November 12, 2021 Coats Museum News
The year was 1988 and the citizens of that date had witnessed the Soviets withdrawing its Soviet troops from Afghanistan and learned that Budweiser was the top brand of U.S. beer, selling 50.5 million barrels-just over a billion gallons. The Census Bureau had reported that the proportion of one-parent families had grown from 12.9 percent of all families with children in 1970 to 27.3 in 1988.
Kraft Inc. accepted a $13.1 billion takeover bid from Philip Morris Company and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &Company had won the largest corporate bidding contest ever and agreed to pay $25 billion to buy RJR Nabicso Inc. A congressional committee estimated that 5 to 7 million latchkey kids in America came home from school while their parents were still at work (Dickson, Paul. From Elvis to E-Mail. Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1991, pp.298-99).
Do you wonder how the citizens of our country reacted to those statistics in 1988? I do know that many folks in Coats were proud of Gina Rebecca Parrish who had been crowned as the 1988 Miss Coats Junior Order. Gena had also competed in the State JOUAM . In High Point. Anita Matthews was named a 1988 member of the Outstanding College Students of America. While attending NCSU, Anita had been active in the School of Agriculture and Life Sciences Honor Society and had maintained Dean’s list during her sophomore and junior years. Anita is the daughter of Max and Dot Matthews and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Matthews and Lettie Maynard (Daily Record Aug. 8. 1988).
Another happy event occurred in a Coats family. The Rev. and Mrs. Floyd Turlington announced the engagement of their daughter, Joyce Eve, to Keith Wayne Snipes, Jr., son of Keith Snipes and Maulene West. Eve was a student at CCCC in the Accounting Department (Daily Record Aug. 10. 1988).
Congratulations were also extended to Jason Ennis for making the Dan’s List at CCCC. He was son of Garner and Doris Ennis (Daily Record Aug. 14, 1988).
Who remembers Fleming Peede? He sold cars with experience according to the Daily Record headlines. That’s exactly what he had been doing for 35 years. Fleming had opened Quality Auto Sales in the old Tastee Freeze building on NC55. He started selling cars in 1954 at Parrish Motor Co. in Benson. In 1957, he moved to work with Sexton Ford in Lillington and remained there until he opened this business in April 1988. His daughter, Cathy Byrd, Jerry Honeycutt, Jr., Toby Honeycutt, and Stacy Byrd were his employees.
Another new addition to the Coats landscape was the establishment of an office for the Lee-Harnett Mental Health-Mental Rehabilitation SAA. Walter Weeks was director and was welcomed to the facility in the old post office on Railroad Street. The establishment was welcomed by the president of the CACC (Daily Record Aug. 16. 1988).
After months of consideration, the NC Department of Transportation officials decided that the NC 27 would follow the Old Stage Road. The decision appeared to have made the Coats and Campbell University people happy.
Coats has had its share of outstanding military folks. In August of 1988 the town lost one that was a member of a very prominent family of military men. Lt. Col. Bob Kelly who had resided in Melbourne, Florida had died there. Some will recognize that his mom was the postmistress of Coats for years and he was cousin to Levin, Max and Godfrey Beasley.
We are fortunate to have several uniforms of Lt. Col. Kelly and we were also excited to have his son and daughter-in-law to visit us recently from Florida.
Who can forget Mrs. Mae Johnson Coats? She spent many years at the Bailey’s Crossroad where her first husband operated a business. She later married Alonzo Coats. Mae had celebrated her 91st birthday and received a dollar for each year from her son Lynwood Johnson who told her after she got to the 200 mark that he would have to stop giving her a dollar for each year (Daily Record Aug. 17. 1988).
Do you recall who wired the Coats Senior Center? Johnnie Barnes of Route 2, Angier had died on Monday in Rex Hospital. He was the son of Elsie and Lillian Lassiter Barnes. The retired state electrician was a veteran of WWII, the Coats Senior Center Program and the Gideon’s International. Surviving Mr. Barnes were his wife, Hazel Morgan Barnes; two sons-William and David, and a daughter, Janice B. Daniel. Max and Walter Barnes were his brothers and Edna B. Hoag was a sister.
Proud news came to the Don Ennis household. Carletta had been named Assistant Vice-President of Standard Bank. The 10-year veteran of banking was the wife of Don Ennis and mother to Adam and Chris Ennis.
Mr. and Mrs. Jan McLamb of Benson announced the birth of a son, Jared Scott. Maternal grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. Billy Pope of Coats (Daily Record Aug. 23, 1988).
Belle Williams continued to be busy seeking out Coats notes for her Daily Record column. She reported that Rudy Collins had purchased the Ennis Agri Supply from Terry Ennis. Collins and his partner, Jim Hurley, renamed the farm business to Rudy Collins Farm Center (Daily Record Aug. 24, 1988).
The Coats Senior Center had raised $5,000 to support the center (Daily Record Aug. 29, 1988).
The CACC focused on the Short Stop Store #17, located in the southern part of Coats on NC 55. Kenneth Turlington managed the store. The Coats High School graduate was a 20 year military veteran. He was married to Jutta Turlington whom he had met while serving in Germany. The store employed three full-time employees. Can you imagine how Kenneth’s family reacted when he brought this beautiful girl home to meet his family? Wonder how proud this humble couple would have been to have known that she would one day be the James Thomas Coats Humanitarian of the Year.
Talking about being proud, Tim McKinnie must have really been proud of the love of his life. He surprised her on their 10th anniversary with a new diamond to replace the one he had given her 10 years earlier. They were vacationing in Hilton Head to celebrate the big event (Daily Record Aug 31, 1988).
The Coats Farmers Day Festival announced that a car show would be held at the Coats Middle School. Tony Mangum and Harry Denton headed up the committee; however, the Jones family was likely more concerned with the loss of their wife and mother. Meter Stewart Jones, 66, of Coats had died at GHH. Services were held at the Coats Chapel Free Will Baptist Church and Resthaven Cemetery. Her husband was Robert Jones. Her children were Melba Jones Austin, Roy K. Jones and Ronald Jones. Edna Stewart and Thelma Ross were her sisters (Daily Record Sept. 8, 1988).
We had an amazing day on last Thursday. Lynda Butler gave tours to visitors from Canada. They are friends of Brenda Rhiner’s family who recently moved here from the Panama. The brother of Nancy Stout Roberts was in town and visited the museum for a tour. We had to share what a generous person his brother-in-law Ray Roberts is and that our Cotton Museum and decks look beautiful because of Ray’s paint company.
Thanks to Becky Adams and the dozens of people who have shared vintage photos with her, the museum has really accumulated a wonderful digital photo collection. To assist Don Bennett in his search for Masons in Harnett County, we have been able share some rare photos of those living in the early 1900’s. Thanks go this week to Sherry Williford who helped us locate a picture of L.L. Turlington. She also shared a picture of his wife Laura Frances Sorrell Turlington who was sister to Virginia Sorrell Turlington, wife of Oscar Turlington who had sons who were Masons.
Did you know that Christy Turlington, the Maybelline model of CA, has her ancestral roots in Coats?
Jan Ennis Seagroves, thanks for sharing a very clear picture of W.E. Nichols who was a Mason and donor of the land upon which the Coats Museum and Cotton Museum are located along with the Community Building.
The year was 1988 and the citizens of that date had witnessed the Soviets withdrawing its Soviet troops from Afghanistan and learned that Budweiser was the top brand of U.S. beer, selling 50.5 million barrels-just over a billion gallons. The Census Bureau had reported that the proportion of one-parent families had grown from 12.9 percent of all families with children in 1970 to 27.3 in 1988.
Kraft Inc. accepted a $13.1 billion takeover bid from Philip Morris Company and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &Company had won the largest corporate bidding contest ever and agreed to pay $25 billion to buy RJR Nabicso Inc. A congressional committee estimated that 5 to 7 million latchkey kids in America came home from school while their parents were still at work (Dickson, Paul. From Elvis to E-Mail. Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1991, pp.298-99).
Do you wonder how the citizens of our country reacted to those statistics in 1988? I do know that many folks in Coats were proud of Gina Rebecca Parrish who had been crowned as the 1988 Miss Coats Junior Order. Gena had also competed in the State JOUAM . In High Point. Anita Matthews was named a 1988 member of the Outstanding College Students of America. While attending NCSU, Anita had been active in the School of Agriculture and Life Sciences Honor Society and had maintained Dean’s list during her sophomore and junior years. Anita is the daughter of Max and Dot Matthews and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Matthews and Lettie Maynard (Daily Record Aug. 8. 1988).
Another happy event occurred in a Coats family. The Rev. and Mrs. Floyd Turlington announced the engagement of their daughter, Joyce Eve, to Keith Wayne Snipes, Jr., son of Keith Snipes and Maulene West. Eve was a student at CCCC in the Accounting Department (Daily Record Aug. 10. 1988).
Congratulations were also extended to Jason Ennis for making the Dan’s List at CCCC. He was son of Garner and Doris Ennis (Daily Record Aug. 14, 1988).
Who remembers Fleming Peede? He sold cars with experience according to the Daily Record headlines. That’s exactly what he had been doing for 35 years. Fleming had opened Quality Auto Sales in the old Tastee Freeze building on NC55. He started selling cars in 1954 at Parrish Motor Co. in Benson. In 1957, he moved to work with Sexton Ford in Lillington and remained there until he opened this business in April 1988. His daughter, Cathy Byrd, Jerry Honeycutt, Jr., Toby Honeycutt, and Stacy Byrd were his employees.
Another new addition to the Coats landscape was the establishment of an office for the Lee-Harnett Mental Health-Mental Rehabilitation SAA. Walter Weeks was director and was welcomed to the facility in the old post office on Railroad Street. The establishment was welcomed by the president of the CACC (Daily Record Aug. 16. 1988).
After months of consideration, the NC Department of Transportation officials decided that the NC 27 would follow the Old Stage Road. The decision appeared to have made the Coats and Campbell University people happy.
Coats has had its share of outstanding military folks. In August of 1988 the town lost one that was a member of a very prominent family of military men. Lt. Col. Bob Kelly who had resided in Melbourne, Florida had died there. Some will recognize that his mom was the postmistress of Coats for years and he was cousin to Levin, Max and Godfrey Beasley.
We are fortunate to have several uniforms of Lt. Col. Kelly and we were also excited to have his son and daughter-in-law to visit us recently from Florida.
Who can forget Mrs. Mae Johnson Coats? She spent many years at the Bailey’s Crossroad where her first husband operated a business. She later married Alonzo Coats. Mae had celebrated her 91st birthday and received a dollar for each year from her son Lynwood Johnson who told her after she got to the 200 mark that he would have to stop giving her a dollar for each year (Daily Record Aug. 17. 1988).
Do you recall who wired the Coats Senior Center? Johnnie Barnes of Route 2, Angier had died on Monday in Rex Hospital. He was the son of Elsie and Lillian Lassiter Barnes. The retired state electrician was a veteran of WWII, the Coats Senior Center Program and the Gideon’s International. Surviving Mr. Barnes were his wife, Hazel Morgan Barnes; two sons-William and David, and a daughter, Janice B. Daniel. Max and Walter Barnes were his brothers and Edna B. Hoag was a sister.
Proud news came to the Don Ennis household. Carletta had been named Assistant Vice-President of Standard Bank. The 10-year veteran of banking was the wife of Don Ennis and mother to Adam and Chris Ennis.
Mr. and Mrs. Jan McLamb of Benson announced the birth of a son, Jared Scott. Maternal grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. Billy Pope of Coats (Daily Record Aug. 23, 1988).
Belle Williams continued to be busy seeking out Coats notes for her Daily Record column. She reported that Rudy Collins had purchased the Ennis Agri Supply from Terry Ennis. Collins and his partner, Jim Hurley, renamed the farm business to Rudy Collins Farm Center (Daily Record Aug. 24, 1988).
The Coats Senior Center had raised $5,000 to support the center (Daily Record Aug. 29, 1988).
The CACC focused on the Short Stop Store #17, located in the southern part of Coats on NC 55. Kenneth Turlington managed the store. The Coats High School graduate was a 20 year military veteran. He was married to Jutta Turlington whom he had met while serving in Germany. The store employed three full-time employees. Can you imagine how Kenneth’s family reacted when he brought this beautiful girl home to meet his family? Wonder how proud this humble couple would have been to have known that she would one day be the James Thomas Coats Humanitarian of the Year.
Talking about being proud, Tim McKinnie must have really been proud of the love of his life. He surprised her on their 10th anniversary with a new diamond to replace the one he had given her 10 years earlier. They were vacationing in Hilton Head to celebrate the big event (Daily Record Aug 31, 1988).
The Coats Farmers Day Festival announced that a car show would be held at the Coats Middle School. Tony Mangum and Harry Denton headed up the committee; however, the Jones family was likely more concerned with the loss of their wife and mother. Meter Stewart Jones, 66, of Coats had died at GHH. Services were held at the Coats Chapel Free Will Baptist Church and Resthaven Cemetery. Her husband was Robert Jones. Her children were Melba Jones Austin, Roy K. Jones and Ronald Jones. Edna Stewart and Thelma Ross were her sisters (Daily Record Sept. 8, 1988).
We had an amazing day on last Thursday. Lynda Butler gave tours to visitors from Canada. They are friends of Brenda Rhiner’s family who recently moved here from the Panama. The brother of Nancy Stout Roberts was in town and visited the museum for a tour. We had to share what a generous person his brother-in-law Ray Roberts is and that our Cotton Museum and decks look beautiful because of Ray’s paint company.
Thanks to Becky Adams and the dozens of people who have shared vintage photos with her, the museum has really accumulated a wonderful digital photo collection. To assist Don Bennett in his search for Masons in Harnett County, we have been able share some rare photos of those living in the early 1900’s. Thanks go this week to Sherry Williford who helped us locate a picture of L.L. Turlington. She also shared a picture of his wife Laura Frances Sorrell Turlington who was sister to Virginia Sorrell Turlington, wife of Oscar Turlington who had sons who were Masons.
Did you know that Christy Turlington, the Maybelline model of CA, has her ancestral roots in Coats?
Jan Ennis Seagroves, thanks for sharing a very clear picture of W.E. Nichols who was a Mason and donor of the land upon which the Coats Museum and Cotton Museum are located along with the Community Building.