September 8, 2023 Coats Museum News
The month was June of 1993 and several young people in Coats were reaping the benefits of using their time wisely. Two Triton seniors were presented the Americanism Awards given by the Banner Post 109 and the American Legion Auxiliary of Benson. Bonita Holiday and Donald Brian Stewart were the recipients. H. Bryan Sorrell, a N.C. State junior, was the recipient of the Harnett County Retired School Personnel Scholarship. The former Triton High School honors graduate was also an honor student at N.C. State University where he will pursue a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree (Daily Record June 23, 1993).
Grace Coats Yarborough, 79, of Coats had died on Monday. Rev. Jesse Mooney held her services at the Coats Baptist Church. Burial was in the Coats City Cemetery. Surviving her were her husband, Jones R. Yarborough, and one daughter, Susan Y. Williams (Daily Record June 29, 1993).
If you purchased a copy of the Heritage of Coats, N.C., Susan wrote a very informative family story in the section of the book entitled “Founders Corner”. Grace was a direct descendant of the town’s namesake, James Thomas Coats.
Tony, Billy and Waeford Pope were three popular students at the Coats High School. Their lives have touched so many so it was very sad that one of the brothers would die so young. Waeford R. Pope was only 48 when he died. His funeral services were held at the Angier United Methodist Church in Angier. Surviving him were his wife Bonita O. Pope; his daughter Teresa Lane and his son Randall Pope. His mother was Kizzie Williams and brothers Billy G. and Tony Pope were also survivors (Daily Record June 30, 1993).
Most people would have to admit that they look forward to retirement when the stresses of work can be replaced with more time with family, volunteerism, travel and no alarm to assure that they arrive at work on time. Wonder if that was the case with Patty Sue Godwin and Linda Mangum from “Coats Hairstyling Shop.” Both girls were retiring with many years under their belt. Sue Stewart and Annie Neighbors took over the business. Does anyone recall the location where Patty and Linda operated this shop?
I do know that death was spending overtime in the Coats area. Once again the paper reported that the reaper had harvested a fine citizen from the community. Addie Coats Whittington Overton Ennis had died on Thursday. Her services were held at the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church with burial in the Plain View Cemetery. Her survivors were Sarah Elizabeth Altman and Richard H. Whittington. Susie Spence, Joan Brown and Ann Whittington were stepchildren. Mabel Bailey and Thelma Jackson were sisters.
The Angier- Coats Cardinals were the gold finalist in the State Games in baseball in Durham. The record named the following as being members of that team: Eric Burleson, Brian Gardner, Chris Stanley, Ryan McLean, Joseph Capps, Brooks West, Ashley Stewart, Gary Walden, Adam Ennis, Steven Tart, Bradley Stancil, , David James, and Thomas Hamilton. The coaches were Freddy Stancil , Raymond Hamilton and Freddy McLean (Daily Record July 2, 1993).
A joyous occasion occurred for Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Ennis of Coats as they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in the Full Gospel Tabernacle of Coats. Ronald and Betty Ennis, Wayne and Pat Ennis, Lynn and Beverly Ennis, and Karen and Keith Parrish hosted the reception. Mrs. Ennis was the former Dorothy Lambert, daughter of Bill Henry and Estella Lambert of Sampson County. About 150 friends and family honored the couple.
The Coats Guy C. Lee team score was 11-1 in the Eastern Harnett Junior League baseball play. No official championship was awarded because the schedule was not completed. Names to remember were Marshall Groves, Thomas Hamilton, B.J. Blackman, Nicholas Dennis, Brooks West, Lyle Pollard, Robert Barefoot, Billy Lenzina, Jeremy Stewart, Gary Walden, Steven Tart, Louie Slaughter, Kelly Parrish, James Tart, T.J. Holliday, Jr., Joseph Hawley, Adam Ennis, Ashley Stewart, Nicholas Pope and Kevin Blackman. Coaches were Don Ennis, Marty Spivey and G.R. Stephenson (Daily Record July 5, 1993).
The towns around Harnett County had candidates filing for various seats. In Coats, Darrell Smith, the CACC president, had filed for a commission seat. The mayor and three commission seats were up for election and were currently held by Tim McKinnie, Wade Stephenson, Margaret House, and Frances Avery (Daily Record July 6, 1993).
The CACC focused on the Trophy Case in Dunn which was owned by M.T. Strickland and managed by his daughter Sharon Stevens. The company was ten years old. It served Harnett, Johnston, Sampson, Cumberland, and Southern Wake Counties.
Angela Hedgepeth had reason to be proud. She had made the Dean’s List at the CU Pharmacy School. Belle Williams in her “notes from Coats’ had extended sympathy to the families of Grace Yarborough, Shirley Faye Hayes, Ruby Turlington Currin and Waeford Pope.
Applied Computer Technologies (ACT) had demolition crews busy removing debris from the old building. They were expanding.
The Coats Farm League Champs were sponsored by BB&T. The young team had a 10-2 record. The team had Johnny Coats, Aaron Bush, Jordan Wood, Lee Pollard, Justin Farthing, Bobby Avery, Jay Grimes, Skylar Barefoot, Bobby Farthing, Brad Barbee, Brandon Heath, Julian Byrd, Chris Matthews and James Fountain. Coaches were Charles Byrd, Larry Barefoot and Joe Pollard (Daily Record July 8, 1993).
Stacey Johnson, Jr., a native of Coats, had been named Athletic Director of the Lumberton Junior High School. Stacey’s parents are Stacey and Betty Tart Johnson of Coats. Young Johnson was a 1989 graduate of East Carolina University and commented to the Lumberton Robesonian newspaper that he was “delighted and surprised due to his age and was told that he would make a good representative for the school “(Daily Record July 12, 1993).
The Coats-Grove Fire and Rescue Team began a new service that would benefit not only Coats. The group formed the first dive team in Harnett County. The certified team consisted of Jay Smith, Michael Elmore, Jay Johnson and Larry Denton. Other potential dive team members were Stephen Wilkie and Allen Faircloth (Daily Record July 13, 1993).
Last Thursday was very busy at the museum. We had many folks to drop in. Kay Stewart Blanchard was one of them. You might remember that Kay was a 1968 of Coats High School. Kay went on to work in the Harnett County Manager’s office for many, many years. Kay and her 1968 class have given a very generous memorial to the Coats Museum in H.L.’s honor. He would be so humbled by their gift to help the Coats Museum grow into an even larger museum. Thank you to all the 1968 graduates who donated and please know that Lenee, Bryan and I appreciate your remembering H.L.
The month was June of 1993 and several young people in Coats were reaping the benefits of using their time wisely. Two Triton seniors were presented the Americanism Awards given by the Banner Post 109 and the American Legion Auxiliary of Benson. Bonita Holiday and Donald Brian Stewart were the recipients. H. Bryan Sorrell, a N.C. State junior, was the recipient of the Harnett County Retired School Personnel Scholarship. The former Triton High School honors graduate was also an honor student at N.C. State University where he will pursue a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree (Daily Record June 23, 1993).
Grace Coats Yarborough, 79, of Coats had died on Monday. Rev. Jesse Mooney held her services at the Coats Baptist Church. Burial was in the Coats City Cemetery. Surviving her were her husband, Jones R. Yarborough, and one daughter, Susan Y. Williams (Daily Record June 29, 1993).
If you purchased a copy of the Heritage of Coats, N.C., Susan wrote a very informative family story in the section of the book entitled “Founders Corner”. Grace was a direct descendant of the town’s namesake, James Thomas Coats.
Tony, Billy and Waeford Pope were three popular students at the Coats High School. Their lives have touched so many so it was very sad that one of the brothers would die so young. Waeford R. Pope was only 48 when he died. His funeral services were held at the Angier United Methodist Church in Angier. Surviving him were his wife Bonita O. Pope; his daughter Teresa Lane and his son Randall Pope. His mother was Kizzie Williams and brothers Billy G. and Tony Pope were also survivors (Daily Record June 30, 1993).
Most people would have to admit that they look forward to retirement when the stresses of work can be replaced with more time with family, volunteerism, travel and no alarm to assure that they arrive at work on time. Wonder if that was the case with Patty Sue Godwin and Linda Mangum from “Coats Hairstyling Shop.” Both girls were retiring with many years under their belt. Sue Stewart and Annie Neighbors took over the business. Does anyone recall the location where Patty and Linda operated this shop?
I do know that death was spending overtime in the Coats area. Once again the paper reported that the reaper had harvested a fine citizen from the community. Addie Coats Whittington Overton Ennis had died on Thursday. Her services were held at the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church with burial in the Plain View Cemetery. Her survivors were Sarah Elizabeth Altman and Richard H. Whittington. Susie Spence, Joan Brown and Ann Whittington were stepchildren. Mabel Bailey and Thelma Jackson were sisters.
The Angier- Coats Cardinals were the gold finalist in the State Games in baseball in Durham. The record named the following as being members of that team: Eric Burleson, Brian Gardner, Chris Stanley, Ryan McLean, Joseph Capps, Brooks West, Ashley Stewart, Gary Walden, Adam Ennis, Steven Tart, Bradley Stancil, , David James, and Thomas Hamilton. The coaches were Freddy Stancil , Raymond Hamilton and Freddy McLean (Daily Record July 2, 1993).
A joyous occasion occurred for Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Ennis of Coats as they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in the Full Gospel Tabernacle of Coats. Ronald and Betty Ennis, Wayne and Pat Ennis, Lynn and Beverly Ennis, and Karen and Keith Parrish hosted the reception. Mrs. Ennis was the former Dorothy Lambert, daughter of Bill Henry and Estella Lambert of Sampson County. About 150 friends and family honored the couple.
The Coats Guy C. Lee team score was 11-1 in the Eastern Harnett Junior League baseball play. No official championship was awarded because the schedule was not completed. Names to remember were Marshall Groves, Thomas Hamilton, B.J. Blackman, Nicholas Dennis, Brooks West, Lyle Pollard, Robert Barefoot, Billy Lenzina, Jeremy Stewart, Gary Walden, Steven Tart, Louie Slaughter, Kelly Parrish, James Tart, T.J. Holliday, Jr., Joseph Hawley, Adam Ennis, Ashley Stewart, Nicholas Pope and Kevin Blackman. Coaches were Don Ennis, Marty Spivey and G.R. Stephenson (Daily Record July 5, 1993).
The towns around Harnett County had candidates filing for various seats. In Coats, Darrell Smith, the CACC president, had filed for a commission seat. The mayor and three commission seats were up for election and were currently held by Tim McKinnie, Wade Stephenson, Margaret House, and Frances Avery (Daily Record July 6, 1993).
The CACC focused on the Trophy Case in Dunn which was owned by M.T. Strickland and managed by his daughter Sharon Stevens. The company was ten years old. It served Harnett, Johnston, Sampson, Cumberland, and Southern Wake Counties.
Angela Hedgepeth had reason to be proud. She had made the Dean’s List at the CU Pharmacy School. Belle Williams in her “notes from Coats’ had extended sympathy to the families of Grace Yarborough, Shirley Faye Hayes, Ruby Turlington Currin and Waeford Pope.
Applied Computer Technologies (ACT) had demolition crews busy removing debris from the old building. They were expanding.
The Coats Farm League Champs were sponsored by BB&T. The young team had a 10-2 record. The team had Johnny Coats, Aaron Bush, Jordan Wood, Lee Pollard, Justin Farthing, Bobby Avery, Jay Grimes, Skylar Barefoot, Bobby Farthing, Brad Barbee, Brandon Heath, Julian Byrd, Chris Matthews and James Fountain. Coaches were Charles Byrd, Larry Barefoot and Joe Pollard (Daily Record July 8, 1993).
Stacey Johnson, Jr., a native of Coats, had been named Athletic Director of the Lumberton Junior High School. Stacey’s parents are Stacey and Betty Tart Johnson of Coats. Young Johnson was a 1989 graduate of East Carolina University and commented to the Lumberton Robesonian newspaper that he was “delighted and surprised due to his age and was told that he would make a good representative for the school “(Daily Record July 12, 1993).
The Coats-Grove Fire and Rescue Team began a new service that would benefit not only Coats. The group formed the first dive team in Harnett County. The certified team consisted of Jay Smith, Michael Elmore, Jay Johnson and Larry Denton. Other potential dive team members were Stephen Wilkie and Allen Faircloth (Daily Record July 13, 1993).
Last Thursday was very busy at the museum. We had many folks to drop in. Kay Stewart Blanchard was one of them. You might remember that Kay was a 1968 of Coats High School. Kay went on to work in the Harnett County Manager’s office for many, many years. Kay and her 1968 class have given a very generous memorial to the Coats Museum in H.L.’s honor. He would be so humbled by their gift to help the Coats Museum grow into an even larger museum. Thank you to all the 1968 graduates who donated and please know that Lenee, Bryan and I appreciate your remembering H.L.