January 18, 2019 Coats Museum News
You are continuing to revisit the events which occurred across Coats-Grove area as well as a few on the national front in 1974. This was the year that President Ford had pardoned Nixon. Ford wanted the Americans to look ahead and stop worrying about Nixon and Watergate.
The people liked to know about Jerry Ford and his family. The couple had four children who loved to ski. Their vacations in Vail, Colorado made the news. When their golden retriever had puppies, the reporters were present. They also reported problems that arose in the family.
When Betty Ford had breast cancer, the world was informed and thousands of women went to get breast examinations and discovered they too had breast cancer. This openness resulted in women being alert to breast cancer. Mrs. Ford suffered a nervous breakdown caused by overuse of pills and alcohol. Again she shared her problem with the public and the people understood her problem and respected her being honest with the public. Gerald Ford treated the presidency in the same honest manner, helping bring back faith in the government and the presidency (Bumann, Joan and John Patterson, 40 Presidents-Facts and Fun, Willowisp Press, 1981 pp 146-47).
I do not know the cause of the death of Mrs. Pearl Weaver Hayes, 68, of Coats who had died on a Wednesday. The funeral was held at Pleasant Grove FWB Church. She was survived by her husband James H. Hayes; two daughter-Mrs. Gladys Adams and Mrs. Lessie J. Lee and three sons-James L, Ray and Bobby Hayes. Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Godwin of Coats were her parents (Daily Record Apr. 11, 1974).
Happy news occurred outside of Coats. Mr. and Mrs. Julian Danenburg had announced that their daughter Julia would marry Gary Lee Butler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Butler. The wedding was to be at Pleasant Memory Baptist Church on June 9 (Daily Record Apr. 30, 1974). I bet lots of folks will recognize those names.
Sixteen Campbell seniors were practice teaching. Ronnie Faulkner and Beth Stephenson were students from Coats. Faulkner was teaching at South Johnston in the 11th and 12th grades Social Studies classes. At Campbell, Ronnie had been a member of the Pine Burr annual staff as assistant art editor and as copy editor. He was a President’s List student and a member of the Epsilon Pi Eta honor society. He was the recipient of the Crawford Rogers Scholarship. Ronnie was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Faulkner.
The second student teacher was Beth Stephenson who was teaching first grade at Gentry Elementary under Mrs. Martha Brock. Beth had been a member of SNEA and Epsilon Pi Eta honor society. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sherrill Stephenson.
More good news had come to Ronnie as recorded in the same May 6, 1974 edition of the Daily Record. Faulkner, a senior history major at Campbell, had been granted $2,000 for graduate work in the history department at ECU. He had been the recipient of numerous awards and honors at Campbell.
The Coats High Library Club was the host to the Harnett County High School Library Clubs. Mrs. Marie Salmon had supervised that gathering that had included a gourmet turkey dinner that had been served by colorful young waiters. Local entertainers performed while the group was feasting.
For those of us who had the good fortune of being a fellow staff member and friend of Marie Salmon, the extra effort she took in that countywide meeting of library clubs was simply another example of how we saw her engage students to showcase their gifts and talents. The Lillington folks are so fortunate to have her as team player on the Lillington Museum Committee.
Surely many folks in the Coats community were happy when they had heard that the town was to soon have a library by mid June, according to Mayor Ronald Coats. The library was to be under the supervision of the county librarian. Reference books and books not on the shelves would have to be obtained from the county library. The town would have a library committee. Three qualified high school girls were to be trained and employed to keep the library open 40 hours a week. Available funds would permit one part time employee at other times. The library was to be located in the former offices of Kenneth Ennis in the Lee-Moore Building on Highway 55. Renovation had already begun in the very small space (Daily Record May 8, 1974).
The town of Coats had obtained a Breathalyzer from the Governor’s Safety Program. The equipment was valued at $1,000 and was acquired with federal funds at no cost to the town. Fortunately the Coats Police no longer had to depend upon tests in Erwin and Dunn to determine if an individual was intoxicated (Daily Record May 14, 1974). Do you wonder what happened to the Breathalyzer?
The Coats Rural Fire Department had applied for a loan and was expected to receive financial assistance from the Federal Home Administration for the construction of a building to house the department that would then be merged with the Coats Fire Department. Architectural plans had been drawn for the construction of a metal building that contained 1750 square feet, complete with kitchen facilities, dining and recreation rooms. The building was designed to house the Coats Rescue Squad and Police Department, therefore making all four emergency services available at once. A planned adjacent parking lot would accommodate 50 cars (Daily Record May 14, 1974).
How many of you can recall where this building was located? Did you say E. Lemon and N. Isabella Streets?
This should be of interest to our readers who are interested in numbers. Between 1967 and 1972, teachers’ salaries rose 75 percent in the 35 state samples of school district finances that the Census Bureau updated every five years (Daily Record May 17, 1974).
Was that the case in NC? In 1967, the average beginning salary for a NC teacher was $8,312. In 1972, the average beginning salary was $10,000. Do your math. Was that a 75% increase?(Source-Google)
Many of you have mental images of “Son” and Lucy Weaver’s store across the street from the Stewart Mill. Miss Lucy was known far and wide for her sewing skills. On May 18 in BJMH, a new generation of Weavers had been born. Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Weaver announced the birth of a son, Jonathan Weaver (Daily Record May 20, 1974).
Mary Frances Williams has loaned several of the beautiful dresses that her mom, Lucy Weaver, had made for her. Many of our more senior visitors to museum admire the pretty dresses and go to the subject that there was a time when feed bags were used make shirts, dresses and underwear. I inform you that Mrs. Lucy’s little homemade dresses on display are not made from feed sacks.
Ned Baxter Ennis had once again made the news. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Preston Ennis of Route One, Coats, a junior majoring in history at Campbell, and a ROTC cadet sergeant 1st Class had received the National Sojourners Award from Lt. General Richard Seitz, Commanding General of the Airborne Corps of Fort Bragg (Daily Record May 21, 1974).
For those of you who purchased a copy of the Defenders of the Red, White and Blue, you can read about the service the many young men and women from the Coats area who made outstanding records while serving in uniforms. Baxter’s dad has an interesting story recorded in the book.
The volunteers at the museum stay busy. Visitors from Campbell University were given an exhibit tour. Shirley Turner Massad and her sons visited to share family pictures for scanning. The volunteers are looking forward to another visit from Shirley’s family to add more materials for the Turner and Williams family genealogy notebooks. The volunteers found time to go through the Coats School yearbooks from 1941 to 1985 looking for the names of all the girls who were Coats queens and sweethearts. A museum event will be planned when all the former queens will be recognized. We will be asking the queens to bring their gowns, pictures and other items related to their reign. At the conclusion, the volunteers will place copies of their pictures in an archival notebook and ask the queens to consider loaning their gown or crown when we do our huge Coats High School exhibit.
Thanks to all who go to the coatsmuseum.com website and most recently to Cynthia Langdon who visited the site and brought the one Coats High yearbook that the museum did not have. Cynthia also gave a generous memorial for her mom Laura Frances Sorrell Langdon. Laura’s name has been added to the Coats Museum Honorarium and Memorial Fund on the website. While at the museum, Cynthia gave lots of pictures and materials for our Digital Library and the Sorrell Genealogy Notebook.
Those who grew up in Coats have so many wonderful and informative memories of Main Street Coats. Ralph Denning visited last week and shared with volunteer Kathy Weeks that he remembered her father-in-law Walter Weeks who managed the Wellons Store on East Main Street. Ralph shared with Kathy that he was barely a teenager when he wanted to buy a bike. He said that Mr. Weeks trusted him to pay for the bike and that each week he went up to the store and paid Mr. Weeks $1.50 until the bike was paid for. Could that happen today or was Ralph such a fine young man that Mr. Weeks knew he would honor his promise to pay some each week? I do know Ralph is a faithful supporter of the Coats Museum as he has again honored the museum volunteers with a donation to help operate the Coats Museum. Thank you, Ralph.
Another visitor who can tell you about Coats is Kenneth Keene who dropped in to say hello and shared that he well remembers when Main Street Coats had two barber shops-the Owen Beasley and Garland Coats barber shops for a total of five barbers. Kenneth shared that he was no more than ten years old when he worked at the Beasley barbershop to shine shoes for the customers. Sometimes that meant he was shining shoes until eleven o’clock at night because farmers and others came in to get a shower, shave and haircut. He also recalled that his Mama Billie Keene would come up and get him and announce that he had no business being out that late at night.
In February, we are going to have a “Let’s Talk” at the museum when folks are invited to come on a Thursday and sit around the table and talk about their memories of growing up in Coats while they enjoy some coffee and cake.
You are continuing to revisit the events which occurred across Coats-Grove area as well as a few on the national front in 1974. This was the year that President Ford had pardoned Nixon. Ford wanted the Americans to look ahead and stop worrying about Nixon and Watergate.
The people liked to know about Jerry Ford and his family. The couple had four children who loved to ski. Their vacations in Vail, Colorado made the news. When their golden retriever had puppies, the reporters were present. They also reported problems that arose in the family.
When Betty Ford had breast cancer, the world was informed and thousands of women went to get breast examinations and discovered they too had breast cancer. This openness resulted in women being alert to breast cancer. Mrs. Ford suffered a nervous breakdown caused by overuse of pills and alcohol. Again she shared her problem with the public and the people understood her problem and respected her being honest with the public. Gerald Ford treated the presidency in the same honest manner, helping bring back faith in the government and the presidency (Bumann, Joan and John Patterson, 40 Presidents-Facts and Fun, Willowisp Press, 1981 pp 146-47).
I do not know the cause of the death of Mrs. Pearl Weaver Hayes, 68, of Coats who had died on a Wednesday. The funeral was held at Pleasant Grove FWB Church. She was survived by her husband James H. Hayes; two daughter-Mrs. Gladys Adams and Mrs. Lessie J. Lee and three sons-James L, Ray and Bobby Hayes. Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Godwin of Coats were her parents (Daily Record Apr. 11, 1974).
Happy news occurred outside of Coats. Mr. and Mrs. Julian Danenburg had announced that their daughter Julia would marry Gary Lee Butler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Butler. The wedding was to be at Pleasant Memory Baptist Church on June 9 (Daily Record Apr. 30, 1974). I bet lots of folks will recognize those names.
Sixteen Campbell seniors were practice teaching. Ronnie Faulkner and Beth Stephenson were students from Coats. Faulkner was teaching at South Johnston in the 11th and 12th grades Social Studies classes. At Campbell, Ronnie had been a member of the Pine Burr annual staff as assistant art editor and as copy editor. He was a President’s List student and a member of the Epsilon Pi Eta honor society. He was the recipient of the Crawford Rogers Scholarship. Ronnie was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Faulkner.
The second student teacher was Beth Stephenson who was teaching first grade at Gentry Elementary under Mrs. Martha Brock. Beth had been a member of SNEA and Epsilon Pi Eta honor society. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sherrill Stephenson.
More good news had come to Ronnie as recorded in the same May 6, 1974 edition of the Daily Record. Faulkner, a senior history major at Campbell, had been granted $2,000 for graduate work in the history department at ECU. He had been the recipient of numerous awards and honors at Campbell.
The Coats High Library Club was the host to the Harnett County High School Library Clubs. Mrs. Marie Salmon had supervised that gathering that had included a gourmet turkey dinner that had been served by colorful young waiters. Local entertainers performed while the group was feasting.
For those of us who had the good fortune of being a fellow staff member and friend of Marie Salmon, the extra effort she took in that countywide meeting of library clubs was simply another example of how we saw her engage students to showcase their gifts and talents. The Lillington folks are so fortunate to have her as team player on the Lillington Museum Committee.
Surely many folks in the Coats community were happy when they had heard that the town was to soon have a library by mid June, according to Mayor Ronald Coats. The library was to be under the supervision of the county librarian. Reference books and books not on the shelves would have to be obtained from the county library. The town would have a library committee. Three qualified high school girls were to be trained and employed to keep the library open 40 hours a week. Available funds would permit one part time employee at other times. The library was to be located in the former offices of Kenneth Ennis in the Lee-Moore Building on Highway 55. Renovation had already begun in the very small space (Daily Record May 8, 1974).
The town of Coats had obtained a Breathalyzer from the Governor’s Safety Program. The equipment was valued at $1,000 and was acquired with federal funds at no cost to the town. Fortunately the Coats Police no longer had to depend upon tests in Erwin and Dunn to determine if an individual was intoxicated (Daily Record May 14, 1974). Do you wonder what happened to the Breathalyzer?
The Coats Rural Fire Department had applied for a loan and was expected to receive financial assistance from the Federal Home Administration for the construction of a building to house the department that would then be merged with the Coats Fire Department. Architectural plans had been drawn for the construction of a metal building that contained 1750 square feet, complete with kitchen facilities, dining and recreation rooms. The building was designed to house the Coats Rescue Squad and Police Department, therefore making all four emergency services available at once. A planned adjacent parking lot would accommodate 50 cars (Daily Record May 14, 1974).
How many of you can recall where this building was located? Did you say E. Lemon and N. Isabella Streets?
This should be of interest to our readers who are interested in numbers. Between 1967 and 1972, teachers’ salaries rose 75 percent in the 35 state samples of school district finances that the Census Bureau updated every five years (Daily Record May 17, 1974).
Was that the case in NC? In 1967, the average beginning salary for a NC teacher was $8,312. In 1972, the average beginning salary was $10,000. Do your math. Was that a 75% increase?(Source-Google)
Many of you have mental images of “Son” and Lucy Weaver’s store across the street from the Stewart Mill. Miss Lucy was known far and wide for her sewing skills. On May 18 in BJMH, a new generation of Weavers had been born. Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Weaver announced the birth of a son, Jonathan Weaver (Daily Record May 20, 1974).
Mary Frances Williams has loaned several of the beautiful dresses that her mom, Lucy Weaver, had made for her. Many of our more senior visitors to museum admire the pretty dresses and go to the subject that there was a time when feed bags were used make shirts, dresses and underwear. I inform you that Mrs. Lucy’s little homemade dresses on display are not made from feed sacks.
Ned Baxter Ennis had once again made the news. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Preston Ennis of Route One, Coats, a junior majoring in history at Campbell, and a ROTC cadet sergeant 1st Class had received the National Sojourners Award from Lt. General Richard Seitz, Commanding General of the Airborne Corps of Fort Bragg (Daily Record May 21, 1974).
For those of you who purchased a copy of the Defenders of the Red, White and Blue, you can read about the service the many young men and women from the Coats area who made outstanding records while serving in uniforms. Baxter’s dad has an interesting story recorded in the book.
The volunteers at the museum stay busy. Visitors from Campbell University were given an exhibit tour. Shirley Turner Massad and her sons visited to share family pictures for scanning. The volunteers are looking forward to another visit from Shirley’s family to add more materials for the Turner and Williams family genealogy notebooks. The volunteers found time to go through the Coats School yearbooks from 1941 to 1985 looking for the names of all the girls who were Coats queens and sweethearts. A museum event will be planned when all the former queens will be recognized. We will be asking the queens to bring their gowns, pictures and other items related to their reign. At the conclusion, the volunteers will place copies of their pictures in an archival notebook and ask the queens to consider loaning their gown or crown when we do our huge Coats High School exhibit.
Thanks to all who go to the coatsmuseum.com website and most recently to Cynthia Langdon who visited the site and brought the one Coats High yearbook that the museum did not have. Cynthia also gave a generous memorial for her mom Laura Frances Sorrell Langdon. Laura’s name has been added to the Coats Museum Honorarium and Memorial Fund on the website. While at the museum, Cynthia gave lots of pictures and materials for our Digital Library and the Sorrell Genealogy Notebook.
Those who grew up in Coats have so many wonderful and informative memories of Main Street Coats. Ralph Denning visited last week and shared with volunteer Kathy Weeks that he remembered her father-in-law Walter Weeks who managed the Wellons Store on East Main Street. Ralph shared with Kathy that he was barely a teenager when he wanted to buy a bike. He said that Mr. Weeks trusted him to pay for the bike and that each week he went up to the store and paid Mr. Weeks $1.50 until the bike was paid for. Could that happen today or was Ralph such a fine young man that Mr. Weeks knew he would honor his promise to pay some each week? I do know Ralph is a faithful supporter of the Coats Museum as he has again honored the museum volunteers with a donation to help operate the Coats Museum. Thank you, Ralph.
Another visitor who can tell you about Coats is Kenneth Keene who dropped in to say hello and shared that he well remembers when Main Street Coats had two barber shops-the Owen Beasley and Garland Coats barber shops for a total of five barbers. Kenneth shared that he was no more than ten years old when he worked at the Beasley barbershop to shine shoes for the customers. Sometimes that meant he was shining shoes until eleven o’clock at night because farmers and others came in to get a shower, shave and haircut. He also recalled that his Mama Billie Keene would come up and get him and announce that he had no business being out that late at night.
In February, we are going to have a “Let’s Talk” at the museum when folks are invited to come on a Thursday and sit around the table and talk about their memories of growing up in Coats while they enjoy some coffee and cake.