coats and Dunn who had died at Rex Hospital. Dr. Butler had developed pneumonia after having influenza. He made his home in Coats but practiced dentistry in Dunn for nearly 20 years. The funeral was held at his home in Coats and his burial was in the Coats Cemetery. Do you know where he lived in Coats? His wife was Edna Roberts Butler. She was the widow of Dr. Harry Roberts who had died from injuries he had in a plane crash in Coats. His brother was Dr. C.R. Butler of Lynchburg, VA. Mrs. S.R. Pope, H.B. Cooper, A.C. Cooper, W.C. Cooper and D. T. Cooper were half-brothers and sister (Harnett County News March 5, 1936).
Professor J.T. Jerome, W.E. Nichols, Z.B. Stewart and Bernard Hudson, trustees of the Coats School, appeared before the Harnett County Commissioners and asked for a full-time vocational teacher at Coats School (Harnett County News April 9, 1936). Did Coats share a teacher with Angier at this time?
Fifteen members of the Coats Museum Board of Directors met on Saturday morning to transact business and to tour the museum at this stage of construction. Afterwards, Joe Tart presented the museum the flight suit that Dr. William Thornton had worn on his second space flight in the Challenger. The volunteers will now decide upon the mural wallpaper to be used as a backdrop in the exhibit. Tell Joe Tart thank you for all he does for the museum. We were glad to have Kim Lambert of the Daily Record and WRAL Channel 5 TV use the Research Library to interview Hazel Gunter Sorrell, Grace Penny, Verle Flowers, Beanie Ennis, Levin Beasley, Carsie Denning, James Grimes, Tony Stewart and H.A. Turlington, Jr. about their memories of Pearl Harbor and their days at the Coats High School. Jennifer Flowers puts lots of time into making this project happen-thanks, Jennifer. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if others who attended would write down some of their stories about Coats School and let us put them on file at the museum? A special thank you goes to Dorsey and Pauline Daniel for their memorial gifts to the museum to honor Nellie Carroll and to Robie and Lynda Butler who remembered Margaret Baker and Nellie Carroll. Peggy Senter has loaned memorabilia from her high school days. We appreciate you, Peggy. Everyone is talking about the beautiful magnolia wreaths on the museum and we have Misty Gil of the Daniel Tree Farm to thank for her generosity.
