November 4, 2016 Coats Museum News
How many doctors, pharmacists, and other medical people do you think come from small U.S. towns? I do know that Coats has large numbers. The Daily Record printed that two Coats men were enrolled in the School of Pharmacy at UNC Chapel Hill. Larry Denning, son of Mrs. Edward Denning, and Ronald Langdon, son of Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Langdon, were both 1959 Coats High School graduates. The Langdon’s oldest son William practiced Obstetrics/Gynecology and their youngest son Charles is a dentist. Were the three brothers in the university system at the same time? What about Larry? Was his younger brother Ralph in college while Larry was in Carolina? One has to wonder how those parents pulled it off having several in college at the same time.
Surely all of these young men knew Luke Barefoot who operated the Barefoot’s Café and Bar-B-Que. In fact, I think Ralph might have actually worked at Luke’s as a teenager. The September 30th edition of the Daily Record reported that Mr. Luke’s brother, Lonnie Allen Barefoot, 63, had died in Newport News, Virginia.
Do you remember who the Republican candidates for president, vice president and NC governor were in 1960? According to an advertisement in the Daily Record that encouraged the voters of Harnett to vote for Richard Dixon for president, Henry Cabot Lodge for vice president and Robert Gavin as NC governor. Belks in Dunn also was advertising but the store was enticing parents to bring in their children between the ages of six weeks to six years-old for a 5x7 picture for 48 cents (Daily Record Oct. 4, 1960).
School at Coats High had been in session for over a month and the students were already in place for most of the extracurricular activities. Janice Barnes and her yearbook editorial staff of Cheryl Dorman, Ted Malone, Jr., Richard Daniel, Sandra Poole Trogdon, Rachel Ennis, Barbara Langdon, and Jimmy Wade were set to work with Eloise Johnson and her business staff of Miriam Ennis, Lela Dorman, Patricia Collier, Barbara Faircloth, Nora Avery, and Judy Byrd.
The 1961 seniors at Coats High had elected President Edward Turlington, Vice President Sandra Trogdon, Secretary Nora Avery, Treasurers Judy Elliott and Conrey Flowers and Reporter Ted Malone, Jr. Dan Drennon and Lou Ann McLeod were picked as class mascots to replace David Barnes and Donna Penny from 1960. The class had selected the colors red and white with a red rose as class flower. Question—does this practice continue today and do they continue to select class superlatives? In the past that was a big part of being a senior. How much to you remember about your senior year?
The students had also selected Nora Avery and Jimmy Wade as the “Best All Around”, Edward Turlington and Barbara Faircloth as the “Beau and Belle”, Rachel Ennis and Kenneth Ennis as the “Neatest”, Janice Lee and Conrey Flowers as the “Cutest.” The class must have witnessed that Lela Dorman and Charles Ennis were the “Most Courteous” and Marilyn Stone and Jimmy Lee were the “Most Studious”. The students chose Peggy O’Neal and Clifford Regan the “Wittiest “. Judy Elliott and Charles Langdon were selected the “Friendliest’ while Barbara Langdon and Ted Malone were voted the “Most Original”. “Best Sports” were Judy Byrd and Michael Norris and Jerry Tart and Sandra Trogdon were “Most Dependable”. Faye Byrd and Larry Gauldin were the “Most Athletic” and Eloise Johnson and Harry Roberts were the “Most Popular”. Who took the award many had hoped to receive and surely wanted to happen in life? The “Most Likely to Succeed” went to Patricia Collier and George Campbell. Do you know what superlative was missing from the above list? It was the “Most Talented” and that recognition went to Janice Barnes and Don Ennis.
The class definitely hit that last selection right on target. Don Ennis continues to be one of most talented saxophone players from this part of the state. Something else that is interesting about Don is that he got to attend the Junior Senior Banquets all four years of high school. Don and Charles Langdon and a couple of other fellows had formed a little band and played for the prom when he was a freshmen and then as a sophomore he was a waiter and his junior and senior years he played with his band for the prom. Does anyone recall who else played in Don’s band? By the way, Don can really play a tune on his harmonica. His wife Laurel often sings with him and they are definitely crowd pleasers.
Norfleet Gardner, the young teacher from Wake Forest College, obviously had impacted the students since they dedicated the yearbook in his honor. The yearbook staff had a Miss Echoing Memories and the title went to Barbara Faircloth. Her attendants were Nora Avery, Jean Smith, Lynda Stewart, and Sandra Wolf. Miss Coats High of 1961 went to Patricia Collier. She had replaced Ann Beasley, winner of that title in 1960. Barbara replaced Gayle Johnson as first runner-up and Nora Avery replaced Hazelene Baker as second runner-up.
The FFA Sweetheart title went to Miss Peggy Moore who was escorted by Waeford Pope. Pat Johnson and Gail Myatt were her attendants. Playing on the Girl’s Basketball team were captains Faye Byrd and Pat Collier along with teammates June Baker, Joyce Norris, Dottie Bowden, Sarah Ennis, Wanda Stone, Janice Upchurch, Beverly Howard, Wanda Pollard, Lynda Stewart, Brenda Sorrell, Libby Turlington, Edna Andrews, R. Faye Byrd, Elaine Weaver, Linda Lawrence, and Diane Holmes. The girls were coached by Norfleet Gardner (Echoing Memories 1961).
Tallie Dupree had coached the Boy’s Basketball team and it was quite a team. They lost out in the county tournament on the last night to Boone Trail 34 to 36. However, they did go to the District playoff and lost to Central by a score of 54 to 65. Who was on this powerhouse team? The 1961 Echoing Memories recorded that Kenneth Ennis and Edward Turlington co-captained the team. They had strong support from Jimmy Wade, Sammy Pope, Conrey Flowers, Charles Langdon, Joe Gregory, Ray Lee, Ronald Avery, Larry V. Williams, Jerry Lee, Mike Joyner, Gerald Hayes, Jr., Carl Cobb, Bobby Fish, and Ted Malone, Jr.
Who headed up the Student Council? The yearbook recorded that Barbara Langdon was elected president; Sarah Ennis, vice president and Johnny Malone, secretary. The students who had mastered their school work with top grades were called marshals and those recorded for 1961 were Ralph Denning, Faye Byrd, Miriam Ennis, Edwin Norris, Charles Langdon, Nora Avery, and Chief Janice Barnes.
The school paper was called the “Spotlight” and Susan Johnson was its editor and her assistant was Carol Jones. Let’s wrap up this memory lane for the 1961 students at Coats High by sharing that the young student bus drivers were Bruce Lee, Jerry Lee, Larry V. Williams, Larry Smith, Bill Weaver, Faye J. Byrd, Barbara Langdon, Pat Collier, and Nora Avery (Echoing Memories 1961).
While the students were doing their thing, ladies in the Grove area were also out and about. Mrs. Naomi Hudson was named as alternate to attend the annual tour of the United Nations on October 17th. She was selected to represent Harnett County Home Demonstration Clubs and was a member of the Oakdale Club.
How many of you remember watching Benson native Jim Thornton on Saturday night WTVD-TV? Homer Briarhopper was to be added to the station’s programming. He would be joined with Clyde Moody and the WTVD TV Morning Jamboree Gang. Does anyone remember who sponsored them? I do know one could purchase two 24 oz. loaves of bread for 41 cents at the Dunn A P (Daily Record October 6, 1960).
Last Wednesday, bright yellow school buses wheeled into the Heritage Square and were filled with six classes of third graders from Coats Elementary School. Joining the buses were numerous cars with parent volunteers who joined their children for tours of the Cotton and Heritage Museums. They picked seeds from cotton; learned about a windlass, saw quilts that that had secretive messages, and got to see a kiddie coop. In the Heritage Museum the visitors saw hundreds of books containing histories of families, churches, schools, businesses, aviators, medical people, Civil, WW I, WWII, Korean Wars and much more. In the theater room on a DVD, they were able to see a few minutes of Bryan Avery making tar for use in water proofing wooden ships and sails hundreds of years ago. They heard about Astronaut Dr. William Thornton and his space suit from the space lab Challenger and Alton Stewart’s license and plane crash. They saw chamber pots, wash basins, ice boxes, churns, wash boards, ringer washers, and sausage stuffers from pre-electricity days. They could salute the military men and woman in their uniforms worn in the different wars from the Civil War to Iraq.
What did the museum volunteers learn? They witnessed that there indeed is hope for tomorrow through these wonderful, curious little children. Thank you goes to CES Principal Sandra Kay Howard and teachers for sharing your amazing students. Also thank you to H.L. Sorrell for remembering Jonah C. Johnson and Kress Williams with memorials to the Coats Museum Endowment.
How many doctors, pharmacists, and other medical people do you think come from small U.S. towns? I do know that Coats has large numbers. The Daily Record printed that two Coats men were enrolled in the School of Pharmacy at UNC Chapel Hill. Larry Denning, son of Mrs. Edward Denning, and Ronald Langdon, son of Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Langdon, were both 1959 Coats High School graduates. The Langdon’s oldest son William practiced Obstetrics/Gynecology and their youngest son Charles is a dentist. Were the three brothers in the university system at the same time? What about Larry? Was his younger brother Ralph in college while Larry was in Carolina? One has to wonder how those parents pulled it off having several in college at the same time.
Surely all of these young men knew Luke Barefoot who operated the Barefoot’s Café and Bar-B-Que. In fact, I think Ralph might have actually worked at Luke’s as a teenager. The September 30th edition of the Daily Record reported that Mr. Luke’s brother, Lonnie Allen Barefoot, 63, had died in Newport News, Virginia.
Do you remember who the Republican candidates for president, vice president and NC governor were in 1960? According to an advertisement in the Daily Record that encouraged the voters of Harnett to vote for Richard Dixon for president, Henry Cabot Lodge for vice president and Robert Gavin as NC governor. Belks in Dunn also was advertising but the store was enticing parents to bring in their children between the ages of six weeks to six years-old for a 5x7 picture for 48 cents (Daily Record Oct. 4, 1960).
School at Coats High had been in session for over a month and the students were already in place for most of the extracurricular activities. Janice Barnes and her yearbook editorial staff of Cheryl Dorman, Ted Malone, Jr., Richard Daniel, Sandra Poole Trogdon, Rachel Ennis, Barbara Langdon, and Jimmy Wade were set to work with Eloise Johnson and her business staff of Miriam Ennis, Lela Dorman, Patricia Collier, Barbara Faircloth, Nora Avery, and Judy Byrd.
The 1961 seniors at Coats High had elected President Edward Turlington, Vice President Sandra Trogdon, Secretary Nora Avery, Treasurers Judy Elliott and Conrey Flowers and Reporter Ted Malone, Jr. Dan Drennon and Lou Ann McLeod were picked as class mascots to replace David Barnes and Donna Penny from 1960. The class had selected the colors red and white with a red rose as class flower. Question—does this practice continue today and do they continue to select class superlatives? In the past that was a big part of being a senior. How much to you remember about your senior year?
The students had also selected Nora Avery and Jimmy Wade as the “Best All Around”, Edward Turlington and Barbara Faircloth as the “Beau and Belle”, Rachel Ennis and Kenneth Ennis as the “Neatest”, Janice Lee and Conrey Flowers as the “Cutest.” The class must have witnessed that Lela Dorman and Charles Ennis were the “Most Courteous” and Marilyn Stone and Jimmy Lee were the “Most Studious”. The students chose Peggy O’Neal and Clifford Regan the “Wittiest “. Judy Elliott and Charles Langdon were selected the “Friendliest’ while Barbara Langdon and Ted Malone were voted the “Most Original”. “Best Sports” were Judy Byrd and Michael Norris and Jerry Tart and Sandra Trogdon were “Most Dependable”. Faye Byrd and Larry Gauldin were the “Most Athletic” and Eloise Johnson and Harry Roberts were the “Most Popular”. Who took the award many had hoped to receive and surely wanted to happen in life? The “Most Likely to Succeed” went to Patricia Collier and George Campbell. Do you know what superlative was missing from the above list? It was the “Most Talented” and that recognition went to Janice Barnes and Don Ennis.
The class definitely hit that last selection right on target. Don Ennis continues to be one of most talented saxophone players from this part of the state. Something else that is interesting about Don is that he got to attend the Junior Senior Banquets all four years of high school. Don and Charles Langdon and a couple of other fellows had formed a little band and played for the prom when he was a freshmen and then as a sophomore he was a waiter and his junior and senior years he played with his band for the prom. Does anyone recall who else played in Don’s band? By the way, Don can really play a tune on his harmonica. His wife Laurel often sings with him and they are definitely crowd pleasers.
Norfleet Gardner, the young teacher from Wake Forest College, obviously had impacted the students since they dedicated the yearbook in his honor. The yearbook staff had a Miss Echoing Memories and the title went to Barbara Faircloth. Her attendants were Nora Avery, Jean Smith, Lynda Stewart, and Sandra Wolf. Miss Coats High of 1961 went to Patricia Collier. She had replaced Ann Beasley, winner of that title in 1960. Barbara replaced Gayle Johnson as first runner-up and Nora Avery replaced Hazelene Baker as second runner-up.
The FFA Sweetheart title went to Miss Peggy Moore who was escorted by Waeford Pope. Pat Johnson and Gail Myatt were her attendants. Playing on the Girl’s Basketball team were captains Faye Byrd and Pat Collier along with teammates June Baker, Joyce Norris, Dottie Bowden, Sarah Ennis, Wanda Stone, Janice Upchurch, Beverly Howard, Wanda Pollard, Lynda Stewart, Brenda Sorrell, Libby Turlington, Edna Andrews, R. Faye Byrd, Elaine Weaver, Linda Lawrence, and Diane Holmes. The girls were coached by Norfleet Gardner (Echoing Memories 1961).
Tallie Dupree had coached the Boy’s Basketball team and it was quite a team. They lost out in the county tournament on the last night to Boone Trail 34 to 36. However, they did go to the District playoff and lost to Central by a score of 54 to 65. Who was on this powerhouse team? The 1961 Echoing Memories recorded that Kenneth Ennis and Edward Turlington co-captained the team. They had strong support from Jimmy Wade, Sammy Pope, Conrey Flowers, Charles Langdon, Joe Gregory, Ray Lee, Ronald Avery, Larry V. Williams, Jerry Lee, Mike Joyner, Gerald Hayes, Jr., Carl Cobb, Bobby Fish, and Ted Malone, Jr.
Who headed up the Student Council? The yearbook recorded that Barbara Langdon was elected president; Sarah Ennis, vice president and Johnny Malone, secretary. The students who had mastered their school work with top grades were called marshals and those recorded for 1961 were Ralph Denning, Faye Byrd, Miriam Ennis, Edwin Norris, Charles Langdon, Nora Avery, and Chief Janice Barnes.
The school paper was called the “Spotlight” and Susan Johnson was its editor and her assistant was Carol Jones. Let’s wrap up this memory lane for the 1961 students at Coats High by sharing that the young student bus drivers were Bruce Lee, Jerry Lee, Larry V. Williams, Larry Smith, Bill Weaver, Faye J. Byrd, Barbara Langdon, Pat Collier, and Nora Avery (Echoing Memories 1961).
While the students were doing their thing, ladies in the Grove area were also out and about. Mrs. Naomi Hudson was named as alternate to attend the annual tour of the United Nations on October 17th. She was selected to represent Harnett County Home Demonstration Clubs and was a member of the Oakdale Club.
How many of you remember watching Benson native Jim Thornton on Saturday night WTVD-TV? Homer Briarhopper was to be added to the station’s programming. He would be joined with Clyde Moody and the WTVD TV Morning Jamboree Gang. Does anyone remember who sponsored them? I do know one could purchase two 24 oz. loaves of bread for 41 cents at the Dunn A P (Daily Record October 6, 1960).
Last Wednesday, bright yellow school buses wheeled into the Heritage Square and were filled with six classes of third graders from Coats Elementary School. Joining the buses were numerous cars with parent volunteers who joined their children for tours of the Cotton and Heritage Museums. They picked seeds from cotton; learned about a windlass, saw quilts that that had secretive messages, and got to see a kiddie coop. In the Heritage Museum the visitors saw hundreds of books containing histories of families, churches, schools, businesses, aviators, medical people, Civil, WW I, WWII, Korean Wars and much more. In the theater room on a DVD, they were able to see a few minutes of Bryan Avery making tar for use in water proofing wooden ships and sails hundreds of years ago. They heard about Astronaut Dr. William Thornton and his space suit from the space lab Challenger and Alton Stewart’s license and plane crash. They saw chamber pots, wash basins, ice boxes, churns, wash boards, ringer washers, and sausage stuffers from pre-electricity days. They could salute the military men and woman in their uniforms worn in the different wars from the Civil War to Iraq.
What did the museum volunteers learn? They witnessed that there indeed is hope for tomorrow through these wonderful, curious little children. Thank you goes to CES Principal Sandra Kay Howard and teachers for sharing your amazing students. Also thank you to H.L. Sorrell for remembering Jonah C. Johnson and Kress Williams with memorials to the Coats Museum Endowment.