A Look Back On 90th Birthday
Although still enjoying a fond
ness for cooking and entertaining.
Mrs. Walter E. Freeman cele
brated her 90th birthday Mond.
with the same trim figure of ,u~
nineteen year-old girl she was when
she first came to Raeford to live.
"I love to cook", the former
Agnes Gatlin told visitors to her
graciously furnished home on West
Donaldson Ave. Her large freezer,
abundantly stocked from summer
gardens, also stores an assortment
of homebaked goodies that the
independent-minded widow likes to
prepare.
Born Nov. 10, 1885, in Darling
ton County, S.C. she started school
on her fifth birthday and the next
year moved with her family to
Yuna, near Hartsville, S.C.
"That Christmas, i got a little
parasol, you didn't get but one
present at that time, except fruit. 1
was the happiest thing in the world,
with that little parasol. Oh, it was
cold, but I walked up and down
outside with that parasol," she
laughed.
Too young to remember the
major Charleston earthquake, Mrs.
Freeman recollects the fright of
witnessing the solar eclipse when
she was eight years old.
At fourteen, her family moved to
Lvdia. S.C., and after finishing
high school, she enrolled at Win
throp, the state womens college, at
Rock Hill.
"Daddy was not in good health,
and Mr. J.W. McLauchlin told him
how healthy it was in Raeford. My
family moved in 1904, and that
June, I came here from school",
Mrs. Freeman said.
The journey was by train, and
the then - Agnes Gatlin made the
roundabout trip through Hamlet
and Aberdeen and on to Raeford
on the A&R Railroad. The young
man who was the first station agent
for the railroad in Raeford was
Walter Freeman.
"We left Aberdeen on that little
train and except for the big
Bethune house, it was nothing but
woods all the wav to Raeford".
"I never was homesick, but it
was different. There weren't any
automobiles, of course, and not
many buggies. The young people
would take wagons, and have
hayrides, people had to make their
own entertainment in those days. I
remember going to a party at
Wallace McLean's, there was Lin
do Sexton and F.B. Sexton, Walter
Blue, all of the young people."
"1 don't know if I ought to tell
this", she winked, "but coming
home, Lindo was mad at his girl
friend and he drove the wagon right
through the cotton fields just to
spite her. A two foot stump finally
stopped him".
The Gatlin-Freeman nuptials
were Dec. 6. 1905. the first
wedding, held in Raeford's First
Baptist Church.
"All of the officials and every
body came down on the train, and
they let us have that train to take
the wedding party to Hope Mills",
she said. At Hope Mills, the young
couple was on their way to a
honeymoon trip which included a
visit to Baltimore.
"We took some kind of contrap
tion, like a carriage, to go to the
hotel in Baltimore. And when we
got there, the driver pressed a
button or something, but all the
doors just flew open, and I said,
'Oh, God!', or something, I don't
know why, except it was such a
surprise. My husband didn't say a
Mrs. Walter Freeman
word until later when we were
inside and he said '1 didn't know
I'd married a cursing woman!".
The Freemans lived in Josephine
McLauchlin's boarding house after
their marriage, which was destroy
ed by fire not long after they
moved.
"He was making $50 a month as
station agent, he had the whole
responsibility, and the telegraph".
Mrs. Freeman said.
Grocery shopping was done at
the old McGill store.
"I can remember paying 25 cents
a pound for round steak. Eggs went
up to 25 cents a dozen a few years
after I was married!
The Freemans built their own
home at 107 S. Magnolia St. and
after leaving the railroad, he
opened a dry goods store on Main
St. (where Popes is now) and later a
furniture business.
Mrs. Freeman admitted she
never really learned to drive, and
laughingly recalled her husband's
first automobile, purchased in
1918.
"1 got out and started the car
and it jumped a little, and it ran
into a tree. That was the last time
for me!"
Although busy raising four
daughters, Mrs. Freeman became
active in the literature club, the
education club, and the Mothers
Club, forerunner of the Womans
Club.
She was a founder of the mission
church which is now part of
Robbins Heights, a task took on in
addition to her Sunday School
teaching which spanned 65 years.
In 1932, the effects of the great
Depression had reached Raeford,
and with her husband's businesses
declining, the Freemans moved to
Aberdeen. She returned Raef^-i. .
to live in 1952 following his deaf .
Nominated as Mother of e
Year in 1968, the framed certificate
is modestly put away in a corner of
the living room.
"Oh, I used to sing in the choir,
too, but nobody would believe that
now", Mrs. Freeman laughed.
College News
Kelly Jordan of Raeford is a
member of the Wake Forest Uni
versity varsity volleyball team which .
won the state volleyball champion
ship in Charlotte last weekend.
The team will go to the regional ?
tournament in Memphis, Tenn.,
Nov. 19 for competition with the
southeastern U.S. teams.
Miss Jordan is the daughter of
Dr. and Mrs. Julius F. Jordan. ?
Woman Gets Prize
Mae Woods Bell, foundine di
rector of Rocky Mount Children's
Museum, received the fifth annual
North Carolina Museums Council
award for her "notable achieve
ment in the museum profession."
In addition to founding, direct
ing. and guiding the Children's
Museum from a one room facility
in the library basement to the
present two-wing building in Sun
set Park, she has been very active in
community affairs. For ten years
she had a museum-related televis
ion program, and is a free-lance
writer of science features.
ECU Offers Degree
At Ft. Bragg
East Carolina University, whose
main campus is located in Green
ville, is offering three master degree
programs at Fort Bragg.
These programs are in admin
istrative services, a management ?
oriented degree, counselor educa
tion. which prepares students to be
guidance counselors in the public
schools, and political science,
which has applicability to govern
ment service at the federal, state,
and local levels. All work for all
programs may be taken at Fort
Bragg. East Carolina University
has an office at Fort Bragg in
building 2-1728 open Monday
through Friday from 8 A.M. to 5
P.M. The telephone number is 497
1973 or 396-6737.
Dr. Nils Carlson, director of the
Fort Bragg graduate program, will
be available on a walk-in basis from
9 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Thursday.
November 13. at the Chamber of
Commerce conference room in
Fayetteville at 320 Green Street.
Manpower Council
Meets 13th, 20th
The Regional Manpower Ad
visory Committee will meet Thurs
day, Nov. 13, at 7:30 P.M. at the
Robeson County public library to
nominate officers and discuss pro
jects for unallocated manpower
funds.
Evaluation of manpower pro
grams and consideration of sub
contractors to RMAC and the
Council of Governments is sched
uled on the agenda.
A special meeting to finalize
recommendations is scheduled for
Thursday. Nov. 20 at 7 P.M. in the
Lumber River Council of Govern
ments office at 11 W. Fifth St. in
Lumberton.
Hoke County Commissioner
Tom McBryde is a new member of
the RMAC.
Masonic Night 15th
The Eastern Star of Raeford
#226 invites the Masons of Lodge
#306 A.F. and A.M. to attend
Masonic Night at 8:00 P.M., Nov.
IS, at the Raeford Lodge.
ATTENDING SCHOOL ?? Mrs.
Mary Ann Sandy of Rt. 2. Raeford.
a civilian employee at Ft. Bragg,
has been sent on a special mission
to Ft. Lee. Va.. for training. She
will return Nov. 24.
Our 9th Annual
Sealed Deal Sale
is in progress
and vriN continue until Hot. 29th
Do Your Christmas Shopping
in November and Save From
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We Guarantee You A Savings From 10% To 50%
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During This Fun Filled Sales Event
Joe Sugar's
of St. Puis, N.C.
OPEN, FRIDAY NIGHTS UNTIL 1:3*
I
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WEEK ,
NOV. 21-27 |
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