W* -hirphy
2000 Arcndali 8t.
“®rehcad City, ir. c.
eastern NVk
CAROLINA
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Is it sHIy to believe in dreams?
Before you answer in the affirma
tive, consider the case of Ethel Mae
Moore, one of New Bern’s Negro
beauticians.
On the night of March 23c, 1050,
her sleep was interrupted by what
/she calls a vision from God. Cynics
Vmight call it something else, but
a cynic could never laugh off the
great good that came from Ethel
Mae’s faith and the life of dedicat
ed service that followed.
“I saw myself dressed in white,”
she told us with deep humility the
other day, “and I was doing deeds
for others.” Unlike a lot of dreams
that we mortals have during the
noctural hours, this one didn’t fade
in the bright reality that th^ light
of morning brings.
Stirred by a persistent urging to
heed the vision, Ethel Mae, who is
a member of the Missionary Bap
tist, denomination, visited mem
bers of other churches within her
race and got them enthused over
- her story. They formed a club, and
many missionaries joined in the
venture.
“At first, my laea was to-help
Ithe needy at Christmas,” says the
sincere, 40-year-old woman. “We
raised money through . programs,
and some of New Bern’s merchants
gave us things. That year we had
$300 to supplement what other
groups and individuals in New
„;Bern were doing to niake the Yule-
h^pier, for poor and lonely
iSeople.” - ■
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pl$!^i^l^t God had for heA She
- - siiw^ herself, ^ sGll wearing white,
providing a Tdace of shelter for
tomeone without ' relatives or
friends.
. “I . was laughed at,” she says,
ti^en she fells you that, there is
no tone of-resentment in her voice.
Ethel Mae didn’t have time or the
inclination to hate, just because a
lot of folks thought she was crazy.
In fact, she chuckles, as she re
counts her visit to Robert Glass, a
Negro attorney here. “I didn’t
know how to go about starting The
Mission Rest Home,” Ethel Mae
recalls. “I wanted to do it the
right way, so I went to Lawyer
Glass. I know he thought I was
off my beam.”
Glass got her squared away on
the project, dubious though he
might have beep, and today he
sings her' praises each time he
comes calling at the miracle house
on Dilahunt street. Neither he nor
anyone else who knows Ethel Mae
is a doubting Thomas any longer.
“Mr. Bryan Duffy told me I
could have a two story, frame
dwelling he owned-on Jones street,
if I moved it from the lot it was
standing on,” she says. “We tore
it down, carefully handling the
pieces, and built a one-stbry house
on Dilahunt street.”
“I’ll admit it must have looked
unusual seeing a woman working
oh the job, along with the carpen
ter,” Ethel Mae told us, “and we
^ had a lot of fun poked at us.”
That didn’t'Stop them. The Mission
; ,,Itest Home ;ivas completed, and has
been rendering a community serv
ice to unfortunates ever since.
The original house erected on
Dilahunt street had eight rooms.
More space was needed, and Ethel
Mae with her mild manner' and
bulldog determination took care
of that. White and colored friends
paid for individual concrete blocks,
and other items, to provide a 14-
room addition to the Rest Home.
As this is written, there are 21
patient residing there. Ethel Mae
no longer works at her profession.
She turned her beauty shop over
to a sister, and devotes all of her
waking hours to the cause she
started.
A woman who lives her religion,
she saw to it that the Rest Home
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sevfer^l centuries old, but. all of its charm isn’t veiled in
antiquity. Here, for example, is striking proof that func
tional architecture in the Swiss capital is as beautiful as
it is modern^ Sinalf wonder ^^f3i^’ iii^^WjSetne is in
trigued. perhaps you too may enjoy it# some day.
We are grateful to Swiss officials \vmd provided this Mir-
row mural for us. . -
New High School Principal
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Really Fond of Teen-Agers
Our guess is you’re going to like
youthful J. Walker Allen, who has
succeeded Dr. Richard S. Spear as
the principal at New, Bern High
school.
There’s nothing flashy about the
soft-spoken, bespectacled newcom
er, but he does his work with the
thoroughness of a true perfection
ist. In his office he is serious,, and
all business. Elsewhere, students
are going to find him friendly and
appreciative of the teen-ager’s
point of \iew;
Allen can hardly be classified
as a Gloomy Gus, when it comes to
young people. “I firmly believe,”
he says with deep sincerity, “that'
the teen-ager of today is better be
haved than the youngsters of my
own generation, and generations
prior to that.”
Recalling his own high school
days at Needham Broughton in
Raleigh, the t\ew local principal
observed when we interviewed
him that today’s teen-ager is less
vandalistic than students used to
be.
In addition, says Allen, the great
maijority of young people today
are anxious to make the most of
their opporitunity for good school
ing. They realize the importance of
an education, and with very few
exceptions can be counted on -4o-,
take their studies seriously.
Speaking of bn education, Allen
has a solid background in that re
spect. After graduating from high
school, he graduated with a B.S. de
gree from Wake Forest, and fol
lowed this up with his M.A. de
gree from East Carolina college.
Since 1956, he has been princi
pal of Jones Central High school.
and prior to that held similar posi-. stitution made great strides while
tions at various other schools in he was at its helm,
eastern North Carolina. He has an Allen has had enough experience
excellent reputation in school cir- as a high school principal to. rea-
cles, and at Jones Central the- in-' lizA that he’ll have his problems
MAKING GOOD IMPRESSION
at New Bern High, but it is doubt
ful that any of them will persist
as stubbornly as the problem that
plagued him in the Navy. Having
surmounted that, after a fashion,
he should be able to weather evi«
erything else.
When he was in service, he was
a flight engineer,-and'naturally it
called for considerable flying. This
wouldn’t have been so bad, except
for the fact that Allen was quick
to get air sick, whenever he left
the groimd.
It was annoying and embarras
sing, but it stuck with him all
through service. To make matters
worse, he was assigned to the Ad
miral’s plane. Getting nauseated ia
the presence of an Admiral doesn’t
do much to inflate one’s ego. How
ever, Allen managed to escape a
permanent inferiority complex.
His hobbies are hunting and
fishing, but he doesn’t do much
deep-sea fishing. On a choppy
ocean, he is apt to get the same
sort of misery that overtook him
when he soared into the wide blue
yonder during his Navy days. “Pills
don’t help,” he admits, and if you
’ve ever been seasick you can agree
with him.
With a student body as large as
New Bern High school’s, he anti
cipate^ real difficulty in learning
the names of a vast horde of teen
agers. He lays no claim to being a
memory wizard, but hopes that
frequent visits in the classrooms
and contact on the campus will
get him well acquainted with the
youngsters swarming around him.
His wife, Alma, can be coimted
on to be sympathetic, when he
(Continued on Page 8)
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