September 1, 2023 Coats Museum News
Did you ever vacation at the Shipwreck Villa in North Topsail Beach? Is it in operation today? Did they bring it down and replace it with a more modern lodging? I do know that Belle Williams wrote in her “Notes from Coats” that it would never be the same after a group of Coats folks spent the weekend there. The group- Diane Parker, Patsy Joyner, Chris Royal, Donna Currin, Sonya Pope, Turtle Tart, Bonita Messer, Ashley Messer, Renee Dickens, Faye Tart, and Rhonda Stewart had arrived at the beach on Aldean and Gerald Pleasant’s van which they had loaned to the ladies so they could travel together.
Wonder if they saw anyone else from the area while they were there for the weekend. I do know that on some occasions travelers can be miles from Coats and discover in conversations at a restaurant or a tour and learn that the person is from Coats or a neighboring town. Trust me, Coats may have less than 3000 residents but very few know each other. There was a time when everyone in the area knew each other by name and where they lived. There was a time a few years ago that H.L. and I could go into the Coats IGA and just about everyone in there would speak and call us by name. Today there is only one person in the store that knows who I am. If I am lucky, I might see one or two customers who speak.
Even families are disconnected today. This point can be verified by what happened in 1993 at a family cemetery in Johnston County. Dorothy Zucchi and Eunice Johnson ran into each other at the cemetery. One was from Connecticut and the other from Virginia. After talking to each other, they discovered that they were cousins but failed to recognize each other. They were both nieces of Mr. Fernie Lee of Coats. They headed to Coats to sit on the front porch and sit a spell.
Do any of the Lee and Ennis families recognize those ladies as being a part of your family?
There was more exciting news from Coats in the June 10, 1993 edition n of the Daily Record. Rudolph and Dorothy Ennis had celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Two Coats folks were recognized for their hard work. Congratulations went to Teresa Byrd Stewart who had been named the Teacher of the Year and to Carolyn Messer who had been picked as the Secretary of the Year in the Harnett County School system.
Friends and family were concerned for Rupert Honeycutt who had undergone major heart surgery and also for Sondra Ennis Smith who had had surgery on her hand. Alma Weaver was a patient at Duke and Grace Yarborough was at GHH in Erwin.
Tommie Danielle Byrd had been awarded the Joseph A. Matthews Scholarship in chemistry at Belmont Abbey College. Tommy was the daughter of Larry Byrd and Mrs. Sandra Butts (Daily Record June 15, 1993). Can you imagine how proud the parents must have been? Chemistry scares many students.
Coats teams involved in the Junior League had won games against Ellis Barbour and Erwin. Kelly Parrish, Adam Ennis, Gary Walden, Steven Tart and James Norris starred against Ellis Barbour and Louie Slaughter, Tony Beasley, Jr., Thomas Hamilton, Steven Tart and Gary Walden scored a shutout over Erwin.
The Coats Woman’s Club presented the Family of the Year Award to the Jimmy Allen Family and the Club Woman of the Year to Christine Akerman (Daily Record June 17, 1993). Seventy people hired Ed Bain to contest the annexation recently voted in by the Coats Town Board (Daily Record June 21, 2023).
Surely there was talk around town about those who opposed the annexation but likely more interest was shown in the fact that an SBI plane piloted by C.D. Holbrook of Coats and Glen Barnette of Fuquay- Varina came down in a field between Buies Creek and Lillington. The pilots had made an emergency landing because of engine failure (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
Does anyone remember that incident? On occasions we have former students recall about the plane that crashed outside of Coats that brought hundreds of people to the site. Some students recall that they saw it come down.
The CACC paid tribute to its outstanding town police force during a breakfast. The police force was led by Chief Tommy Williford and was assisted by Alvester McKoy, Ray Brownie, Randy Beasley, and Jeff Stewart and dog catcher Larry Ryals and auxiliary members S.T. Coats and Keith Parrish (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
The Turlington Crossroads area lost its beloved Laylon Parrish Turlington who had died on Saturday at age 101. She was the widow of Henry A. Turlington, Sr. and the daughter of Barty F. Parrish. Her services were held in the Rose and Graham Funeral Home in Benson by her son-in-law, Elder J.M. Mewborn (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
Robert Todd Lesley and LuAnn Stewart were united in marriage at the Coats Baptist Church. The Rev. Howard Beard officiated. The bride was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Stewart and the groom’s parents were Mr. and Mrs. J. Kenneth Lesley of Jamestown.
The Coats United Methodist Church Women’s group met at the home of Del and Mary Forest in Buies Creek. Carolyn Tart presided and presented the program (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
The Coats Senior League clinched the championship in the Tar Heel baseball 15-17 year-old competition. The players were Mike Surerus, Jason Faircloth, Rickey Johnson, C.J. Holiday, David Tutor, Robbie Davis, Hunter Hall, Glen Faircloth, Joseph Adams, Richard Beasley, Brad Butler, Kevin Marks, Brandon Norris, and Chris Ennis. The coaches were Mike Norris and Rich Johnson (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
Kalicia Blair Parrish was named a Student of the Week by the Dunn-Erwin Rotary Club. Kalicia was active in the Pep Club, FBLA, and the Beta and Alpha Honor Societies, Close-Up, softball, baseball and basketball. She was an All-Conference volleyball player. Kalicia’s parents were Keith and Karen Parrish (Daily Record June 22, 1993).
Thursday was busy and exciting. We had several come by for research while others dropped in for various reasons. We especially enjoyed a visit from Jerry Gardner of Westminster, SC. Jerry graduated from Coats in 1971 and it so happened that Randy and Rhonda Stephenson were visiting at the same time. The classmates enjoyed a good visit.
Jerry’s aunt and uncle are featured in the museum where the military uniform, the handmade wedding dress and night gown are on display.
How small is the world? My granddaughter Blair Smith of Chapel Hill, who several years ago gave hundreds of volunteer hours to the museum by digitizing all the old Coats High year books for the research library, worked at a medical practice to get clinical hours before applying to a medical school. She had a patient come in and discovered Blair had family connections in Coats. The patient told the story of his team in Pittsboro defeating Coats which he said had never lost a game that year and that a big fight followed the defeat. The patient asked Blair if she had ever heard about the game.
No question will go unanswered by Blair so she asked me if I remembered it. For some reason I thought it was a basketball game but it turns out it was a football game and Coats indeed was badly defeated. According to our visitor Jerry Gardner, he remembered it. Jerry said that he thought it was in 1965-66 school year when Clyde Ennis was a freshman on the team which would make the date right. He said at that time the Coats teams played schools like Pittsboro and Ramseur. At that time Coats had no African-American students but Pittsboro did and Jerry said they wiped out Coats and even had some serious injuries occur during the game.
Did you ever vacation at the Shipwreck Villa in North Topsail Beach? Is it in operation today? Did they bring it down and replace it with a more modern lodging? I do know that Belle Williams wrote in her “Notes from Coats” that it would never be the same after a group of Coats folks spent the weekend there. The group- Diane Parker, Patsy Joyner, Chris Royal, Donna Currin, Sonya Pope, Turtle Tart, Bonita Messer, Ashley Messer, Renee Dickens, Faye Tart, and Rhonda Stewart had arrived at the beach on Aldean and Gerald Pleasant’s van which they had loaned to the ladies so they could travel together.
Wonder if they saw anyone else from the area while they were there for the weekend. I do know that on some occasions travelers can be miles from Coats and discover in conversations at a restaurant or a tour and learn that the person is from Coats or a neighboring town. Trust me, Coats may have less than 3000 residents but very few know each other. There was a time when everyone in the area knew each other by name and where they lived. There was a time a few years ago that H.L. and I could go into the Coats IGA and just about everyone in there would speak and call us by name. Today there is only one person in the store that knows who I am. If I am lucky, I might see one or two customers who speak.
Even families are disconnected today. This point can be verified by what happened in 1993 at a family cemetery in Johnston County. Dorothy Zucchi and Eunice Johnson ran into each other at the cemetery. One was from Connecticut and the other from Virginia. After talking to each other, they discovered that they were cousins but failed to recognize each other. They were both nieces of Mr. Fernie Lee of Coats. They headed to Coats to sit on the front porch and sit a spell.
Do any of the Lee and Ennis families recognize those ladies as being a part of your family?
There was more exciting news from Coats in the June 10, 1993 edition n of the Daily Record. Rudolph and Dorothy Ennis had celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Two Coats folks were recognized for their hard work. Congratulations went to Teresa Byrd Stewart who had been named the Teacher of the Year and to Carolyn Messer who had been picked as the Secretary of the Year in the Harnett County School system.
Friends and family were concerned for Rupert Honeycutt who had undergone major heart surgery and also for Sondra Ennis Smith who had had surgery on her hand. Alma Weaver was a patient at Duke and Grace Yarborough was at GHH in Erwin.
Tommie Danielle Byrd had been awarded the Joseph A. Matthews Scholarship in chemistry at Belmont Abbey College. Tommy was the daughter of Larry Byrd and Mrs. Sandra Butts (Daily Record June 15, 1993). Can you imagine how proud the parents must have been? Chemistry scares many students.
Coats teams involved in the Junior League had won games against Ellis Barbour and Erwin. Kelly Parrish, Adam Ennis, Gary Walden, Steven Tart and James Norris starred against Ellis Barbour and Louie Slaughter, Tony Beasley, Jr., Thomas Hamilton, Steven Tart and Gary Walden scored a shutout over Erwin.
The Coats Woman’s Club presented the Family of the Year Award to the Jimmy Allen Family and the Club Woman of the Year to Christine Akerman (Daily Record June 17, 1993). Seventy people hired Ed Bain to contest the annexation recently voted in by the Coats Town Board (Daily Record June 21, 2023).
Surely there was talk around town about those who opposed the annexation but likely more interest was shown in the fact that an SBI plane piloted by C.D. Holbrook of Coats and Glen Barnette of Fuquay- Varina came down in a field between Buies Creek and Lillington. The pilots had made an emergency landing because of engine failure (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
Does anyone remember that incident? On occasions we have former students recall about the plane that crashed outside of Coats that brought hundreds of people to the site. Some students recall that they saw it come down.
The CACC paid tribute to its outstanding town police force during a breakfast. The police force was led by Chief Tommy Williford and was assisted by Alvester McKoy, Ray Brownie, Randy Beasley, and Jeff Stewart and dog catcher Larry Ryals and auxiliary members S.T. Coats and Keith Parrish (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
The Turlington Crossroads area lost its beloved Laylon Parrish Turlington who had died on Saturday at age 101. She was the widow of Henry A. Turlington, Sr. and the daughter of Barty F. Parrish. Her services were held in the Rose and Graham Funeral Home in Benson by her son-in-law, Elder J.M. Mewborn (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
Robert Todd Lesley and LuAnn Stewart were united in marriage at the Coats Baptist Church. The Rev. Howard Beard officiated. The bride was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Stewart and the groom’s parents were Mr. and Mrs. J. Kenneth Lesley of Jamestown.
The Coats United Methodist Church Women’s group met at the home of Del and Mary Forest in Buies Creek. Carolyn Tart presided and presented the program (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
The Coats Senior League clinched the championship in the Tar Heel baseball 15-17 year-old competition. The players were Mike Surerus, Jason Faircloth, Rickey Johnson, C.J. Holiday, David Tutor, Robbie Davis, Hunter Hall, Glen Faircloth, Joseph Adams, Richard Beasley, Brad Butler, Kevin Marks, Brandon Norris, and Chris Ennis. The coaches were Mike Norris and Rich Johnson (Daily Record June 21, 1993).
Kalicia Blair Parrish was named a Student of the Week by the Dunn-Erwin Rotary Club. Kalicia was active in the Pep Club, FBLA, and the Beta and Alpha Honor Societies, Close-Up, softball, baseball and basketball. She was an All-Conference volleyball player. Kalicia’s parents were Keith and Karen Parrish (Daily Record June 22, 1993).
Thursday was busy and exciting. We had several come by for research while others dropped in for various reasons. We especially enjoyed a visit from Jerry Gardner of Westminster, SC. Jerry graduated from Coats in 1971 and it so happened that Randy and Rhonda Stephenson were visiting at the same time. The classmates enjoyed a good visit.
Jerry’s aunt and uncle are featured in the museum where the military uniform, the handmade wedding dress and night gown are on display.
How small is the world? My granddaughter Blair Smith of Chapel Hill, who several years ago gave hundreds of volunteer hours to the museum by digitizing all the old Coats High year books for the research library, worked at a medical practice to get clinical hours before applying to a medical school. She had a patient come in and discovered Blair had family connections in Coats. The patient told the story of his team in Pittsboro defeating Coats which he said had never lost a game that year and that a big fight followed the defeat. The patient asked Blair if she had ever heard about the game.
No question will go unanswered by Blair so she asked me if I remembered it. For some reason I thought it was a basketball game but it turns out it was a football game and Coats indeed was badly defeated. According to our visitor Jerry Gardner, he remembered it. Jerry said that he thought it was in 1965-66 school year when Clyde Ennis was a freshman on the team which would make the date right. He said at that time the Coats teams played schools like Pittsboro and Ramseur. At that time Coats had no African-American students but Pittsboro did and Jerry said they wiped out Coats and even had some serious injuries occur during the game.