October 2, 2015 Coats Museum News
The year was 1955- the year that President Eisenhower would have a heart attack and the Salk polio vaccine would be tested successfully. On January 19, President Eisenhower had held his first presidential TV news conference and on February 8, in a shift of power in the Kremlin, Nikita S. Khrushchev emerged the top leader in the USSR. In 1955, the Ford Thunderbird was an immediate hit as a two-seat sports car. Easy payment schemes lured many into debt and installment buying became a major fact of life for most families. Three one-hour Disneyland installments on Davy Crockett captured the imagination of America’s kids. There was a run on coonskin caps that imperiled the raccoon population. The big-buck TV quiz show debuted with the “$64,000 Question.” “Gunsmoke” and the “Life and Times of Wyatt Earp” became adult westerns. Pink showed up in men’s fashion and the merengue was the dance craze of 1955. Chuck Berry and his “Maybellene” and “Roll Over Beethoven” added to the rock ‘n’ roll craze. Lawrence Welk hit the TV screens with music that appealed to a different ear. On April 5, 1955, Winston Churchhill, 81, resigned to Queen Elizabeth as prime minister. On April 12, reports showed that the Salk vaccine had been effective on 80 to 90 percent of the 1.8 million administered the vaccine. On May 5, West Germany was given its independence from Great Britain, France and United States. On May 23 , the General Assembly of the Presbytery accepted women ministers (Dickson, Paul, From Elvis to E-Mail. Springfield, Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1990. pp 76-78).
In 2004, in the Daily Record Library in Dunn, there were no copies available of the paper for our volunteers to peruse to locate news in the issues from January through June of 1955. Again so much history of our Coats area and its people cannot be revisited for this Coats Museum News column.
However, once again the Coats yearbook, Echo, can share light on those young Coats graduates who made the final walk down the aisle of the Coats High School. Mr. R. Hal Smith, principal, and Michael Stephenson and Beth Stephenson, class mascots, were escorted in front of the graduates. Those graduates were Mildred Dorman “Punk”, Glenn Lewis “Louie”, Ann Page “Bronco”, John Wesley Tadlock “John”, Wanda Whittington “Winks”, J.B. Jernigan “Lukey”, Susan Turlington “Suzie”, Franklin Stewart “Boshi”, Sylvia Avery “Blondie”, Billy Norris “Bill”, Margie Capps “Marie”, Daywood Clayton “Skeeter”, Joyce Williams “Pug”, Lavelle Jackson “Jack”, Pearl Barnes “Butterball”, Leon Johnson “ Lon”, JoAnn Smith “Jo Jo”, Oliver Whittington ”Ock”, Becky Weaver “Beck”, James Larry Johnson “Unicorn”, Ann Critcher “Cricket”, Hearley Barnes “Curly”, Lula Mae Ryals “Lulu”, Dorsey Daniel ‘Cy”, Betty Sue Weaver “Suzie”, Charles Webb “Charles”, Sue Johnson “Blackie”, Jimmy Stephenson “Rocky”, Donald Stewart “Duck”, Kay Barnes “Doll”, Billy Barnes “Billy”, Barbara Byrd “Tweety”, Wayne Godwin “Droopy”, Doris Holmes “Doe”, Rex Godwin “Porky”, and Eddie Vaughan ”Eddie Boy” (Echo 1955 Coats High School Yearbook). Do you wonder if those graduates remember why those nicknames were tagged to them?
In the Oakdale area, the following children of B.A. Norris, Jr. had enjoyed a picnic at Crabtree Park near Durham, N.C. J.L. Pollard, Jennifer and Timmy; Mr. and Mrs. Claudius Byrd and Randy; Mr. and Mrs. Hinton Adams, Shelia, and Faith; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dupree and Helen, Janet, Jerry, Michael, and Brenda Norris honored their father for Father’s Day.
Mr. and Mrs. Sherrill Weeks, Cheryl Ann and Mary Kay of Raleigh were the dinner guests of Mrs. L.W. Pollard. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Weaver and sons Charles and Ricky of Willow Springs, were guests of Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Pollard. Little Timmy celebrated his second birthday with a special birthday cake cooked by his grandmother, Mrs. L. W. Pollard. Mrs. Maude Ryals, who was the daughter of Mrs. Callee Glover and the late Will Glover, was ill. Mrs. Sherrill Byrd, Misses Betsy and Phyliss Cooper attended a party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. June Allen of Coats. Lloyd Stephenson visited his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Shelton Godwin, and little grandson Mike Godwin in Virginia.
The Oakdale news continued to make Dunn press. Lots of the folks were being quite sociable. Mrs. Rosa O’Neal, Mrs. Louise Pollard, Timmy and Jennifer attended the “Sing” in Benson. The Sherrill Byrds visited his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Claude Byrd of Dunn. Among the visitors at Red Hill on Sunday were Mrs. Silas Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Woodard Messer and children of Maryland (Daily Record July 1, 1955).
Mrs. Luther Capps of Route 2, Angier announced the marriage of their daughter Margie to Cpl. Billy D. Whittington, son of Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Whittington. The wedding took place in Dillon, S.C. Cpl. Billy Whittington was stationed at Camp Lejeune.
Miss Dorothea Stewart of Buies Creek and Mrs. Joseph Hales of Raleigh were honored with a barbecue supper at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie J. Turlington. Mr. and Mrs .Guy Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. Gene Stewart and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Stewart were among those who attended. A week earlier, Mr. Joe Hales had entertained a group of the male order at a steak dinner cookout in Raleigh.
Mr. and Mrs. Silas Moore of Benson route announced the engagement for their daughter, Margaret Mae Moore, to Dr. Robert Raymond Morrison, Jr. The wedding was planned for October (Daily Record July 4, 1955).
Activity was buzzing around Bailey’s Crossroads in the summer heat. Mr. and Mrs. S.C. Byrd had visited Mr. and Mrs. Graham Byrd. Miss Doris Turlington had spent the weekend with Mr. and Mrs. Delmer Ennis. Mr. and Mrs. T.J. Turlington, Margie Ennis and Frank Westbrook spent the weekend at Myrtle Beach. Mr. and Mrs. Stacy Suggs were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Elton Suggs and children. Mrs. J.S. Brinkley of Roxboro spent some time with her daughter, Mrs. Frank Elliott. Mrs. Bill Truesdell, Jr. and daughter Billie were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Jonah C. Johnson. Mrs. Truesdell’s sisters-Sue, Joyce and Gayle Johnson –accompanied her back to Washington, D.C. Sue, a recent graduate of Coats High School, would attend Strayer University in Washington in the fall. Mrs. Joe Johnson had returned from a three –week stay with her daughter Doris in Long Island, N.Y.
Mrs. Marshall Wright, 1944 graduate of Coats High School and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jonah C. Johnson, had returned to the United States from Asia where Mrs. Wright’s husband Marshall served with the American Embassy as a U.S. Consul in Rangoon, Burma. Mable would stay with her sister Mrs. Truesdell until Mr. Wright returned to prepare for his next diplomatic assignment.
Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Holley of Four Oaks spent time at Bailey’s Crossroads visiting Mr. and Mrs. Lindell Nordan and their daughter Sandy. Judy Elliott and Nora Etta Avery of Ebenezer Presbyterian Church attended Camp Monroe. Would you believe that both of these young girls would later become beauty queens in Dunn and Erwin. Nora later became Miss Erwin and was a finalist in the Miss North Carolina pageant.
Mrs. Mack R. Hudson was home after being a patient at Rex Hospital. Patricia and Joyce Capps had visited with their aunt and Uncle Jasper Capps in Virginia. Mrs. Rayford Penny had visited her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Capps (Daily Record July 5, 1955).
Dr. Paul Moss began his medical practice in Erwin. Dr. Mabe had been called into active service in the Marine Corps. Men folks throughout the county were preparing for the County Centennial‘s Beard Contest. Representative Carson Gregory said he could not grow a beard until tobacco was harvested because the tobacco gum tangled in the beard too badly. Elsewhere in Coats, a marriage license was issued to Tyrus Powell and Barbara Byrd (Daily Record July 7, 1955).
Thank you to the many veterans who are responding to the Defenders of the Red, White and Blue event to be held on November 14th on the Heritage Square. That is the same day that the Methodist Church has their annual Fish Fry. Hopefully veterans will attend that fish fry and come across town and let the museum recognize them. Forms are at the Coats Museum, Coats Barber Shop, Cornerstone, coatsmuseum.com and individuals in local churches will pass them to the military service folks.
A special thank you goes to Dan and Teresa Honeycutt for their memorial donations to H.A. Turlingon, Jr. and J.A. Langdon. Teresa is the lady who keeps the museum grounds in immaculate condition.
The year was 1955- the year that President Eisenhower would have a heart attack and the Salk polio vaccine would be tested successfully. On January 19, President Eisenhower had held his first presidential TV news conference and on February 8, in a shift of power in the Kremlin, Nikita S. Khrushchev emerged the top leader in the USSR. In 1955, the Ford Thunderbird was an immediate hit as a two-seat sports car. Easy payment schemes lured many into debt and installment buying became a major fact of life for most families. Three one-hour Disneyland installments on Davy Crockett captured the imagination of America’s kids. There was a run on coonskin caps that imperiled the raccoon population. The big-buck TV quiz show debuted with the “$64,000 Question.” “Gunsmoke” and the “Life and Times of Wyatt Earp” became adult westerns. Pink showed up in men’s fashion and the merengue was the dance craze of 1955. Chuck Berry and his “Maybellene” and “Roll Over Beethoven” added to the rock ‘n’ roll craze. Lawrence Welk hit the TV screens with music that appealed to a different ear. On April 5, 1955, Winston Churchhill, 81, resigned to Queen Elizabeth as prime minister. On April 12, reports showed that the Salk vaccine had been effective on 80 to 90 percent of the 1.8 million administered the vaccine. On May 5, West Germany was given its independence from Great Britain, France and United States. On May 23 , the General Assembly of the Presbytery accepted women ministers (Dickson, Paul, From Elvis to E-Mail. Springfield, Massachusetts: Federal Street Press, 1990. pp 76-78).
In 2004, in the Daily Record Library in Dunn, there were no copies available of the paper for our volunteers to peruse to locate news in the issues from January through June of 1955. Again so much history of our Coats area and its people cannot be revisited for this Coats Museum News column.
However, once again the Coats yearbook, Echo, can share light on those young Coats graduates who made the final walk down the aisle of the Coats High School. Mr. R. Hal Smith, principal, and Michael Stephenson and Beth Stephenson, class mascots, were escorted in front of the graduates. Those graduates were Mildred Dorman “Punk”, Glenn Lewis “Louie”, Ann Page “Bronco”, John Wesley Tadlock “John”, Wanda Whittington “Winks”, J.B. Jernigan “Lukey”, Susan Turlington “Suzie”, Franklin Stewart “Boshi”, Sylvia Avery “Blondie”, Billy Norris “Bill”, Margie Capps “Marie”, Daywood Clayton “Skeeter”, Joyce Williams “Pug”, Lavelle Jackson “Jack”, Pearl Barnes “Butterball”, Leon Johnson “ Lon”, JoAnn Smith “Jo Jo”, Oliver Whittington ”Ock”, Becky Weaver “Beck”, James Larry Johnson “Unicorn”, Ann Critcher “Cricket”, Hearley Barnes “Curly”, Lula Mae Ryals “Lulu”, Dorsey Daniel ‘Cy”, Betty Sue Weaver “Suzie”, Charles Webb “Charles”, Sue Johnson “Blackie”, Jimmy Stephenson “Rocky”, Donald Stewart “Duck”, Kay Barnes “Doll”, Billy Barnes “Billy”, Barbara Byrd “Tweety”, Wayne Godwin “Droopy”, Doris Holmes “Doe”, Rex Godwin “Porky”, and Eddie Vaughan ”Eddie Boy” (Echo 1955 Coats High School Yearbook). Do you wonder if those graduates remember why those nicknames were tagged to them?
In the Oakdale area, the following children of B.A. Norris, Jr. had enjoyed a picnic at Crabtree Park near Durham, N.C. J.L. Pollard, Jennifer and Timmy; Mr. and Mrs. Claudius Byrd and Randy; Mr. and Mrs. Hinton Adams, Shelia, and Faith; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dupree and Helen, Janet, Jerry, Michael, and Brenda Norris honored their father for Father’s Day.
Mr. and Mrs. Sherrill Weeks, Cheryl Ann and Mary Kay of Raleigh were the dinner guests of Mrs. L.W. Pollard. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Weaver and sons Charles and Ricky of Willow Springs, were guests of Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Pollard. Little Timmy celebrated his second birthday with a special birthday cake cooked by his grandmother, Mrs. L. W. Pollard. Mrs. Maude Ryals, who was the daughter of Mrs. Callee Glover and the late Will Glover, was ill. Mrs. Sherrill Byrd, Misses Betsy and Phyliss Cooper attended a party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. June Allen of Coats. Lloyd Stephenson visited his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Shelton Godwin, and little grandson Mike Godwin in Virginia.
The Oakdale news continued to make Dunn press. Lots of the folks were being quite sociable. Mrs. Rosa O’Neal, Mrs. Louise Pollard, Timmy and Jennifer attended the “Sing” in Benson. The Sherrill Byrds visited his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Claude Byrd of Dunn. Among the visitors at Red Hill on Sunday were Mrs. Silas Moore, Mr. and Mrs. Woodard Messer and children of Maryland (Daily Record July 1, 1955).
Mrs. Luther Capps of Route 2, Angier announced the marriage of their daughter Margie to Cpl. Billy D. Whittington, son of Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Whittington. The wedding took place in Dillon, S.C. Cpl. Billy Whittington was stationed at Camp Lejeune.
Miss Dorothea Stewart of Buies Creek and Mrs. Joseph Hales of Raleigh were honored with a barbecue supper at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie J. Turlington. Mr. and Mrs .Guy Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. Gene Stewart and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Stewart were among those who attended. A week earlier, Mr. Joe Hales had entertained a group of the male order at a steak dinner cookout in Raleigh.
Mr. and Mrs. Silas Moore of Benson route announced the engagement for their daughter, Margaret Mae Moore, to Dr. Robert Raymond Morrison, Jr. The wedding was planned for October (Daily Record July 4, 1955).
Activity was buzzing around Bailey’s Crossroads in the summer heat. Mr. and Mrs. S.C. Byrd had visited Mr. and Mrs. Graham Byrd. Miss Doris Turlington had spent the weekend with Mr. and Mrs. Delmer Ennis. Mr. and Mrs. T.J. Turlington, Margie Ennis and Frank Westbrook spent the weekend at Myrtle Beach. Mr. and Mrs. Stacy Suggs were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Elton Suggs and children. Mrs. J.S. Brinkley of Roxboro spent some time with her daughter, Mrs. Frank Elliott. Mrs. Bill Truesdell, Jr. and daughter Billie were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Jonah C. Johnson. Mrs. Truesdell’s sisters-Sue, Joyce and Gayle Johnson –accompanied her back to Washington, D.C. Sue, a recent graduate of Coats High School, would attend Strayer University in Washington in the fall. Mrs. Joe Johnson had returned from a three –week stay with her daughter Doris in Long Island, N.Y.
Mrs. Marshall Wright, 1944 graduate of Coats High School and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jonah C. Johnson, had returned to the United States from Asia where Mrs. Wright’s husband Marshall served with the American Embassy as a U.S. Consul in Rangoon, Burma. Mable would stay with her sister Mrs. Truesdell until Mr. Wright returned to prepare for his next diplomatic assignment.
Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Holley of Four Oaks spent time at Bailey’s Crossroads visiting Mr. and Mrs. Lindell Nordan and their daughter Sandy. Judy Elliott and Nora Etta Avery of Ebenezer Presbyterian Church attended Camp Monroe. Would you believe that both of these young girls would later become beauty queens in Dunn and Erwin. Nora later became Miss Erwin and was a finalist in the Miss North Carolina pageant.
Mrs. Mack R. Hudson was home after being a patient at Rex Hospital. Patricia and Joyce Capps had visited with their aunt and Uncle Jasper Capps in Virginia. Mrs. Rayford Penny had visited her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Capps (Daily Record July 5, 1955).
Dr. Paul Moss began his medical practice in Erwin. Dr. Mabe had been called into active service in the Marine Corps. Men folks throughout the county were preparing for the County Centennial‘s Beard Contest. Representative Carson Gregory said he could not grow a beard until tobacco was harvested because the tobacco gum tangled in the beard too badly. Elsewhere in Coats, a marriage license was issued to Tyrus Powell and Barbara Byrd (Daily Record July 7, 1955).
Thank you to the many veterans who are responding to the Defenders of the Red, White and Blue event to be held on November 14th on the Heritage Square. That is the same day that the Methodist Church has their annual Fish Fry. Hopefully veterans will attend that fish fry and come across town and let the museum recognize them. Forms are at the Coats Museum, Coats Barber Shop, Cornerstone, coatsmuseum.com and individuals in local churches will pass them to the military service folks.
A special thank you goes to Dan and Teresa Honeycutt for their memorial donations to H.A. Turlingon, Jr. and J.A. Langdon. Teresa is the lady who keeps the museum grounds in immaculate condition.