CCfluuty Jlublif Slbrury The NEW BERN PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE HEART OP EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOLUME 12 NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1969 NUMBhn35 Dusting ott the memories: Once upon a time, Gatsey Mat thews, 13, who lived in Colo ny Heights, displayed wisdom beyond her years. Instead of paying a nickel to ride the City V bus home from school, she in vested the money each day In a candy bar. She knew sweets were bad for her already plump figure, but reasoned that the long walk would take care of that. New Bern's Mike Holton, a pilot for Piedmont AlrUnes, used to go to great lengths for his music lessons. His run was ft-om Wilmington, N. C., to Cincinnati, and he studied voice at a conservatory in the Ohio city during his brief stays there. Mike started out as a soloist in the Centenary Meth odist choir here. Jack Menlus, attendingaNa- tional Boy Scout Jamboree at Valley Forge, discovered a bean bettle In his picket when he arrived for the encamp ment. He put the bug in a smaU plastic case, called the Insect a Hindu FUp, and traded It to an eager Texas scout for a hand made leather neckerchief. Oth er boys from the Lone Star State swamped Jack with re quests for additional Hindu flips. Wltti more bean beetles young Menlus could probably have ended up owning half of Texas. Then there was the occa sion when a group of kids liv ing on Johnson street discov ered that a stray hen was lay ing eggs In a neighborhood woodshed. A mother discov ered it too when she found her smaU daughter and several oth er moppets breaking the eggs andmixlng them In mud pies. Visit the graves of FDR and his wife,Eleanor,at Hyde Park, and you'U find that Roosevelt's beloved dog, Falla, Is burled with them. Although we aren't sure. It Is probably the only Instance that a pet canine has been entombed by the side of a departed President. Which brings to mind some thing that happened when spe cial memorial services were held at New Bern's Christ Episcopal church, the Satur day afternoon following Roose velt's death at Warm Springs. As the local services neared their cUmax, a little mongrel trotted quietly down the center aisle of the historic edifice, and remained until those who had come to pay their last tribute filed out. Great dog lover that he was, FDR would have gotten a chuckle or grown misty eyed over an incident such cs this. Most of all he might have been especlaUy pleased to note that the canine was nondescript. Whatever else may be said for or against Roosevelt, he wasn't overly awed by pedigrees. Because of a physical handi cap that needs no detaillnghere, FDR never knew the joy of romping playfully with Falla. Master and pet accepted this fact, and their association be came even closer, we believe, than the usual bond between man and dog. Falla was with Roosevelt when he died, and rode in the coach with his body on the train trip back to Washington. Grief is by no means confined to hu man exprience, and the ca- I.- THE WAY IT WAS — If you were living In New Bern 25 years ago or earlier, you’ll recognize our town’s small, two-story telephone building. A handful of operators handled all calls, totaling only a tiny frac tion of the thousands now cleared dally through Carolina Telephone’s modern direct-dialing equip ment here. The front portion of the first fioor served as the business office, and greeting customers there was as gentle and considerate a lady as ever lived. Miss Ina Brewer. Her courtesy was the one thing the company couldn’t improve on in its tremendous ex pansion program, in North Carolina's first Capital City. What became of this structure? It was added to, and swallowed up by the much larger building now standing at Broad and Hancock. Incidentally, this free, front-page plug for Carolina Telephone was our idea, not theirs. The firm’s importance to our community is far reaching. .... (Contlnued.oh Pagu 8) ( « I « ( t t » I 1 » I I

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