January 29, 2016 Coats Museum News
It was September of 1956 and the clubs in Coats School had settled in for the new school year. At this point of time in Coats, the Woman’s Club had held its first meeting of the new club year. Mrs. Clyde Bryan and Mrs. C. V. Stewart co-hosted the September meeting. Mrs. O.K. Keene presided. For the new year, Miss Mattie Bain would be president and the following were club members present: Miss Bain, Mrs. Mattie Highfill, Lucy Kelly, Eva Nichols, Ophelia Roberts, Lula Hough, Katherine Phillips, Mrs. Owen Odum, Lula Beasley, Mrs. J. Ben Eller, Mrs. Sam Moore, Mrs. Clyde Grimes, Ruby Arnold, Mildred Creech, Ora Parrish, and Clyde Bryan.
Another lady who had visited her brother and sisters in the Coats area in years past had died in Siler City. She was Mrs. Annie Johnson Adair, 90, of Siler City. She was sister to former Coats Mayor John L. Johnson, Mary Alice (Johnson) Johnson (Ben) and Susannah Johnson Ryals (Young Ryals) (Daily Record September 13, 1956).
Death had visited another family in the area. Robert J. “Bob” Smith, 59, of Coats had died on Wednesday. He was the son of M.C. Smith of Harnett County. His wife, Amelia Dupree Smith, survived him. Seven children of Mr. Smith were Floyd, Joseph, Robert B., Cozart, Roy, Mrs. Fred Freeman, and Mrs. Patsy (Stacy) Avery. Vaden Smith, Mrs. Ila Barbour, and Mrs. Joe Rozderk were siblings of the deceased (Daily Record Sept. 14, 1956).
Other Coats citizens were on the go. Mrs. D.A. Langdon and Mrs. C.C. Adams were vacationing in Connecticut. Miss Marie Byrd had returned to Camp Lejeune where she would teach again that year. Her sister Miss Linda Byrd had returned from summer employment in Burlington. She was enrolled as a student at Campbell College. Question—are these girls kin to the Byrd brothers who owned the Byrd grocery stores? Was the headquarters in Burlington?
This I do know. There were many very sad hearts in the Coats area. Paul David Pollard, 39, of Coats, had died at NC Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill on Friday. He was the son of the late Lloyd Pollard and Mrs. Millie Johnson Pollard. Services were held at Red Hill PB Church at 4:00 with Rev. J.D. Capps and Rev. Carl Dixon. Burial was in the Ennis Cemetery near the home. Survivors were his wife, Alder Warren Pollard; his two sons, Glenwood and Wallace; two daughters, Linda and Wanda Pollard. His siblings were J.L. Pollard, Mrs. A.V. Stone, Mrs. Ed Faircloth, Mrs. Garland Matthews, Mrs. Charles Weaver, Mrs. Fletcher Flowers, and Mrs. Sherrill Byrd. A stepsister, Mrs. S. W. Weeks, and his stepmother, Mrs. Spicey Pope, also survived him (Daily Record Sept. 17, 1956). Do any of you recognize the children of Mr. Pollard? That single widow Mom did a remarkable job rearing those young children.
Does the name Thurman Garris sound familiar? The Daily Record shared that Thurman Garris had resigned his ASC position for a better job and thanked Everett Barnes and others on the ASC committee for the fine support. Is he the father of the teacher who taught at Coats? A young Thurman Garris did marry a Coats girl, right?
Do any of you remember reading a while back about the poisonous mixture that contained molasses that farmers used to dab on the cotton plants. It was used to kill the boll weevils that could wipe out the profit made on a cotton crop. Was this local molasses used in the concoction? I do know that McRay Stewart raised sugar cane and made his own cane mill since there was no longer one in Harnett County. Cane mills were once commonplace, but no more. McRay’s father-in-law, D.H. Sellars, taught him how to bring syrup to a perfect taste and consistency. He used mules to grind the cane by pulling the machine, which squeezed the juice out of the cane. There was a job for the entire family-Mrs. Stewart, Cheryl, Kay, and Gail. Even the family boxer and the yellow jackets enjoyed the cane mill and cane syrup, which sold for $3.00 a gallon (Daily Record Sept. 19, 1956).
It was time for the practices of the six-man football team to be applied by the Coats Yellow Jackets of the human kind. They met the Angier team and Joseph Fish and Onest Johnson scored, but Angier defeated the Jackets by 47-12.
It is ironic that the paper had covered a story on McRay Stewart’s Cane Mill when less than ten days later it would carry the death announcement of Parlia Wood. Parlia Wood lived on the Red Hill Church Road and had a cane mill near the intersection of Cane Mill and Red Hill Church Road where the sign is for the Cane Mill Estates.
Parlia Wood, 81, had died suddenly on Friday afternoon. Services were held at Bethsaida PB Church of which he was a member for 45 years. Burial was in the church cemetery. Elders Harold Morgan, Frank Nordan, H.O. Lanning, and J.D. Capps conducted the service for the prominent farmer. He was the son of the late Elder Bernice and Annie Denning Wood. Mrs. Hiram Rose, with whom he had lived, survived him as did his other children-Mrs. G.D. Knox, Mrs. Charles T. Turlington, Walter, David, P.B., and Vernon Wood. Paul Wood was a half brother of Fayetteville (Daily Record Sept. 24, 1956).
Farmers in Harnett County were told to give one handful of tobacco to the Boy Scouts. It was to sell for about 20 cents to help the scouts. Wonder if Mrs. Joel Ennis thought that was a good idea? I do know that she was confined to her home due illness (Daily Record Sept. 25, 1956).
Jennifer Lou Pollard was honored with a 6th birthday party at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Pollard. Sandra Flowers, Ricky Christenson, Danny, Jimmy, and Linda Glover, Michael, Janet, Carolyn and Helen Norris, Helen Lockamy and Cathy Norris attended.
The following were Boy Scouts leaders in Coats: Dr. Donald Moore, M.O. Phillips, Haywood Roberts, O.K. Keene, Mrs. Banks Pollard and L.E. McKnight (Daily Record Sept. 28, 1956).
Many people visit the museum seeking information about possible ancestors so we are excited to offer a genealogy workshop on Saturday morning- Feb. 27th from 10-12 at the Coats Museum. Desi Campbell, Peggy Robinson and the Harnett County Researchers will share info on doing family research.
In 2015, we had 1996 people sign our register. We were rained out on Farmer’s Day which usually brings in large numbers. We had visitors from 50 NC towns, 19 states and 4 countries. We gave tours to students from three Harnett Schools, tours to church groups, senior groups, class reunions, and family gatherings. Our proudest event was honoring our brave defenders of the red, white and blue from the wars in Korea, Vietnam to the battlefields in the Middle East.
We are delighted to welcome Kathy Weeks as a new volunteer at the museum. Kathy went right to work filing copies of obituaries in our obituary notebooks last Thursday. We also appreciate Blair Smith of Holly Grove Middle School for choosing our museum to volunteer for service hours in the National Honor Society. She has begun to digitize the Coats High School yearbooks beginning with 1941. Our museum volunteers spent 2283 hours working for the museum or giving tours in 2015.
Lynda Butler has begun interviewing more veterans. The interviews will be available to view on our coatsmuseum.com website in the near future. Interviews of WWII veterans are already on that site. Many other videos are on the site along with past columns of the Coats Museum News.
We have two vintage wedding dresses, a bridesmaid dress and tuxedo for our next Glass Tunnel Exhibit of Vintage Clothes. We will have this exhibit for viewing in March after we return the current military uniforms exhibit. If you have a vintage bridal gown or other wedding attire clothes that are in display condition, share the information with the museum volunteers on any Thursday.
A big thank you goes to Edna Andrews Mangum for responding to her 1963 classmate, Ralph Denning, to give to the Coats Museum Endowment. We also appreciate museum genealogist Peggy Robinson for remembering her daughter Tammy Hooks’s birthday with a donation. Patsy and Stacy Avery have come forth again, this time honoring the memory of Rebeth Mitchell and Laurie Horne. All these folks are making a difference in the operation of the museum.
It was September of 1956 and the clubs in Coats School had settled in for the new school year. At this point of time in Coats, the Woman’s Club had held its first meeting of the new club year. Mrs. Clyde Bryan and Mrs. C. V. Stewart co-hosted the September meeting. Mrs. O.K. Keene presided. For the new year, Miss Mattie Bain would be president and the following were club members present: Miss Bain, Mrs. Mattie Highfill, Lucy Kelly, Eva Nichols, Ophelia Roberts, Lula Hough, Katherine Phillips, Mrs. Owen Odum, Lula Beasley, Mrs. J. Ben Eller, Mrs. Sam Moore, Mrs. Clyde Grimes, Ruby Arnold, Mildred Creech, Ora Parrish, and Clyde Bryan.
Another lady who had visited her brother and sisters in the Coats area in years past had died in Siler City. She was Mrs. Annie Johnson Adair, 90, of Siler City. She was sister to former Coats Mayor John L. Johnson, Mary Alice (Johnson) Johnson (Ben) and Susannah Johnson Ryals (Young Ryals) (Daily Record September 13, 1956).
Death had visited another family in the area. Robert J. “Bob” Smith, 59, of Coats had died on Wednesday. He was the son of M.C. Smith of Harnett County. His wife, Amelia Dupree Smith, survived him. Seven children of Mr. Smith were Floyd, Joseph, Robert B., Cozart, Roy, Mrs. Fred Freeman, and Mrs. Patsy (Stacy) Avery. Vaden Smith, Mrs. Ila Barbour, and Mrs. Joe Rozderk were siblings of the deceased (Daily Record Sept. 14, 1956).
Other Coats citizens were on the go. Mrs. D.A. Langdon and Mrs. C.C. Adams were vacationing in Connecticut. Miss Marie Byrd had returned to Camp Lejeune where she would teach again that year. Her sister Miss Linda Byrd had returned from summer employment in Burlington. She was enrolled as a student at Campbell College. Question—are these girls kin to the Byrd brothers who owned the Byrd grocery stores? Was the headquarters in Burlington?
This I do know. There were many very sad hearts in the Coats area. Paul David Pollard, 39, of Coats, had died at NC Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill on Friday. He was the son of the late Lloyd Pollard and Mrs. Millie Johnson Pollard. Services were held at Red Hill PB Church at 4:00 with Rev. J.D. Capps and Rev. Carl Dixon. Burial was in the Ennis Cemetery near the home. Survivors were his wife, Alder Warren Pollard; his two sons, Glenwood and Wallace; two daughters, Linda and Wanda Pollard. His siblings were J.L. Pollard, Mrs. A.V. Stone, Mrs. Ed Faircloth, Mrs. Garland Matthews, Mrs. Charles Weaver, Mrs. Fletcher Flowers, and Mrs. Sherrill Byrd. A stepsister, Mrs. S. W. Weeks, and his stepmother, Mrs. Spicey Pope, also survived him (Daily Record Sept. 17, 1956). Do any of you recognize the children of Mr. Pollard? That single widow Mom did a remarkable job rearing those young children.
Does the name Thurman Garris sound familiar? The Daily Record shared that Thurman Garris had resigned his ASC position for a better job and thanked Everett Barnes and others on the ASC committee for the fine support. Is he the father of the teacher who taught at Coats? A young Thurman Garris did marry a Coats girl, right?
Do any of you remember reading a while back about the poisonous mixture that contained molasses that farmers used to dab on the cotton plants. It was used to kill the boll weevils that could wipe out the profit made on a cotton crop. Was this local molasses used in the concoction? I do know that McRay Stewart raised sugar cane and made his own cane mill since there was no longer one in Harnett County. Cane mills were once commonplace, but no more. McRay’s father-in-law, D.H. Sellars, taught him how to bring syrup to a perfect taste and consistency. He used mules to grind the cane by pulling the machine, which squeezed the juice out of the cane. There was a job for the entire family-Mrs. Stewart, Cheryl, Kay, and Gail. Even the family boxer and the yellow jackets enjoyed the cane mill and cane syrup, which sold for $3.00 a gallon (Daily Record Sept. 19, 1956).
It was time for the practices of the six-man football team to be applied by the Coats Yellow Jackets of the human kind. They met the Angier team and Joseph Fish and Onest Johnson scored, but Angier defeated the Jackets by 47-12.
It is ironic that the paper had covered a story on McRay Stewart’s Cane Mill when less than ten days later it would carry the death announcement of Parlia Wood. Parlia Wood lived on the Red Hill Church Road and had a cane mill near the intersection of Cane Mill and Red Hill Church Road where the sign is for the Cane Mill Estates.
Parlia Wood, 81, had died suddenly on Friday afternoon. Services were held at Bethsaida PB Church of which he was a member for 45 years. Burial was in the church cemetery. Elders Harold Morgan, Frank Nordan, H.O. Lanning, and J.D. Capps conducted the service for the prominent farmer. He was the son of the late Elder Bernice and Annie Denning Wood. Mrs. Hiram Rose, with whom he had lived, survived him as did his other children-Mrs. G.D. Knox, Mrs. Charles T. Turlington, Walter, David, P.B., and Vernon Wood. Paul Wood was a half brother of Fayetteville (Daily Record Sept. 24, 1956).
Farmers in Harnett County were told to give one handful of tobacco to the Boy Scouts. It was to sell for about 20 cents to help the scouts. Wonder if Mrs. Joel Ennis thought that was a good idea? I do know that she was confined to her home due illness (Daily Record Sept. 25, 1956).
Jennifer Lou Pollard was honored with a 6th birthday party at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Pollard. Sandra Flowers, Ricky Christenson, Danny, Jimmy, and Linda Glover, Michael, Janet, Carolyn and Helen Norris, Helen Lockamy and Cathy Norris attended.
The following were Boy Scouts leaders in Coats: Dr. Donald Moore, M.O. Phillips, Haywood Roberts, O.K. Keene, Mrs. Banks Pollard and L.E. McKnight (Daily Record Sept. 28, 1956).
Many people visit the museum seeking information about possible ancestors so we are excited to offer a genealogy workshop on Saturday morning- Feb. 27th from 10-12 at the Coats Museum. Desi Campbell, Peggy Robinson and the Harnett County Researchers will share info on doing family research.
In 2015, we had 1996 people sign our register. We were rained out on Farmer’s Day which usually brings in large numbers. We had visitors from 50 NC towns, 19 states and 4 countries. We gave tours to students from three Harnett Schools, tours to church groups, senior groups, class reunions, and family gatherings. Our proudest event was honoring our brave defenders of the red, white and blue from the wars in Korea, Vietnam to the battlefields in the Middle East.
We are delighted to welcome Kathy Weeks as a new volunteer at the museum. Kathy went right to work filing copies of obituaries in our obituary notebooks last Thursday. We also appreciate Blair Smith of Holly Grove Middle School for choosing our museum to volunteer for service hours in the National Honor Society. She has begun to digitize the Coats High School yearbooks beginning with 1941. Our museum volunteers spent 2283 hours working for the museum or giving tours in 2015.
Lynda Butler has begun interviewing more veterans. The interviews will be available to view on our coatsmuseum.com website in the near future. Interviews of WWII veterans are already on that site. Many other videos are on the site along with past columns of the Coats Museum News.
We have two vintage wedding dresses, a bridesmaid dress and tuxedo for our next Glass Tunnel Exhibit of Vintage Clothes. We will have this exhibit for viewing in March after we return the current military uniforms exhibit. If you have a vintage bridal gown or other wedding attire clothes that are in display condition, share the information with the museum volunteers on any Thursday.
A big thank you goes to Edna Andrews Mangum for responding to her 1963 classmate, Ralph Denning, to give to the Coats Museum Endowment. We also appreciate museum genealogist Peggy Robinson for remembering her daughter Tammy Hooks’s birthday with a donation. Patsy and Stacy Avery have come forth again, this time honoring the memory of Rebeth Mitchell and Laurie Horne. All these folks are making a difference in the operation of the museum.
