October 20, 2023 Coats Museum News
In times past before technology kicked in, when you were receiving directions to someone’s house or to a place that you had not been before, were you told you will pass an old country store, an old tobacco barn or a dilapidated two story house? Or maybe you were trying to remember when something happened years ago and then you recall it was the same time that another important event that you do remember had occurred?
Today there are very few of those old landmarks around due to the rapid growth of the rural areas, and there are so many stories in the news that it is difficult to pick one to parallel with an event. In 2001, our daughter was married on July 7th; and shortly afterwards, they moved to the Washington, D.C. area to work. That was the same year that most Americans will always remember 9/11. If one travels a lot, it is sometimes hard to quickly recall what year a trip was made. I will remember that it was a few days later in that the month of September in that year of 2001 that H.L. and I traveled through NY to Bar Harbor with some friends. So when someone asked me when did we go to the New England states, I immediately recall 9/11.
Some folks ask me how I remember so much history of people, places and dates. You can also. Just associate events, people and dates that stand out and place your dates, people and events which are somewhat parallel with them. You can’t do it with everything but it does help you recall many occurrences in your life.
Donald and Lea Barnes of Coats had announced the birth of their son, Cameron Wesley, at BJMH in Dunn. Mrs. Barnes was the former Lea Causey. Maternal grandparents were Doda and Weldon Tiller and the late H.R. Causey, Jr. Paternal grandparents were Gene and Elizabeth Barnes. Megan Leigh Johnson, daughter of Van and Jenny Johnson, celebrated her second birthday. Her grandparents were Lonnie and Carolyn Temple (Daily Record September 2, 1993).
How would I remember these events? It was in year 1993, my daughter graduated from NC State and that was the same year that superstar Michael Jordan retired and the news topic that was very popular in 1993 was the controversial and complex plan under President Bill Clinton to hold down health cost by providing health insurance to everyone.
Clubs and organizations have something going on all the time so they likely rely upon minutes of their meetings and scrapbooks to share their history with later generations. The Daily Record Sept. 10, 1993 edition printed that the Coats Lions Club members planned a fish fry to raise funds to name a room for M.O. Phillips in the new lodge in the NC FFA Center at White Lake. Mr. Phillips began teaching in 1936 when he taught agriculture education in Coats and Angier. Yes, early on a teacher could be shared between schools and a driver’s license was required to drive a car. Another yes, the Research Library at the Coats Museum does have a large number of scrapbooks from the Woman’s Club from the early 1930’s, the Kiwanis Club from 1995, the fire department and many other records of organizations. We even have many of the original minutes of the town meetings.
What else was happening in Coats? Pat Godwin was operating her “Hair Designs by Pat,” and she reported that it was doing great. Wasn’t that same year that the Coats IGA expansion was completed? Did you remember that it was once smaller than it is now? Do you recall when it was built in the Village Square and would you like a new expansion?
I do know that the Coats Town Board pledged to help the Coats Community Voices. The group needed help in getting the project off the ground ((Daily Record Sept. 10, 1993).
Do you remember that the Coats Baptist Church once operated a child day care center in the church? Cheryl Dorman Whittington was honored at the Coats Baptist Child Care according to the September 15, 1993 copy of the Daily Record. Cheryl had headed the center for 10 years. The staff members honoring her were Marcia Wood, Pam Tart, Tonia Maynor, Doris Godwin, Jutta Turlington, Lisa McNeil, Susan Chapman and Donna McQueen. Cheryl and her husband, Hartwell Whittington, and their three children were Brian, Lloyd, and Sherry.
The Dorman and Whittington clans have been in the Grove area for hundreds of years as have the Ennis families. One of the Ennis descendants is Larry Austin Ennis who planned to marry Barbara Faye Ward on October 16th at Lee’s Grove Church on Old Fairground Road. Larry was the son of Richard “Tom” Ennis and Listine L. Ennis of Coats.
Did Larry become a successful insurance businessman in Dunn? Wonder if Larry knows this fact? He has some of the same DNA as the man mentioned above-Hartwell Whittington. Hartwell was a descendant of L.L. Turlington who had inherited a tremendous amount of land through Willis Turlington who had bought the Dushee Shaw’s heirs’ property. He had married Laura Frances Sorrell, a descendant of John C. Sorrell, who had owned over 1600 acres that was divided among his heirs down on the Red Hill Church Road and Turlington Road. Larry is a descendant of Stella Sorrell, daughter of William Richardson Sorrell, son of John C. Sorrell. William Richardson Sorrell had left each of his children 60 acres of land. Doesn’t sound like much but large families meant less acreage for each descendant.
The readers from Dunn might not be familiar with some of these names but surely they are familiar with the Alphin name. Jesse Alphin was the son of Lula Sorrell Alphin who inherited her sixty acres over on Cane Mill Road from her dad, William Richard Sorrell. My husband’s grandfather, W.T. Sorrell, Sr. likewise inherited his sixty acres. Of course over time some sold theirs while others added to theirs.
The Rowland name is well known in the Coats area. Several of them served on the Coats School Board. In fact, the family had established the Rowland School over in the area of the Bill Avery Road. The September 15th edition of the Daily Record wrote that Vanessa Hope Rowland and Simon Wesley Jones, Jr. of Buies Creek were married in the Lillington Baptist Church. Vanessa was the daughter of Rosa B. Rowland and the late Hubert Rowland, Sr. Ernestine and Simon Wesley Jones, Sr. were parents of the groom.
How will I remember when Vanessa was married? She graduated in 1989 from Triton with my daughter, Lenee, who in turn graduated from the NC State the same year that Vanessa was married. Simple?
The volunteers are so busy at the museum. Lots of visitors, families and former classes are coming back to visit during their reunions. Folks are calling or coming wanting family histories. Our fountain developed a crack so Kent Hudson is going to give a replacement for the one he honored his parents, Mack and Juanita Hudson, in 2005. Lenny Parker has completed the cementing in of the last order of honor and memorial bricks along our walkways. Folks continue to donate and loan items for display. Excitement that we may be able to add a second exhibit hall and connect our entire museum complex as one is creating much excitement.
A big thank you goes to the Jeffrey Penny family for remembering Jimmy “Tank” Stewart with a generous memorial to the Coats Museum. This was a loving way to remember their friend. Robert Sherrill Denning has also been remembered with a memorial to the Coats Museum. Thank you to the donor. Come visit us at the Coats Museum on Thursdays or on Sunday afternoons.
In times past before technology kicked in, when you were receiving directions to someone’s house or to a place that you had not been before, were you told you will pass an old country store, an old tobacco barn or a dilapidated two story house? Or maybe you were trying to remember when something happened years ago and then you recall it was the same time that another important event that you do remember had occurred?
Today there are very few of those old landmarks around due to the rapid growth of the rural areas, and there are so many stories in the news that it is difficult to pick one to parallel with an event. In 2001, our daughter was married on July 7th; and shortly afterwards, they moved to the Washington, D.C. area to work. That was the same year that most Americans will always remember 9/11. If one travels a lot, it is sometimes hard to quickly recall what year a trip was made. I will remember that it was a few days later in that the month of September in that year of 2001 that H.L. and I traveled through NY to Bar Harbor with some friends. So when someone asked me when did we go to the New England states, I immediately recall 9/11.
Some folks ask me how I remember so much history of people, places and dates. You can also. Just associate events, people and dates that stand out and place your dates, people and events which are somewhat parallel with them. You can’t do it with everything but it does help you recall many occurrences in your life.
Donald and Lea Barnes of Coats had announced the birth of their son, Cameron Wesley, at BJMH in Dunn. Mrs. Barnes was the former Lea Causey. Maternal grandparents were Doda and Weldon Tiller and the late H.R. Causey, Jr. Paternal grandparents were Gene and Elizabeth Barnes. Megan Leigh Johnson, daughter of Van and Jenny Johnson, celebrated her second birthday. Her grandparents were Lonnie and Carolyn Temple (Daily Record September 2, 1993).
How would I remember these events? It was in year 1993, my daughter graduated from NC State and that was the same year that superstar Michael Jordan retired and the news topic that was very popular in 1993 was the controversial and complex plan under President Bill Clinton to hold down health cost by providing health insurance to everyone.
Clubs and organizations have something going on all the time so they likely rely upon minutes of their meetings and scrapbooks to share their history with later generations. The Daily Record Sept. 10, 1993 edition printed that the Coats Lions Club members planned a fish fry to raise funds to name a room for M.O. Phillips in the new lodge in the NC FFA Center at White Lake. Mr. Phillips began teaching in 1936 when he taught agriculture education in Coats and Angier. Yes, early on a teacher could be shared between schools and a driver’s license was required to drive a car. Another yes, the Research Library at the Coats Museum does have a large number of scrapbooks from the Woman’s Club from the early 1930’s, the Kiwanis Club from 1995, the fire department and many other records of organizations. We even have many of the original minutes of the town meetings.
What else was happening in Coats? Pat Godwin was operating her “Hair Designs by Pat,” and she reported that it was doing great. Wasn’t that same year that the Coats IGA expansion was completed? Did you remember that it was once smaller than it is now? Do you recall when it was built in the Village Square and would you like a new expansion?
I do know that the Coats Town Board pledged to help the Coats Community Voices. The group needed help in getting the project off the ground ((Daily Record Sept. 10, 1993).
Do you remember that the Coats Baptist Church once operated a child day care center in the church? Cheryl Dorman Whittington was honored at the Coats Baptist Child Care according to the September 15, 1993 copy of the Daily Record. Cheryl had headed the center for 10 years. The staff members honoring her were Marcia Wood, Pam Tart, Tonia Maynor, Doris Godwin, Jutta Turlington, Lisa McNeil, Susan Chapman and Donna McQueen. Cheryl and her husband, Hartwell Whittington, and their three children were Brian, Lloyd, and Sherry.
The Dorman and Whittington clans have been in the Grove area for hundreds of years as have the Ennis families. One of the Ennis descendants is Larry Austin Ennis who planned to marry Barbara Faye Ward on October 16th at Lee’s Grove Church on Old Fairground Road. Larry was the son of Richard “Tom” Ennis and Listine L. Ennis of Coats.
Did Larry become a successful insurance businessman in Dunn? Wonder if Larry knows this fact? He has some of the same DNA as the man mentioned above-Hartwell Whittington. Hartwell was a descendant of L.L. Turlington who had inherited a tremendous amount of land through Willis Turlington who had bought the Dushee Shaw’s heirs’ property. He had married Laura Frances Sorrell, a descendant of John C. Sorrell, who had owned over 1600 acres that was divided among his heirs down on the Red Hill Church Road and Turlington Road. Larry is a descendant of Stella Sorrell, daughter of William Richardson Sorrell, son of John C. Sorrell. William Richardson Sorrell had left each of his children 60 acres of land. Doesn’t sound like much but large families meant less acreage for each descendant.
The readers from Dunn might not be familiar with some of these names but surely they are familiar with the Alphin name. Jesse Alphin was the son of Lula Sorrell Alphin who inherited her sixty acres over on Cane Mill Road from her dad, William Richard Sorrell. My husband’s grandfather, W.T. Sorrell, Sr. likewise inherited his sixty acres. Of course over time some sold theirs while others added to theirs.
The Rowland name is well known in the Coats area. Several of them served on the Coats School Board. In fact, the family had established the Rowland School over in the area of the Bill Avery Road. The September 15th edition of the Daily Record wrote that Vanessa Hope Rowland and Simon Wesley Jones, Jr. of Buies Creek were married in the Lillington Baptist Church. Vanessa was the daughter of Rosa B. Rowland and the late Hubert Rowland, Sr. Ernestine and Simon Wesley Jones, Sr. were parents of the groom.
How will I remember when Vanessa was married? She graduated in 1989 from Triton with my daughter, Lenee, who in turn graduated from the NC State the same year that Vanessa was married. Simple?
The volunteers are so busy at the museum. Lots of visitors, families and former classes are coming back to visit during their reunions. Folks are calling or coming wanting family histories. Our fountain developed a crack so Kent Hudson is going to give a replacement for the one he honored his parents, Mack and Juanita Hudson, in 2005. Lenny Parker has completed the cementing in of the last order of honor and memorial bricks along our walkways. Folks continue to donate and loan items for display. Excitement that we may be able to add a second exhibit hall and connect our entire museum complex as one is creating much excitement.
A big thank you goes to the Jeffrey Penny family for remembering Jimmy “Tank” Stewart with a generous memorial to the Coats Museum. This was a loving way to remember their friend. Robert Sherrill Denning has also been remembered with a memorial to the Coats Museum. Thank you to the donor. Come visit us at the Coats Museum on Thursdays or on Sunday afternoons.