November 9, 2012 Coats Museum News
Spring was approaching in 1935 when W.B. Stewart, R.L. Byrd, W.O Tysinger, and E.L. Turlington of Grove Township had received word that they must report to Lillington to serve juror duty on the Superior Court. They were followed by W.G. Williams, J.S. Wiggins, C.V. Stewart, H.W. Wiggins, M.A. Turlington and James A, Johnson. Did they have fans in the courthouse in 1935? It had been estimated by the Harnett County Board of Commissioners that the cost to build the Coats School would be $25,000 (Harnett County News April 4, 1935). Did you ask “Build a school for $25,000?”
Roy Langdon, a student at Coats High School, had won second prize in the District Contest. He had to research the work being done on the importance of minor elements in plant and animal nutrition by research workers (Harnett County News April 13, 1935). With what subject was the District Contest associated?
The Coats Town Board met on April 23 and made adjustments on the tax books for Mrs. J.R. Butler and Mrs. C. J. Turlington (Coats Town Board meeting minutes April 25, 1935).Do you recognize these two names?
The Coats-Angier boys in the Young Tar Heel Farmers won third place in the field day at the ball park in Lillington. Events played were baseball, volleyball, horseshoe pitching, 100-yard dash, high jump, baseball throw, sash race, and 400-yard dash. In which do you guess the fellows did best? The sash race—what kind of race was that? (Harnett County News April 25, 1935)
More than 6,000 new Ford V-8’s were rolling off the assembly line every working day according to J.T. Northam who had a Ford dealership in Coats. Who remembers where that car dealership was located? I do know that on April 24, Mrs. J.F. Parrish was hostess to members of the Page Book Club at 8:00 o’clock. Spring flowers decorated the Parrish home. The club celebrated its second anniversary. The program was about hymns and their origin. Mrs. Lucy Kelly assisted with the salad and coffee during social hour. Do you recall what position she held in the town? Other news of that date was that Mr. E. V. Edens reported that there were 4,226 farms in Harnett County compared to 3,939 farms on April 1, 1930 (Harnett County News April 25, 1935). Would that number be higher or lower in 2012?
District 18 of the Jr. Order United American Mechanics, composed of Cumberland, Harnett and Robeson Counties, held its meeting in Lillington and installed Mayton Upchurch of Coats as conductor. Coats Town Officers were confirmed by the General Assembly. Representative Thomas introduced the bill to appoint the mayor and four commissioners of the town of Coats. The bill stated that a Primary had been held, but no election had been called, and named the men nominated in the primary as officers until the next biennial election on the first Monday in May of 1937.The officers named were A.F. Grimes as mayor; Jesse H. Parrish, C.J. Turlington, F.A. Byrd, and O.K. Keene as commissioners (Harnett County News May 16, 1935).
On the Harnett County level, B.F. Gentry was elected County Superintendent for a period of two years. A request was received from the PTA of Coats Colored School asking for a school bus to transport colored students to high school. The request was deferred until preparation of the school budget for 1935-36. A group of colored people from near Barclaysville came before the board requesting school facilities for their children who were out of reach of any colored schools. The request was also deferred until the 1935-36 budget was prepared. The board agreed to name only three committeemen unless the school district requested five members. Coats School requested five members who were W.T. Sorrell, Mrs. J.R. Butler, Zeb Stewart, and Malcolm Stewart. Who was the fifth member? The committeemen for the colored school were named but the names were not listed (Harnett County News May 16, 1935).
The Oakdale School had their final exercise on May 23, 1935. The grammar grade students presented “Jolly Juvenile Minstrels” in four acts. Coats School students who needed an operation for tonsil removal had the treatment on May 23, 1935.
The Harnett County Board of Education authorized the sale of the old abandoned site formerly owned by the Rowland Colored School. It was sold to the highest bidder. It could have been sold at a private sale since this site had been advertised. Mrs. Edna T. Butler resigned from the committee of the Coats School and it was accepted by the board. Dr. F.H. Fleming was named to serve in that position left vacant by Mrs. Butler. At a joint meeting of the school board and commissioners, it was decided to make application to the Federal Government for funds for a new school at Coats and Benhaven and for additions at Erwin, Buckhorn , Lafayette, and Shawtown and for the building of some filter beds at the schools of the county where needed. It was estimated that cost of the projects would not exceed $150,000 (Harnett County News post May 23, 1935).
Times have been exciting at the museum because of the many visitors who have either brought items for display or to gather information about the town. Margaret Johnson of near Dunn, Joanne Phillips of Fuquay and Mike and Claudia Tocci of Sparks, Nevada came to loan the museum their sister and mother’s wedding dress made from a parachute. Mike’s mom was an army nurse in WWII and his father was a paratrooper so it was fascinating to hear their love story. They also brought for display other items made from a parachute and the workmanship of the two Italian seamstresses is unbelievable. The family was amazing. We also had Doris Weaver Whitehead to visit us after we had Dr. Bill Pauley’s book signing on Sunday afternoon. Doris’s family has the medical bag that was used by Mattie Suggs who was the midwife for a large number of mothers who were delivering babies in the area. The family plans to have the bag on display in the museum. How much do you remember from your experiences in grades 4, 5 and 6? We had Mrs. Vivian Jones Sanders from Petersburg, Tennessee and her son Jim Sanders of Carrboro, N.C. to visit on Monday. The 88 year-old former English teacher is writing her memoirs and her son flew to Tennessee to drive her here to refresh her memories of the town and its people. Her memories of the people and events were right on target with what we had researched or had been told to us when we were writing the Heritage of Coats, North Carolina in 2002-05. She was absolutely delightful—and is planning to share with us the portion of her book that deals with Coats for the museum. Charles Tart of Linden, cousin of Joe, Jerry, Frances and the other local Tarts, shared with the museum the Tart history. Of course, we never let him leave without playing the piano given to the museum by Doris Johnson Nolan. Have you ever wondered why some people can play the piano by ear and others can’t? Mr. Tart uses his gift to play songs in the nursing homes in the area. Thanks Jim Byrd-you were right on target with your answer about Lucy Kelly.
Spring was approaching in 1935 when W.B. Stewart, R.L. Byrd, W.O Tysinger, and E.L. Turlington of Grove Township had received word that they must report to Lillington to serve juror duty on the Superior Court. They were followed by W.G. Williams, J.S. Wiggins, C.V. Stewart, H.W. Wiggins, M.A. Turlington and James A, Johnson. Did they have fans in the courthouse in 1935? It had been estimated by the Harnett County Board of Commissioners that the cost to build the Coats School would be $25,000 (Harnett County News April 4, 1935). Did you ask “Build a school for $25,000?”
Roy Langdon, a student at Coats High School, had won second prize in the District Contest. He had to research the work being done on the importance of minor elements in plant and animal nutrition by research workers (Harnett County News April 13, 1935). With what subject was the District Contest associated?
The Coats Town Board met on April 23 and made adjustments on the tax books for Mrs. J.R. Butler and Mrs. C. J. Turlington (Coats Town Board meeting minutes April 25, 1935).Do you recognize these two names?
The Coats-Angier boys in the Young Tar Heel Farmers won third place in the field day at the ball park in Lillington. Events played were baseball, volleyball, horseshoe pitching, 100-yard dash, high jump, baseball throw, sash race, and 400-yard dash. In which do you guess the fellows did best? The sash race—what kind of race was that? (Harnett County News April 25, 1935)
More than 6,000 new Ford V-8’s were rolling off the assembly line every working day according to J.T. Northam who had a Ford dealership in Coats. Who remembers where that car dealership was located? I do know that on April 24, Mrs. J.F. Parrish was hostess to members of the Page Book Club at 8:00 o’clock. Spring flowers decorated the Parrish home. The club celebrated its second anniversary. The program was about hymns and their origin. Mrs. Lucy Kelly assisted with the salad and coffee during social hour. Do you recall what position she held in the town? Other news of that date was that Mr. E. V. Edens reported that there were 4,226 farms in Harnett County compared to 3,939 farms on April 1, 1930 (Harnett County News April 25, 1935). Would that number be higher or lower in 2012?
District 18 of the Jr. Order United American Mechanics, composed of Cumberland, Harnett and Robeson Counties, held its meeting in Lillington and installed Mayton Upchurch of Coats as conductor. Coats Town Officers were confirmed by the General Assembly. Representative Thomas introduced the bill to appoint the mayor and four commissioners of the town of Coats. The bill stated that a Primary had been held, but no election had been called, and named the men nominated in the primary as officers until the next biennial election on the first Monday in May of 1937.The officers named were A.F. Grimes as mayor; Jesse H. Parrish, C.J. Turlington, F.A. Byrd, and O.K. Keene as commissioners (Harnett County News May 16, 1935).
On the Harnett County level, B.F. Gentry was elected County Superintendent for a period of two years. A request was received from the PTA of Coats Colored School asking for a school bus to transport colored students to high school. The request was deferred until preparation of the school budget for 1935-36. A group of colored people from near Barclaysville came before the board requesting school facilities for their children who were out of reach of any colored schools. The request was also deferred until the 1935-36 budget was prepared. The board agreed to name only three committeemen unless the school district requested five members. Coats School requested five members who were W.T. Sorrell, Mrs. J.R. Butler, Zeb Stewart, and Malcolm Stewart. Who was the fifth member? The committeemen for the colored school were named but the names were not listed (Harnett County News May 16, 1935).
The Oakdale School had their final exercise on May 23, 1935. The grammar grade students presented “Jolly Juvenile Minstrels” in four acts. Coats School students who needed an operation for tonsil removal had the treatment on May 23, 1935.
The Harnett County Board of Education authorized the sale of the old abandoned site formerly owned by the Rowland Colored School. It was sold to the highest bidder. It could have been sold at a private sale since this site had been advertised. Mrs. Edna T. Butler resigned from the committee of the Coats School and it was accepted by the board. Dr. F.H. Fleming was named to serve in that position left vacant by Mrs. Butler. At a joint meeting of the school board and commissioners, it was decided to make application to the Federal Government for funds for a new school at Coats and Benhaven and for additions at Erwin, Buckhorn , Lafayette, and Shawtown and for the building of some filter beds at the schools of the county where needed. It was estimated that cost of the projects would not exceed $150,000 (Harnett County News post May 23, 1935).
Times have been exciting at the museum because of the many visitors who have either brought items for display or to gather information about the town. Margaret Johnson of near Dunn, Joanne Phillips of Fuquay and Mike and Claudia Tocci of Sparks, Nevada came to loan the museum their sister and mother’s wedding dress made from a parachute. Mike’s mom was an army nurse in WWII and his father was a paratrooper so it was fascinating to hear their love story. They also brought for display other items made from a parachute and the workmanship of the two Italian seamstresses is unbelievable. The family was amazing. We also had Doris Weaver Whitehead to visit us after we had Dr. Bill Pauley’s book signing on Sunday afternoon. Doris’s family has the medical bag that was used by Mattie Suggs who was the midwife for a large number of mothers who were delivering babies in the area. The family plans to have the bag on display in the museum. How much do you remember from your experiences in grades 4, 5 and 6? We had Mrs. Vivian Jones Sanders from Petersburg, Tennessee and her son Jim Sanders of Carrboro, N.C. to visit on Monday. The 88 year-old former English teacher is writing her memoirs and her son flew to Tennessee to drive her here to refresh her memories of the town and its people. Her memories of the people and events were right on target with what we had researched or had been told to us when we were writing the Heritage of Coats, North Carolina in 2002-05. She was absolutely delightful—and is planning to share with us the portion of her book that deals with Coats for the museum. Charles Tart of Linden, cousin of Joe, Jerry, Frances and the other local Tarts, shared with the museum the Tart history. Of course, we never let him leave without playing the piano given to the museum by Doris Johnson Nolan. Have you ever wondered why some people can play the piano by ear and others can’t? Mr. Tart uses his gift to play songs in the nursing homes in the area. Thanks Jim Byrd-you were right on target with your answer about Lucy Kelly.