January 13, 2017 Coats Museum News
The 4-H Clubs had offered learning opportunities for decades to the young and it continued to do so in 1961. The Daily Record May 2, 1961 edition printed that the Dale 4-H boys and girls had met at the home of the adult leader, Mrs. R.E. Allen. The girls were shown how to set an “Adequate Table Setting”, and the thirteen boys were taught about “Motor Oils”. Brenda Norris and Freda Adams were officers with President Wallace Pollard.
Did Harnett Sheriff Wade Stewart get his raise? The Sheriff’s Bill passed in the NC General Assembly. The sheriff received his raise despite the HCBOC ‘s opposition. John Alvis Ennis, Jr. possibly did not know about the change in the sheriff’s pay because he had been away from Coats for a while at “Boot Camp” where he had had his recruit training and had graduated on April 1st. The graduation exercise included a full dress parade and review before military officers and civilian dignitaries.
Good news arrived to the Fernie Lee home in Coats. Their daughter, Ina Ruth Lee Langdon, and her husband Harold Langdon announced the birth of a daughter in the Fuquay Hospital (Daily Record May 3, 1961).
Wonder how excited were James, Doris and Bruce to have a new Johnston County niece? This I do know. The Langdons currently live in Johnston County and have as their neighbor the Dixon Elementary School which was built on the Langdon property and across from them, what was once fields of tobacco, cotton or corn, is now filled with beautiful Pecan Grove mansions compared to what some live within elsewhere.
Another young Coats man had news about his military status sent home. James E. Lee of Coats, son of Mr. and Mrs. James D. Lee, was serving aboard the USS Newport News participating in an annual training exercise in the Caribbean (Daily Record May 3, 1961).
It was strawberry time in Harnett County and a 24-quart crate sold for $6.95. How many strawberries would you get for that in 2017?
The U.S. was jubilant as astronaut Alan Shepard sailed into space and came down safely. How many years would it be before Neil Armstrong would sail into space and walk on the moon? Mercedes Walden was probably more concerned about getting home to Coats rather than being a patient at Good Hope Hospital (Daily Record May 5, 1961).
How many of you remember Miss Mabel Lynch who taught complete families of children at the old Coats High School. She had skin like smooth velvet and short, soft curled gray hair and taught Civics and worked in the library. Some remember never seeing her angry or hearing her raise her voice. For some reason, many students always think their teachers are old when in reality some are only a few years older than their students. Likely students thought that Miss Lynch was older than she really was. Since she was always so sweet and pretty, some might have questioned why there was not a husband in the picture. Only a few years ago did someone say they thought she was engaged to a young man who, while fighting in WWI, was killed and she never married. I don’t know that to be true, but I do know that Miss Lynch, 63, of Dunn had died. She was a career teacher and at the time of her retirement was a teacher at Coats.
Mr. and Mrs. Herman Godwin Faircloth had some good news. They announced the birth of a son on May 7. The mom was the former Sylvia Lou Lee. Is this not the third time that the Lee name has appeared in this column? Were there lots of Lee families living in the Coats community? For sure, we know that Coats hosted the Junior Order Convention for the Sixth District (Daily Record May 8, 1961).
The report from the Daily Record shared that Campbell College would not abandon its move for a four-year status. Does that mean that Campbell was only a two year college in 1961? The story of Campbell truly is a Miracle on the Little Creek. It is so inspiring to hear the current students expound their love of that university and its new president.
Word had spread that one of Coats’s most popular citizens had passed. Aggie Godwin, 84, had died on Wednesday night. He was an enforcement officer for 35 years prior to his retirement in 1956. He had been a Harnett County Deputy Sheriff and a public officer for 10 years. He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Cornelia Woodall Godwin; two daughters- Mrs. Alton Grimes and Mrs. Huey White and two sons- Floyd and Clem Godwin (Daily Record may 12, 1961).
Don’t you bet Mr. Godwin had some stories he could have told about Coats? I do know that Baxter Ennis, a 1971 Coats graduate, has some stories he could tell about the military. Baxter retired from the US Army as a Lt. Colonel. Baxter served as spokesman for the 82nd AirBorne Division during the Panama Invasion and Desert Shield/Storm, working with virtually every major media organization in the free world. We are delighted to share his story in The Red, White and Blue which is a book the museum volunteers are encouraging all veterans in the Coats Grove area to add their military stories. Veterans or family members of a deceased veteran are not to assume that we have their information so thus someone should visit the museum on any Thursday or Sunday afternoon to share the military service whether in peace or war time if they want it to be included in the book. The volunteers are wrapping up this project.
I think we all are skeptical at one time or the other and when the Coats Museum Board voted to build an exhibit hall, theater room and research library in 2012, there were indeed many skeptics. H.A. Turlington, Jr., an active member of the Coats Lions Club for years and after hearing a museum presentation to his club about the proposed addition, came up and said, “I’m going to help out with this!.” Indeed he did by being one of the first individuals to give a major donation. That giving spirit must have been passed on because that family continues to support the museum. Thank you goes to Doris Turlington Pulloch for remembering her parents H.A and Rachel Turlington, with a Christmas memorial.
Baxter Ennis, who now lives in Chesapeake, VA., has been a supporter of the Coats Museum beginning with the 2005 Coats Centennial where he emceed the Coats Cotton Museum and Gazebo dedication ceremony on the Heritage Square. He has contributed copies of the CITIZEN, a newspaper he published in Virginia, and has loaned many military artifacts for display. He continues to be a yearly financial donor to the museum. Thanks, Baxter, for not forgetting your hometown in 2016.
Most of us can’t imagine the hardships that some children endure when growing up with a very sick parent. Peggie, Larry, Carolyn and Ralph Denning know very well about it. Ralph has shared how good people in the town and school were to him during those years of their dad’s illness and death. Unsurprisingly that family has been supportive of the community events and to the museum by sharing artifacts and financial support. Again we want to thank Ralph and Lorena Denning for giving museum memorials for Kay Holland Rigsbee and Tony Stewart.
The 4-H Clubs had offered learning opportunities for decades to the young and it continued to do so in 1961. The Daily Record May 2, 1961 edition printed that the Dale 4-H boys and girls had met at the home of the adult leader, Mrs. R.E. Allen. The girls were shown how to set an “Adequate Table Setting”, and the thirteen boys were taught about “Motor Oils”. Brenda Norris and Freda Adams were officers with President Wallace Pollard.
Did Harnett Sheriff Wade Stewart get his raise? The Sheriff’s Bill passed in the NC General Assembly. The sheriff received his raise despite the HCBOC ‘s opposition. John Alvis Ennis, Jr. possibly did not know about the change in the sheriff’s pay because he had been away from Coats for a while at “Boot Camp” where he had had his recruit training and had graduated on April 1st. The graduation exercise included a full dress parade and review before military officers and civilian dignitaries.
Good news arrived to the Fernie Lee home in Coats. Their daughter, Ina Ruth Lee Langdon, and her husband Harold Langdon announced the birth of a daughter in the Fuquay Hospital (Daily Record May 3, 1961).
Wonder how excited were James, Doris and Bruce to have a new Johnston County niece? This I do know. The Langdons currently live in Johnston County and have as their neighbor the Dixon Elementary School which was built on the Langdon property and across from them, what was once fields of tobacco, cotton or corn, is now filled with beautiful Pecan Grove mansions compared to what some live within elsewhere.
Another young Coats man had news about his military status sent home. James E. Lee of Coats, son of Mr. and Mrs. James D. Lee, was serving aboard the USS Newport News participating in an annual training exercise in the Caribbean (Daily Record May 3, 1961).
It was strawberry time in Harnett County and a 24-quart crate sold for $6.95. How many strawberries would you get for that in 2017?
The U.S. was jubilant as astronaut Alan Shepard sailed into space and came down safely. How many years would it be before Neil Armstrong would sail into space and walk on the moon? Mercedes Walden was probably more concerned about getting home to Coats rather than being a patient at Good Hope Hospital (Daily Record May 5, 1961).
How many of you remember Miss Mabel Lynch who taught complete families of children at the old Coats High School. She had skin like smooth velvet and short, soft curled gray hair and taught Civics and worked in the library. Some remember never seeing her angry or hearing her raise her voice. For some reason, many students always think their teachers are old when in reality some are only a few years older than their students. Likely students thought that Miss Lynch was older than she really was. Since she was always so sweet and pretty, some might have questioned why there was not a husband in the picture. Only a few years ago did someone say they thought she was engaged to a young man who, while fighting in WWI, was killed and she never married. I don’t know that to be true, but I do know that Miss Lynch, 63, of Dunn had died. She was a career teacher and at the time of her retirement was a teacher at Coats.
Mr. and Mrs. Herman Godwin Faircloth had some good news. They announced the birth of a son on May 7. The mom was the former Sylvia Lou Lee. Is this not the third time that the Lee name has appeared in this column? Were there lots of Lee families living in the Coats community? For sure, we know that Coats hosted the Junior Order Convention for the Sixth District (Daily Record May 8, 1961).
The report from the Daily Record shared that Campbell College would not abandon its move for a four-year status. Does that mean that Campbell was only a two year college in 1961? The story of Campbell truly is a Miracle on the Little Creek. It is so inspiring to hear the current students expound their love of that university and its new president.
Word had spread that one of Coats’s most popular citizens had passed. Aggie Godwin, 84, had died on Wednesday night. He was an enforcement officer for 35 years prior to his retirement in 1956. He had been a Harnett County Deputy Sheriff and a public officer for 10 years. He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Cornelia Woodall Godwin; two daughters- Mrs. Alton Grimes and Mrs. Huey White and two sons- Floyd and Clem Godwin (Daily Record may 12, 1961).
Don’t you bet Mr. Godwin had some stories he could have told about Coats? I do know that Baxter Ennis, a 1971 Coats graduate, has some stories he could tell about the military. Baxter retired from the US Army as a Lt. Colonel. Baxter served as spokesman for the 82nd AirBorne Division during the Panama Invasion and Desert Shield/Storm, working with virtually every major media organization in the free world. We are delighted to share his story in The Red, White and Blue which is a book the museum volunteers are encouraging all veterans in the Coats Grove area to add their military stories. Veterans or family members of a deceased veteran are not to assume that we have their information so thus someone should visit the museum on any Thursday or Sunday afternoon to share the military service whether in peace or war time if they want it to be included in the book. The volunteers are wrapping up this project.
I think we all are skeptical at one time or the other and when the Coats Museum Board voted to build an exhibit hall, theater room and research library in 2012, there were indeed many skeptics. H.A. Turlington, Jr., an active member of the Coats Lions Club for years and after hearing a museum presentation to his club about the proposed addition, came up and said, “I’m going to help out with this!.” Indeed he did by being one of the first individuals to give a major donation. That giving spirit must have been passed on because that family continues to support the museum. Thank you goes to Doris Turlington Pulloch for remembering her parents H.A and Rachel Turlington, with a Christmas memorial.
Baxter Ennis, who now lives in Chesapeake, VA., has been a supporter of the Coats Museum beginning with the 2005 Coats Centennial where he emceed the Coats Cotton Museum and Gazebo dedication ceremony on the Heritage Square. He has contributed copies of the CITIZEN, a newspaper he published in Virginia, and has loaned many military artifacts for display. He continues to be a yearly financial donor to the museum. Thanks, Baxter, for not forgetting your hometown in 2016.
Most of us can’t imagine the hardships that some children endure when growing up with a very sick parent. Peggie, Larry, Carolyn and Ralph Denning know very well about it. Ralph has shared how good people in the town and school were to him during those years of their dad’s illness and death. Unsurprisingly that family has been supportive of the community events and to the museum by sharing artifacts and financial support. Again we want to thank Ralph and Lorena Denning for giving museum memorials for Kay Holland Rigsbee and Tony Stewart.