June 13, 2025 Coats Museum News
The date on the Daily Record was September 7, 1995 and it printed that one of Coats’s oldest families had a visitor from Gainesville, FL. Dr. Harry Clay Roberts came to Coats about 1912. Dr. Roberts served on the Coats town commission, had the first electric plant and was grandfather of Harry and Shearon Roberts. In this edition of the paper, we learned that his granddaughter Shearon was in Coats to visit her mom, Ophelia Brock Roberts.
Do you think Shearon stayed in one of the three Sears Roebuck houses in Coats? We have a picture with the description of the house that Dr. Roberts had ordered and had assembled. The house is located across the street from the Coats Museum and Community Building. The original picture of the house shared that the cost was a little over $2,100.
Did you note that I stated that it was one of the three Sears houses in Coats? Where are the other two? Have you ever observed the historic sign in front of a small wooden house on McKinley Street? Do any of you remember hearing the names Alton Stewart and Mayor J.B. and Nannie Stewart Williams? That house was once the residence of the first licensed aviator in NC Alton Stewart and later to Mayor Williams and Coats teacher Nan Williams. Nan Stewart Williams had graduated with Ethel Ann Ennis and Lessie Hill as one of the three first graduates of the accredited Coats High School in 1925. She had died just shortly before we celebrated the Coats Reunion Project in 1985 where graduates from 1925 to 1985 assembled for a three-day weekend of fellowship with food, talent, parade and fireworks on the school grounds.
Where is the third Sears house? In an interview many years ago, Dixie Moore Smith shared with me that the third Sears house is the white wood house located between the Fred Byrd house and Destiny Lodge in 2025.Considering that these three houses are over 100 years old-they are in amazing condition.
There you have it but I can’t leave without sharing an interesting bit about the Byrd house next door to that Sears house. Fred Byrd’s daughter-in-law, Dot Matthews Byrd, shared with Becky Adams and me during a visit to the museum that the walls of the house are insulated with cotton seed hulls. The house’s first owner was John McKay Byrd- a Coats businessman, former NC state legislator and Harnett County Sheriff. It then belonged to Coats cotton ginner and businessman Fred Byrd who also owned the water plant. It is now the residence of Fred’s granddaughter, Dot’s daughter. Coats has some interesting stories to be shared and remembered.
Remember we wrote last week that Cecil Stephenson was having some major heart issues. His second return to the Wake Medical Center must have scared his wife Beverly when he had to return there for a medical emergency.
Some good news came from the Coats Museum Committee. Plans were for the museum to open on Farmers Day. Belle shared that folks were looking forward to seeing the “old schoolhouse”. Jeff and Nicole Turlington had displayed yellow bows when Brandon returned home from Europe. Twenty-eight family members and friends welcomed him. Brandon had missed tea, drinks and air conditioners.
A wedding was on the calendar for Ellen Dupree Hedgepeth. Her daughter, Angela Nell Hedgepeth, was to marry Dr. William J. Elliott, III, son of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Elliott of Forest City. Angela was a 1990 graduate of Triton and was completing her work for a Doctor of Pharmacy. Dr. Elliott was a Revco pharmacist in Fayetteville (Daily Record Sept. 7, 1995).
Friends and family in Grove Township and surrounding communities were shocked of the news that Frank Turlington was dead. One of the last remaining true cowboys was killed as a result of a wreck caused by a driver running a stop sign. Frank, 48, of Turlington’s Crossroads, was a well-respected citizen, a life-long farmer, and a man best known for grazing and training bulls. He owned the F-Bar-T Rodeo. Frank was a 1966 graduate of Coats High School where he was a star football player. A daughter Deanna, his mother Rebecca Turlington, brother Ed Turlington and sister Louise Smith survived him.
Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. announced the reappointment of Albert Gregory to another term on the NC Board of Licensed Professional Counselors. He had visited Gregory’s Lane Seafood and Steak House (Daily Record Sept. 13, 1995).
Banks and Virginia Pollard and H.A. and Rachel Turlington went to Pike Field, Fort Bragg for NC ‘s Ceremony Remembrance marking the end of WWII. Gail and Hilda Pope and Delbert and Edna Lockamy attended the National American Legion Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Brandon Turlington was injured while racing at the Motor Cross in Sanford where he had won first place before breaking his ankle. Johnnie and Estelle Williams had been on the road to visit their daughter Phyllis and her family in Winston Salem. While on the road, they traveled to Asheville to visit their son Larry Williams who was there on a business trip from Boca Raton, FL (Daily Record Sept. 15, 1995).
Thank you goes to Vice Chairman Lenny Parker of the Coats Museum Board for cleaning the fountain and putting fresh mulch around the museum and thanks to Jack Johnson for trimming the bushes as well as giving a donation to the operation of the museum. The grounds looked beautiful for the class reunion for the CHS Class of 1985 last Saturday. We enjoyed your visit.
The date on the Daily Record was September 7, 1995 and it printed that one of Coats’s oldest families had a visitor from Gainesville, FL. Dr. Harry Clay Roberts came to Coats about 1912. Dr. Roberts served on the Coats town commission, had the first electric plant and was grandfather of Harry and Shearon Roberts. In this edition of the paper, we learned that his granddaughter Shearon was in Coats to visit her mom, Ophelia Brock Roberts.
Do you think Shearon stayed in one of the three Sears Roebuck houses in Coats? We have a picture with the description of the house that Dr. Roberts had ordered and had assembled. The house is located across the street from the Coats Museum and Community Building. The original picture of the house shared that the cost was a little over $2,100.
Did you note that I stated that it was one of the three Sears houses in Coats? Where are the other two? Have you ever observed the historic sign in front of a small wooden house on McKinley Street? Do any of you remember hearing the names Alton Stewart and Mayor J.B. and Nannie Stewart Williams? That house was once the residence of the first licensed aviator in NC Alton Stewart and later to Mayor Williams and Coats teacher Nan Williams. Nan Stewart Williams had graduated with Ethel Ann Ennis and Lessie Hill as one of the three first graduates of the accredited Coats High School in 1925. She had died just shortly before we celebrated the Coats Reunion Project in 1985 where graduates from 1925 to 1985 assembled for a three-day weekend of fellowship with food, talent, parade and fireworks on the school grounds.
Where is the third Sears house? In an interview many years ago, Dixie Moore Smith shared with me that the third Sears house is the white wood house located between the Fred Byrd house and Destiny Lodge in 2025.Considering that these three houses are over 100 years old-they are in amazing condition.
There you have it but I can’t leave without sharing an interesting bit about the Byrd house next door to that Sears house. Fred Byrd’s daughter-in-law, Dot Matthews Byrd, shared with Becky Adams and me during a visit to the museum that the walls of the house are insulated with cotton seed hulls. The house’s first owner was John McKay Byrd- a Coats businessman, former NC state legislator and Harnett County Sheriff. It then belonged to Coats cotton ginner and businessman Fred Byrd who also owned the water plant. It is now the residence of Fred’s granddaughter, Dot’s daughter. Coats has some interesting stories to be shared and remembered.
Remember we wrote last week that Cecil Stephenson was having some major heart issues. His second return to the Wake Medical Center must have scared his wife Beverly when he had to return there for a medical emergency.
Some good news came from the Coats Museum Committee. Plans were for the museum to open on Farmers Day. Belle shared that folks were looking forward to seeing the “old schoolhouse”. Jeff and Nicole Turlington had displayed yellow bows when Brandon returned home from Europe. Twenty-eight family members and friends welcomed him. Brandon had missed tea, drinks and air conditioners.
A wedding was on the calendar for Ellen Dupree Hedgepeth. Her daughter, Angela Nell Hedgepeth, was to marry Dr. William J. Elliott, III, son of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Elliott of Forest City. Angela was a 1990 graduate of Triton and was completing her work for a Doctor of Pharmacy. Dr. Elliott was a Revco pharmacist in Fayetteville (Daily Record Sept. 7, 1995).
Friends and family in Grove Township and surrounding communities were shocked of the news that Frank Turlington was dead. One of the last remaining true cowboys was killed as a result of a wreck caused by a driver running a stop sign. Frank, 48, of Turlington’s Crossroads, was a well-respected citizen, a life-long farmer, and a man best known for grazing and training bulls. He owned the F-Bar-T Rodeo. Frank was a 1966 graduate of Coats High School where he was a star football player. A daughter Deanna, his mother Rebecca Turlington, brother Ed Turlington and sister Louise Smith survived him.
Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. announced the reappointment of Albert Gregory to another term on the NC Board of Licensed Professional Counselors. He had visited Gregory’s Lane Seafood and Steak House (Daily Record Sept. 13, 1995).
Banks and Virginia Pollard and H.A. and Rachel Turlington went to Pike Field, Fort Bragg for NC ‘s Ceremony Remembrance marking the end of WWII. Gail and Hilda Pope and Delbert and Edna Lockamy attended the National American Legion Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Brandon Turlington was injured while racing at the Motor Cross in Sanford where he had won first place before breaking his ankle. Johnnie and Estelle Williams had been on the road to visit their daughter Phyllis and her family in Winston Salem. While on the road, they traveled to Asheville to visit their son Larry Williams who was there on a business trip from Boca Raton, FL (Daily Record Sept. 15, 1995).
Thank you goes to Vice Chairman Lenny Parker of the Coats Museum Board for cleaning the fountain and putting fresh mulch around the museum and thanks to Jack Johnson for trimming the bushes as well as giving a donation to the operation of the museum. The grounds looked beautiful for the class reunion for the CHS Class of 1985 last Saturday. We enjoyed your visit.