November 30, 2018 Coats Museum News
The calendar displayed August 1973 and during that month, the U.S. bombing of Cambodia ended, marking the official halt to twelve years of combat in Southeast Asia. In Richmond, Virginia, a four-bedroom, tri-level home replete with family room was ready for occupancy. The house was built primarily of recycled materials to demonstrate the practicality of recycling. The project involved thirty companies coordinated by Reynolds Metals. In Washington, D.C., President Richard Nixon was ordered by Judge John Sirica to turn over secret Watergate tapes. Nixon refused and appealed the order. (Dickson, Paul .From Elvis to E-Mail. Springfield, Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1999. Page 204).
In Coats, Mrs. Ora Turlington Parrish, 80, had died on Saturday. Funeral services were held at the Coats Baptist Church, and conducted by Rev. Howard Beard. Burial was in the Coats City Cemetery. Her survivors were Mrs. Maude T. Johnson and Mrs. Vada T.Whittington. Does anyone know whom she was the widow of and were her two survivors her sisters? Wonder if she grew up in the Turlington Crossroads area? I do know that a family lost a young son killed as a result of a motorcycle accident. Daley Glenn Dupree, 18, of Route One, Angier was the grandson of Mrs. Floyd Denning (Daily Record Aug. 13, 1973).
Death took another young person connected to the Coats community. Mrs. Acley Byrd, 47, of Erwin had died on Monday. Mrs. Byrd was the mother of Mrs. Connie (Hal) Penny of Coats (Daily Record Aug. 14, 1973).
Miss Sue Lou Ogburn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hunter Ogburn, and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. H.A. Turlington, Sr., was the first runner-up in the State Junior Order Pageant in Wilmington (Daily Record Aug. 17, 1973).
We don’t read as much about the Home Demonstration Clubs today but they have been around for many years. Just as WWII got the woman out of the house into the job market, the Home Demonstration Clubs were an outlet for largely farm wives to become involved in activities that made them better homemakers and community activists. Mrs. Mack Hudson of Benson, Route One, was elected Cultural Arts chairman for the National Homemakers Extension Council. Mrs. Hudson was a past president of the 32,000-member NC Extension Homemakers Association (Daily Record Aug. 20, 1973).
The Daily Record, August 22, 1973 edition printed that Mrs. Lessie Messer, 62, of Coats, had died on Monday. Rev. R.O. Byrd and Rev. Linberg Collins conducted the services. She was buried in the Coats Cemetery. Dallas Messer, her husband, survived her. The following seven children also survived Mrs. Messer: Mrs. Louise Thornton, Mrs. Hilda Tyndall, Mrs. Goldie Powell, Mrs. Lois Ennis, Winfred Messer, Buddy Messer and Billy Ray Messer.
Who remembers Clarence Moore? We actually have his Coats Chief of Police hat in the museum on loan from Ron Avery. In 1973, Charles Leroy Beagle, 30, of Route One, Coats, and a student at Campbell College, had energized improvements in the Coats Police Department. The Coats Chief of Police was Clarence Moore who was assisted by Michael Swartz and Ronald Peters (Daily Record Aug. 28, 1973).
The Coats 4-H Horse judging team won 1st Place. Mrs. Max Matthews was an assistant. Jennifer Johnson, Kathy Williams, and Max Matthews, Jr. were part of the winning team. Elsewhere at Prospect FWB Church, Vickie Diana Stephenson had married Danny Waldo Faircloth, Jr. (Daily Record Sept. 9, 1973).
Over the years, if one traveled on the Chic Ennis Road off the Bailey’s Crossroad Road and NC 27, one could observe that small trees were growing into huge trees and slowly hiding the old Cornelius Hodges house from public view. This Cornelius Hodges was a school board member of District 17 in 1885. After school districts changed, Hodges donated an acre of land to build Grove District #1 Ennis School. If the school dissolved, the land was to revert to Mr. Hodges. This prosperous farmer and saw miller fathered fourteen children.
The Hodges-Layton families held their 16th (18th) reunion at Mary Stewart Community Building. Friends and descendents of the late Cornelius and Johnnie E. Layton Hodges, George Hodges, Alex Hodges, Burl Hodges, Tom Allen, Seth Hodges, Mary Eliza Hodges, Sarah Ellen Hodges McLamb, Cynthea Lennor Hodges Lee, Zalamia Layton Rainer, Cornelia Layton Jones, W.T. Layton Jones, W.T. Layton and Joel Layton, Sr. attended (Daily Record Aug. 2, 1973). Wouldn’t it be amazing to know the number and see the faces of the descendents who attended that event and if the Hodges-Layton families continue to have a reunion? I do know that Mary Eliza Hodges married William Richardson Sorrell who has hundreds of descendents scattered throughout the area (Daily Record Aug.2, 1973).
On a sadder note, Barbara Lynn Hayes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Faircloth, had died in Clayton. She was the infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hayes. While the Hayes and Faircloth families were mourning the death of this little infant, Mayor Ronald Coats was named chairman of the Harnett County Chapter of Cystic Fibrosis (Daily Record Sept. 11, 1973).
If you read this column weekly, likely you are one of many who enjoy reading to see how things once were. On the coatsmuseum.com website, all previous columns are available to be read with a click. A few days ago, I reread a column that shared news from 1950 and was reminded of how salaries for our public officials differed from today. In most instances $400 per month was a high salary. In the September 9, 1973 edition of the Daily Record, news was printed that the Coats Board of Town Commissioners had approved the increase of salary of Mrs. Patsy Parrish to $92.50 per week. She functioned as secretary for the town deputy clerk, the tax collector, the budget officer, mayor, police department, town attorney, all commissioners, and the office of registration. Did they get a margin? How many groceries or gas would that buy in comparison to 2018?
This I do know. Jennifer Flowers Collins, a special education teacher at Lafayette School, was expecting to publish a book shortly (Daily Record Sept. 14, 1973). Did it happen?
Mr. Tommy Young, son of Gerald Young and Mrs. J. L. Pleasant, was to marry Dianne Lucille Armstrong, daughter of Rev. Henry W. Armstrong of Dunn (Daily Record Sept. 18, 1973).
Some good news came from the Julian Danenburg family of near Coats. Allen and Diana Danenburg announced the birth of a daughter, Tessa Shon Danenburg, on September 12th. The mother was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Billy Ray Barbour (Daily Record Sept. 20, 1973).
John R. Wiggins, 29, of Coats, a design engineer for the N.C. Department of Transportation, had decided to run for a commissioner’s seat on the Coats town board (Daily Record Sept. 26, 1973).
Tessa Danenburg would have a future classmate at Coats High School after Barney and Mary Frances Weaver Williams announced the birth of their daughter Wendy Lynn Williams on September 25th at Betsy Johnson Hospital (Daily Record September 27, 1973). These girls would later graduate from Triton making Coats faculty proud of how well they achieved in the huge consolidated high school.
September always marks the beginning of a new school year and is when the seniors have their opportunity to preserve the history of their school years. The Coats High Class of 1973-74 was preserved by the work of high school students such as Marilyn Coats, Deborah Meadows, Randy Hedgepeth, Randy Pope, Bonnie Lee, Mary McCoy, Pam Spears, Lu Ann Stewart, LaRue Stephenson, Ann Langdon, Darlene Ryals, Bonnie Smith, Teresa Barbour, Tamara Betts, Jean Johnson, Denise Wise, Ann McKoy, Sue Lou Ogburn and Ron Robinson who worked tirelessly with yearbook sponsor, Mrs. Christine Stewart Hudson (1974 Coats High School Yearbook Echoing Memories).
After quizzing the readers last week about the chartering of the Lions Club in Coats in comparison to the chartering of other Harnett Lions Clubs, a reader asked me what the longevity of the Coats Lions organization is. The April 20, 1971 Daily Record printed an article stating that a big crowd was on hand at the Coats High School for the chartering of the Coats Lions Club. The charter was presented to Lions President Ronald Coats as an estimated 250 people watched. There were 51 charter members and it was one of the largest ever organized in the district and one of the largest in the state of North Carolina. The question remains if there are any charter members still active in the club?
As the Coats Museum volunteers reflect about 2018, we are reminded of the wonderful generosity of individuals living near and far from the museum. The loaning and donating of treasured items for displays has made the museum the destination of hundreds of visitors and researchers. The dozens of individuals who have given freely of their money to support the operation of the museum, to honor loved ones on special days, to remember beloved deceased family members or friends has been a blessing to not only the museum volunteers and board members but also to the many who tour the museum and are able revisit the times of their ancestors. The volunteers are mindful of the many new friends made throughout the area with individuals who have similar goals to preserve their local heritage in a protective setting for all to visit.
Without the support of the Daily Record which gives so much free space for Coats Museum News each week, the Coats Museum volunteers could not share our story with the reading public. Without the entrusting the museum with valued family items, there would be no museum. Without the financial support, the bills cannot be paid and activities and improvements cannot happen. Without selfless individuals who volunteer hundreds of hours, the doors to the museum would be close and there would be no Coats Museum. As we approach the true season of giving, the Coats Museum is aware of the fact that we are truly blessed to have been touched by giving all year long.
The calendar displayed August 1973 and during that month, the U.S. bombing of Cambodia ended, marking the official halt to twelve years of combat in Southeast Asia. In Richmond, Virginia, a four-bedroom, tri-level home replete with family room was ready for occupancy. The house was built primarily of recycled materials to demonstrate the practicality of recycling. The project involved thirty companies coordinated by Reynolds Metals. In Washington, D.C., President Richard Nixon was ordered by Judge John Sirica to turn over secret Watergate tapes. Nixon refused and appealed the order. (Dickson, Paul .From Elvis to E-Mail. Springfield, Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1999. Page 204).
In Coats, Mrs. Ora Turlington Parrish, 80, had died on Saturday. Funeral services were held at the Coats Baptist Church, and conducted by Rev. Howard Beard. Burial was in the Coats City Cemetery. Her survivors were Mrs. Maude T. Johnson and Mrs. Vada T.Whittington. Does anyone know whom she was the widow of and were her two survivors her sisters? Wonder if she grew up in the Turlington Crossroads area? I do know that a family lost a young son killed as a result of a motorcycle accident. Daley Glenn Dupree, 18, of Route One, Angier was the grandson of Mrs. Floyd Denning (Daily Record Aug. 13, 1973).
Death took another young person connected to the Coats community. Mrs. Acley Byrd, 47, of Erwin had died on Monday. Mrs. Byrd was the mother of Mrs. Connie (Hal) Penny of Coats (Daily Record Aug. 14, 1973).
Miss Sue Lou Ogburn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hunter Ogburn, and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. H.A. Turlington, Sr., was the first runner-up in the State Junior Order Pageant in Wilmington (Daily Record Aug. 17, 1973).
We don’t read as much about the Home Demonstration Clubs today but they have been around for many years. Just as WWII got the woman out of the house into the job market, the Home Demonstration Clubs were an outlet for largely farm wives to become involved in activities that made them better homemakers and community activists. Mrs. Mack Hudson of Benson, Route One, was elected Cultural Arts chairman for the National Homemakers Extension Council. Mrs. Hudson was a past president of the 32,000-member NC Extension Homemakers Association (Daily Record Aug. 20, 1973).
The Daily Record, August 22, 1973 edition printed that Mrs. Lessie Messer, 62, of Coats, had died on Monday. Rev. R.O. Byrd and Rev. Linberg Collins conducted the services. She was buried in the Coats Cemetery. Dallas Messer, her husband, survived her. The following seven children also survived Mrs. Messer: Mrs. Louise Thornton, Mrs. Hilda Tyndall, Mrs. Goldie Powell, Mrs. Lois Ennis, Winfred Messer, Buddy Messer and Billy Ray Messer.
Who remembers Clarence Moore? We actually have his Coats Chief of Police hat in the museum on loan from Ron Avery. In 1973, Charles Leroy Beagle, 30, of Route One, Coats, and a student at Campbell College, had energized improvements in the Coats Police Department. The Coats Chief of Police was Clarence Moore who was assisted by Michael Swartz and Ronald Peters (Daily Record Aug. 28, 1973).
The Coats 4-H Horse judging team won 1st Place. Mrs. Max Matthews was an assistant. Jennifer Johnson, Kathy Williams, and Max Matthews, Jr. were part of the winning team. Elsewhere at Prospect FWB Church, Vickie Diana Stephenson had married Danny Waldo Faircloth, Jr. (Daily Record Sept. 9, 1973).
Over the years, if one traveled on the Chic Ennis Road off the Bailey’s Crossroad Road and NC 27, one could observe that small trees were growing into huge trees and slowly hiding the old Cornelius Hodges house from public view. This Cornelius Hodges was a school board member of District 17 in 1885. After school districts changed, Hodges donated an acre of land to build Grove District #1 Ennis School. If the school dissolved, the land was to revert to Mr. Hodges. This prosperous farmer and saw miller fathered fourteen children.
The Hodges-Layton families held their 16th (18th) reunion at Mary Stewart Community Building. Friends and descendents of the late Cornelius and Johnnie E. Layton Hodges, George Hodges, Alex Hodges, Burl Hodges, Tom Allen, Seth Hodges, Mary Eliza Hodges, Sarah Ellen Hodges McLamb, Cynthea Lennor Hodges Lee, Zalamia Layton Rainer, Cornelia Layton Jones, W.T. Layton Jones, W.T. Layton and Joel Layton, Sr. attended (Daily Record Aug. 2, 1973). Wouldn’t it be amazing to know the number and see the faces of the descendents who attended that event and if the Hodges-Layton families continue to have a reunion? I do know that Mary Eliza Hodges married William Richardson Sorrell who has hundreds of descendents scattered throughout the area (Daily Record Aug.2, 1973).
On a sadder note, Barbara Lynn Hayes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Faircloth, had died in Clayton. She was the infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hayes. While the Hayes and Faircloth families were mourning the death of this little infant, Mayor Ronald Coats was named chairman of the Harnett County Chapter of Cystic Fibrosis (Daily Record Sept. 11, 1973).
If you read this column weekly, likely you are one of many who enjoy reading to see how things once were. On the coatsmuseum.com website, all previous columns are available to be read with a click. A few days ago, I reread a column that shared news from 1950 and was reminded of how salaries for our public officials differed from today. In most instances $400 per month was a high salary. In the September 9, 1973 edition of the Daily Record, news was printed that the Coats Board of Town Commissioners had approved the increase of salary of Mrs. Patsy Parrish to $92.50 per week. She functioned as secretary for the town deputy clerk, the tax collector, the budget officer, mayor, police department, town attorney, all commissioners, and the office of registration. Did they get a margin? How many groceries or gas would that buy in comparison to 2018?
This I do know. Jennifer Flowers Collins, a special education teacher at Lafayette School, was expecting to publish a book shortly (Daily Record Sept. 14, 1973). Did it happen?
Mr. Tommy Young, son of Gerald Young and Mrs. J. L. Pleasant, was to marry Dianne Lucille Armstrong, daughter of Rev. Henry W. Armstrong of Dunn (Daily Record Sept. 18, 1973).
Some good news came from the Julian Danenburg family of near Coats. Allen and Diana Danenburg announced the birth of a daughter, Tessa Shon Danenburg, on September 12th. The mother was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Billy Ray Barbour (Daily Record Sept. 20, 1973).
John R. Wiggins, 29, of Coats, a design engineer for the N.C. Department of Transportation, had decided to run for a commissioner’s seat on the Coats town board (Daily Record Sept. 26, 1973).
Tessa Danenburg would have a future classmate at Coats High School after Barney and Mary Frances Weaver Williams announced the birth of their daughter Wendy Lynn Williams on September 25th at Betsy Johnson Hospital (Daily Record September 27, 1973). These girls would later graduate from Triton making Coats faculty proud of how well they achieved in the huge consolidated high school.
September always marks the beginning of a new school year and is when the seniors have their opportunity to preserve the history of their school years. The Coats High Class of 1973-74 was preserved by the work of high school students such as Marilyn Coats, Deborah Meadows, Randy Hedgepeth, Randy Pope, Bonnie Lee, Mary McCoy, Pam Spears, Lu Ann Stewart, LaRue Stephenson, Ann Langdon, Darlene Ryals, Bonnie Smith, Teresa Barbour, Tamara Betts, Jean Johnson, Denise Wise, Ann McKoy, Sue Lou Ogburn and Ron Robinson who worked tirelessly with yearbook sponsor, Mrs. Christine Stewart Hudson (1974 Coats High School Yearbook Echoing Memories).
After quizzing the readers last week about the chartering of the Lions Club in Coats in comparison to the chartering of other Harnett Lions Clubs, a reader asked me what the longevity of the Coats Lions organization is. The April 20, 1971 Daily Record printed an article stating that a big crowd was on hand at the Coats High School for the chartering of the Coats Lions Club. The charter was presented to Lions President Ronald Coats as an estimated 250 people watched. There were 51 charter members and it was one of the largest ever organized in the district and one of the largest in the state of North Carolina. The question remains if there are any charter members still active in the club?
As the Coats Museum volunteers reflect about 2018, we are reminded of the wonderful generosity of individuals living near and far from the museum. The loaning and donating of treasured items for displays has made the museum the destination of hundreds of visitors and researchers. The dozens of individuals who have given freely of their money to support the operation of the museum, to honor loved ones on special days, to remember beloved deceased family members or friends has been a blessing to not only the museum volunteers and board members but also to the many who tour the museum and are able revisit the times of their ancestors. The volunteers are mindful of the many new friends made throughout the area with individuals who have similar goals to preserve their local heritage in a protective setting for all to visit.
Without the support of the Daily Record which gives so much free space for Coats Museum News each week, the Coats Museum volunteers could not share our story with the reading public. Without the entrusting the museum with valued family items, there would be no museum. Without the financial support, the bills cannot be paid and activities and improvements cannot happen. Without selfless individuals who volunteer hundreds of hours, the doors to the museum would be close and there would be no Coats Museum. As we approach the true season of giving, the Coats Museum is aware of the fact that we are truly blessed to have been touched by giving all year long.