December 23, 2022 Coats Museum News
The date on the Daily Record showed to be December 13, 1991. The paper printed that the members of the town board took their oaths. Those Coats officials were Mayor Tim McKinnie and Commissioners Max Beasley, Frances Avery, Don Ennis, Margaret House, and Wade Stephenson.
The same edition of the paper shared that Rebeth Mitchell had hosted the Liberty Club and Christine Akerman had presided. Police Chief Tommy Williford spoke to the ladies on Safety and Crime Prevention.
Phil Ferrell, a Vietnam veteran, and Travis Bennett, a Boy Scout, participated in a special ceremony that marked the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor for students in Grades 5-8 at Coats (Daily Record Dec. 13, 1991).
The Academic Honor Students were announced for Johnston Community College. Ashely Lynn Denning (daughter of Robert Sherrill and Wanda Pollard Denning) , Brian Keith Kesler, Billie Sue Parker, Sandra Denning Whittington and Lillian K. King were other area honorees (Daily Record Dec. 18, 1991).
Is the Cape Fear Christian Academy a public or private school? In 1991, Cape Fear Christian Academy was purchased. The private school became a part of the Pentecostal FW Baptist Church. In Coats, J.C. Hawley had opened the newest business on Main Street and Joseph Roy Stephenson had received his BS in Business Administration from ECU in Greenville (Daily Record Dec. 19, 1991).
Let’s revisit Coats in October of 1966. The Daily Record printed that the Terre Hill Industry and Coats were both pleased at having Coats as the home of the new plant. About 30 machines had been set up in the community building and the place was a beehive of activities. Gordon Davis, general plant manager, had been “more than pleased” with the cooperation and reception that they had received with the Coats citizens. Grady Matthews, president of the Coats Area Development Association, and Haywood Roberts ha d worked closely with the Coats project that produced ladies lingerie. Matthews had said that plans were to move forward to construct a building to house the industry in Coats. Eighteen acres of land had been purchased from Herbert L. Johnson to build the plant. Mrs. Rachel Langdon was office manager; Mrs. Doris Stewart was plant supervisor, and Mrs. Grace Gillis and Mrs. Mozelle Carroll were two the many employees (Daily Record Oct. 14, 1966).
Did the plant ever have as m any as four hundred workers on the Coats campus of Terre Hill? I do know in December of 1991, the paper printed that the Coasts Textile Company closed and 100 employees were laid off. The company official cited financial hardship. The closing came as a shock to the town (Daily Record Dec. 24-25, 1991).
The mother of Dallas Matthews had died on Monday. Mrs. inez H. Matthews was 88 years old.
Under the leadership of Fred Robinson, the Boy Scouts had placed luminaries along the streets and around the Coats Baptist Church (Daily Record Dec. 26, 1991). (For those of us who have researched the history of our town and the history of the Coats Troop 779, it is undisputable that Fred is an “Unsung Hero”.)
Donald Kress Penny, 37, of Coats had died on Sunday in Creswell Center in Kinston where he had been a resident for 30 years. Services were held at the Coats Baptist Church and Coats City Cemetery. He was survived by his parents, Howard and Florine Johnson Penny and two brothers- Howard Penny, Jr. and Gary Penny (Daily Record Dec. 30, 1991).
Who remembers Matthew Denton? Matthew had won a bicycle from Skats Restaurant in Coats (Daily Record Dec. 31, 1991).
It was a new year-1992. The year the cold war had ended. The year had begun with President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signing the historic nuclear missile-reduction treaty in Moscow. A formal end to the cold war came when the two leaders declared a new era of “friendship and partnership” and terminated seven decades of rivalry. Carol Moseley-Brown defeated Senator Alan Dixon in the primary. She went on to become the first African-American woman in the U.S. Senate.
Words and phrases of 1992 were grunge, gender feminizing, ethnic cleansing, snail mail, and Granken. Four white officers were acquitted in Los Angeles in the videotaped assault on Rodney king, an African –American. Three days of violence, fifty deaths and thousands of injuries followed.
Pathologists broke a 28-year silence and reaffirmed that only two bullets hit President Kennedy. Vice President Dan Quayle attacked the character of Murphy for becoming an unwed mother. The Supreme Court reaffirmed a woman’s right to an abortion. Bill Clinton tapped senator Al Gore of Tennessee as his running mate.
Hurricane Andrew, one of the strongest Atlantic storms of the century, swept through an area south of Miami (As Dickson, Paul. From Elvis to E-Mail. Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1999).
There are very few of us who do not know about local superstitions associated with New Year’s Day. It will be only about nine days before many of those superstitions will be put into practice. For example, a dark haired man will be welcomed into a house for he was said to bring good luck for the entire year to the household. Women were welcome but they could never be the first visitor. Hogshead at a New Year’s meal always brought good luck. Collards were always cooked and eaten to bring prosperity to those who ate them on New Year’s Day. Every black- eye pea one ate was supposed to bring in a dollar. Does that tell you how old the superstition is for one would not be able to eat enough to make much difference? That, however, did not prevent people in Grove Township from cooking them by the pot full.
Among the locals in Coats known for cooking good luck black-eye peas were Tommy Ennis, Max Matthews, Albert Slaughter and the good folks at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church (Daily Record Jan. 2, 1992).
As you gather with your families over the Christmas weekend, share with the young ones by giving them the gift of what it was like growing up as youngsters in days past during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Was there a stocking or box filled with fruit, unwrapped candy and nuts? Did the ham come from the smokehouse and the turkey from the woods nearby? Share your memories, it might be the best gift you can receive by watching their little astonished faces.
The date on the Daily Record showed to be December 13, 1991. The paper printed that the members of the town board took their oaths. Those Coats officials were Mayor Tim McKinnie and Commissioners Max Beasley, Frances Avery, Don Ennis, Margaret House, and Wade Stephenson.
The same edition of the paper shared that Rebeth Mitchell had hosted the Liberty Club and Christine Akerman had presided. Police Chief Tommy Williford spoke to the ladies on Safety and Crime Prevention.
Phil Ferrell, a Vietnam veteran, and Travis Bennett, a Boy Scout, participated in a special ceremony that marked the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor for students in Grades 5-8 at Coats (Daily Record Dec. 13, 1991).
The Academic Honor Students were announced for Johnston Community College. Ashely Lynn Denning (daughter of Robert Sherrill and Wanda Pollard Denning) , Brian Keith Kesler, Billie Sue Parker, Sandra Denning Whittington and Lillian K. King were other area honorees (Daily Record Dec. 18, 1991).
Is the Cape Fear Christian Academy a public or private school? In 1991, Cape Fear Christian Academy was purchased. The private school became a part of the Pentecostal FW Baptist Church. In Coats, J.C. Hawley had opened the newest business on Main Street and Joseph Roy Stephenson had received his BS in Business Administration from ECU in Greenville (Daily Record Dec. 19, 1991).
Let’s revisit Coats in October of 1966. The Daily Record printed that the Terre Hill Industry and Coats were both pleased at having Coats as the home of the new plant. About 30 machines had been set up in the community building and the place was a beehive of activities. Gordon Davis, general plant manager, had been “more than pleased” with the cooperation and reception that they had received with the Coats citizens. Grady Matthews, president of the Coats Area Development Association, and Haywood Roberts ha d worked closely with the Coats project that produced ladies lingerie. Matthews had said that plans were to move forward to construct a building to house the industry in Coats. Eighteen acres of land had been purchased from Herbert L. Johnson to build the plant. Mrs. Rachel Langdon was office manager; Mrs. Doris Stewart was plant supervisor, and Mrs. Grace Gillis and Mrs. Mozelle Carroll were two the many employees (Daily Record Oct. 14, 1966).
Did the plant ever have as m any as four hundred workers on the Coats campus of Terre Hill? I do know in December of 1991, the paper printed that the Coasts Textile Company closed and 100 employees were laid off. The company official cited financial hardship. The closing came as a shock to the town (Daily Record Dec. 24-25, 1991).
The mother of Dallas Matthews had died on Monday. Mrs. inez H. Matthews was 88 years old.
Under the leadership of Fred Robinson, the Boy Scouts had placed luminaries along the streets and around the Coats Baptist Church (Daily Record Dec. 26, 1991). (For those of us who have researched the history of our town and the history of the Coats Troop 779, it is undisputable that Fred is an “Unsung Hero”.)
Donald Kress Penny, 37, of Coats had died on Sunday in Creswell Center in Kinston where he had been a resident for 30 years. Services were held at the Coats Baptist Church and Coats City Cemetery. He was survived by his parents, Howard and Florine Johnson Penny and two brothers- Howard Penny, Jr. and Gary Penny (Daily Record Dec. 30, 1991).
Who remembers Matthew Denton? Matthew had won a bicycle from Skats Restaurant in Coats (Daily Record Dec. 31, 1991).
It was a new year-1992. The year the cold war had ended. The year had begun with President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signing the historic nuclear missile-reduction treaty in Moscow. A formal end to the cold war came when the two leaders declared a new era of “friendship and partnership” and terminated seven decades of rivalry. Carol Moseley-Brown defeated Senator Alan Dixon in the primary. She went on to become the first African-American woman in the U.S. Senate.
Words and phrases of 1992 were grunge, gender feminizing, ethnic cleansing, snail mail, and Granken. Four white officers were acquitted in Los Angeles in the videotaped assault on Rodney king, an African –American. Three days of violence, fifty deaths and thousands of injuries followed.
Pathologists broke a 28-year silence and reaffirmed that only two bullets hit President Kennedy. Vice President Dan Quayle attacked the character of Murphy for becoming an unwed mother. The Supreme Court reaffirmed a woman’s right to an abortion. Bill Clinton tapped senator Al Gore of Tennessee as his running mate.
Hurricane Andrew, one of the strongest Atlantic storms of the century, swept through an area south of Miami (As Dickson, Paul. From Elvis to E-Mail. Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1999).
There are very few of us who do not know about local superstitions associated with New Year’s Day. It will be only about nine days before many of those superstitions will be put into practice. For example, a dark haired man will be welcomed into a house for he was said to bring good luck for the entire year to the household. Women were welcome but they could never be the first visitor. Hogshead at a New Year’s meal always brought good luck. Collards were always cooked and eaten to bring prosperity to those who ate them on New Year’s Day. Every black- eye pea one ate was supposed to bring in a dollar. Does that tell you how old the superstition is for one would not be able to eat enough to make much difference? That, however, did not prevent people in Grove Township from cooking them by the pot full.
Among the locals in Coats known for cooking good luck black-eye peas were Tommy Ennis, Max Matthews, Albert Slaughter and the good folks at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church (Daily Record Jan. 2, 1992).
As you gather with your families over the Christmas weekend, share with the young ones by giving them the gift of what it was like growing up as youngsters in days past during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Was there a stocking or box filled with fruit, unwrapped candy and nuts? Did the ham come from the smokehouse and the turkey from the woods nearby? Share your memories, it might be the best gift you can receive by watching their little astonished faces.