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VOLUME 13
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, AUGUST 28,1970
NUMBER 24
Yesterday was when New
Bern had an 86 year old shoe
shine boy. Foscue Mitchell not
only wielded a mean rag at Elks
Temple Barber Shop, but
did extra work at several neigh
boring stores.
“I was a railroad fireman tor
40 years,*' the dapper octoge
narian told us "starting with
those old wood burners on the
Atlantic and North Carolina
Railroad.**
His run from Morehead City
to Goldsboro used to be an all
day affair. In fact, sometimes
the train left Morehead at 7 in
the morning and didn't arrive at
Its destination until far Into
the night.
He fondly remembered that
Mr. Jim Bryan was the presi
dent of the railroad, and Mr.
Joe Green was the master me
chanic. Firing that locomo
tive, hour after hour, was
rough, but FOscue loved it
and hated to be retired.
"I felt like a throwed-out
mule," he said, but the elder
ly Negro didn't stay throwed-
out long. Qrabbing himself a
shoe shine box, he embarked
on a new undertaking and earn
ed a living for his wife and chil
dren.
"A man won't get into trou
ble when he stays busy," rea
soned Foscue, and that was as
much a part .of. his religion,,
as the Bible he liked to quote
from. His outlook was as
bright as the shines he gave.
Old timers have no difficul
ty recaUing the sentimental
tunes that were popular in their
teen years. What about much
younger New Bernlans, sayfor
instance those of you just be
yond 26?
If you've forgotten, 10 years
ago your favorite recordings
in the order listed were Hank
Ballard's The Twist; Elvis
Presley's It's Now Or Never;
the Connie Francis rendition
of My Heart Has A Mind of
Its Own; Larry Verne's Mr.
Custer; Brook Benton's Kld-
dlo; tte Ventures version of
Walk Don't Run; the Johnny
Charles arrangement of A Mil
lion to One; Ferrante and
Teicher's Theme firom Tbe
Apartment; and Yogi by file
Ivy Three.
********
Despite the tremendous nu
merical odds against it, en
countering someone from home
is fairly common when you're
roaming around in a big city,
^'v^ raperience^ this sort
of thing repeatedly.
It happened to us again last
Sunday in Washington, while
attending morning services in
the huge and magnificent Na
tional Cathedral with more than
2,000 other worshipers.
Ten minutes before the hour
ended, we glanced to the left of
us, and spied just two persons
away a familiar face. The
woman we saw, wearing a bri^t
red hat, had to be and was Mary
Gray Moore.
A native New Bernian, she
lived across the street from us
for quite a few years, and
taught the seventh grade at
Central School here. More
recently she has been teach
ing in the Washington schools.
Ihe two of us had a hugging
reunion, as she started to leave
the edifice and recognized us
too. Time didn't permit more
than a brief chat, but to all of
, .. (q9ntji}ued.qi\ pw
SAW HIS POTENTIAL — Lou Carnesecca, then head
coach at St. John’s University but now coaching the
New York Nets In the ABA, was watching as Bill Bunt
ing unselfishly passed off to Lee Dedmon in the Holi
day Festival Tournament at Madison Square Garden
on the night of December 29, 1968. D«»n Cornelius
was the leaping defender. St. John’s upset the Uni
versity of North Carolina 72-70, to Lou s oelignt, but
Carnesecca never forgot Bunting’s stellar perform-
ance In a losing cause. It was by no means a case
of buying a pig in a poke, when the Nets recently
made a deal with the Carolina Cougars to obtain
Bill’s services. In New York he will be playing for a
man who is pleased to land him, and intends to give
hirn plenty of game experience. That’s something he
got very little of, riding the Cougar bench.-^ew
York Times photo.