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  • February 24, 2023
                                                                                                March 31, 2017 Coats Museum News
As we continue to read into our yesterdays, we revisit the events and reconnect with people who made the news in past years. Today, we will return to November of 1961 and read that Mrs. Sarah Capps, Gwendolyn Weaver, John Robert Ryals, William Henry Weaver, Mrs. Arthur D. Adams, Paul Turlington, and Mrs. Barbara Powell were patients in either Good Hope or Betsy Johnson Hospitals (Daily Record Nov. 21, 1961). As you read those names, did some of you speculate as to why they were patients?
I do know that Godfrey and Andelia Lamm Beasley had returned home after three years in Germany. Miss Patricia Lane Byrd and Condary E. Ellis were married in the Erwin Chapel Church. Miss Byrd was the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Ralph O. Byrd. She attended Campbell College and Mr. Ellis had graduated from Holmes Theological Seminary in Greenville, SC. The wedding party had consisted of Mrs. Billie Garriss, Miss Judy Byrd, Miss Wesla Hawley, Mrs. Cornelia Newsome, and Mrs. Ramonia Via. Pamela Newsome was the flower girl while Mike Byrd was ring bearer. Jerry Ellis was best man and ushers were Larry and Ronnie Byrd, Larry Ellis, Sam Via, Don Martin and Glen Johnson (Daily Record Nov. 22, 1961). Did Condary also become a teacher as well as a minister?
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Graham were parents of a son on November 27th. The mother was the former Judith McLean (Daily Record Nov. 27, 1961).
Judith Adams Whittington and Jerry Poole, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Poole, were married. Miss Sarah Nell Johnson was pianist and Miss Barbara Hawks was vocalist. Mrs. Tally Ennis was Matron of Honor. While the Poole family was celebrating, the William Henry Weaver family was mourning his death. Funeral services were held for the 78 year-old man from rural Coats. Mrs. Jim Sexton and one son, Bernice Weaver, survived him. Joe Lee Weaver was his brother (Daily Record Nov. 28, 1961).
Mr. and Mrs. J. Clifton Lee announced the engagement of their daughter Judy Marie Lee to Stacy Denning Ennis, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Ennis of rural Dunn. Elsewhere, the paper had printed that Mr. and Mrs. Bernie Mack Byrd were parents of a daughter. Mrs. Byrd was the former Sandra Dawn Coats.
The calendar registered December 1, 1961-twenty-four days before Christmas. Santa was receiving his letters from Coats such as the one he had received from little Shearon Roberts. She was betting on a Deluxe Dream Kitchen and a pair of bedroom shoes. She reminded Santa that her mom was Mrs. H.T. Roberts (Daily Record December 1, 1961). For those of us who know Shearon, does that not sound like her, never making selfish requests?
The Supreme Court had agreed to rule whether prayers in public schools are constitutional. Little LaRue Williams had written to Santa Claus to request a ballerina doll and a nurse’s kit, while her younger sister Jennifer wanted a baby doll and carriage. She, too, reminded Santa that her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Williams (Daily Record December 5, 1961).
Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy King Jones announced the arrival of a daughter on December 6th at Good Hope. The mother was the former Ann Beasley (Daily Record Dec. 6, 1961).
Chester Honeycutt and Thomas Nunalle III were student teachers under the supervision of Mr. M.O. Phillips (Daily Record Dec. 11, 1961).
Another birth was announced from the rural Angier. Mr. and Mrs. Junius Denning were the new parents. The Mom was the former Dottie Sue Walker (Daily Record Dec. 11, 1961).
Connell McNeill was in Good Hope Hospital. Wonder if he was one of Dr. Mabe’s patients. The Erwin doctor was considering a run against Representative Carson Gregory. (Was there a story behind that consideration?) I do know that the “Old Rugged Cross” was America’s favorite hymn.
How many of you have someone to wrap your Christmas gifts? Mrs. Carson Carter (Joyce Parrish) gave a demonstration on wrapping Christmas packages for the Goodwill HD Club. Don’t you bet the ladies enjoyed that program? I do know that Bernard Franklin Young, husband to the former Joyce Kay Beasley, was home for fourteen days following six weeks of basic training at Fort Jackson, SC (Daily Record Dec. 12, 1961).
H.A. Turlington, Sr. of rural Dunn, a veteran swine breeder from NC, was elected president of the United Duroc Breeders Association. Question-when one lives in a rural area that has the name of a town in the address, does that mean the addressee is from that town? If that is true, my dad would have been from three different towns even though he never moved from the house in which he was born. He had three different RDF addresses during his lifetime. Out of curiosity-what is RDF ?
Did some of the boys who played on the Coats Boys Basketball team have different towns in their addresses-some from Coats, some from Benson, some from Erwin, some from Angier and others from Dunn? For sure, the boys’ team had led in the Harnett County Conference standings (Daily Record Dec. 13, 1961).
Curtis F. Adams of rural Angier was a student teacher in business at Ayden High School (Daily Record Dec. 15, 1961). Did Curtis ever teach in the Harnett County School system? I do know that his wife Judy not only taught but also was a principal before she retired.
Young Dupree, 63, brother of Mrs. Amelia Smith of Coats had died on Friday. Mrs. Blondell Barnes was in Good Hope. The Oakdale Community Development held it December meeting with M.O. Phillips discussing “Varieties of Tobacco Seed.” Twenty-seven members attended the meeting. Was there ever a variety that packaged the seeds in little boxes that looked like little barns?
It is a fact that Chelsey Johnson, 61, expired on Sunday. He was the father of Mrs. Howard Penny, Sr. Services were held at Pleasant Union Christian Church. By the way, his daughter Florine Penny just celebrated her 97th birthday. How much longer has she lived than her dad, Mr. Chelsey, had lived?
Does anyone remember Jean Carol Smith who attended Coats School? Jean had long, dark wavy hair and big brown eyes and was a real beauty queen. She would later marry Malcolm R. Fowler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Fowler of Angier. Jean was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Langdon who had announced the engagement of the couple.
The date on the calendar now displayed 1962. It would be the year in which the Cuban missile crisis played out and an American would orbit the earth. The twist, which had started in 1961, went out of control in 1962. Compact cars, or those called compact, no longer had meaning. Freeze-dried foods were a novelty in the grocery store. By mid-1962, the boom in fallout shelters had gone burst and manufacturers could not sell them at any price.
Question—have you been seeing on television where hundreds of people are ordering bunkers to be assembled and buried about sixteen feet underground. The bunkers have water and food supplies to last for two years. There are all kinds of devices to keep the inhabitants alive for at least a couple of years. Others are actually built to have the appearance of a home above a ground-even down to having a swimming pool. What do you think? Will they go the same way the fallout shelters went in the early 1960’s.
I do know that 1962 was the year that doctor shows were big on television such as “Ben Casey” and “Dr. Kildare.” It might surprise you that it was determined that 44 percent of the world’s population was illiterate. There were 11,300 U.S. troops in Vietnam. In 1962, the birthrate would fall by more than 130,000 from 1961. For the first time ever, the life expectancy of the average American would go over seventy years. The electronics industry was the fifth largest industry with sales for 1962 exceeding $13.1 billion (Paul Dickson, From Elvis to E-Mail, Massachusetts, 1990, 123-129).
A big thank you goes to all those who came out to learn more about African American history in Harnett County. Desi Campbell and Peggy Robinson have touched the lives of so many families and have ignited the desire for them to further research their ancestry. We look forward to seeing much of their work in print.
Visit our coatsmuseum.com website to discover additional Coats history.