January 18, 2013 Coats Museum News
The calendars indicated that it was February of 1937. The Harnett County News, February 25,1937 edition recorded that Haywood T. Roberts, son of Mrs. James R. Butler and the late Dr. H.C. Roberts, had been appointed cadet major at Tennessee Military Institute, located in Sweetwater, Tennessee. He was later Ophelia Roberts‘s husband and father to Sharon and Harry Roberts.
On January 10, 1988, the Coats area was covered with deep alternating layers of snow and ice that stayed around for several weeks. In March of 1937, snow of the sticking variety fell on a Saturday night about 9:30 and due to the warmth of the earth, the snow melted. The flakes persisted, however, and soon there was a mantle of white. By late Sunday night, the snowfall had reached 4 inches (Harnett County News March 4, 1937).
The WPA Sewing Project, in which Harnett County had taken part, was divided into three parts. One part was in Coats. The women who had been assigned to this project had had little knowledge of sewing. They had no way of making a living because of their limited ability. They were unskilled and had to be given minute instructions. Doctor, nurses, and teachers lectured the sewers on health, first aid, and cleanliness. The sewers were taught how to budget their income and how to make their homes more attractive (Harnett County News March 4, 1937).
Fire had seriously threatened, but had failed to do much damage to the Dunn Dispatch plant on a Monday night as the process of publishing the 234th anniversary edition was in full swing. This edition of the Harnett County News printed that school age limits were written into the school machinery act and made a state law by 1937 General Assembly stating that children entering school for the first time must be six years old on or before October 1st and they had to be enrolled the first month (Harnett County News April 1, 1937).
The Harnett County Board of Education selected school board members for the various schools. For Coats white, they selected W.T. Sorrell, F.H. Fleming, J.G. McLamb, Zeb Stewart, and Malcolm Stewart. The colored committeemen were also named: at Black River Grove (Wiley Frazier School to locals): Charles M. Stewart, Benton Lee, and Hilliary Stewart; for Mt. Pisgah-D.H. Ryals, Jack Spears, and W.H. Holliday; at Turlington Grove-Edgar McLean, T.S. Surles, and J.C. Carney; at Coats-Herman Williams, James D. Stewart, and Prentice McLean, and lastly at Rowland-W.H. Massey, Robert Rowland, and Walter Matthews (Harnett County News April 15, 1937).
According to the April 23, 1937 Harnett County News, Mrs. D.R. Ennis had died the week before on Thursday following a long illness with heart disease. She was 52 years old and was the sister of L.L. and J.C. Stewart of Coats. She was buried in the Godwin Cemetery near Angier.
Are people more disrespectful of the law than in days past? I do know that in 1937 that the Harnett County jail was filled to capacity with prisoners. Many prisoners had to be sent to other jails where they often did damage. The commissioners recognized that something had to be done soon about the jail. Was it not just a few columns back that Coats had a problem in trying to build a jail for out of control citizens (Harnett County News May 6, 1937).
B.F. Gentry, Superintendent of Harnett County Schools, was notified by the State Textbook Commission that the state would supply free basic elementary grade texts in 1938. This change would not affect the eight-year –old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Sorrell. Little Grace Johnson Sorrell had died at the Pittman Hospital in Fayetteville (Harnett County News May 13, 1937).
In Coats, Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Nichols’s daughter, Mary Sue Nichols, had presented a music recital at the college auditorium at Buies Creek last Tuesday night (Harnett County News June 10, 1937).
In 1937, is there a road that connects eastern to western Harnett County? According to the Harnett County News June 17, 1937 paper, the Harnett leaders attended a conference with road commissioners in Asheboro. J.B. Ennis, H.C. Strickland and M.O. Lee attended. The leaders requested a new road to connect eastern and western Harnett County. If the request was granted,, the road would lead from the eastern border of the county line near Benson to Lillington through Coats and Neill’s Creek Township. From Lillington, it would proceed by way of Johnsonville Road to US 1 near Cameron. A large sum of federal money had recently been made available for secondary roads. It was anticipated that Harnett could receive some of that allocation.
In Coats, some repairs were being made on the Coats Presbyterian Church. The Rev. J.F. Menius and local pastors would preach the Sunday afternoon services (Harnett County News July 1, 1937).
Two victims of spotted fever were diagnosed in Harnett County. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Avery who lived between Coats and Erwin had a big surprise from their ten- year-old son who complained that he had “something in his hair, a piece of chewing gum”, that was bothering him. When Mr. Avery checked his son’s head, he discovered a wood tick securely lodged in his hair and had injected the fever virus. Dr. Hunter reported the fever made the boy extremely ill, but he would recover nicely (Harnett County News July 15, 1937). Who was this young boy?
Did Coats students have 4H and FFA opportunities in 1937? They did, for Mavis Barefoot, Hazel Denning, and Hazel Hudson modeled the clothes they had made before the district and state 4-H leaders. Two Harnett County high school students, Phillip Wilborn of Coats and Gilbert Cameron of Boone Trail, were rewarded for outstanding work at the Ninth Annual Conference of the N.C. Chapter of Future Farmers of America. Young Wilborn scored 505 out of 600 points in judging of dairy cattle, beef cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and swine. He was given a trip to Kansas City to represent N.C. M.O. Phillips was his coach (Harnett County News July 22, 1937). Does that name ring a bell?
Curtis Betts and his family have given a donation to honor the memory of their loved one, Laura Betts. A special thank you goes to that family for remembering their hero in the Heroes Courtyard to be established at the museum. Faye Moran Fish, widow of Joseph Fish, visited the museum to purchase a copy of Together We Leave for Bobby Fish, a former star athlete at Coats who graduated in 1962 but now lives in Wisconsin. Bob, who returned to Coats during the holidays for a 1962 Coats Class Reunion, had really enjoyed looking at his classmate Ray Lewis’s copy of the book which contains the pictures of almost all the Coats graduates from 1911 to 1985. It was published during the 1985 Coats Reunion Project. Thanks also goes to Wanda Moody who is going to share with the museum some the pictures she took of the old Turlington School as it was burning last week.
Please be mindful that this article was written and published in 2013.
The calendars indicated that it was February of 1937. The Harnett County News, February 25,1937 edition recorded that Haywood T. Roberts, son of Mrs. James R. Butler and the late Dr. H.C. Roberts, had been appointed cadet major at Tennessee Military Institute, located in Sweetwater, Tennessee. He was later Ophelia Roberts‘s husband and father to Sharon and Harry Roberts.
On January 10, 1988, the Coats area was covered with deep alternating layers of snow and ice that stayed around for several weeks. In March of 1937, snow of the sticking variety fell on a Saturday night about 9:30 and due to the warmth of the earth, the snow melted. The flakes persisted, however, and soon there was a mantle of white. By late Sunday night, the snowfall had reached 4 inches (Harnett County News March 4, 1937).
The WPA Sewing Project, in which Harnett County had taken part, was divided into three parts. One part was in Coats. The women who had been assigned to this project had had little knowledge of sewing. They had no way of making a living because of their limited ability. They were unskilled and had to be given minute instructions. Doctor, nurses, and teachers lectured the sewers on health, first aid, and cleanliness. The sewers were taught how to budget their income and how to make their homes more attractive (Harnett County News March 4, 1937).
Fire had seriously threatened, but had failed to do much damage to the Dunn Dispatch plant on a Monday night as the process of publishing the 234th anniversary edition was in full swing. This edition of the Harnett County News printed that school age limits were written into the school machinery act and made a state law by 1937 General Assembly stating that children entering school for the first time must be six years old on or before October 1st and they had to be enrolled the first month (Harnett County News April 1, 1937).
The Harnett County Board of Education selected school board members for the various schools. For Coats white, they selected W.T. Sorrell, F.H. Fleming, J.G. McLamb, Zeb Stewart, and Malcolm Stewart. The colored committeemen were also named: at Black River Grove (Wiley Frazier School to locals): Charles M. Stewart, Benton Lee, and Hilliary Stewart; for Mt. Pisgah-D.H. Ryals, Jack Spears, and W.H. Holliday; at Turlington Grove-Edgar McLean, T.S. Surles, and J.C. Carney; at Coats-Herman Williams, James D. Stewart, and Prentice McLean, and lastly at Rowland-W.H. Massey, Robert Rowland, and Walter Matthews (Harnett County News April 15, 1937).
According to the April 23, 1937 Harnett County News, Mrs. D.R. Ennis had died the week before on Thursday following a long illness with heart disease. She was 52 years old and was the sister of L.L. and J.C. Stewart of Coats. She was buried in the Godwin Cemetery near Angier.
Are people more disrespectful of the law than in days past? I do know that in 1937 that the Harnett County jail was filled to capacity with prisoners. Many prisoners had to be sent to other jails where they often did damage. The commissioners recognized that something had to be done soon about the jail. Was it not just a few columns back that Coats had a problem in trying to build a jail for out of control citizens (Harnett County News May 6, 1937).
B.F. Gentry, Superintendent of Harnett County Schools, was notified by the State Textbook Commission that the state would supply free basic elementary grade texts in 1938. This change would not affect the eight-year –old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Sorrell. Little Grace Johnson Sorrell had died at the Pittman Hospital in Fayetteville (Harnett County News May 13, 1937).
In Coats, Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Nichols’s daughter, Mary Sue Nichols, had presented a music recital at the college auditorium at Buies Creek last Tuesday night (Harnett County News June 10, 1937).
In 1937, is there a road that connects eastern to western Harnett County? According to the Harnett County News June 17, 1937 paper, the Harnett leaders attended a conference with road commissioners in Asheboro. J.B. Ennis, H.C. Strickland and M.O. Lee attended. The leaders requested a new road to connect eastern and western Harnett County. If the request was granted,, the road would lead from the eastern border of the county line near Benson to Lillington through Coats and Neill’s Creek Township. From Lillington, it would proceed by way of Johnsonville Road to US 1 near Cameron. A large sum of federal money had recently been made available for secondary roads. It was anticipated that Harnett could receive some of that allocation.
In Coats, some repairs were being made on the Coats Presbyterian Church. The Rev. J.F. Menius and local pastors would preach the Sunday afternoon services (Harnett County News July 1, 1937).
Two victims of spotted fever were diagnosed in Harnett County. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Avery who lived between Coats and Erwin had a big surprise from their ten- year-old son who complained that he had “something in his hair, a piece of chewing gum”, that was bothering him. When Mr. Avery checked his son’s head, he discovered a wood tick securely lodged in his hair and had injected the fever virus. Dr. Hunter reported the fever made the boy extremely ill, but he would recover nicely (Harnett County News July 15, 1937). Who was this young boy?
Did Coats students have 4H and FFA opportunities in 1937? They did, for Mavis Barefoot, Hazel Denning, and Hazel Hudson modeled the clothes they had made before the district and state 4-H leaders. Two Harnett County high school students, Phillip Wilborn of Coats and Gilbert Cameron of Boone Trail, were rewarded for outstanding work at the Ninth Annual Conference of the N.C. Chapter of Future Farmers of America. Young Wilborn scored 505 out of 600 points in judging of dairy cattle, beef cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and swine. He was given a trip to Kansas City to represent N.C. M.O. Phillips was his coach (Harnett County News July 22, 1937). Does that name ring a bell?
Curtis Betts and his family have given a donation to honor the memory of their loved one, Laura Betts. A special thank you goes to that family for remembering their hero in the Heroes Courtyard to be established at the museum. Faye Moran Fish, widow of Joseph Fish, visited the museum to purchase a copy of Together We Leave for Bobby Fish, a former star athlete at Coats who graduated in 1962 but now lives in Wisconsin. Bob, who returned to Coats during the holidays for a 1962 Coats Class Reunion, had really enjoyed looking at his classmate Ray Lewis’s copy of the book which contains the pictures of almost all the Coats graduates from 1911 to 1985. It was published during the 1985 Coats Reunion Project. Thanks also goes to Wanda Moody who is going to share with the museum some the pictures she took of the old Turlington School as it was burning last week.
Please be mindful that this article was written and published in 2013.