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THE WEST CRAVEN
HIGHLIGHT
volume 2 NO. 5 vanceboro, NX. - Thursday, February 8,1979 12 Pages Price: 20c
Citizen of the Month
iCarl
Barefoot
(Editor's Note~Mr. Barefoot's
name was brought to our atten
tion by someone in his com
munity that thought his story
wouid be of interest to our
readers. We agreed. If there is
someone In your community
that you feel deserves special
recognition or who has an
interesting story to tell, please
let us Know.
Carl Barefoot, resident of
the Epworth Community,
worked as the Head Pastry
Chef at the John Marshall
Hotel in Richmond, Virginia
for 17 years. He retired in
1977 and moved to North
Carolina with his wife, the
late Ruth Kirkman Barefoot
of Epworth. Mr. Barefoot, a
Raleigh^ native, erwated
pastry wonders for several
presidents and other digni
taries during his career. _
In an interview with the
Highlights, Mr. Barefoot'
explained that the John
Marshall Hotel was a mem
ber of the Richmond Hotels
Company. He further ex
plained that all of the bak
ing was done at the John
Marshall and then sent to
the different hotels for din
ner parties and other oc
casions. He added that he
had catered receptions at
tended by Presidents Tru
man, Johnson, and Ken-
By Connie Bryan
nedy, which followed the
launching of'ships at New
port News.
On one of these occasions,
C. T. Rogers, president of
the John Marshall, com
mented to Mr. .Barefoot
that President Johnson had
enjoyed his almond ma
caroons saying that "they
were better than the ones
at the White House.” Dur
ing his career, Mr. Barefoot
received a great many
compliments b'om well sat
isfied customers.
Mr. Barefoot remarked
that Elizabeth Taylor was
particularly fond of his
cheese cake. He revealed
that his secret in making
this dessert was not to cook
it with direct heat, but to
place it in a pan of water
and let the rising steam
cook it.
Mr. Barefoot, recalls one
time when Ronald Reagan
was the guest of honor at a
dinner party at the John
Marshall celebrating his
66th Birthday. Mr. Barefoot
prepared a cake shaped like
a elephant with red and
blue icing and three white
stars on top. In the ele
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Carl Barfoot, retired ppatry e^f, is ^own here with yet another masterpiece that he made whfle working at the John
Marshaii in Richmond, Va. lliis cake was |wepmed icir the Atlantic Rural Elxposition. The fence and bam are made -from
sugar with a royal icing made from egg white. The red icing, which looks like trim, is actually holding the sections
together. In the background is one of the thousands of wedding cakes that Barefoot made during his career.
phant’s trunk, he placed a
single candle, which Reagan
blew out.
Other notables that en
joyed Mr. Barefoot’s cakes
and desserts included Law
rence Welk, Elvis Presley,
and Nelson Rockefeller.
The largest banquet that he
ever prepared dessert for
was Southern States’ Co
operative convention with
1800 guests.
Mr. Barefoot, who at one
time had a 12-man crew
under him, is also skilled in
the art of ice carving. Des
cribing this art, he ex
plained that he usually
started with 300-pound
block of “blown” ice, a
special type of ice without
any ammonia. Working in a
walk-in refrigerator, he
used a four-pronged ice
pick to scuplt the desired
shape. He added that an ice
punch bowl would take
about 3 hours with more
intricate figures taking
longer.
Mr. Barefoot began his
career in 1939 at the Royal
Baking Company in
Raleigh. He continued his
craft on the USS Yorktown
during World War II. Be
fore coming to the John
Marshall, he worked at the
Willord Hotel on Pennsyl
vania Avenue about three
blocks from the White
House.
Mr. Barefoot never at
tended cooking school. He
attributes most of his
knowledge to experience
and to an ex-chef from
Germany, George Dunzing,
whom he worked with for
awhile.
Yancebpro Town Board nieets
^eary must move trailer
Vanceboro-The Vanceboro
Board of Aldermen voted to
require Elmer Leary to
remove one of the two
trailers on his lot on Buck
Lane which is in non-
compliance with the Vance
boro Zoning Ordinance.
According to Mayor Morris,
Leary divided his lot in
order to add another trailer
.to the lot on which sits a
trailer presently being used
as a beauty shop. Morris
explained to the board that
according to the zoning
ordinance a lot naust con
tain at least 8,000 square
feet for a trailer to be
placed on it. Morris further
explained to the board that
Leary’s lot on Buck Lane
was not large enough,
according to the zoning
ordinances, to accomodate
two trailers. The board
voted to allow Leary ten
days to correct the situa
tion (i.e. remove the trailer
on the lot that is in non-
compliance) or the matter
will be turned over to the
town’s attorney.
In other action, the board
I heard complaints from
some citizens living on
Warren Street who were
concerned about problems
of drainage and road repair^
ing in their neighborhood.
The board decided to look
into the situation. The
board set February 28,
1979 as the deadline for
hook-ups by citizens to the
new City Waste Treatment
System. Exceptions will be
made for citizens who do
not have service available.
February 16, 1979 is the
deadline for displaying city
tags. The city sticker must
be placed in the lower fight
hand corner of the wind
shield by midnight. Mayor
Morris indicated that viola
tors would be prosecuted.
The cost of the sewer
service will be 1.6 x Water
Charge for residents and
2.5 X Water Charge for
businesses.
The board agreed to go
ahead and put a rest room
in the Vanceboro Public
Library using funds from
the county on a matching
basis with money already
accumulated in the library
account. Police Commission
er reported that the
Vanceboro Police Depart
ment recovered $5950 in
stolen property during
January. Morris explained
that the state marked the
side lines on Main Street
for parking. The town will
mark the parking. The
board voted to send a letter
of condolence to fellow
board member Tony
Chesson, whose father died
suddenly.
Basketball Contest—Page 4