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i i. ? i . iv i qqo 1950 Population 18,341
1*50 Population y73 An Independent Weekly Newspaper ? Established in the Year looo
SIXTY-SEVENTH YEAR. ? NO. 8. BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY# NORTH CAROLINA THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1954. TWO SECTIONS? 12 PAGES
KING
STREET
BY
ROB RIVERS ,
A HUNDRED YEARS . . . AMD
MORE
' It is not given to a great many
people to live five score years,
and when a person does pass the
hundred mark, with more than a
year and a naif to
spare, it does con
stitute news, in
deed. . . . And a9
in the case of
of Miss Jennie Cof
fey, who died in
her 102nd year the
other day, it is all
'miss i_uj.ii the more remark
able when one retains a consid
erable degree of reason after one
hundred winters and summers
have been counted. ... In the
march of history one hundred and
one years is not a long time, but
in the measure of one human life
it covers an age . , . a period of
change unequalled in any other
period In history. . . . From thfc
primitive carts and wagons to the
automobiles and flying machines,
ffom rutted and muddy county
roads to four-lane highways, and
from sleepy country villages to
bustling centers of industry, com
morce and education.
BORN IN CALDWELL
Mis* JtniUi Coffey was bora
in Caldwell county in 1SS2.
Ihm years after the founding
of Watauga county, in the same
year Daniel Webster and Henry
Clay succumbed, and shortly al
ter Harriet Beecher Stowe
wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin." to
spark the emancipation move
ment. . . . She was eight yean
old when Abraham Lincoln was
elected President, and was old
enough to sing "John Brown's
Body Lies A-mouldin in the
Clay." when John was hanged.
. . . She was a big girl when
the Civil War flared and mem
bers of her family marched
forth to do battle under the
banners of Lee and Jackson.
Miss Jennie was ten when Lin
coln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, and eleven when
the Emancipator was shot
down. . . . She was a teen-ager
when Alaska was bought, and
was twenty-four when General
Custer and his troops were
mowed down by Injuns, united
under Sitting Bull, and when
Wild Bill Hickok was shot in
the back by Jack McCall in
Deadwood. . . . She was 17
when the golden spike was
lrammed down and there was
a railway connection to the
Pacific coast.
AND HERE AT HOME . . .
a lot happened during Miss Jen
nie's lifetime too. . . . Even
though she had grown old at the
time, the muddy road through
town was paved, through high
ways had linked the bdekwoods
area to the rest of the State, and
pioneer schools which operated a
few weeks in the year gave way
to modern school plants and one
of the South's great teachers col
leges. . . . She was past middle
age when Wilbur and Orville
Wright wobbled uncertainly
through the air in their flying ma
chine to inagurate the age of air
travel, and a few years later saw
the first automobile cough and
snort its way up King Street. . . .
She was the town's oldest mer
chant, and dispensed pencils and
paper and text books to us when
w# were cducatin' down at Prof.
Dougherty's Academy. . .' . She
taught Sunday School at the old
Methodist Church on the site of
the Boone Body Shop for a gen
eration or so, and saw the small
frame churches give way to big
houses of worship, fashioned of
brick and stone. . . . She watched
the town change from a little
country neighborhood to a place
of many people and much com
merce, but remained herselfa un
changed in the age of the power
ed wheel and the power politics
and the quickened tempo of life.
WE SHALL REMEMBER
Mis* Jennie. who lived sim
ply for more than a century ? ? ?
who carried on without bene
fli of hospitals, or of medicine*
or without a complex pattern of
life. . . . We shall remember
her hat shop, and the pencils
which came two for a nickel, if
you wanted bettor than the pen
ny number, and the elementary
text books which sold for
twelve cents, with an exchange
price a good deal lower: and wo
(Continued on pa?8 {our)
GREEN VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Green Valley School Second In
Watauga To Get Accredited Status
W. H. Walker, superintendent
of schools of Watauga county, and
Earl Greene, principal of Green
Valley school, recently received a
letter from the Division of In
structional Service, State Depart
ment of Public Instruction, in
forming them that Green Valley
Three Watauga
Lads Are Given
Scholarships
Marion Combs, Roy Miller and
Jack Simpson have been granted
$100 00 scholarships to N. C. State
College, according to W. C. Rich
ardson, who is Watauga County
chairman for the Talent for Ser
vice Scholarship to N. C. State.
These boys were recommended
for scholarships by their princi
pals. Dr. J. R. Shaffer of Appa
lachian, who recommended Roy
Miller,, and Mr. Sam Horton, who
recommended Mari6n Combs and
Jack Simpson.
These scholarships were award
ed under a new program which
was set up last year at State Col
lege.
Less than one-third of the high
ranking graduates of North Car
olina high schools attend college.
Less than one-half of the techni
cal personnel needed by industry
and agriculture is being trained
and supplied today in North Car
olina, Mr. Richardson said. An
average of six jobs were avail
able to each member of the latest
graduating class at N. C. State
College.
For these reasons North Caro
lina State College has established
a new scholarship program as an
incentive for many more prom
ising high school, graduates to
continue their education.
Mrs. Ray Aids
In Credit Clinic
Boone's Credit Bureau mana
ger, Mrs. Roberta Ray has been
appointed a member of the atten
dance and publicity committee of
the Southern Consumer Credit
Clinic. The Clinic is holding its
sixth annual meeting Wednesday
September 15 in Charlotte.
More than 300 credit managers
and executives from the South
will be in attendance.
? Most of the program will be in
panel form, with four moderators
and 24 panel members.
had met the requirements for an
accredited school and was being
placed on the State's list. This
school is the second elementary
school in the county to meet the
requirements. Appalachian Ele
mentary was first.
To meet the requirements of
accreditment a school must have
a plant with facilities adequate
for the enrollment and must own
equipment and instructional sup
plies, such as library books, maps,
globes, art prints, supplementary
readers and other items, suffici
ent for effective teaching. The
organization must meet the States'
requirement in providing relat
ively equal teacher load, and a
curriculum schedule that meets
the daily schedule suggestions of
the Division of Instructional Ser
vice.
The letter from the State De
partment states in part:
"Much commendation is due to
the, Joint efforts of the teachers,
principal, community helpers,
supervisor, and superintendent in
that area for the interest that
they have shown and the won
derful support that they have giv
en in helping to provide that
school with the needed instruc
tional materials over and above
the building which is such a cred
it to any community.
"Your report indicates twenty
five items, such as 16" globes, art
prints, pitch pipes, that have been
a joint project in your community
in working for this school to be
come accredited.
?While you have worked to
gether for accreditment, you have
also pooled your resources, your
interest and study for the im
provement of instruction in the
school. This accomplishment
should be a stimulation to con
tinue to grow and to make the
Green Valley School a more pur
poseful living experience for ev
ery child in the school.
"With best wishes to your
school and community for the
school year, 1954-55."
Green Valley is at present a
ten-teacher school. The faculty
consists of Mrs. Sinesca Wright,
Mrs. China Lavendar, Mrs. Daisy
Adams. Mrs. Florence Greene,
Mrs. Nora Greene, Mrs. Margaret
Hagaman. Mrs. Ruth Winkler,
Mrs. Susie Buchanan and Mr.
Earl Greene.
Mr. John Marsh will serve as
principal for the 1954-55 term.
Winners In Flower
Show Announced
Boone's eighth annual flower
show closed Friday evening after
more than 1300 guests had visit
ed it during a two-day period.
The show committee was well
pleased over the reception of the
many exhibits which exempli
fied the many glories of Caro
lina from the landing of the Ra
leigh colony to the present day
developments.
The stage portraying the gar
den of the Colonial period with
the young ladies of Boone in the
garden lent an atmosphere to the
occasion while the "tiny" minia
tures were most cleverly display
ed in a large frame bearing the
map of North Carolina on which
were placed at intervals a "Tar
Heel" which served as a mount
for the dried and fresh materials
in fifteen miniatures.
Pirates treasures depicted eight
unusual and different interpre
tations of the infamous pirate,
Blackbeard, who haunted the
North Carolina coast.
From Tryon on the enst with
the elegant period arrangement to
the Blue Ridge shadows symbolic |
Throngs Gather For
Annual Horse Show
More than (our thousand people '
gathered over the week end for
Blowing Rock's famed horse show
which drew the largest crowd in
its history.
Some of the top winners were:
Horses and riders of the C. Y.
Thomason stable at Greenwood
won championships in .equitation,
fine harness and three-gaite^po
ny classcs. Sissy Burg of Colum
bia won the five-galted pony class
riding her Dee Dee Tee, and M.
Wright rode Miss Burg's three
gaited Jovial Kalarama, to anoth
er win.
Stepp Stables' Black Wilson
and Cray Cold of Winston-Salon
placed one and two in the Tenne
ssee Walking Horse championship
while jumping honors went to the
Meadowbrook Stables of Char
lotte with Spunky Fisher riding
.Hershella's Happy Birthday, a
five-gaited horse owned by Mr.
and Mrs. Jimmy Mitchell of High
Point, won what is considered
the finest class in the show.
The Thomason stable's winning
began when Suzanne Thomason
won in equitation. Walter Keck.
Miss M. Smith of Atlanta, Carol
Cathey of Charlotte, Beck Harp
er of AsheviUe and Franklyn
Noll of*Lenoir were popular com
petitor i during the three-day
of the western area in the Ho
garth curve or better known as
the S design, to the "Old North
State Heritage" showing the
highlights of the historical de
velopment, including the Edenton
Tea Party, Ancestral Heritage,
Duke University in education,
Wright Brothers first in the air,
Mecklenburg Declaration of In
dependence, Indian influence, re
ligious prominence, and the Civil
War period of the Blue and the
Grey; into the forest* with na
tive plant materials to the echoes
of the west, the pioneer treasure
brought to the homes by the
mountain peoples.
And to herald the fruitfijjness
of our ever present bounties, a
special exhibit highlighted the
far end of the show floor with
a large driftwood and fruit dis
play also carried out in the indi
vidual niches with many exhibits
of fruits and plant materials na
tive to the state.
Winners in the various classes
are listed below, with 1st, 2nd.
and 3rd places winners listed in
that order, except when designat
ed otherwise:
PETUNIA 1 bloom, ruffled. Mn
W. R. Richardson. 2nd; Mrs. Wiley
Hartzog, 3rd.
ZINNIA? 1 bloom, large flowering
white. Mrs. Wiley Hartzof.
ZINNIA? 1 bloom large flowering
pink. Mr*. Wiley Hartzog, Mrs. W. R.
i Richardson.
ZINNIA? I bloom, large flowering
red. Mrs. Wiley Hartzog. Mrs. Mae
Miller.
I ZINNIA ? 1 bloom large flowering.
! lavender. Mrs. Wiley Hartzog. 3rd.
j ZINNIA? I bloom, large flowering
) yellow. Mrs. Wiley Hartzog. 2nd.
I ZINNIA ? 1 bloom, any color not
mentioned above. Mrs. Wiley Hartzog.
Mrs. W. R. Richardson. Mrs. Lee Reyn
olds.
ZINNIAS? ? blooms, one or more
varieties. Mrs. Wiley Hartzog.
Six blooms or stems of annuals not
listed above. Mrs. Reynolds, two 1st
places.
Specimen of any annual not listed.
Mrs. Lee Reynolds, 1st and 2nd.
DELPHINIUM- 1 stalk. Mrs. W C.
Oreer. Mrs G. K Moose
DELPHINIUM? 3 stalks, one or more
varieties. Mrs. Hale Vance, 1st, Mrs
O. K. Moot*. 3rd
PHLOX? 3 m talks of one or more
(Continued on page two)
Baptist Church
In Charge Of
Vesper Program
Community Vesper Services at
Horn In the West Theatre Sun
day afternoon at 5:30 o'clock, will
be in charge of the Boone Bap
tilt Church. Guest speaker for
the occaaion will be the Rev. M.
O. Owen, Jr., pastor of First Bap
tist Church, Lenoir.
Special music will be provided
by the cKoir of the Boone Baptist
Church, under the direction of
Hoyt Safrit. Mrs. Graydon Egg
ers will accompany at the organ.
In event of rain, the service will
be held in the Boone Baptist
Church. Everyone is invited to
attend the services, which con
tinue to grow in popularity.
At the services on last Sunday,
the largest attendance of the sea
son was observed, when more
than four hundred people were
present.
Feeder Calf
Sale To Be Held
Friday, Oct. 8th .
The Boone Feeder Calf Sale
will be held on Friday, October
8, with all calves graded and
weighed in on Thursday, October
7. <
The farm committee elected to
manage the Boone Feeder Calf
Sale are as follows: B. W. Stall
ing, Lester Carroll, R. G. Ship
ley, Henry Taylor, Tom Law
rence, Tom Ward, A. W. Greene,
G. D. Barnett, Charles Clark,
Russell Farthing, Lynn Norris,
Howard Gragg, - Billy J. Cook,
and Wade Tugman.
All nominations must be made
by September 10 and advertising
fee of 50 cents per head paid.
Blanks may be obtained from the
County Agents' Office.
Buckland Gets
Ed. D. Degree
At the summer graduation, on
August 7, of the Pennsylvania
State University, State College,
Pennsylvania, Mr. Golden T.
Buckland, professor of mathema
tics at the Appalachian State
Teachers College, was granted the
Ed. D. degree in mathematics.
This was the 99th annual com
mencement exercise to be held at
the university.
Dr, Buckland has been in the !
mathematics department at Ap- ]
palachian for the past six years.
He received his Bachelors and j
Masters at Appalachian, the lat
ter being awarded in 1949.
RUMOR BACKFIRES
Spokane, Wash. ? In answer to
numerous childish questions as to
"What're yo doin', mister?" Glen
Aiken, bulldozer operator, an
swered, "Digging for . gold." The
kids told their mothers, who told
other mothers and soon the whole
neighborhood was in a tizzy. Con
fronted with the rumor, Aiken
laughed and said, "That was a
joke for the kids; I'm helping put
in a lawn."
Italy maps a five-year speed- \
way building plan.
Dr. Elliot To Speak As
163 Are Given Degrees
Mrs. Doris T. Perry
Rites Held Thursday
Mrs. Doris Taylor Perry, 66,
member of one of the county's
most prominent families, and
wife of Dr. H. B. Perry of Boone,
died in a Greensboro hospital last
Wednesday.
MRS. PERRY
Mrs. Perry had been in failing
health (or a year, and her illness
had been considered critical (or
several weeks.
Funeral services were conduct
ed Thursday afternoon at 3:30 at
the Boone Methodist Church. The
pastor, Rev. J. T. Shackford, was
fn charge of the rites, and was as
sisted by Rev. O. L. Brown of
Greensboro. Interment was in the
Taylor-Mast cemetery at Vilas.
The survivors include the hus
band, one son, Dr. H. B. Perry,
Jr., of Greensboro, and one daugh
ter, Miss Gertrude Perry of the
home. There are two grandchild
ren. There are four brothers
and two sisters: Bynum Taylor,
Gordon Taylor, Boone; Henry
Taylor, Vale C rue is; Gilbert Tay
lor, Releigh; Mrs. Sue Taylor
Murry, Valle Crucis; Miss Nancy
Taylor, Durham. Her mother,
Mrs. Lou H. Taylor of Valle Cru
cis, also survives.
Mrs. Perry was born in Valle
Crucis, the daughter of the late
Charles D. Taylor and Mrs. Lillie
Veach Taylor. She had resided in
Boone for 30 years, where she
engaged in all religious and oth
er worthwhile activities. She
was a member of the Boone
Methodist Church, and actively
engaged in the work of the church
as long as her health permitted.
She was held in the highest re
gard by a wide circle of friends
in Boone and surrounding areas.
National Teachers'
Group To Meet Here
Dr. Mildred Dawson, professor
of education at Appalachian State
Teachers College, has announced
plans for the August conference
of the National Council of the
Teachers of English, which is to
be held at ASTC August 16-20.
Dr. Dawson is director of the con
ference and national consultant
to the Council.
One hundred and six delegates
have pre-registered from twenty
four States: Alabama, Arkansas,
Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, 111
t i.i
uiuis, uiuiaiia, rvcnvutity , lajuidi
ana, Maryland. Minnesota, Mis
souri, Now York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Virginia, West Virginia, Wiscon
sin and Wyoming.
There will be 15 elementary
teachers, nine from elementary
teacher training institutions, (our
editors, five elementary supervis
ors, five elementary principals,
seven junior high school teachers
three librarians, one junior high
school principal, one from a jun
ior high school teacher training
institution, and one elementary
school psychologist. There will be
38 high school teachers, three high
school supervisors, three heads of
high school English departments,
three from high school teacher
training institutions, and two col
lege English teachers
Registration Plana.
Registration for the conference
will take place Monday, August
16, from 2 to 3:30 p. m. in the lob
_ '
by of the college administration
building. A reception is planned
in the evening at the home of
Mrs Grace Council), who is to be
chairman of one of the elemen
tary education panel discussions.
Group discussions will be held
each morning, with all sessions
taking place in the Appalachian
High School building. Afternoons
will be devoted to interest groups
and to sightseeing trips in and
around Boone.
(Continued on page four)
HORN IN WEST STAB? Charles EUedge. of Marion, as Amos How
ard in Hum in the West, now playing in Boone's outdoor theatre.
Crowd* we increasing as the summer season approaches its bcighl
Finals Are Set
At Appalachian;
The Local Grads
Dr. Phillip L. Elliott, president
of Gardner-Webb College, Boiling
Springs, will be the speaker at the
summer commencement exercises
of Appalachian State Teachers
College the evening of August
l?th.
The program will be given on
the athletic field at the college at
8 o'clock p. m., or, in the event of
rain, in the college auditorium.
Music for the occasion will be
by the College summer school
band, under the direction of Wil
liam Spencer. For the procession
al they will play "Coronation
March" by Meyerbeer, and for
the recessional "Huldigungs
marsch" by Grieg. They will also
play 'Folk Song Suite" by Vaugn
Williams and "Trumpet Tune" by
Burcell during the course of the
program.
Degress will be conferred and
diplomas awarded by Dr. B. B.
Dougherty, President of Appala
chian College.
Marshals are: Gwyn W. Ram
sey of Boone, chief; Kenneth Ray
Greene, Concord; Lucy Barker of
Roaring River; Hayes Hoover of
Boone; Carol Howell of Todd;
james ^,igiar or nurai nan; Min
ryn Millsaps, Hiddenite; Robert
Culbreth, Ellensboro, and Louise
Mitchell of Zipnville.
Seventy-two students are can
didates for Bachelor of Science
degrees, and 91 for the Master of
Arts degree. From the Watauga
county are* are the following:
Bachclor of Science ? Christine
King Bingham, William Wiley
Blackburn, Mildred T. Bolick and
Neva Ann Norris of Boone; Tru
man Amos Critcher and Martha
Ann Herring, Blowing Rock; Ann
Henson, Sherwood; Willie FalU
Sims of Deep Gap.
Master of Arts ? Homer C. Lerttz
Blowing Rock; Nora Austin
Greene, Betty Lou Raines and
Beatrice Culler Winkler, Boone.
Commerce Group Told
Of NW Area Progress
Archie K. Davis, vice-president
of the Wachovia Bank & Trust
Company, Winston-Salem, and
president of the Northwest North
Carolina Development Associa
tion, outlined the objectives and
enumerated the accomplishments
of the association as guest speak
er Tuesday at the August meet
ing of the Boone Chamber of
Commerce, held at noon in the
Gateway Restaurant.
After being introduced by Al
fred T. Adams, Mr. Davis said
the association was formed last
November to seek agricultural,
industrial, and recreational
growth in the nine-county area
comprising the organization,
through regional cooperation. All
economic problems can not be
solved at the county level, he
declared, but many must be und
ertaken on a regional basis, with
aH counties and towns working
together for the good of all.
In discussing the agriculture
division of the association, the
speaker pointed to the fact that
a total of 9,000 acres of the area's
tobacco allotment was not plant
ed last year, representing a farm
revenue loss of three to four mil
lion dollars.
The association's goal to in
crease tobacco planting by 20 to
25 per cent this year has met with
excellent cooperation from FFA
and 4-H groups, who have plant
ed 15,000 square yards of new
plant beds and made these plants
available to farmers in the area,
he said.
Great strides have been made,
said Mr. Davis, in North Carolina
agriculture and industry during
the past 50 years. As an example,
he cited the fact that the state's
agricultural products in 1900 had
a total valuation of 89 million
dollars, whereas in the past three
consccutive years, they have been
valued at more than one billion
dollars. i
The speaker said North Caro
lina has a historical heritage sec
ond to none, and lauded this com
munity for helping to tell part
of the North Carolina story
(Continued on page four)
Watauga Ranks 70th
In Per Capita Sales
Watauga county ranked seven
tieth among the 100 countics in
North Carolina in per capita re
tail tales for the fiscal year end
ing June 30 of this year. Total re
tall sales for the year amounted
to f7.28fl.000. which was equiva
lent to $393.83 per captita, based
on estimated population as of Jan
uary 1, this year. Watauga's per
capita of $393.83 compared with
1718.43 for the State as a whole
and $1,058.83 for the Nation as
a whole.
Watauga was one of 85 coun
ties in the State which had an in
crease in total retail sales during
the 1954 fiscal year u compared
with 1953. The 1954 total of $7,
286.000 was an increase of 4.1S
per cent over the 1953 total of
$6,996,000. During the same per
iod, total retail sales in both
North Carolina and the United
States as a whole increased less
than 1 per cent.
Watauga's per captita retail
sales of $393.83 during the 1964
fiscal year was an increase as
compared with the year before
when the per capita was $378.16.
The county also moved up in rank
from seventy-third to seventieth.
The per capita for North Carolina
as a whole dropped from $723.53
to $716.43, as did ,thc Nation, from
$1,079.91 to I), 056.66.