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KMHS Classes 1
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VOL. 97 NUMBER 24
THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1984
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
Phone Call Was Answer To Prayer
Bertie Stewart’s telephone
rang on Mother’s Day and it was
a call she had prayed for about
25 years.
The caller was her 27-year-old
niece, Melissa Jan Hopkins,
whom she had not heard from
since she was adopted at age four
and had not seen since she was
age two.
Mrs. Stewart said she lost all
contact with her brother’s child,
but that she hoped to have a real
family reunion at the August 19
Carpenter reunion.
Melissa (who was born
Charlene Anne Carpenter,
daughter of Winona Bailey
Carpenter White, now of
Chicago, Ill. and the late Charlie
P. Carpenter, Jr. of Kings Moun-
tain) said she learned about her
Kings Mountain aunt through a
friend who read the Carpenter
history, “Carpenters A Plenty.”
She said that her adopted
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry 0.
Hopkins, had told her at an early
age that she was adopted.
She told her brother, Jay, also
reared by the Hopkins family
since the age of three months,
and they called Mrs. Stewart
who put them in touch with
their mother.
Melissa and Jay (Charlene and
Charlie Carpenter) have not
located the rest of their family.
The five Carpenter children
were raised by different families,
except Melissa and Jay who
were raised together in the small
town of Quanah, Texas, popula-
tion 5,000. Mr. Hopkins worked
in a department store and
farmed and Mrs. Hopkins
worked for a cotton buyer as a
bookkeeper.
Melissa Jan graduated from
Quanah High School in 1975
and attended Wayland Baptist
College in Plainview, Texas. She
was runner up for “Miss
Wayland” her sophomore year.
She received her B.S. in Special
Education in December 1979
and her first teaching position
was in Clearwater, Kansas.
She lived and taught learning
disabled students in a log cabin
in New Mexico and was one of
seven teachers with 65 students,
ages 10 to 20. It was there that
she met and married her second
husband, a counselor at the
school. She told her aunt about
many of the “happenings” in her
life in a six page letter recently
and expressed the hope that she
Turn To Page 4-A
Academic Aw
Sixty-five Kings Mountain
Senior High School students
were honored for academic ex-
cellence at the fourth annual
Academic Awards Banquet
Monday night at KMSHS
Cafeteria.
The students with a 3.5 grade
point average and higher repre-
sent the top 21 students in the
Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth
Grades.
The students with the highest
cumulative grade point averages
were Sophomores Lisa
Buchanan and Norma Webster
who tied at 4.167; Juniors Liza
Blanton and Kevin Scott Ingram
Mrs. Clemmer Named
National Award Winner
Mrs. Virginia Clemmer of
Gastonia, stepmother of John
Clemmer of Kings Mountain,
one of WBTV Jefferson Award
Winners for public service
benefitting local communities, is
one of five national winners in
that category.
Mrs. Clemmer will receive
$1,000 and the National Jeffer-
son Award, a gold medallion
featuring a replica of the Great
Seal of the United States of
America on the front and on the
reverse signatures of Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis and the Hon.
Robert Taft, Jr. and the inscrip-
tion, “In Recognition of
Outstanding Public Service.”
At a ceremony at the U.S.
Turn To Page 4-A
VIRGINIA CLEMMER
Malcolm Patterson’s
Rites Held Tuesday
Funeral services for Robert
Malcolm Patterson, 57, of 301
W. Mountain St., who died Sun-
day at 3:15 p.m. in Kings Moun-
tain Hospital, were conducted
Tuesday morning at 11 o'clock
from Boyce Memorial ARP
Church of which he was a
member.
Rev. William H. Tyson of-
ficiated at the rites and inter-
ment was in Mountain Rest
Cemetery.
Mr. Patterson was a native of
Kings Mountain, son of the late
John Martin and Roberta
Simonton Patterson. He attend-
ed Erskine College and the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill and was Assistant
Vice-President and Treasurer of
The Citadel Life Insurance Com-
pany, a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Barclays American Corpora-
tion of Charlotte. He was a
Navy veteran of World War II.
Surviving are two sisters, Miss
Marian Patterson and Miss
Leone Patterson, both of Kings
Mountain. . 5
Harris Funeral Home was in
charge of arrangements.
Yi
ards Given
who tied at 4.278; and Senior
Charles Tracy Bolin whose
average was 4.233.
Handsome engraved plaques
were presented to all. 65
honorees and the top five
students received a special gift.
Dr. Bob Pittilo, Professor of
Education at the University of
North Carolina in Charlotte,
was the keynote speaker and
challenged the students to
achieve even higher marks
through work and self
discipline.“Carry pride in doing
something worthwhile and doing
it well;”, he told the large group
of students and parents and
grandparents. He also took the
occasion to challenge the
18-year-olds to exercise their
right to vote.
Assisting in presenting the
awards were Supt. Bill Davis,
KMHS Principal Ronnie W.
Wilson, Assistant Principals
Blaine Froneberger and Mrs.
Jackie Lavender. The banquet
meal included fried chicken with
baked potato, broccoli with
cheese, fruit salad, and
strawberry shortcake. The in-
vocation was given by Steve
Baker. The cafeteria staff, under
the direction of Mrs. Paul Hord,
served the meal.
The academic awards “for
diligence in the pursuit of
academic excellence‘ went to the
following students:
Seniors: Thomas Ray Bat-
chler, April Susan Biggers, Lisa
Birskovich, Charles Tracy Bolin,
Patricia Kay Davis, Shawn Kent
Gibby, Kimberly Annette Good-
son, Todd Wofford Gossett, Bar-
bara Jean Lovelace, Joy Gayle
McCoy, Eva Yvonne McKin-
ney, Pamela Jo Morrow,
Saranan Murray, Lisa Jo Na-
tion, Jill Lawrence Plonk, Scott
Tracy Scism, Carolyn Eva
Smith, Jeffrey Scott Smith,
Crystal Ann Stroupe, Sandi
Lynn Watterson and Laura
Lynn Wright.
Juniors: Thomas Shane
Barnes, Angela Gaye Blackwell,
Mary Elizabeth Blanton, Mark
Turn To Page 12-A
tain Major Jo
Boiler Manufacturer
To Build In Area
Combustion Engineering, Inc.
of Stamford, Conn., manufac-
turers of large utility company
boilers, will begin construction
in October for a new facility at
the former Great Dominion
metal products plan on Highway
29 near Kings Mountain.
The joint announcement was
made by Tom Tate, Larry
Hamrick, Sr., and L.E. Hinnant
of the Kings Mountain ‘Develop-
ment Corporation, Kings Moun-
industry to
OUDLY. 25:
Andrews said that plans are
for the current Dominion
building to be expanded from
about 42,000 square feet to
about 75,000 square feet. He
said the new plant should
employ 90 people by the end of
the first year of operations and
will be a maintenance and ser-
vice center for large boilers used
by utilities and industrial
customers.
Baker
Is Top
Teacher
Steve Baker, Kings Mountain
Senior High social studies
teacher, received the coveted
“Excellence In Teaching
Award” during Monday night’s
fourth annual Academic Awards
Banquet held at Kings Mountain
Senior High Cafeteria.
Baker is the second KM
teacher to receive the honor.
The first annual award was
given last year to Band Director
Donald Deal.
KMSHS Principal Ronnie
Wilson presented the engraved
plaque to Baker and noted that
the honoree is chosen “by his
peers.”
Baker was described as a “true
teacher but all the extras he does
for his students makes him
outstanding. He is not only well
prepared with information for
his students to help them listen
and learn, but his real greatness
lies in his ability to relate to the
students. He is always ready to
give them a pat on the back and
is a model for any student to
copy.”
Mr. Baker teaches social
studies and one English class and
is sponsor for the annual Junior-
Senior prom and for the
Fellowship of Christian
Athletes, a campus organization
which is well known as a leader
in community drives and par-
ticularly in fund-raising for the
American Cancer Society and
other worthy causes.
Cleveland
Plant
Mr. Tate, president of the
non-profit KM Development
Corporation, said that plans are
for the Development Corpora-
tion to issue bonds of up to $2.3
million for the purchase, renova-
tion and expansion of the former
Great Dominion building and
for the corporation to lease the
Alexa
Chapters of t
Association of Retired Federal
Employees, commonly known as
NARFE, at their annual state
convention just concluded in
Raleigh, N.C.
As alluded to in Governor Jim
Hunt’s address, to the conven-
tion, there are approximately
40,000 retired federal employees
in North Carolina. Also, active
federal employees may join the
organization with a minimum of
five years service.
The state is divided into six
areas. Each area is comprised of
local chapters. Each chapter
meets monthly for the purpose
of conducting business of in-
terest to federal employees and
retirees. There ae 42 chapters
throughout the state.
Alexander has been a member
of NARFE for 15 years, having
joined while still postmaster. His
duties, in an official capacity
with NARFE, began in 1979
when the Shelby Chapter 1985
was organized. He was elected
president of that chapter and
facility to Clancys and Theys
Construction Co. of” Raleigh.
The construction company, he
said, will guarantee the bonds,
and sublease the facility to the
Connecticutt firm.
The bond proposal was
Turn To Page 12-A
nder President
CHARLES ALEXANDER
served in that capacity for two
years. In 1982 he was appointed
to the position of Area II vice
president and in 1983 to vice
president of the state organiza-
tion. He served in this capacity
until his appointment to the
State Presidency this week. The
outgoing President is Aaron Ber-
ryhill of Charlotte.
NARFE membership em-
braces all federal agencies.
Anderson To Speak
At Dixon Homecoming
Dixon Presbyterian Church
will conclude its four-month
celebration of its 40th anniver-
sary during special homecoming
services Sunday.
Rev. J. Eade Anderson of
Cabot, Arkansas, will deliver the
sermon during the 11 a.m. wor-
ship hour. Rev. Anderson, who
was Dixon’s Summer Assistant
Pastor in 1948 and 1949 when
he was a seminary student, is
now chaplain of the V.A.
Medical Center in Little Rock.
Rev. Anderson served the Dixon
Church with the late Rev. P.D.
Patrick when the church
building was constructed on Dix-
on School Road.
Rev. Anderson later served as
pastor of Olney Presbyterian
Church in Gastonia.
Sunday School will be held at
9:30 a.m., and a covered dish
WW
REV. EADE ANDERSON
dinner will be spread at 12:30
p.m.
The public is invited to attend.
ET Te