November 26, 2021 Coats Museum News
The page on the September 1988 calendar was ready to be flipped to the November one The successful launching of the shuttle Discovery had put the nation back in space after a long grounding occasioned by the Challenger disaster. The world would be told by the bishop of Turin that the shroud of Turin, long believed to be Christ’s burial sheet, did not withstand scientific testing. It dated back to AD. 1280 and not to the crucifixion (Dickson, Paul. From Elvis to E-Mail. Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, pp298-299).
“Time, like water, moves in one direction-Forward” and “When one door closes, another opens” are favorite sayings of many who have faced challenges that did not pan out in their present time. When my son, Bryan Sorrell, tried out for the basketball team at Triton he was under six feet tall and it would be a couple of years before he reached his current 6’5’’ height. Not making the cut to play basketball was a big disappointment but did not define what he became. He elected to go for Cross-County where he had to challenge only himself to be the best he could be. The October 5, 1988 edition of the Daily Record wrote that sophomore Bryan Sorrell was the top finisher for Triton High School in the Cross-Country meet at Garner where he posted a 14:54 time.
Another article in that same edition spotlighted the Turlington Feed and Seed Company as the CACC Business Focus of the Week. The company was owned and operated by JoAnn and T.J. Turlington, Jr. T.J and JoAnn and their families have a long history in the Coats and Dunn area. T.J., Jr. who served his country in the military was a descendent of Willis Turlington who purchased 2300 acres of land from the Dushee Shaw heirs in 1839. T.J.’s father was a fire warden for Harnett County and we are fortunate to have his hat in our Coats Museum Collection. He married Dona Ennis who was remembered for her teaching in several of the early schools in Grove such as the Oakdale and District #3 Coats School. Again we are fortunate to have her collection of flashcards she used in teaching reading. She was a very talented lady who made her own hats and pocketbooks that match in workmanship to any of those sold in fashionable shops. Generosity is in the DNA of those families as proven by the impact they have made in the Coats Museum and community.
The McKay (McKoy)family lost to death a beloved member of their family. Mrs. Bertha McKay had died at the Adams and Kinton Nursing Center. The Rev. Nathaniel McNeill held her services at the St. Luke AME Zion Church in Coats. Burial was in the Black River Grove Cemetery on Johnson Road. She was survived by a daughter and son-in-law Christine and James Allen and one daughter-in-law Rebecca McKoy. Does she have descendants living in Coats now in 2021?
I do know that Mrs. Jeanette Pleasant was a new teacher assigned to teach at the Angier Middle School where she taught fifth grade English and writing. The Beta Club sponsor had received her BS and ME Degrees from CU. She had previously taught for nine years at Harnett Central and last year at Triton. She is mother to Robbie, Jill and Anita and her husband Robert Pleasant was Manager of THM in Coats.
Jeanette and Robert’s daughter Anita had made the news when she was picked as Jr. Miss Erwin Denim. The busy young lassie was a member of the Coats softball championship team and played forward on the Coats basketball team which had won the regular season championship. Anita also won the “Most Improved”, won a Gold in the Cape Fear Swim League and earned Chief Marshal for obtaining the highest academic average for the seventh grade. Anita noted that she had gained much poise and confidence from her reign as Jr. Miss Erwin Denim. Would you not like to know what Anita is doing today?
Others who made the news in the same Oct. 6, 1988 Daily Record edition were Mack Underwood, Glenn Williams, Keith Parrish and Dallie Bagwell who were winners in the Coats Farmers Day Golf Tournament.
Charles R. Ennis took home the first and second place in the barbeque cooking contest and carried home $650.00 at the Farmers Day events (Daily Record Oct. 10, 1988).
New queens who were to reign in 1989 were chosen .Kristal Nicole Sills was crowned Tiny Miss Coats; Melissa Matthews won Little Miss Coats and Mandy Reid Messer was crowned Junior Miss Coats. Shannon Jernigan was Teen Miss Coats (Daily Record Oct. 11, 1988).
Lynda Daniel was all smiles as she talked to Miss North Carolina, Lee Barnan, about the United Way goal for 1989. Farmers Day was history but old fashioned pig-pickings continued. Cortez and Mary Ross Williams were honored with one on their anniversary. Bobby and Joyce Williams and Sue Nabors hand her husband planned the event to which about 50 people came.
Another pig-picking was held for Bill and Christine Akerman who had Billy and Peggie Pope prepare a pig-picking to invite friends over to meet Bill and Christine‘s friends from Seattle. Elsewhere, Mrs. Sarah Godwin was honored her on her 90th birthday by her children. Sarah was the widow of Elder B.L. Godwin. Sarah loved to read. She stayed with her daughter and son-in-law- Mazelle and Willie Strickland (Daily Record Oct. 13, 1988).
There are fewer and fewer people living today who remember Sarah and B.L. (Blaney) Godwin. History has recorded him as being a master builder whose workmanship is found in so many of the older buildings in Coats and community. Did he help build the Coats Teacherage in the late 1940’s? Did he help build the old Coats School? Did you see that he was called Elder and did you know that he was active in town politics where he served on the town council?
It is painful to lose a loved one to death and when it is a very young person, it is almost unbearable. Such must have been the case when Bennett M. Clevenger, Jr., 22, of rural Coats had died of injuries he had received in a traffic accident (Daily Record Oct. 17, 1988).
Another familiar name in history is Curtis Guy. The banker was the Chairman of the Bush Campaign in Harnett County. Mr. Guy had died of an apparent heart attack in Florida where he was on tour of the Epcot Center (Daily Record Oct. 17. 1988).
The Angier native was the son of the late Carlie and Layton (?) Broadwell Guy. He had served in WWII in the Pacific. His services were in the Coats Baptist Church and Coats City Cemetery. His widow, Lib Guy, and two daughter-Sybil Beasley Wells and Ann Beasley Jones survived him.
Deaths continued to make the news. Worth Allen, 58, of Coats had died on Saturday. Two sisters- Mrs. Anna Wyrosdick and Mrs. Betty Weaver survived him. Is this our Betty Weaver from Terre Hill management? There was news of a birth announcement in the same October 24, 1988 edition of the Daily Record. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel O. Broadwell shared the news of the birth of a daughter, Amber Ruth, at Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford. Did Daniel earn the rank of Eagle in Boy Scouts?
One of the greatest enjoyments of working as a museum volunteer is meeting people who come through the doors with amazing items they have found when going through trunks of their ancestors. Juanita Youngblood visited us to donate a little memo book she had found in a WWI trunk belonging to her father John Young. He had recorded in 1931 the information regarding clearing “new ground”. John Young had written that to remove a stump had cost him 50 cents and to cut a cord of wood was $1.50 He documented all the labor costs and to whom he paid for labor. Thank you, Juanita, for sharing this valuable little book which curiously has the name W.M. Keen, a Coats merchant, printed on its cover.
The museum will be closed on Sunday for Thanksgiving break for our volunteers.
The page on the September 1988 calendar was ready to be flipped to the November one The successful launching of the shuttle Discovery had put the nation back in space after a long grounding occasioned by the Challenger disaster. The world would be told by the bishop of Turin that the shroud of Turin, long believed to be Christ’s burial sheet, did not withstand scientific testing. It dated back to AD. 1280 and not to the crucifixion (Dickson, Paul. From Elvis to E-Mail. Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, pp298-299).
“Time, like water, moves in one direction-Forward” and “When one door closes, another opens” are favorite sayings of many who have faced challenges that did not pan out in their present time. When my son, Bryan Sorrell, tried out for the basketball team at Triton he was under six feet tall and it would be a couple of years before he reached his current 6’5’’ height. Not making the cut to play basketball was a big disappointment but did not define what he became. He elected to go for Cross-County where he had to challenge only himself to be the best he could be. The October 5, 1988 edition of the Daily Record wrote that sophomore Bryan Sorrell was the top finisher for Triton High School in the Cross-Country meet at Garner where he posted a 14:54 time.
Another article in that same edition spotlighted the Turlington Feed and Seed Company as the CACC Business Focus of the Week. The company was owned and operated by JoAnn and T.J. Turlington, Jr. T.J and JoAnn and their families have a long history in the Coats and Dunn area. T.J., Jr. who served his country in the military was a descendent of Willis Turlington who purchased 2300 acres of land from the Dushee Shaw heirs in 1839. T.J.’s father was a fire warden for Harnett County and we are fortunate to have his hat in our Coats Museum Collection. He married Dona Ennis who was remembered for her teaching in several of the early schools in Grove such as the Oakdale and District #3 Coats School. Again we are fortunate to have her collection of flashcards she used in teaching reading. She was a very talented lady who made her own hats and pocketbooks that match in workmanship to any of those sold in fashionable shops. Generosity is in the DNA of those families as proven by the impact they have made in the Coats Museum and community.
The McKay (McKoy)family lost to death a beloved member of their family. Mrs. Bertha McKay had died at the Adams and Kinton Nursing Center. The Rev. Nathaniel McNeill held her services at the St. Luke AME Zion Church in Coats. Burial was in the Black River Grove Cemetery on Johnson Road. She was survived by a daughter and son-in-law Christine and James Allen and one daughter-in-law Rebecca McKoy. Does she have descendants living in Coats now in 2021?
I do know that Mrs. Jeanette Pleasant was a new teacher assigned to teach at the Angier Middle School where she taught fifth grade English and writing. The Beta Club sponsor had received her BS and ME Degrees from CU. She had previously taught for nine years at Harnett Central and last year at Triton. She is mother to Robbie, Jill and Anita and her husband Robert Pleasant was Manager of THM in Coats.
Jeanette and Robert’s daughter Anita had made the news when she was picked as Jr. Miss Erwin Denim. The busy young lassie was a member of the Coats softball championship team and played forward on the Coats basketball team which had won the regular season championship. Anita also won the “Most Improved”, won a Gold in the Cape Fear Swim League and earned Chief Marshal for obtaining the highest academic average for the seventh grade. Anita noted that she had gained much poise and confidence from her reign as Jr. Miss Erwin Denim. Would you not like to know what Anita is doing today?
Others who made the news in the same Oct. 6, 1988 Daily Record edition were Mack Underwood, Glenn Williams, Keith Parrish and Dallie Bagwell who were winners in the Coats Farmers Day Golf Tournament.
Charles R. Ennis took home the first and second place in the barbeque cooking contest and carried home $650.00 at the Farmers Day events (Daily Record Oct. 10, 1988).
New queens who were to reign in 1989 were chosen .Kristal Nicole Sills was crowned Tiny Miss Coats; Melissa Matthews won Little Miss Coats and Mandy Reid Messer was crowned Junior Miss Coats. Shannon Jernigan was Teen Miss Coats (Daily Record Oct. 11, 1988).
Lynda Daniel was all smiles as she talked to Miss North Carolina, Lee Barnan, about the United Way goal for 1989. Farmers Day was history but old fashioned pig-pickings continued. Cortez and Mary Ross Williams were honored with one on their anniversary. Bobby and Joyce Williams and Sue Nabors hand her husband planned the event to which about 50 people came.
Another pig-picking was held for Bill and Christine Akerman who had Billy and Peggie Pope prepare a pig-picking to invite friends over to meet Bill and Christine‘s friends from Seattle. Elsewhere, Mrs. Sarah Godwin was honored her on her 90th birthday by her children. Sarah was the widow of Elder B.L. Godwin. Sarah loved to read. She stayed with her daughter and son-in-law- Mazelle and Willie Strickland (Daily Record Oct. 13, 1988).
There are fewer and fewer people living today who remember Sarah and B.L. (Blaney) Godwin. History has recorded him as being a master builder whose workmanship is found in so many of the older buildings in Coats and community. Did he help build the Coats Teacherage in the late 1940’s? Did he help build the old Coats School? Did you see that he was called Elder and did you know that he was active in town politics where he served on the town council?
It is painful to lose a loved one to death and when it is a very young person, it is almost unbearable. Such must have been the case when Bennett M. Clevenger, Jr., 22, of rural Coats had died of injuries he had received in a traffic accident (Daily Record Oct. 17, 1988).
Another familiar name in history is Curtis Guy. The banker was the Chairman of the Bush Campaign in Harnett County. Mr. Guy had died of an apparent heart attack in Florida where he was on tour of the Epcot Center (Daily Record Oct. 17. 1988).
The Angier native was the son of the late Carlie and Layton (?) Broadwell Guy. He had served in WWII in the Pacific. His services were in the Coats Baptist Church and Coats City Cemetery. His widow, Lib Guy, and two daughter-Sybil Beasley Wells and Ann Beasley Jones survived him.
Deaths continued to make the news. Worth Allen, 58, of Coats had died on Saturday. Two sisters- Mrs. Anna Wyrosdick and Mrs. Betty Weaver survived him. Is this our Betty Weaver from Terre Hill management? There was news of a birth announcement in the same October 24, 1988 edition of the Daily Record. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel O. Broadwell shared the news of the birth of a daughter, Amber Ruth, at Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford. Did Daniel earn the rank of Eagle in Boy Scouts?
One of the greatest enjoyments of working as a museum volunteer is meeting people who come through the doors with amazing items they have found when going through trunks of their ancestors. Juanita Youngblood visited us to donate a little memo book she had found in a WWI trunk belonging to her father John Young. He had recorded in 1931 the information regarding clearing “new ground”. John Young had written that to remove a stump had cost him 50 cents and to cut a cord of wood was $1.50 He documented all the labor costs and to whom he paid for labor. Thank you, Juanita, for sharing this valuable little book which curiously has the name W.M. Keen, a Coats merchant, printed on its cover.
The museum will be closed on Sunday for Thanksgiving break for our volunteers.