THE ZEBULON RECORD
Volume XXXV. Number 28. Zebulon, N. C., Thursday, July 28, 1960 Theo. Davis Sons, Publishers
EDITORIAL COMMENT
My Apologies to the Currins
Last week I tried to warn young people that the reputa
tions they make for themselves are vitally important because
a person’s reputation determines how his actions are viewed
by others.
To some extent I succeeded. But at the same time
I inflicted great hurt on a family deep in grief at the death
of a beloved son.
My concern was for young people who, happy and
spirited and filled with the joy of living, might overstep the
bounds of reason and common sense and bring disaster -
upon themselves and those who care for them.
I have offered my deepest sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.
Willie Lee Currin and my sincere regret for the added
suffering last week’s editorial has caused them and their
family and friends.
The Democrats Must Win
In November North Carolina voters have an opportunity
to change the party in power in Washington and put men
at the head of government who will find a way out of the
dilemma in which the Republican administration has placed
us.
We must vote for and actively support the full Demo
cratic ticket. We will elect John F. Kennedy president and
Lyndon Johnson vice president.
Southerners and all other thinking people are justifiably
concerned that Senator Kennedy’s Roman Catholic belief
could affect his actions as head of our nation. Actions of
groups inspired by Roman Catholic clergy in other lands
provide a basis for this concern.
Nevertheless we have outstanding leadership repre
sented by Kennedy and Johnson, and we have Senator
Kennedy’s firm, open pledge that his religion will not warp
his judgment as President.
Many of us may abhor voting for a Roman Catholic
for this prime position of leadership.
Yet we must, else we face four more years of Republican
bungling—the type of blundering which cost us world
leadership and placed us in the unhappy position of jumping
when the Russian bear growls and cringing when the
Communists roar. We have lost prestige all over a world
which totters on the edge of war; and the Republican ad
ministration (headed by a man who claims to know more
about defense than anybody) is incapable of improving
our lot.
The Democratic Party must take charge.
Repercussions Arrive
From Record Readers
(The Zebulon Record departs
from established policy to print
the following letters to the editor
though they were not signed.)
Dear Editor:
In view of July 21 (last week)
editorial “You Have To Live With
Them,” we believe that you could
have at least excluded referring to
the boy’s reputation who was kill
ed on July 17. Since this young
man was dead—in respect for his
family and many friends you could
have omitted stating any unpleas
ant implications about him.
We, as readers and subscribers
of “The Zebulon Record” don’t
believe that you would appreciate
some newspaper editorial stating
those assumptions about a loved
one or friend of yours.
Everyone or almost every nor
mal young person during his
period of growing up goes through
a “good-time” or as some refer
to it as a “wild stage”—some peo
ple do mature or go through this
stage at an earlier chronological
age than others.
Everyone doesn’t describe those
people who own “screaming red
convertibles as preferring the wild
er things.” All people who drive
fast and those who receive speed
ing tickets are not branded in
everyones book as “ne-er-do-well,
too stupid to heed advice and too
blind to see where their course is
taking them."
Thus we believe that a person’s
CHARACTER is much more im
portant than his reputation be
cause you should never judge a
book by its cover.
Some Readers and Subscribers
of The Zebulon Record
•
To the Editor
This afternoon I visited the
family of Leroy Currin—very
dear friends of many years and
I read the account of last Sunday’s
accident in the Zebulon Record.
This family, as all families would,
would like to keep this article. His
mother normally would want to
place it in a pretty little box along
with the flower cards, the cards
and letters of sympathy, the regis
ters of friends who called and the
pictures of his grave. These are
as much a part of the memories of
their son as his bronzed baby shoe,
the curl cut when he was three,
the chevrons off his uniform. It
takes these and Thursday’s
newspaper to complete his 20
years.
It seems to me dreadfully un
fortunate that alongside this ac
count, assuming even more
prominence by reader appeal
print, you ill-placed an editorial
on an age old, universal problem
and took your text so boldly on
Leroy Currin and his red converti
ble as if he were an one and only
ne’er do well in town. As the
days go into weeks and months and
as the years go on his mother
should find moments when just to
open the little box in a quiet place
(Continued on page 8)
RARITY. Two sisters and a brother share the unusual rarity of having celebrated their golden
wedding anniversaries. This does not occur often with members of the same family. They are,
pictured left to right, the Rev. and Mrs. Oscar Creech of Ahoskie, Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Barham of
Route 1, Wendell, and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jordan of Smithfield. Creech, Mrs. Barham (Maudie)
and Mrs. Jordan (Sophronia) are brother and sisters. Mr. and Mrs. Creech were married August 21,
1907; Mr. and Mrs. Barham were married December 19, 1909; and Mr. and Mrs. Jordan were married
December 20, 1908. Mrs. Creech is the former Martha Louise Gulley of Clayton. Mr. and Mrs. Creech
are the parents of five children: Orville of Ahoskie; Jessica (Mrs. Gill) Erommett of Evanston, 111.;
Oscar, a doctor in New Orleans; Judson of Raleigh; and Elva (Mrs. Ed) Bond of Windsor. Mr.
and Mrs. Barham are the parents of two children: R. E., Jr. of Wendell and Joseph of San Diego.
Mr. and Mrs. Jordan are the parents of seven children: Violet (Mrs. P. G.) Lautares of Greenville;
Thomas of Smithfield; Evelyn (Mrs. Harold) Martin of Richmond; Jennings of Goldsboro; Wade of
Rocky Mount; Sophronia (Mrs. Raymond) Knott of Smithfield; and Russell of Florida. Oscar, Mau
die and Sophronia are the children of the late Ransome Right and Henrietta Sullivan Creech, who
resided for many years in Zebulon. They were born on Route 1, Middlesex, and will be remembered
by many people in and around Zebulon. Oscar is Director of Development of Chowan College. All
three couples have enjoyed a very happy and delightful wedded life.
Wes Hales 94 Finds Radio
Enjoyable; Cabbage Distasteful
The table radio was going. Com
ing from the speaker was the
sound of gospel music, prayer, and
the exhortings of an evangelist.
And listening intently was a wiry
little man who weighs about 100
pounds.
“The radio is my one means of
pleasure,” said William Wesley
Hales, turning the volume lower.
“I enjoy listening to all religious
programs. I never listen to any
thing else if I can find a program
that has good preaching and sing
ing.”
Hales celebrated his 94th birth
day April 22. He doesn’t look that
old. His hair, kept shortly
cropped, still retains its black hue
even though there is a scattering
of iron gray. His face, pleasantly
planed, is almost free of wrinkles.
He said he has gotten used to
being lonesome. Since his wife
died Oct. 17, 1945, he has spent
his time piddling around his home
on Route 1, Zebulon. He doesn’t
want to live anywhere else, even
though he has an adopted daughter
with whom he could stay. He
does take his meals at his daugh
ter’s though.
Hales is the son of the late Wil
liam (Bill) H. and Betsy Ferrell
Hales. He is one of four children
bom to this Confederate veteran
and his wife. After the death of
his mother when he was nine his
father later remarried and he be
came the brother of three half-sis
ters. He is the sole survivor.
He grew up on a farm two miles
northwest of Middlesex. The
youngster never saw the inside of
a school room. It is one of the
regrets of his life that he cannot
read or write. But his parents
didn’t believe in education the
way people do now. Instead he
spent his youth working his fath
er’s fields.
When he was 23, he married a
pretty young lady whom he met at
Lee’s Chapel Baptist Church. This
young lady was Louisa Helen
Creech, daughter of the late Mr.
and Mrs. Bunyan Creech. The
marriage, performed Oct. 10, 1889,
was officiated by the Rev. Wil
liam Nowell, the pastor of the
church at that time.
“The Rev. Mr. Nowell converted,
baptized, and married me,” Hales
laughed.
Until her death, the couple en
joyed and had one of the happiest
marriages in the community.
“Of course, we had our differ
ences,” Hales said. “What couple
doesn’t?. But I believe that the
man should be the head of the
house and that was my practice.
Besides, that’s Bible.”
He cleared his throat and with
an elfish twinkle in his dark brown
eyes said; “We both bossed.”
Hales and his' wife never had
any children. Both were very fond
of youngsters and considered them
selves unfortunate in not being
parents. But after the death of
Mrs. Hales’ sister, Mrs. Saul Hall,
fouT Hall daughters were left or
phaned.
“I told my wife to let’s take the
girls,” Hales said. “We could give
them a good home and love them.
At first, she wasn’t too glad of the
idea but I won her over.”
Aldonia (now Mrs. Frank Price
of Wendell), Alice (Mrs. Clarence
Hinton of Zebulon), Beulah (Mrs.
Tobe Bunn of Route 3, Zebulon)
and Vivian (Mrs. L. L. Corbett of
Route 1, Zebulon) came to live
with the couple. Vivian was later
adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Hales.
All the women said they could
not have had a more loving, de
voted and Christian set of guar
dians.
“I was strict with the girls,” he
said. “But I don’t believe I was
too strict. I believed in making
children mind. I still believe in
children being well-behaved and
minding their parents.”
The farm on which Hales and
his wife lived was one his wife
inherited. He knows and prac
ticed all phases of farming. But
he said he liked cotton farming
•best.
“No matter how much you rais
ed or made, it took it all to live.”
He tried store-keeping for five
years—three at Emit and two a
cross the road from his home. Tir
ing of this confinement, he went
into farming and stayed in it un
til his retirement.
He has been a life long mem
(Continued on Page 8)