March 15, 2024 Coats Museum News
The year was 1994 and the month was May. Despite that the elections of political leaders was determined already, the paper continued to print news relevant to the election. Such was the case that Nelson and Coma Lee Currin had hosted an event for Tom Lock at their house. Willis Brown had met Coats folks at the Jr. Order Building, and Max Matthews Day was on Saturday. The candidates had worked tirelessly to put a face to the name on the ballot.
Belle continued to inform her readers of “Notes from Coats” about the Coats folks. Congratulations were due to Andrea Renee Currin who was Student of the Week for the Dunn-Erwin Rotary Club. M.O. Phillips had celebrated his birthday. His special present from his children, Carolyn Spears and Murry Phillips, was that they came to Coats and painted his house.
Another special person had a birthday and eighty-five people attended his party at the Coats Senior Center. Who was the honoree? Thomas Williams had his sisters-Grace Cade and Elease Bowling-join him on this special day.
Belle Williams also informed in her column about the local folks who were on the sick or healing list. She reported that several folks had been hospitalized during this beautiful spring season. Leon Smith was home from Duke and Mildred Barefoot, Clyde Stone, Thessie Daniel, H.A. Turlington, Jr., Murry Phillips, Annie Miller and Margaret Johnson were shut-ins.
Ronnie Parrish and coworker, Veronica Johnson, spoke at a covered dish meal at the Coats Senior Center. Belle wished Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Carroll, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Allen, Mr. and Mrs. C.J. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Hank Hurd and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Holmes a happy anniversary (Daily Record May 5, 1994).
Belle’s Notes continued to be a main source for folks far and near to learn about what was going on in Coats. Turner Matthews had celebrated the big “10”birthday with his buddies with a sleepover. Cheryl Whittington had presented a program on “Life after Death” to the Ruth Eller Sunday school class. Jenny Pollard had hosted the program.
At the Mid-Carolina AAA Regional Senior Silver Arts Showcase, the Senior Coats Cheerleaders walked away with a blue ribbon, which entitled them to go to the state competition. Who were those Coats Senior Center cheerleaders? History records that Allene Honeycutt, Hilda Pope, Rebeth Mitchell, Helen Carroll, Hazel Barnes, Agnes Hall, and Lydia Byrd were the blue ribbon high jumpers.
Other events at the Mid-Carolina AAA Regional Senior Silver Arts Showcase recognized that Eloise Lee for Heritage Arts was a winner. Needle work –gold medal and Quilt 2nd place went to Helen Carroll. Literary Arts-Short Story - 2nd place went to Ruth Parrish. Visual Arts-Painting-2nd place was won by Tolora Linsky. In athletic events, Eloise Lee won three gold medals in swimming, silver in croquet, silver in 1500- meter walk and bronze in basketball throw.
Where are the men at the event? Eloise’s brother Gail Pope, won gold in spin casting, silver in long jump, silver in running long-jump, silver in horseshoes, and bronze in discus. Helen Carroll brought home the gold in the 1500-meter walk. Tom Cherry won gold in billiards, bronze in table tennis, bronze in the 1500-meter walk.
The contests continued to bring honors to the Coats seniors. Russell Morvant earned gold in horseshoes. Monroe Johnson carried home three gold medals -horseshoes, football throws, and spin casting. Rebeth Mitchell’s horseshoe throwing earned her gold. Junior Lee won three silvers-table tennis, 1500-meter, and softball throws. Joe also won a bronze in standing long jump. Wil Breeden brought home the silver medal in table tennis.
How many hours did this event take to cover all these various competitions? By the way, you are aware that all these folks were over 55 years of age. As I was reading and writing about these senior events, I wondered if the contestants practiced before going to region competitions.
Practice does make perfect –right? My dad coached my two sisters and me in the art of shooting free throws and shooting from all points on the basketball court. In the basketball season, there were fewer demands of the farm life so Dad was free of tasks and would have us shoot the basketball from all points of our home basketball court and practice shooting foul shots until we hit the number of free throws we had to make or the sun had set behind the trees making it hard to see the goal.
Did practice make us perfect? When my sisters and I played basketball for the Coats High School team, there were no consolidated high schools. Hence the schools the Coats boys and girls played against were Anderson Creek, Angier, Benhaven, Buies Creek, Boone Trail, Erwin, Lafayette and Lillington. Earlier on, my older sister Sue Johnson played against Dunn High which Joyce and I never played against but we did on occasions have Cleveland or Meadow from Johnston County come in for competition. So what does this have to do with practice making perfect? During those days, the players and coaches of all the basketball teams would pick whom they felt were the six best girl or boy players in the county. At the final night of the county tournaments, the six girls and six boys were recognized before the spectators and presented a medal.
Did Dad making us practice make us perfect? I seriously doubt that it made us that, but I’ll give him credit that each of my sisters and I were awarded the honor of being one of the six best players on the girls team more than one time. What was unusual in my dad’s persuasion of his girls playing basketball was that he had played baseball as a young man. He often talked about the fact that Paul Green could pitch with both hands and had played on the Coats teams at times.
Growing up I didn’t have much knowledge of Paul Green. It was just another name until college and later when we were researching the years of newsprint of Harnett County, we researchers read that Paul Green indeed could pitch with both hands and did at times play on the Coats team.
Dad had reason to be proud of his girls, just as did the Currin and Ryals families in Coats. Donna Lynn Currin Ryals earned her diploma in psychology from Campbell University. The young woman was mother of Justin and Jonathan Ryals and wife of Shane Ryals. She was daughter of Coma Lee and Nelson Currin (Daily Record May 12, 1994).
Do we continue to have IGA Beef Shoot-outs? In the May 13, 1994 edition of the Daily Record it was printed that the profits from Beef Shoot-Out profits went toward the new building for the Harnett County Association for Retarded Citizens.
A special thank you goes to Kathy and Walter Weeks, Robie and Lynda Butler, Geraldine Honeycutt, Hannah Tart and Sandra Lamm for remembering Dovie Beasley. Peggy Godwin was also remembered with a memorial. Linda Kimbrough has remembered her niece Melissa with a birthday memorial. We appreciate these generous folks who show support not only the family of the deceased person but also their support to the museum at the same time.
The year was 1994 and the month was May. Despite that the elections of political leaders was determined already, the paper continued to print news relevant to the election. Such was the case that Nelson and Coma Lee Currin had hosted an event for Tom Lock at their house. Willis Brown had met Coats folks at the Jr. Order Building, and Max Matthews Day was on Saturday. The candidates had worked tirelessly to put a face to the name on the ballot.
Belle continued to inform her readers of “Notes from Coats” about the Coats folks. Congratulations were due to Andrea Renee Currin who was Student of the Week for the Dunn-Erwin Rotary Club. M.O. Phillips had celebrated his birthday. His special present from his children, Carolyn Spears and Murry Phillips, was that they came to Coats and painted his house.
Another special person had a birthday and eighty-five people attended his party at the Coats Senior Center. Who was the honoree? Thomas Williams had his sisters-Grace Cade and Elease Bowling-join him on this special day.
Belle Williams also informed in her column about the local folks who were on the sick or healing list. She reported that several folks had been hospitalized during this beautiful spring season. Leon Smith was home from Duke and Mildred Barefoot, Clyde Stone, Thessie Daniel, H.A. Turlington, Jr., Murry Phillips, Annie Miller and Margaret Johnson were shut-ins.
Ronnie Parrish and coworker, Veronica Johnson, spoke at a covered dish meal at the Coats Senior Center. Belle wished Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Carroll, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Allen, Mr. and Mrs. C.J. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Hank Hurd and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Holmes a happy anniversary (Daily Record May 5, 1994).
Belle’s Notes continued to be a main source for folks far and near to learn about what was going on in Coats. Turner Matthews had celebrated the big “10”birthday with his buddies with a sleepover. Cheryl Whittington had presented a program on “Life after Death” to the Ruth Eller Sunday school class. Jenny Pollard had hosted the program.
At the Mid-Carolina AAA Regional Senior Silver Arts Showcase, the Senior Coats Cheerleaders walked away with a blue ribbon, which entitled them to go to the state competition. Who were those Coats Senior Center cheerleaders? History records that Allene Honeycutt, Hilda Pope, Rebeth Mitchell, Helen Carroll, Hazel Barnes, Agnes Hall, and Lydia Byrd were the blue ribbon high jumpers.
Other events at the Mid-Carolina AAA Regional Senior Silver Arts Showcase recognized that Eloise Lee for Heritage Arts was a winner. Needle work –gold medal and Quilt 2nd place went to Helen Carroll. Literary Arts-Short Story - 2nd place went to Ruth Parrish. Visual Arts-Painting-2nd place was won by Tolora Linsky. In athletic events, Eloise Lee won three gold medals in swimming, silver in croquet, silver in 1500- meter walk and bronze in basketball throw.
Where are the men at the event? Eloise’s brother Gail Pope, won gold in spin casting, silver in long jump, silver in running long-jump, silver in horseshoes, and bronze in discus. Helen Carroll brought home the gold in the 1500-meter walk. Tom Cherry won gold in billiards, bronze in table tennis, bronze in the 1500-meter walk.
The contests continued to bring honors to the Coats seniors. Russell Morvant earned gold in horseshoes. Monroe Johnson carried home three gold medals -horseshoes, football throws, and spin casting. Rebeth Mitchell’s horseshoe throwing earned her gold. Junior Lee won three silvers-table tennis, 1500-meter, and softball throws. Joe also won a bronze in standing long jump. Wil Breeden brought home the silver medal in table tennis.
How many hours did this event take to cover all these various competitions? By the way, you are aware that all these folks were over 55 years of age. As I was reading and writing about these senior events, I wondered if the contestants practiced before going to region competitions.
Practice does make perfect –right? My dad coached my two sisters and me in the art of shooting free throws and shooting from all points on the basketball court. In the basketball season, there were fewer demands of the farm life so Dad was free of tasks and would have us shoot the basketball from all points of our home basketball court and practice shooting foul shots until we hit the number of free throws we had to make or the sun had set behind the trees making it hard to see the goal.
Did practice make us perfect? When my sisters and I played basketball for the Coats High School team, there were no consolidated high schools. Hence the schools the Coats boys and girls played against were Anderson Creek, Angier, Benhaven, Buies Creek, Boone Trail, Erwin, Lafayette and Lillington. Earlier on, my older sister Sue Johnson played against Dunn High which Joyce and I never played against but we did on occasions have Cleveland or Meadow from Johnston County come in for competition. So what does this have to do with practice making perfect? During those days, the players and coaches of all the basketball teams would pick whom they felt were the six best girl or boy players in the county. At the final night of the county tournaments, the six girls and six boys were recognized before the spectators and presented a medal.
Did Dad making us practice make us perfect? I seriously doubt that it made us that, but I’ll give him credit that each of my sisters and I were awarded the honor of being one of the six best players on the girls team more than one time. What was unusual in my dad’s persuasion of his girls playing basketball was that he had played baseball as a young man. He often talked about the fact that Paul Green could pitch with both hands and had played on the Coats teams at times.
Growing up I didn’t have much knowledge of Paul Green. It was just another name until college and later when we were researching the years of newsprint of Harnett County, we researchers read that Paul Green indeed could pitch with both hands and did at times play on the Coats team.
Dad had reason to be proud of his girls, just as did the Currin and Ryals families in Coats. Donna Lynn Currin Ryals earned her diploma in psychology from Campbell University. The young woman was mother of Justin and Jonathan Ryals and wife of Shane Ryals. She was daughter of Coma Lee and Nelson Currin (Daily Record May 12, 1994).
Do we continue to have IGA Beef Shoot-outs? In the May 13, 1994 edition of the Daily Record it was printed that the profits from Beef Shoot-Out profits went toward the new building for the Harnett County Association for Retarded Citizens.
A special thank you goes to Kathy and Walter Weeks, Robie and Lynda Butler, Geraldine Honeycutt, Hannah Tart and Sandra Lamm for remembering Dovie Beasley. Peggy Godwin was also remembered with a memorial. Linda Kimbrough has remembered her niece Melissa with a birthday memorial. We appreciate these generous folks who show support not only the family of the deceased person but also their support to the museum at the same time.