July 4, 2025 Coats Museum News
The date on the Daily Record was Oct. 5, 1995. Inside that edition it was shared that Bill and Martha Boyd had had a delightful trip to his hometown in Kingston. PA. They had attended the 50th anniversary of the WWII ending. Their son, Billy, Jr., an attorney in Lancaster, had driven them to see the Broadway play, “Having Our Say.”
How many of you have a memory of Martha and Bill Boyd? The couple migrated here and later had attended the Coats Baptist Church and the Coats Senior Center. During the preparation for the Coats Centennial in 2005, Becky Adams and I spoke in clubs, churches and anywhere else that groups would allow us to seek information about their memories and connections to Coats history and pleaded with them to share family stories and genealogies into our Coats heritage book. With the help of our co-worker David Barnes, we presented a power point presentation to a rather large Coats Baptist group at one of their Wednesday night suppers. We shared with the group information about the town’s early businesses, leaders, schools, churches, doctors, and so much more and at the conclusion, I can still see Bill Boyd coming up to Becky and me and exclaiming, “I had no idea.”
The Coats Farmers Day is an old festival and the exact date of its first Community Fair cannot be 100 percent verified. We do have several copies of an undated Coats Community Fair booklet. During our research in writing our book, we paid close attention to the individuals heading up or serving on the various committees listed in that booklet. For example, Juanita Hudson noted that it had occurred before her husband Mack Reid Hudson’s parents were married. Some think it was around 1910. I question that because my dad Jonah C. Johnson, Sr. headed up a committee and he was only 10 years old in 1910 and besides his dad Ben F. Johnson was alive and operated his cotton gin and sawmill and either he or his older sons, Joe or John L. would have seemed more likely to be more qualified than a 10 year boy.
How do ever find the date of that community fair? The secret may be in verifying the dates that the various speakers at that fair were serving in their state positions. Now, however, let’s read that the CACC was planning the annual Farmers Day for 1995. President Glenda Denton headed the planning of the activities. The Castaways had been booked to play live music. Glenda Denton, Marie Watson, and Town Commissioner Darrell Smith had joined Judy and Bickett Turlington when the Turlington’s had their business recognized as the Business Focus of the Week. The Brick Mill Self Storage had 28 storage units located near the site of the old brick mill operated by P.F. Pope. The brick mill furnished brick for the area builders from 1912 to 1919 under P.F. Pope “Pat” Pope’s leadership. The storage unit was located on the corner of Brick Mill and Clayhole Roads. The couple also owned the Sonny’s Mini Mart on Highway 55 (Daily Record Oct. 11, 1996).
Belle in her “Notes from Coats” shared that the Village Square had a new business- “The Cutting Edge” owned in part by Kim Howard. The beautiful place offered a full-service salon with four ladies working. Elsewhere, Callie Williams had celebrated her 78th birthday with a party at the Coats Senior Center. Her daughters, Diane Parker and Joyce Stewart, hosted the event. Bobby Stewart, Fleming Parker, and Hank Hurd cooked the food. The Triton ensemble and granddaughters- Erin and Lindsey Hurd along with Leigh and Molly Price- were the entertainment for Callie’s big party.
Lots of Coats folks were on the road. Lou and Jeneal Denton had visited a friend in western NY and had traveled to see the Niagara Falls and the Amish country. A highlight of the trip was a visit with Carl and Lula Mae Hough in Pittsburgh, PA where they lived near their son.
The Delbert Lockamy family had visited relatives in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Richmond. Woodrow and Mary Langdon had attended the 55th class reunion in Roxboro. Six of the eleven surviving class members attended the event. Belle sent congratulations to Lathan Norris for being inducted into the N.C. Trapper’s Association. Wouldn’t you like to know more about that association?
I do know that many folks in Coats were on the sick list. Ricky Rowland, Willie Mae Dorman, Baxton Pollard, Linwood Jernigan and Annette Blanchard. Have you ever attended a “Cousins Day”? Does it sound like fun? Mary Stevens aided by her loving spouse Carlie, entertained cousins from Arkansas, Georgia, S.C., N.Y. and NC. Fifty people joined in on the fun at Mary and Carlie’s house.
Angela Hedgepeth was a beautiful bride at the Coats Baptist Church when she married Dr. William Joseph Elliott, III. (Daily Record Oct. 12,1995).
Last Saturday was buzzing with folks from several towns and states as the Carl Whittington family met on the Heritage Square for a big family reunion. The museum volunteers were so impressed with the organizational skills of Don and Deborah Whittington in pulling off the event. Rena Whittington McLamb, the oldest living sibling, shared amazing documents from her years at Coats School as well as pictures of her 1947 graduating class- the first students required to attend 12 years of school to graduate. Thank you-Whittington family, for seeing your enthusiasm makes the volunteers feel appreciated.
Thank you goes to Don and Deborah for memorializing Norfleet Gardner and H.L. Sorrell, Jr. and honoring the Carl Whittington family on our coatsmuseum.com website.
The date on the Daily Record was Oct. 5, 1995. Inside that edition it was shared that Bill and Martha Boyd had had a delightful trip to his hometown in Kingston. PA. They had attended the 50th anniversary of the WWII ending. Their son, Billy, Jr., an attorney in Lancaster, had driven them to see the Broadway play, “Having Our Say.”
How many of you have a memory of Martha and Bill Boyd? The couple migrated here and later had attended the Coats Baptist Church and the Coats Senior Center. During the preparation for the Coats Centennial in 2005, Becky Adams and I spoke in clubs, churches and anywhere else that groups would allow us to seek information about their memories and connections to Coats history and pleaded with them to share family stories and genealogies into our Coats heritage book. With the help of our co-worker David Barnes, we presented a power point presentation to a rather large Coats Baptist group at one of their Wednesday night suppers. We shared with the group information about the town’s early businesses, leaders, schools, churches, doctors, and so much more and at the conclusion, I can still see Bill Boyd coming up to Becky and me and exclaiming, “I had no idea.”
The Coats Farmers Day is an old festival and the exact date of its first Community Fair cannot be 100 percent verified. We do have several copies of an undated Coats Community Fair booklet. During our research in writing our book, we paid close attention to the individuals heading up or serving on the various committees listed in that booklet. For example, Juanita Hudson noted that it had occurred before her husband Mack Reid Hudson’s parents were married. Some think it was around 1910. I question that because my dad Jonah C. Johnson, Sr. headed up a committee and he was only 10 years old in 1910 and besides his dad Ben F. Johnson was alive and operated his cotton gin and sawmill and either he or his older sons, Joe or John L. would have seemed more likely to be more qualified than a 10 year boy.
How do ever find the date of that community fair? The secret may be in verifying the dates that the various speakers at that fair were serving in their state positions. Now, however, let’s read that the CACC was planning the annual Farmers Day for 1995. President Glenda Denton headed the planning of the activities. The Castaways had been booked to play live music. Glenda Denton, Marie Watson, and Town Commissioner Darrell Smith had joined Judy and Bickett Turlington when the Turlington’s had their business recognized as the Business Focus of the Week. The Brick Mill Self Storage had 28 storage units located near the site of the old brick mill operated by P.F. Pope. The brick mill furnished brick for the area builders from 1912 to 1919 under P.F. Pope “Pat” Pope’s leadership. The storage unit was located on the corner of Brick Mill and Clayhole Roads. The couple also owned the Sonny’s Mini Mart on Highway 55 (Daily Record Oct. 11, 1996).
Belle in her “Notes from Coats” shared that the Village Square had a new business- “The Cutting Edge” owned in part by Kim Howard. The beautiful place offered a full-service salon with four ladies working. Elsewhere, Callie Williams had celebrated her 78th birthday with a party at the Coats Senior Center. Her daughters, Diane Parker and Joyce Stewart, hosted the event. Bobby Stewart, Fleming Parker, and Hank Hurd cooked the food. The Triton ensemble and granddaughters- Erin and Lindsey Hurd along with Leigh and Molly Price- were the entertainment for Callie’s big party.
Lots of Coats folks were on the road. Lou and Jeneal Denton had visited a friend in western NY and had traveled to see the Niagara Falls and the Amish country. A highlight of the trip was a visit with Carl and Lula Mae Hough in Pittsburgh, PA where they lived near their son.
The Delbert Lockamy family had visited relatives in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Richmond. Woodrow and Mary Langdon had attended the 55th class reunion in Roxboro. Six of the eleven surviving class members attended the event. Belle sent congratulations to Lathan Norris for being inducted into the N.C. Trapper’s Association. Wouldn’t you like to know more about that association?
I do know that many folks in Coats were on the sick list. Ricky Rowland, Willie Mae Dorman, Baxton Pollard, Linwood Jernigan and Annette Blanchard. Have you ever attended a “Cousins Day”? Does it sound like fun? Mary Stevens aided by her loving spouse Carlie, entertained cousins from Arkansas, Georgia, S.C., N.Y. and NC. Fifty people joined in on the fun at Mary and Carlie’s house.
Angela Hedgepeth was a beautiful bride at the Coats Baptist Church when she married Dr. William Joseph Elliott, III. (Daily Record Oct. 12,1995).
Last Saturday was buzzing with folks from several towns and states as the Carl Whittington family met on the Heritage Square for a big family reunion. The museum volunteers were so impressed with the organizational skills of Don and Deborah Whittington in pulling off the event. Rena Whittington McLamb, the oldest living sibling, shared amazing documents from her years at Coats School as well as pictures of her 1947 graduating class- the first students required to attend 12 years of school to graduate. Thank you-Whittington family, for seeing your enthusiasm makes the volunteers feel appreciated.
Thank you goes to Don and Deborah for memorializing Norfleet Gardner and H.L. Sorrell, Jr. and honoring the Carl Whittington family on our coatsmuseum.com website.