July 20, 2018 Coats Museum News
When some former students walk into the Research Library at the Coats Museum and look up at the framed pictures of the old Coats High School campus, the school athletic uniforms and cheering outfits that are mounted on the walls, memories of those days are often shared with the volunteers. Most remain saddened that the buildings were torn down, wishing that they had been preserved with another purpose. Many are surprised when we tell them that the front two rooms of the Coats Museum were part of the Coats School that had been built in 1914 to educate those students who would not fit into the older five room wooden school. Both had been located up the hill from the current shopping mall. Those two wooden buildings preceded the 1920 brick building. In 2018, the only thing left of the Coats School campus is the corroding wire woven fence now entwined with running vines. The fence was placed there in the summer of 1951 to protect the students from the traffic of the busy highway (Daily Record Aug.14, 1951).
Why was the highway so “busy” that it required Grove District #3 Coats School to be fenced in 1951? Questions—Was Coats now a union school? Had what were formerly seven Grove district schools become one campus? The last school to consolidate was in 1950 when Oakdale closed. Was the traffic that had gone down Main Street to the Delma Grimes Road to get to Benson road now going past the Coats campus on Highway 27? Wasn’t the road that once stopped at Ebenezer Church Road built and paved to connect to the Benson Road near the Kenneth Pollard house on Black River?
I do know time ticks on second by second and we will have good and bad changes whether we like them or not. The Daily Record, Aug. 16th edition wrote that Thurman Lee, 61 year –old retired farmer had died on Thursday, Aug. 12th. He was survived by three daughters-Elizabeth Arrington, Linda Bryant and Joan Lee. Ronnie, Joseph and Donnie were his three sons. His mother- Mrs. Harry Lee; his brother James H. Lee and two sisters-Mrs. Orbin Johnson and Mrs. Callie Pope also survived him.
Was Thurman’s father a rural mail carrier? Mail carrying is something that has seen a change? Mail has been around ever since man learned to use the alphabet to communicate. During the time of the Paros, twenty four hundred years before Christ, curriers were used to deliver documents. Augustus Caesar, during the time of Christ, had a well documented postal service to get messages from one place to another. In 1775, Benjamin Franklin was appointed Postmaster General by the Continental Congress after the Tea Party and the beginning of the separation from England. Individuals, horses, stagecoaches, steam ships, trains and planes have been used to carry mail. Are drones being used today? Do you use email?
Even before there was a Coats town, there were places designated for people to “go get” their mail. There was Turlington, Troyville (Coats), Barclaysville and Stewart’s Academy in the Grove area. In fact in 1890, the 1890 NC Business Directory recorded that Barclaysville had 15 mail population; Troyville 20; Turlington 25, Averasboro 38, Dunn 821 and Lillington 156. There was no RFD. Do you know when that mail service change began?
This I do know. Scout Troop 45 of Coats had received a United States flag in a special ceremony at the Coats Baptist Church. The presentation was made by Jesse Weeks, secretary of the Dunn Camp 894, Woodman of the World (Daily Record Aug. 17, 1971).
Alex Castellanos was honored at the Governor’s School. He was elected president of the Lehman Dormitory, member of the Student Council, assistant Poetry Editor of the Literary Magazine, Captain of the Lehman Dormitory basketball team and a participating student in the Teacher’s Institute. Alex was the son of Dr. and Mrs. Jose Castellanos of Coats (Daily Record Aug. 18, 1971). Alex graduated in 1972.Do any of Alex’s Coats classmates have contact with him in 2018?
I do know that Ernest Cecil Parker, 38, of Route One, Coats, had died on Monday. He was an employee of the Style Moore Mobile Homes. He was husband of Joanne Nunnery Parker. Patricia, Deborah and Darlene were his daughters and Ernest was his only son according to same Aug. 18, 1971 edition of the Daily Record.
Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Bolen Jernigan announced the birth of a daughter, Laura Yvonne. She was born on August 19th at BJMH. The Vietnam War had claimed 45,429 Americans as of Aug. 19, 1971. Coats and Boone Trail had played the first game in the state before school opened. That sounds unusual-what game did they play (Daily Record Aug. 20, 1971)?
Mrs. Bessie Nordan of Coats was a patient at GHH. Mrs. Sherry Day, Mrs. Lula Barnes, and Mrs. Clara Wood were patients on the 24th (Daily Record Aug. 23, 24, 1971).
The Coats FHA met and Linda Tart had presided. Donna Penny was vice president; Denise Currin served as treasurer; Nancy Lamm reported the news; Martha Turlington kept the history and Jenny Eason was song leader. Faye Etheridge was the club advisor (Daily Record Aug. 25, 1971).
Vickie Faircloth was a contestant in the Miss Junior Order Pageant held in Wilmington (Daily Record Aug. 25, 1971).
Funeral services were held for James William (Bill) Dixon, a retired Benson mechanic who had died on Thursday. He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Bevie Bayles Dixon (Daily Record Aug. 23, 1971).
Mr. and Mrs. Carroll Lee had announced the birth of a daughter at BJMH on August 25th (Daily Record Aug. 26, 1971).
There had been a Democratic huddle prior to the Harnett County Democratic Executive Committee. President Larry Denning of the Young Democrats had met with Mayor Ronald Coats, Fred Byerly, and Chairman Ed McCormick (Daily Record Aug. 25, 1971).
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Byrd of Coats announced the engagement of their daughter, Sharon Sue Byrd, to Larry W. Measamer, son of Mr. and Mrs. S.W. Measamer of Sanford, NC. Miss Byrd was a 1969 graduate and was employed as an Inhalation Therapy Technician at the Sampson County Memorial Hospital in Clinton. Her fiancé was engaged in farming (Daily Record Aug. 26, 1971).
In the BJMH, Mr. Melvin Barbour and Mrs. Wanda Elizabeth Avery were patients. Why Mr. Barbour was a patient is not known but Mrs. Avery was there for the arrival of a daughter on September 1. Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Ray Avery were the new parents (Daily Record Sept. 2, 1971).
Mrs. Nellie W. Williams, 77, of Coats, had died on September 4th at Wake Medical. She was the widow of James W. Williams, Jr., and the daughter of the late Roland and Mary Ennis Williams. Funeral services were at the Gift PBC. Elder Worth Stephenson and Rev. Howard Beard officiated and burial was in the Coats Cemetery. She was survived by Johnny Williams, Mrs. Lawrence Stewart and Mrs. Carlie C. Ennis (Daily Record Sept. 6, 1971).
Lonnie M. Upchurch, 82, of Angier had died on Thursday. He was the father of Mayton and Ben Upchurch of Coats (Daily Record Aug. 26, 1971).
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Doyle, formerly of New Jersey, announced the engagement of their daughter, Nancy Stout, to Ray Roberts, son of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Roberts. Miss Stout was a student at Central Carolina Institute. Ray was a graduate of Coats High and was employed by his father (Daily Record Aug. 30, 1971).
Miss Karen Stewart, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Grayden Stewart, was a contestant in the Miss Benson Pageant. While Karen was preparing for the pageant, some of the locals were visiting the hospitals. Mrs. Alma Tart, Mrs. Catherine Faircloth, Mrs. Christine Bass, Mr. James Ray Langdon, Betty Ruth Warren, Mrs. Violet Coats, Mrs. Lula Beasley, Shirley Stone, Mrs. Estelle Stewart, Jerry Moran, Callie Hudson, Osbert West, Mrs. Ora Powell, William Roger Lucas, Mrs. Peggy Sue Regan, Geraldine Cooke, Reba Horne, Mr. Alton Byrd and Mrs. Ned Ennis (Daily Record Sept. 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, and 27, 1971).
Happy news was announced from Coats. Joyce Faye Parrish and Gary Powell were united at the Methodist Church in Coats. The bride was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thurman Lee Parrish of rural Lillington and the bridegroom’s parents were Mr. and Mrs. Graymon Powell of Coats (Daily Record Sept. 17, 1971).
The Coats Jr. Order sponsored Angie’s Silk and City Shows. There were fifteen rides for adults and children (Daily Record Sept. 21, 1971).Does anyone remember that event?
Karen Stewart, daughter of Grayden and Sallie Ruth Stewart of Bailey’s Crossroads area was crowned Miss Benson. The beautiful girl was a senior at Coats High (Daily Record Sept. 24, 1971). Wonder if the contestants wore their hair in curls that were the trend in fall of 1971? I do know that Karen was a special young lady who I saw grow up in my church and I was fortunate to have taught her English in her senior year as well as in Grade 8.
Karen joined other students in making Coats High School proud of its students from the Class of 1972. Recall just reading about Alex Castellanos at the Governor’s School where he made an outstanding record during the summer program. Randy Suggs was their classmate and the girls in FHA had voted him FHA Beau. His high school classmates had already voted him as president of the Student Council (Daily Record Sept. 24, 1971).
The museum volunteers are so excited about all the activity at the museum. Baxter Ennis from Chesapeake had a book signing for his latest publication, When Leadership Mattered. A big thank you goes to all who came out to support one of our Coats grown success stories.
The Glassware Road Show by Myrtle Bridges will be tomorrow at 1:00 at the Coats Museum. If you know Myrtle, you know it will be a happy time. She has the amazing gift to make people feel cheerful and to top it off; she’s a brilliant and talented genealogist and artist. She painted a beautiful oil to be given as a door drawing so I guess I’ll have to add that she is also very benevolent. Bring a couple of pieces of your depression glass that you do not know the pattern and she will try to identify it so you can share with your family the story of how you acquired this named glassware.
When some former students walk into the Research Library at the Coats Museum and look up at the framed pictures of the old Coats High School campus, the school athletic uniforms and cheering outfits that are mounted on the walls, memories of those days are often shared with the volunteers. Most remain saddened that the buildings were torn down, wishing that they had been preserved with another purpose. Many are surprised when we tell them that the front two rooms of the Coats Museum were part of the Coats School that had been built in 1914 to educate those students who would not fit into the older five room wooden school. Both had been located up the hill from the current shopping mall. Those two wooden buildings preceded the 1920 brick building. In 2018, the only thing left of the Coats School campus is the corroding wire woven fence now entwined with running vines. The fence was placed there in the summer of 1951 to protect the students from the traffic of the busy highway (Daily Record Aug.14, 1951).
Why was the highway so “busy” that it required Grove District #3 Coats School to be fenced in 1951? Questions—Was Coats now a union school? Had what were formerly seven Grove district schools become one campus? The last school to consolidate was in 1950 when Oakdale closed. Was the traffic that had gone down Main Street to the Delma Grimes Road to get to Benson road now going past the Coats campus on Highway 27? Wasn’t the road that once stopped at Ebenezer Church Road built and paved to connect to the Benson Road near the Kenneth Pollard house on Black River?
I do know time ticks on second by second and we will have good and bad changes whether we like them or not. The Daily Record, Aug. 16th edition wrote that Thurman Lee, 61 year –old retired farmer had died on Thursday, Aug. 12th. He was survived by three daughters-Elizabeth Arrington, Linda Bryant and Joan Lee. Ronnie, Joseph and Donnie were his three sons. His mother- Mrs. Harry Lee; his brother James H. Lee and two sisters-Mrs. Orbin Johnson and Mrs. Callie Pope also survived him.
Was Thurman’s father a rural mail carrier? Mail carrying is something that has seen a change? Mail has been around ever since man learned to use the alphabet to communicate. During the time of the Paros, twenty four hundred years before Christ, curriers were used to deliver documents. Augustus Caesar, during the time of Christ, had a well documented postal service to get messages from one place to another. In 1775, Benjamin Franklin was appointed Postmaster General by the Continental Congress after the Tea Party and the beginning of the separation from England. Individuals, horses, stagecoaches, steam ships, trains and planes have been used to carry mail. Are drones being used today? Do you use email?
Even before there was a Coats town, there were places designated for people to “go get” their mail. There was Turlington, Troyville (Coats), Barclaysville and Stewart’s Academy in the Grove area. In fact in 1890, the 1890 NC Business Directory recorded that Barclaysville had 15 mail population; Troyville 20; Turlington 25, Averasboro 38, Dunn 821 and Lillington 156. There was no RFD. Do you know when that mail service change began?
This I do know. Scout Troop 45 of Coats had received a United States flag in a special ceremony at the Coats Baptist Church. The presentation was made by Jesse Weeks, secretary of the Dunn Camp 894, Woodman of the World (Daily Record Aug. 17, 1971).
Alex Castellanos was honored at the Governor’s School. He was elected president of the Lehman Dormitory, member of the Student Council, assistant Poetry Editor of the Literary Magazine, Captain of the Lehman Dormitory basketball team and a participating student in the Teacher’s Institute. Alex was the son of Dr. and Mrs. Jose Castellanos of Coats (Daily Record Aug. 18, 1971). Alex graduated in 1972.Do any of Alex’s Coats classmates have contact with him in 2018?
I do know that Ernest Cecil Parker, 38, of Route One, Coats, had died on Monday. He was an employee of the Style Moore Mobile Homes. He was husband of Joanne Nunnery Parker. Patricia, Deborah and Darlene were his daughters and Ernest was his only son according to same Aug. 18, 1971 edition of the Daily Record.
Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Bolen Jernigan announced the birth of a daughter, Laura Yvonne. She was born on August 19th at BJMH. The Vietnam War had claimed 45,429 Americans as of Aug. 19, 1971. Coats and Boone Trail had played the first game in the state before school opened. That sounds unusual-what game did they play (Daily Record Aug. 20, 1971)?
Mrs. Bessie Nordan of Coats was a patient at GHH. Mrs. Sherry Day, Mrs. Lula Barnes, and Mrs. Clara Wood were patients on the 24th (Daily Record Aug. 23, 24, 1971).
The Coats FHA met and Linda Tart had presided. Donna Penny was vice president; Denise Currin served as treasurer; Nancy Lamm reported the news; Martha Turlington kept the history and Jenny Eason was song leader. Faye Etheridge was the club advisor (Daily Record Aug. 25, 1971).
Vickie Faircloth was a contestant in the Miss Junior Order Pageant held in Wilmington (Daily Record Aug. 25, 1971).
Funeral services were held for James William (Bill) Dixon, a retired Benson mechanic who had died on Thursday. He was survived by his wife, Mrs. Bevie Bayles Dixon (Daily Record Aug. 23, 1971).
Mr. and Mrs. Carroll Lee had announced the birth of a daughter at BJMH on August 25th (Daily Record Aug. 26, 1971).
There had been a Democratic huddle prior to the Harnett County Democratic Executive Committee. President Larry Denning of the Young Democrats had met with Mayor Ronald Coats, Fred Byerly, and Chairman Ed McCormick (Daily Record Aug. 25, 1971).
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Byrd of Coats announced the engagement of their daughter, Sharon Sue Byrd, to Larry W. Measamer, son of Mr. and Mrs. S.W. Measamer of Sanford, NC. Miss Byrd was a 1969 graduate and was employed as an Inhalation Therapy Technician at the Sampson County Memorial Hospital in Clinton. Her fiancé was engaged in farming (Daily Record Aug. 26, 1971).
In the BJMH, Mr. Melvin Barbour and Mrs. Wanda Elizabeth Avery were patients. Why Mr. Barbour was a patient is not known but Mrs. Avery was there for the arrival of a daughter on September 1. Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Ray Avery were the new parents (Daily Record Sept. 2, 1971).
Mrs. Nellie W. Williams, 77, of Coats, had died on September 4th at Wake Medical. She was the widow of James W. Williams, Jr., and the daughter of the late Roland and Mary Ennis Williams. Funeral services were at the Gift PBC. Elder Worth Stephenson and Rev. Howard Beard officiated and burial was in the Coats Cemetery. She was survived by Johnny Williams, Mrs. Lawrence Stewart and Mrs. Carlie C. Ennis (Daily Record Sept. 6, 1971).
Lonnie M. Upchurch, 82, of Angier had died on Thursday. He was the father of Mayton and Ben Upchurch of Coats (Daily Record Aug. 26, 1971).
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Doyle, formerly of New Jersey, announced the engagement of their daughter, Nancy Stout, to Ray Roberts, son of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Roberts. Miss Stout was a student at Central Carolina Institute. Ray was a graduate of Coats High and was employed by his father (Daily Record Aug. 30, 1971).
Miss Karen Stewart, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Grayden Stewart, was a contestant in the Miss Benson Pageant. While Karen was preparing for the pageant, some of the locals were visiting the hospitals. Mrs. Alma Tart, Mrs. Catherine Faircloth, Mrs. Christine Bass, Mr. James Ray Langdon, Betty Ruth Warren, Mrs. Violet Coats, Mrs. Lula Beasley, Shirley Stone, Mrs. Estelle Stewart, Jerry Moran, Callie Hudson, Osbert West, Mrs. Ora Powell, William Roger Lucas, Mrs. Peggy Sue Regan, Geraldine Cooke, Reba Horne, Mr. Alton Byrd and Mrs. Ned Ennis (Daily Record Sept. 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, and 27, 1971).
Happy news was announced from Coats. Joyce Faye Parrish and Gary Powell were united at the Methodist Church in Coats. The bride was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thurman Lee Parrish of rural Lillington and the bridegroom’s parents were Mr. and Mrs. Graymon Powell of Coats (Daily Record Sept. 17, 1971).
The Coats Jr. Order sponsored Angie’s Silk and City Shows. There were fifteen rides for adults and children (Daily Record Sept. 21, 1971).Does anyone remember that event?
Karen Stewart, daughter of Grayden and Sallie Ruth Stewart of Bailey’s Crossroads area was crowned Miss Benson. The beautiful girl was a senior at Coats High (Daily Record Sept. 24, 1971). Wonder if the contestants wore their hair in curls that were the trend in fall of 1971? I do know that Karen was a special young lady who I saw grow up in my church and I was fortunate to have taught her English in her senior year as well as in Grade 8.
Karen joined other students in making Coats High School proud of its students from the Class of 1972. Recall just reading about Alex Castellanos at the Governor’s School where he made an outstanding record during the summer program. Randy Suggs was their classmate and the girls in FHA had voted him FHA Beau. His high school classmates had already voted him as president of the Student Council (Daily Record Sept. 24, 1971).
The museum volunteers are so excited about all the activity at the museum. Baxter Ennis from Chesapeake had a book signing for his latest publication, When Leadership Mattered. A big thank you goes to all who came out to support one of our Coats grown success stories.
The Glassware Road Show by Myrtle Bridges will be tomorrow at 1:00 at the Coats Museum. If you know Myrtle, you know it will be a happy time. She has the amazing gift to make people feel cheerful and to top it off; she’s a brilliant and talented genealogist and artist. She painted a beautiful oil to be given as a door drawing so I guess I’ll have to add that she is also very benevolent. Bring a couple of pieces of your depression glass that you do not know the pattern and she will try to identify it so you can share with your family the story of how you acquired this named glassware.