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Vol. 109 No. 38
Thursday, September 18, 1997
Kings Mountain, N.C. ¢ Since 1889 « 50¢
KM church
to observe
By vote of 5-2, the Cleveland
County Commissioners settled
a 2 1/2 year old controversial
issue Tuesday night and con-
tracted to buy the R. G. Plonk
heirs property on US 74 West
for a county industrial park es-
timated to cost about
$1,300,000.
The action came after a three
hour meeting and over objec-
anniversary
Saint Matthews Lutheran
Church, 201 North Piedmont
Avenue, Kings Mountain,
will be observing 121 years of
ministry during the 11 a.m.
worship service on Sunday
September 21. :
September 21 is Saint
Matthew Apostle and
"When growth stops
in this county we die
and Cleveland County
is not ready to die."
County Commissioner
-Mary Accor
tions of Commissioners Ralph
Gilbert and Willie McIntosh
who opposed spending tax
money for a park.
Five other commissioners -
Evangelist Day, according to
the Liturgical Church
Calendar, and is the Saint's
Day for Saint Matthew: Ss
Lutheran Church.
Chairman Jim Crawley, vice-
chairman Joe Cabaniss, Ray
Thomas, Bobby Malloy and
Mary Accor voted for the site
and joined a number of other
citizens who spoke favorably
for a county-financed park and
for the Kings Mountain site.
From its humble begin:
nings in the 1870s Saint
Matthew's history is closely
related to the history of Kings
Mountain. Saint Matthew's
first gathering place was at
the corner of Piedmont and
King, where the present
‘Mauney Memorial Library is
located. The first church
building was built in the late
1870s at the present location
on North Piedmont Avenue, = |
There are basically three
structures which make up the
present Saint Matthew's facil-
ity. The Sunday School
Auditorium and Fellowship
Hall building was built in the
1920s. The Office and
Educational complex was
built in the late 1930s and
was dedicated two weeks be-
vA fore the attack on Pearl har-
bor in 1941. The 1870s church
| building was razed in 1950 to
make room for the present
~ Swedish Gothic Nave, which
also contains additional class-
room and music facilities.
The Nave was completed in
1953. :
Saint Matthew's has long
been involved in national and
state Lutheran Church activi-
ties and has the second oldest
Scouting program in the
United States.
Saint Matthew's is ready-
ing itself for the coming of a
new century and plans to of-
fer additional opportunities
for worship, education and
service to the Kings
Mountain community.
Rev. Edgar Cooper, whose
family has long been connect-
ed with Saint Matthew's, will -
be the guest preacher for the
Anniversary service of Holy
- Communion. Pastor Cooper
served New Hanover
Lutheran Church in New
. Hanover, PA, which will be
observing 300 years of min-
istry in the year 2000. :
Former members and com-
munity friends are invited to
participate in the anniversary
celebration.
Ta
Middle. School. .
— oo
SE
For 52 years a Kings
Mountain rural mail carrier and
her English nephew had never
met. Last week it was for them
a nostalgic reunion at the home
of Sylvia and Jerry Peterson.
"This is Robert from Ireland,"
said the voice on the telephone
that Mrs. Peterson answered
September 3.
Bob and Sylvia Miller came to
Kings Mountain looking for his
"auntie Sylvia" and stopped by
Hardees. Bob made a call and
Peterson heard a voice she had
been praying to hear for years.
Coincidentally, Mrs. Peterson
and Bob Miller are the same
age, born on the same day,
April 9, 1945, and nephew and
aunt look very much alike.
Born in Ireland, Miller said
he lost touch with American
relatives when they moved
from Mill Street in the Phenix
Mill community. Peterson's
mother had kept writing to
Bob's mother but the letters
stopped at her death in 1975
and Miller had no forwarding
address. The years past and al-
to England Wednesday.
GRAND OPENING SET - Summit Place will open November 15 on Phifer Road gross orm the
wy
FAMILY REUNION - Sylvia Peterson, left front row, and her
nephew, Bob Miller, both 52, met for the first time last week.
Back row, Jerry Peterson and Sylvia Miller. The Millers returned
Cabaniss also read a letter
from Reliance official Thad
Roberts, a neighbor of the new
park, supporting the site.
Thomas, who made the mo-
tion, said the Plonk site is cen-
trally located between Kings
Mountain and Shelby."What's
good for one part of the county
is good for the other," he said.
Loudly protesting to a
standing-room only crowd,
Gilbert said the county had nev-
er been offered a clear title and
said the commission had been
forced from the beginning of
County to buy KM land for park
the project by "county employ-
ees on about everything we've
done." He also accused a local
realtor of holding the option on
the property which he said was
first discussed during a closed
meeting of the board in his ho-
tel room during a Washington,
DC meeting over two years ago.
"This is a bad deal and we
still don't know the costs," he
contended.
"Wake up and stop feeling the
pressure to buy land in Kings
See County, 2-A
Summit Place set to open,
retirement center planned
Summit Place of Kings
Mountain will open Phase I of a
$3.5 million assisted living com-
plex November 15.
The announcement of the
grand opening was made by the
Consortium for Progress at a
noon luncheon Wednesday at
the Kings Mountain Fire
Department.
Consortium President John
Henry Moss also announced
that the Consortium will begin
development of a senior retire-
ment center complex by
January 1, 1998 with property to
be acquired in the next several
months.
Moss gave an update on th
progress of Summit Place an
though he came to the United
States once he never located his
Kings Mountain relatives and
had only the letters and pictures
to identify his kin.
"We came to Kings Mountain
and started looking in the tele- .
phone book, asked at Hardees
and came back to the motel and
started making telephone
calls,""said Bob. "My aunt an-
swered on the first ring and boy
was she surprised.”
"I'm getting a lot of teasing
from some of my new relatives
about how I talk but I am
catching on to slang very fast
since English is a second lan-
guage in England,” said Miller.
Miller says the English
monarchy will never be re-
placed because the tourists go
to England to see Buckingham
Palace and that takes more
money into the country.
Will Prince William succeed
Queen Elizabeth on the throne?
Miller thinks so. He doubts that
Prince Charles will ever be King
and said that the death of
Princess Diana was a big blow
also of the renovation of the old
Park Yarn Mill property which
was donated to the Consortium
by Glen Raven Mills.
Moss said 60 acres at the Glen
Raven Mills would be utilized
for commercial /business/in-
dustrial and distribution facili-
ties and the properties commit-
tee recommends new
construction on 45 acres.
Moss said lease applications
will be taken beginning October
15 and the development of the
adjoining property will start
November 15.
The 154,000 square feet Glen
Raven Mills is valued at $1.3
Jr See Summit, 8-A
After 52 years. family reunited i in KM
to the monarchy because of her
. popularity with the people.
"Princess Diana's accident
happened just before we came
to America but we don't really
miss being in all those crowds,"
said Mrs. Miller.
The Millers are being giving
the royal treatment by their
Kings Mountain kinfolk who
have taken them to Charleston,
SC, Asheville, Grandfather
Mountain and other tourist at-
tractions. They have also intro-
duced them to the traditional
American hot dog and other fa-
vorite foods and Mrs. Miller has
cooked English dishes for them
in addition to American fa-
vorites like chicken casserole
and stuffed peppers.
The Peterson home at 236
Wright Road has been the head-
quarters for the family reunion
which has involved a large
number of kinfolk in this area
including brothers, a sister, and
aunts.
And Miller says he might de-
cide to relocate in this area if he
See Reunion, 2-A
KINGS MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
After 65 years of marriage
Margaret and Dickie Tate are
still best friends and partners
for life.
"We took our marriage vows
seriously for better or worse,"
said Tate, 86, as he relaxed with
Margaret, 84, as she peeled
peaches on the sunporch of
their home on Crescent Circle.
Wednesday on their anniver-
sary they were treated to an an-
{ niversary supper at the home of
Tate's brother and sister-in-law,
Tom and Janet Tate, with other
family members in attendance.
"Not many people are fortu-
nate to be able to say they
stayed married for 65 years,"
laughed Dickie, who credited
God and good friends for their
successful relationship.
Margaret Styers and Dlckie
65 YEARS OF MARRIAGE - Not many people enjoy a 65th
wedding anniversary but Margaret and Dickie Tate had a quiet
celebration at home Wednesday.
Tate eloped to Gaffney, SC on
Sept. 17, 1932. The bride's
cousin, Rev. Richard Hord and
his wife, Carrie Bobbitt Hord,
accompanied them and they re-
called that on the return trip to
Kings Mountain the bride sat in
the back seat with Mrs. Hord
and the bridegroom sat in the
front seat with preacher Hord.
"We kept our wedding a se-
cret for a week because I was a
Daddy's girl and I picked the
right time to tell my parents
when they were hosting all the
preachers at a revival at Second
Baptist Church,” said Margaret
of her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Winfield Styers. Margaret and
her sister, Mrs. Carl Lewis, are
the surviving members of her
family of nine and Dickie's
brothers, Tom and Wayne Tate
and are the surviving members
of his family of eight children of
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Coy Tate.
"The road to a friend's house
is never long" is a crossstitch
plaque on the porch where
Dickie relaxed with his newspa-
per.
"Friends mean a lot to us,"
said Dickie, who said the Lord
never gave them children. "But
we sure spoiled a lot of our
neighbors," he said, recalling
how their house is always full
of young people who grew up
to be adults with children of
their own.
Dickie believes in celebrating
anniversaries and never forgets
a birthday. He keeps a calendar
with the names of people with
special birthdays he remem-
bers with calls and cards.
Tates happily married for 65 years
Margaret and Dickie Tate
met at the Battle of Kings
Mountain Celebration in the
Depression Days when
President Hoover came to
town. Margaret, then a senior at
Kings Mountain High School,
had won an essay contest and
got to sit on the reviewing stand
where Hoover stood for his
address.
The Tates settled in their first
home in a three-room apart-
ment at the Margrace Mill
Village in 1932 where they paid
75 cents a week rent, including
water and lights. They walked
to work at the mill, to the
cery store and to First Baptist
Church. Now they live in their
fourth house they built 36 years
See Tate, 2-A