December 8, 2017 Coats Museum News
The year was 1967 and the Super Bowl had been staged in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers (NFL) had defeated the Kansas City Chiefs (AFL), thirty-five to ten. The United States, the Soviet Union and sixty other nations had signed a treaty agreeing to limit the military uses of space. The twenty-fifth amendment to the Constitution was formally ratified. It deals with the disability and succession of the president. A ship, The Torrey Canyon, was grounded off Land’s End, England, spilling 334.9 million gallons of oil. It was the first of a long series of major spills (of 24 million gallons or more) that plagued the world’s waters. Svetlana Alliluyeve, daughter of Joseph Stalin, defected from the USSR and arrived in NY City (Dickson, Paul, From Elvis to E-Mail, Federal Street Press: Springfield, MA. 1999, pp.156-157).
In the Coats area, Wayne Faircloth, 33, had died on Sunday. He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Billie Jo Morris Faircloth, two daughters-Vickie and Kim and one son, Tracy. His father was Edgar J. Faircloth and brother was Edgar T. Faircloth. His services were held at Red Hill Church with burial in the Williams Cemetery with military honors (Daily Record Mar. 13, 1967).
How many of you can tell me the names of the schools your great-grandparents and grandparents attended? For those of you who grew up in the Coats area, do the names-Ennis, Oakdale, Gregory, Fair Hope, Sorrell, Penny, Wiggins, Turlington, Barclaysville and Parker sound familiar? Can you believe that several of these schools dated back to 1885? Secondly, did you know that all of these schools were out in the country and most of them were literally one room buildings with no plumbing or electricity? Since there were no “school trucks” until the very early 1920’s, that meant that the boys and girls and most teachers had to provide their own transportation to school which is when the expression makes sense that our grandparents said “I had to walk six miles to school in rain and snow”.
You ask, “What happened to all these old schools?” The answer is simple. When the District #3 (Coats) grew in larger student population and the more than the 3 R’s were taught, some of the parents wanted their youngsters to have a better learning environment. Then the school trucks came along and provided transportation to the schools. Gradually five of the country schools consolidated into the Coats School district and then in 1950, Oakdale (the only other brick school in Grove township) closed its doors and now Coats District # 3 was Coats Union School.
Was that called consolidation? This I do know. A petition requesting a bond issue in Harnett County to build three consolidated high schools had been circulating in the county. I also know that Sarah Ellen Ennis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kirkland Ennis, was to marry Conrey Flowers, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher Flowers. The wedding was scheduled for June 4 (Daily Record Mar. 14, 1967). Consolidation did come to Harnett County and Mrs. Sarah Ennis Flowers would be on the staff at Harnett Central High School.
Coats has been known for its outstanding ball teams; however, winning was not in the cards for the Coats Yellow Jackets when they lost to the Dunn Greenwaves baseball team by a 4-2 margin (Daily Record Mar. 14, 1967).
Mr. and Mrs. Oscar J. Gregory announced the birth of a daughter. The mother was the former Jane Guin (Daily Record Mar. 20, 1967).
Death traveled to Dunn, Route 3, and took one its older citizens, William Monroe Williams. He had died on Monday and his services were held at Prospect FWB Church with burial in the Williams Cemetery in Coats. He was survived by his wife, Lucy Barbour Williams and two sons-Quinton and J.B Williams (Daily Record Mar. 21, 1967).
Miss Rebecca June Honeycutt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James R. Honeycutt, had married Kenneth Dewitt Cohen at the Coats Baptist Church. Mrs. Jimmy Jones and Miss Sondra Ennis were musicians while Mrs. Eugene Hollohan was matron of honor. Mrs. Curtis Guy, Mrs. Jimmy Jones, Mrs. Edward Spivey, Mrs. Jimmy Coats, and Mrs. M.O. Phillips had honored Rebecca with a floating tea (Daily Record Mar. 22, 1967).
American casualties continued to increase in Vietnam as it was reported 2,092 had been killed last week (Daily Record Mar. 23, 1967).
The Mar. 27, 1967 edition of the Daily Record printed that the following former Coats students had come home for the Easter holidays: Ronald E. Barefoot, Murray Phillips, David Surles, Doug Weeks and Edwina Parker were home from Fayetteville Technical Institute. Jerry Beasley and Hope Stewart had arrived from Harbargers. Michael Coats and Marcia Dorman were home from NC State. Glenn Lee and Charles Malone arrived from ECC in Greenville. Frank Turlington came home from Augusta Military Academy and Miriam Beard had journeyed from the University of Maryland. Nine students were on vacation from Campbell-Teresa Byrd, Janet Carlson, Doan Coats, Shelia Dupree, Glenda Flowers, Gail Grimes, Becky Page, Jeanette Stewart and Sue Turlington (Daily Record Mar. 27, 1967).
Not mentioned on that list of college students was Retha Faye Byrd of Coats. Retha Faye was among 295 education majors at ECC practice teaching in school systems in 25 NC counties. Miss Byrd was practice teaching in 6th grade Snow Hill Elementary School (Daily Record Mar. 30, 1967).
The Harnett County Board of Commissioners had requested legislation to extend terms of their office from two to four years effective the 1968 election (Daily Record Apr. 4, 1967).
The Coats High Class of 1942 had held its 25th anniversary reunion. Levin Beasley acted as master of ceremony. The persons who attended the most distance were Ernestine Thornton and Stacy Williams. Class mate with the most children was Effie Gunter Wright; the oldest grandchild belonged to Alvin Newton and member with the oldest child was Verle Pollard Flowers).
Seven candidates were seeking seats on the Coats Board of Commissioners and two were seeking the seat of mayor and the two gentlemen seeking that seat were incumbent Godfrey Beasley and Jack Stewart. Nassie Dorman, Clyde Ennis, B.L. Godwin and Cecil Fuquay were incumbents; whereas, Delbert Lockamy, James Denning and J.D Norris also had sought the commission seats.
Death had taken Mrs. Estella Mae Hardee on Wednesday. Her services were held at the Rose Funeral Home Chapel with burial in the Hardee Cemetery. She was survived by Mrs. Owen Cobb and Mrs. Sherrill Jackson. Her sons were Earl, Artemus, and Weldon Hardee (Daily Record Apr. 7, 1967).
Private Millard Faulkner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Faulkner of Coats, made news. Faulkner had completed a radio teletype operation course at the Army Southeastern Signal School, Ft. Gordon, GA. Elsewhere in the Oakdale area, Mrs. Harvey Barefoot celebrated her 63rd birthday (Daily Record Apr. 11, 1967).
Young Coats men were serving in military throughout the world such as Airman Joseph Edward Byrd of Route One, Coats. Young Byrd had been selected for technical training at Loury AFB in Denver, CO., as US Air Force ammunition and weapon specialist. Joe was a 1966 graduate of Coats High School (Daily Record Apr. 14, 1967). Joe’s mother is Mrs. Wilma Byrd Johnson. Read about her below.
Wonder if all these young armed forces men had cars with them on base. I do know that tires were much cheaper in 1967 than in 2017. For example, at Perry Bros. in Dunn, tires of any size were advertised for $18.00 plus tax (Daily Record Apr. 14, 1967).
Do you remember the Coats Boosters Club? The club had planned a talent contest. President Howard Penny, vice president Mack Hudson, secretary Norfleet Gardner and treasurer Curtis Guy were officers of the club. Five churches planned to send their choirs. Girl quartets, dancing, pantomimes skits, the Visions, the Classics and the Inbeats were to compete.
The Coats Junior Order was to fish the pond of Carson Gregory and the fish were to be auctioned (Daily Record Apr. 19, 1967). Does anyone know where this pond is?
Many of you know Wilma Byrd Johnson. While decorating the museum for Christmas, Wilma called and shared that she had worked at Terre Hill from the time it had opened until about 1976. She recalled having many different jobs there- working for production in sewing and moving up to a supervisory position in quality control. She recalled Bob and Grace Gillis and said Mr. Gillis and C.L. Upchurch were responsible for keeping the machines operating properly. Wilma stated that she loved working with the folks at Terre Hill and, in fact, said that many of them are still living around Coats. She had kind words to say about Mr. and Mrs. Joe Taylor and shared that Mrs. Zona Taylor lives in Buies Creek. Thank you, Wilma for the call.
We enjoyed a visit from Barbara Gardner last Thursday when she dropped in to donate some items for the museum. She was a Girl Scout leader for years and shared with us a scrapbook containing pictures of the girls and scout events that occurred while she was serving. She also shared some Indian materials and some poems written by Wayne Parrish. Thank you, Barbara.
The Defenders of the Red, White and Blue is in the final proofing stage before we send it to be published. We are now ready to change many of our exhibits in preparation for our open house to share the book with the public. “The Art of War” Exhibit will showcase the talent of Dianne Allen, Myrtle Bridges and Sandra Denning in their paintings of characters and scenes from the early wars in America. Can you believe that Andy Cole is putting an 1846 cannon in our glass tunnel?
The year was 1967 and the Super Bowl had been staged in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers (NFL) had defeated the Kansas City Chiefs (AFL), thirty-five to ten. The United States, the Soviet Union and sixty other nations had signed a treaty agreeing to limit the military uses of space. The twenty-fifth amendment to the Constitution was formally ratified. It deals with the disability and succession of the president. A ship, The Torrey Canyon, was grounded off Land’s End, England, spilling 334.9 million gallons of oil. It was the first of a long series of major spills (of 24 million gallons or more) that plagued the world’s waters. Svetlana Alliluyeve, daughter of Joseph Stalin, defected from the USSR and arrived in NY City (Dickson, Paul, From Elvis to E-Mail, Federal Street Press: Springfield, MA. 1999, pp.156-157).
In the Coats area, Wayne Faircloth, 33, had died on Sunday. He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Billie Jo Morris Faircloth, two daughters-Vickie and Kim and one son, Tracy. His father was Edgar J. Faircloth and brother was Edgar T. Faircloth. His services were held at Red Hill Church with burial in the Williams Cemetery with military honors (Daily Record Mar. 13, 1967).
How many of you can tell me the names of the schools your great-grandparents and grandparents attended? For those of you who grew up in the Coats area, do the names-Ennis, Oakdale, Gregory, Fair Hope, Sorrell, Penny, Wiggins, Turlington, Barclaysville and Parker sound familiar? Can you believe that several of these schools dated back to 1885? Secondly, did you know that all of these schools were out in the country and most of them were literally one room buildings with no plumbing or electricity? Since there were no “school trucks” until the very early 1920’s, that meant that the boys and girls and most teachers had to provide their own transportation to school which is when the expression makes sense that our grandparents said “I had to walk six miles to school in rain and snow”.
You ask, “What happened to all these old schools?” The answer is simple. When the District #3 (Coats) grew in larger student population and the more than the 3 R’s were taught, some of the parents wanted their youngsters to have a better learning environment. Then the school trucks came along and provided transportation to the schools. Gradually five of the country schools consolidated into the Coats School district and then in 1950, Oakdale (the only other brick school in Grove township) closed its doors and now Coats District # 3 was Coats Union School.
Was that called consolidation? This I do know. A petition requesting a bond issue in Harnett County to build three consolidated high schools had been circulating in the county. I also know that Sarah Ellen Ennis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kirkland Ennis, was to marry Conrey Flowers, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher Flowers. The wedding was scheduled for June 4 (Daily Record Mar. 14, 1967). Consolidation did come to Harnett County and Mrs. Sarah Ennis Flowers would be on the staff at Harnett Central High School.
Coats has been known for its outstanding ball teams; however, winning was not in the cards for the Coats Yellow Jackets when they lost to the Dunn Greenwaves baseball team by a 4-2 margin (Daily Record Mar. 14, 1967).
Mr. and Mrs. Oscar J. Gregory announced the birth of a daughter. The mother was the former Jane Guin (Daily Record Mar. 20, 1967).
Death traveled to Dunn, Route 3, and took one its older citizens, William Monroe Williams. He had died on Monday and his services were held at Prospect FWB Church with burial in the Williams Cemetery in Coats. He was survived by his wife, Lucy Barbour Williams and two sons-Quinton and J.B Williams (Daily Record Mar. 21, 1967).
Miss Rebecca June Honeycutt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James R. Honeycutt, had married Kenneth Dewitt Cohen at the Coats Baptist Church. Mrs. Jimmy Jones and Miss Sondra Ennis were musicians while Mrs. Eugene Hollohan was matron of honor. Mrs. Curtis Guy, Mrs. Jimmy Jones, Mrs. Edward Spivey, Mrs. Jimmy Coats, and Mrs. M.O. Phillips had honored Rebecca with a floating tea (Daily Record Mar. 22, 1967).
American casualties continued to increase in Vietnam as it was reported 2,092 had been killed last week (Daily Record Mar. 23, 1967).
The Mar. 27, 1967 edition of the Daily Record printed that the following former Coats students had come home for the Easter holidays: Ronald E. Barefoot, Murray Phillips, David Surles, Doug Weeks and Edwina Parker were home from Fayetteville Technical Institute. Jerry Beasley and Hope Stewart had arrived from Harbargers. Michael Coats and Marcia Dorman were home from NC State. Glenn Lee and Charles Malone arrived from ECC in Greenville. Frank Turlington came home from Augusta Military Academy and Miriam Beard had journeyed from the University of Maryland. Nine students were on vacation from Campbell-Teresa Byrd, Janet Carlson, Doan Coats, Shelia Dupree, Glenda Flowers, Gail Grimes, Becky Page, Jeanette Stewart and Sue Turlington (Daily Record Mar. 27, 1967).
Not mentioned on that list of college students was Retha Faye Byrd of Coats. Retha Faye was among 295 education majors at ECC practice teaching in school systems in 25 NC counties. Miss Byrd was practice teaching in 6th grade Snow Hill Elementary School (Daily Record Mar. 30, 1967).
The Harnett County Board of Commissioners had requested legislation to extend terms of their office from two to four years effective the 1968 election (Daily Record Apr. 4, 1967).
The Coats High Class of 1942 had held its 25th anniversary reunion. Levin Beasley acted as master of ceremony. The persons who attended the most distance were Ernestine Thornton and Stacy Williams. Class mate with the most children was Effie Gunter Wright; the oldest grandchild belonged to Alvin Newton and member with the oldest child was Verle Pollard Flowers).
Seven candidates were seeking seats on the Coats Board of Commissioners and two were seeking the seat of mayor and the two gentlemen seeking that seat were incumbent Godfrey Beasley and Jack Stewart. Nassie Dorman, Clyde Ennis, B.L. Godwin and Cecil Fuquay were incumbents; whereas, Delbert Lockamy, James Denning and J.D Norris also had sought the commission seats.
Death had taken Mrs. Estella Mae Hardee on Wednesday. Her services were held at the Rose Funeral Home Chapel with burial in the Hardee Cemetery. She was survived by Mrs. Owen Cobb and Mrs. Sherrill Jackson. Her sons were Earl, Artemus, and Weldon Hardee (Daily Record Apr. 7, 1967).
Private Millard Faulkner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Faulkner of Coats, made news. Faulkner had completed a radio teletype operation course at the Army Southeastern Signal School, Ft. Gordon, GA. Elsewhere in the Oakdale area, Mrs. Harvey Barefoot celebrated her 63rd birthday (Daily Record Apr. 11, 1967).
Young Coats men were serving in military throughout the world such as Airman Joseph Edward Byrd of Route One, Coats. Young Byrd had been selected for technical training at Loury AFB in Denver, CO., as US Air Force ammunition and weapon specialist. Joe was a 1966 graduate of Coats High School (Daily Record Apr. 14, 1967). Joe’s mother is Mrs. Wilma Byrd Johnson. Read about her below.
Wonder if all these young armed forces men had cars with them on base. I do know that tires were much cheaper in 1967 than in 2017. For example, at Perry Bros. in Dunn, tires of any size were advertised for $18.00 plus tax (Daily Record Apr. 14, 1967).
Do you remember the Coats Boosters Club? The club had planned a talent contest. President Howard Penny, vice president Mack Hudson, secretary Norfleet Gardner and treasurer Curtis Guy were officers of the club. Five churches planned to send their choirs. Girl quartets, dancing, pantomimes skits, the Visions, the Classics and the Inbeats were to compete.
The Coats Junior Order was to fish the pond of Carson Gregory and the fish were to be auctioned (Daily Record Apr. 19, 1967). Does anyone know where this pond is?
Many of you know Wilma Byrd Johnson. While decorating the museum for Christmas, Wilma called and shared that she had worked at Terre Hill from the time it had opened until about 1976. She recalled having many different jobs there- working for production in sewing and moving up to a supervisory position in quality control. She recalled Bob and Grace Gillis and said Mr. Gillis and C.L. Upchurch were responsible for keeping the machines operating properly. Wilma stated that she loved working with the folks at Terre Hill and, in fact, said that many of them are still living around Coats. She had kind words to say about Mr. and Mrs. Joe Taylor and shared that Mrs. Zona Taylor lives in Buies Creek. Thank you, Wilma for the call.
We enjoyed a visit from Barbara Gardner last Thursday when she dropped in to donate some items for the museum. She was a Girl Scout leader for years and shared with us a scrapbook containing pictures of the girls and scout events that occurred while she was serving. She also shared some Indian materials and some poems written by Wayne Parrish. Thank you, Barbara.
The Defenders of the Red, White and Blue is in the final proofing stage before we send it to be published. We are now ready to change many of our exhibits in preparation for our open house to share the book with the public. “The Art of War” Exhibit will showcase the talent of Dianne Allen, Myrtle Bridges and Sandra Denning in their paintings of characters and scenes from the early wars in America. Can you believe that Andy Cole is putting an 1846 cannon in our glass tunnel?