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​                                                                               November 7, 2014 Coats Museum News
The Turlington Crossroads Home Demonstration Club had been organized in 1940 under Agent Rose Elwood Bryant. There were seven charter members and all of them were still active members in 1950.  The first officers of the club were Mrs. Paul Turlington, president; Mrs. Stewart Turlington, vice president and Mrs. M.S. Turlington, secretary and treasurer. During the WWII years, the club had sent packages overseas and magazines to the Veterans Hospital. The members had collected clothes, paper, and grease. They had also purchased war bonds.
On the 10th anniversary, the officers were Mrs. L.W. Turner, president; Mrs. Herbert Johnson, vice-president; Mrs. Ray Johnson, secretary; Mrs. H.A. Turlington, Sr., treasurer; Mrs. Stewart Turlington, devotional chairman and Mrs. Clarence Hardee, publicity chairman. Every member was to keep a monthly record of each one’s monthly accomplishments and they were expected to show progress made. Yearly improvements were made in seeding lawns and planting trees and shrubs.  The club had been active in community drives such as the Coats Community Building.
In 1948, the Turlington Club was awarded a $25.00 Savings Bond for being Harnett County’s “Most Outstanding Club.” In 1949, the club won the exhibit award on the HD Achievement Day. One of the club members, Mrs. W.R. Langdon, had been elected as the 17th District Chairman and she was State Chairman of “Letter Friends.” Mrs. Langdon had also been secretary and president of the Harnett County Council of Home Demonstration Clubs (Dunn Dispatch June 28, 1950).
The 17th annual family reunion of the Ogburns was planned for July 9th and to be hosted by Lillian Ogburn Stewart, son John, and daughter, Mrs. Naomi Stewart Hudson. The reunion was to be at the Stewart home located one mile east of Coats. Is the house that Sam Brown lives in today? The family included the descendents of the late Calvin and Stephenson Ogburn. Officers in 1950 were H.I. Ogburn, president; T. Glenn Ogburn, vice –president; Mrs. Herman Powell, secretary and Leonard Ogburn, treasurer.
Maynard Barnes sold cars to a large number of the readers of this column. In 1950, he had a new arrival at his house and it was not a new car-it was the arrival of his son, Ricky Earl Barnes, at Good Hope Hospital. Mrs. Barnes was the former Nina Ruth Miller of Benson (Dunn Dispatch June 30, 1950).
Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. Tony Stewart, and Mr. and Mrs. Ed Penny had spent time at Carolina Beach. They had as their guests Mr. and Mrs. T.H. Penny and family and Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Lamm. Pleasant Memory Community HD Club had met at the home of Mrs. Mavor Penny with Mrs. Albert Turlington as co-hostess. The Goodwill Club met at the home of Mrs. Dallas Jones. Miss Maude Searcy of the county office had helped organize this club ten years ago and the membership had grown  from ten charter members to 39 membership in 1950 (Dunn Dispatch July 5, 1950).
Have you ever wondered when Harnett County received the first TV reception? Malcolm Fowler received the first broadcast in July of 1949 at his radio shop in Lillington. At that time he stated, “TV will change the American Home.” Wonder how Malcolm Fowler would respond to modern TV and our wireless society today.
While many families were working the fields of tobacco, corn, cotton, and vegetables, a few Coats families took a brief break from the farms and enjoyed time at the beaches. Mr. and Mrs. Joe Johnson and daughters, Mary Jo and Doris, and Mr. and Mrs. Hebert Johnson and daughters, Norma Lee and Eloise; Reid Byrd and Jesse Ray Mann, and Mr. and Mrs. Brantley McLamb and son Dan were spending time at Carolina Beach.
Back in the Coats area, Joe Coats, half brother to Martha Ella Parnell, had attended her funeral at Hodges Chapel Church. Mr. and Mrs. Merchant Langdon were the parents of a new son, Frederick Clark Langdon, on July 2, at Good Hope Hospital in Erwin. Mrs. Langdon was the former Estelle Parrish (Dunn Dispatch July 7, 1950).
Several other deaths had occurred around Coats in early July. Vellie R. McGee, 55, of Coats had died at his home after several years of illness. His services and burial were at the Prospect Church. He was survived by his widow, Ora Ennis McGee; one son, Hurley McGee; three daughters-Mrs. Ralph Wallace, Mrs. Paul Hollingsworth, and Mrs. Sam Snead. His siblings were William McGee, Mrs. Roy Williams, and Mrs. Ewell Highfield. Mr. McGee was an automobile salesman and a member of WOW Erwin Camp. He had been forced to retire about five years earlier following a stroke.
The Oakdale HD Club met at the Oakdale School Clubroom with Mrs. Delmer Ennis presiding. Discussion was on ways to help the young people with a community project. Two members of the 4-H group were present-JoAnn Ennis and Norma Jean Creech. Mrs. Bertha Matthews and Mrs. Lloyd Stephenson were visitors. Wonder if the ladies knew that Willie B. Cook had passed away at age 66 in his home in Linden. He had a brother, A.M. Cook of Coats (Dunn Dispatch July 10, 1950).
While some Coats folks were mourning, others were either congratulating a new bride or a new mom.  Miss Carolyn Denning, daughter of Hunter Denning, became the bride of Aubrey Hardee, son of Clarence Hardee and the late Lillie Langdon Hardee. Mr. and Mrs. David Wood announced the birth of twin daughters at Mary Elizabeth Hospital in Raleigh (Dunn Dispatch July 12, 1950). Does anyone know the names of the girls and why does the name David Wood sound so familiar?
Lynda Butler, one of our hardworking museum volunteers, just celebrated a birthday and the following  people honored her with a donation to the museum building fund: Linda and Cliff Butler, Mott Goff and Becky Adams . Becky also remembered Allene Alphin with a memorial and Robie Butler with an honorarium.
The volunteers were delighted to give tours of the library, theater room, the Kress and Nell Penny Williams Exhibit Hall and Cotton Museum to the folks from the Coats Senior Center. Janice Young was especially excited to see the surveyor transit that she recalled helping her dad, Oscar Young, survey land when she was just a little girl.  Teeny Upchurch had a chance to look over the Stewart family genealogy and to see her dad’s picture in one of the notebooks of town businesses. Her dad, Malcolm Stewart, worked in the W.E. Nichols Mercantile Company before he later opened his own business in the building that also housed the town jail in the back. He is also recorded in history as being very progressive in the political arena of Coats and Harnett County. Thanks, David, for bringing the group because it was priceless to hear the group share their memories of times from their yesteryears.
Talking about yesteryears, would you have ever thought that the desk of Claud Daniel Stewart, the principal of Coats Grove District 3 School in 1905, would find its way into our museum? Claud Daniel Stewart, son of Daniel and Nancy Dixon Stewart originally from the Bailey’s Crossroads area, had married Julia Bailey, daughter of Alfred L. Bailey who had helped organize the Ennis School in 1885 on land donated by Cornelius Hodges of the well-to-do Hodges family of eastern Harnett. Claud later taught in the Ennis School. Dorothea Stewart Gilbert, daughter of Latta Stewart and granddaughter of Claud Daniel Stewart, has donated Claud’s desk to the Coats Museum along with some of his medical tools that he had when he was pursuing medicine at University of N.C. His reason for not following that career path is another story. She also gave a journal and several other items which make the desk an interesting exhibit for all to view. Thank you-Dorothea, Stewart Akerman, and Lynda Butler for making this exhibit happen.