July 14, 2023 Coats Museum News
It was not until 1952 that Coats had a gymnasium on its campus. Thoughts- You know that one basketball team is identified as VISITOR and the other HOME. Before Coats had a gym, where was the home game played since there was no gym. Did other teams have gyms? Did Coats teams play in other schools’ gyms and called themselves the HOME team?
We have a 1939 video of the Coats boys and girls playing basketball on the dirt courts on the original Coats campus. It is an enjoyable view to see how times have changed on school campuses. Many of us who attended the old Coats High School have scars on our knees from injuries acquired while playing on the rocky, clay playgrounds.
Fast forward to 1993 and the Coats PTO and the county raised $5,000 to purchase new playground equipment for the Coats Elementary School. The Parent Teachers Organization raised the money with a spaghetti dinner (Daily Record Mar. 12, 1993).
I wonder if the parents and teachers enjoyed these fundraisers. I could write an entire column on the variety of fundraisers that had occurred on the Coats campuses over the years. Remember the big boxes of candy that students were asked to sell. The Baby Ruth candy bars looked to be a foot long and the Pay Day bars were irresistible to the young seller whose parents many times had to come up with the money to pay for their child’s uncontrollable t desire to just taste each candy bar.
Then there were the candles to be sold at Christmas time- Santa Claus and Snow Scenes were decking all the homes around Coats and under the Christmas trees were presents all wrapped in the Christmas paper sold by the students. Surely you can recall other items you or your child brought home to raise money for projects that today just seems should have been part of the school budget.
Clara Lucille Dennis, 62, of Route One, Benson, had died on Saturday. Rev. Ron Byrd had conducted her services. Her husband Oscar Dennis and a daughter Gayle Farthing survived her She also had three sisters who were not named in her obituary (Daily Record Mar. 13, 1993). Did Mrs. Lucille work in the Coats Cafeteria or was that another Mrs. Dennis?
I do know that another person with Coats connection had died in March of 1993. Samuel C. Lumley, 87, of Raleigh had died on Thursday. He was a retired merchant seaman and a native of Wilmington. Pearl Tart Lumley was his wife. Her family was from the Dunn –Coats area (Daily Record Mar. 16, 1993).
Mrs. Pearl Tart Lumley’s beautiful wedding dress in on display in our Grandma’s Attic Exhibit room and her kazoo can be found in our Vintage Toys Exhibit. Mrs. Pearl’s teacher had given each student a kazoo. Lindsey Tart and Frances Matthews are two of Mrs. Pearl Lumley’s siblings.
It was time for a big birthday celebration for Mrs. Layloin Parrish Turlington. She was celebrating her 101st birthday. She had been born in Johnston County in 1892. Her birthplace was near McGee’s Crossroads. President Benjamin Harrison was president and the 19th amendment was 28 years in the future meaning that she would be 36 years old before she was allowed to vote as a female. Only forty-four states were in the union. About 75 friends and relatives helped her celebrate. . Her father lived to be 96 and two of her brothers lived to be 93. Mrs. Turlington had married Henry A. Turlington in 1912; he died in 1978 (Daily Record Mar. 16, 1993).
A Coats science educator, Shelia Chance Morrison, was awarded a certificate at the N.C. Jaycees Awards Banquet in Southern Pines. She was recognized for her performance in her profession and community. Shelia was a former Coats Elementary School teacher. Presenting her the award was Joe Gregory of Carolina Power and Light Co. (Daily Record Mar. 17, 1993).
I had the good fortune of teaching with Shelia. She, like I, would arrive at school very early before students. It was during that time that I could chat with her and found her to be such a caring and giving co-worker and friend. Some may not know that her son is Coach T.J. Morrison at Triton and her daughter-in-law in Jamie Morrison works so faithfully with the Coats Kiwanis K-Kids at Coats Elementary.
Belle noted in her weekly column that Debbie Anderson was manager of the Two Dogs restaurant that had recently opened. She also shared that Jutta Turlington’s father had passed away in Germany. Lorene and Eldon gave a surprise celebration for Larry and Annette Varner. Thirty friends enjoyed the evening with co-hostesses Reba and Bill Barbour (Daily Record Mar. 18, 1993).
When we do research on families for the Research Library, we discover in earlier days, couples who married lived in the same neighborhood and in some cases were distant cousins. As time passed and dirt paths that connected to neighbors‘ houses, a way to church, school or a trading center gave way to better roads and eventually intrastate and interstate roads allowing travel all over the country. Hence afterwards, we discovered that couples could be from different parts of the U.S. Then when our soldiers went off to fight on foreign soil, on some instances, a soldier picked a foreign mate and brought her to America.
This was the case of Sgt. Major Kenneth Turlington and his beautiful German bride Jutta who was mentioned above. Jutta is so very talented and she shared some of her needlework for display when we had an open house in our then a two-room museum. The thing I can still see in my mind’s eye is that the back of her needlework was almost as beautiful as the front. Maybe I should call it a threaded painting. Jutta lives in the Turlington homestead next to her son Alex and both have made beautiful places for those who travel their road to admire.
Coats School seventh and eighth grade students had a Career Day. Dana Stanley was one of the speakers. She was a reporter for the Daily Record. Elsewhere a former Coats graduate, Dona F. Denning, had her engagement announced by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Junius Denning, to Luis C. Gonzales of Austin, Texas. Dona was employed as a publications associate with the N.C. School Boards Associations in Raleigh. Mr. Gonzales was a tactician with the U.S. Air Force. The wedding was to be held in the Campbell House in Buies Creek (Daily Record Mar. 19, 1993).
With all the hot temperatures and summer rain, it is a perfect time to take the kids or summer visitors to the various museums in our county. We welcome folks to the Coats Heritage and Cotton Museums every Thursday from 9-3 and on Sunday from 2-5. There is no admission charge and tours are given for free and we keep our museum comfortably cool.
It was not until 1952 that Coats had a gymnasium on its campus. Thoughts- You know that one basketball team is identified as VISITOR and the other HOME. Before Coats had a gym, where was the home game played since there was no gym. Did other teams have gyms? Did Coats teams play in other schools’ gyms and called themselves the HOME team?
We have a 1939 video of the Coats boys and girls playing basketball on the dirt courts on the original Coats campus. It is an enjoyable view to see how times have changed on school campuses. Many of us who attended the old Coats High School have scars on our knees from injuries acquired while playing on the rocky, clay playgrounds.
Fast forward to 1993 and the Coats PTO and the county raised $5,000 to purchase new playground equipment for the Coats Elementary School. The Parent Teachers Organization raised the money with a spaghetti dinner (Daily Record Mar. 12, 1993).
I wonder if the parents and teachers enjoyed these fundraisers. I could write an entire column on the variety of fundraisers that had occurred on the Coats campuses over the years. Remember the big boxes of candy that students were asked to sell. The Baby Ruth candy bars looked to be a foot long and the Pay Day bars were irresistible to the young seller whose parents many times had to come up with the money to pay for their child’s uncontrollable t desire to just taste each candy bar.
Then there were the candles to be sold at Christmas time- Santa Claus and Snow Scenes were decking all the homes around Coats and under the Christmas trees were presents all wrapped in the Christmas paper sold by the students. Surely you can recall other items you or your child brought home to raise money for projects that today just seems should have been part of the school budget.
Clara Lucille Dennis, 62, of Route One, Benson, had died on Saturday. Rev. Ron Byrd had conducted her services. Her husband Oscar Dennis and a daughter Gayle Farthing survived her She also had three sisters who were not named in her obituary (Daily Record Mar. 13, 1993). Did Mrs. Lucille work in the Coats Cafeteria or was that another Mrs. Dennis?
I do know that another person with Coats connection had died in March of 1993. Samuel C. Lumley, 87, of Raleigh had died on Thursday. He was a retired merchant seaman and a native of Wilmington. Pearl Tart Lumley was his wife. Her family was from the Dunn –Coats area (Daily Record Mar. 16, 1993).
Mrs. Pearl Tart Lumley’s beautiful wedding dress in on display in our Grandma’s Attic Exhibit room and her kazoo can be found in our Vintage Toys Exhibit. Mrs. Pearl’s teacher had given each student a kazoo. Lindsey Tart and Frances Matthews are two of Mrs. Pearl Lumley’s siblings.
It was time for a big birthday celebration for Mrs. Layloin Parrish Turlington. She was celebrating her 101st birthday. She had been born in Johnston County in 1892. Her birthplace was near McGee’s Crossroads. President Benjamin Harrison was president and the 19th amendment was 28 years in the future meaning that she would be 36 years old before she was allowed to vote as a female. Only forty-four states were in the union. About 75 friends and relatives helped her celebrate. . Her father lived to be 96 and two of her brothers lived to be 93. Mrs. Turlington had married Henry A. Turlington in 1912; he died in 1978 (Daily Record Mar. 16, 1993).
A Coats science educator, Shelia Chance Morrison, was awarded a certificate at the N.C. Jaycees Awards Banquet in Southern Pines. She was recognized for her performance in her profession and community. Shelia was a former Coats Elementary School teacher. Presenting her the award was Joe Gregory of Carolina Power and Light Co. (Daily Record Mar. 17, 1993).
I had the good fortune of teaching with Shelia. She, like I, would arrive at school very early before students. It was during that time that I could chat with her and found her to be such a caring and giving co-worker and friend. Some may not know that her son is Coach T.J. Morrison at Triton and her daughter-in-law in Jamie Morrison works so faithfully with the Coats Kiwanis K-Kids at Coats Elementary.
Belle noted in her weekly column that Debbie Anderson was manager of the Two Dogs restaurant that had recently opened. She also shared that Jutta Turlington’s father had passed away in Germany. Lorene and Eldon gave a surprise celebration for Larry and Annette Varner. Thirty friends enjoyed the evening with co-hostesses Reba and Bill Barbour (Daily Record Mar. 18, 1993).
When we do research on families for the Research Library, we discover in earlier days, couples who married lived in the same neighborhood and in some cases were distant cousins. As time passed and dirt paths that connected to neighbors‘ houses, a way to church, school or a trading center gave way to better roads and eventually intrastate and interstate roads allowing travel all over the country. Hence afterwards, we discovered that couples could be from different parts of the U.S. Then when our soldiers went off to fight on foreign soil, on some instances, a soldier picked a foreign mate and brought her to America.
This was the case of Sgt. Major Kenneth Turlington and his beautiful German bride Jutta who was mentioned above. Jutta is so very talented and she shared some of her needlework for display when we had an open house in our then a two-room museum. The thing I can still see in my mind’s eye is that the back of her needlework was almost as beautiful as the front. Maybe I should call it a threaded painting. Jutta lives in the Turlington homestead next to her son Alex and both have made beautiful places for those who travel their road to admire.
Coats School seventh and eighth grade students had a Career Day. Dana Stanley was one of the speakers. She was a reporter for the Daily Record. Elsewhere a former Coats graduate, Dona F. Denning, had her engagement announced by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Junius Denning, to Luis C. Gonzales of Austin, Texas. Dona was employed as a publications associate with the N.C. School Boards Associations in Raleigh. Mr. Gonzales was a tactician with the U.S. Air Force. The wedding was to be held in the Campbell House in Buies Creek (Daily Record Mar. 19, 1993).
With all the hot temperatures and summer rain, it is a perfect time to take the kids or summer visitors to the various museums in our county. We welcome folks to the Coats Heritage and Cotton Museums every Thursday from 9-3 and on Sunday from 2-5. There is no admission charge and tours are given for free and we keep our museum comfortably cool.