By Carol Pelosi
I have a pre-release copy of a new book about some area people, “Legendary Locals of Wake Forest,” and I think you will really want a copy.
The books will go on sale Monday at the Wake Forest Historical Museum, which will benefit from the sales, and at area retailers and book stores as well as through Legendary Locals at www.legendarylocalscom or 1-888-313-2665. The price is $21.99.
There are 125 pages of local people with pictures on every page, and they include some that are pretty standard for area histories – Dr. Calvin Jones, for instance, with a long list of accomplishments –and some, such as the members of the Best family, that have long needed proper recognition.
Robert Lincoln Best is in Chapter Seven: Larger than Life. He was. A native of Barbados, he came to Wake Forest in 1936 as the new principal for the Wake Forest Colored School and almost his first act was to change the school’s name. He asked the community for suggestions, but he chose the name himself: the W.E.B DuBois School. Then he went to work, giving instructions on everything from hygiene to etiquette, impressing each student with the need to do their best, and infusing the entire school with his enthusiasm and high standard. He brought along his wife, Doris Best, who was the school’s home economics teacher, and their sons, Eric and Robert, who both attended Columbia University on their way to becoming physicians. I remember Mrs. Best living on North Allen Road and being both respected and honored as well as consulted about and involved in community affairs.
There are pictures of children – bet you did not know that former mayor John Lyon was voted Best Looking of the Wake Forest High School class of 1955. Karen and Don Winstead, owners of The Forks Cafeteria, are in the book along with Elizabeth Holding, who had performed with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes before she married Bill Holding and settled down in town. You can see her picture plus one of her 1958 dance studio class as they performed at the long-gone Forest Theater.
Many townspeople know Evelyn Alston Jones, but do you know her grandmother, “Mama” or “Aunt” Ellen Lewis, a former slave who became a well-known nurse and midwife for families of all colors?
Did you know that Donna Rollins Pace represented Wake County in the Miss North Carolina pageant two years in a row? Who now remembers Edith Earnshaw and Ethel Crittenden, two of the daughters of Wake Forest College President Taylor? Mrs. Earnshaw was distinguished for her witty, wry yet uplifting poetry and Mrs. Crittenden was honored for her work in the library at Wake Forest College, particularly for establishing and curating the library’s collection of North Carolina Baptist history. Many do remember Rufus Forrest, the longtime principal at Wake Forest, and Catherine Lee, who daily challenged science students at the high school. Kathaleen Chandley is still teaching Wake Forest youngsters the fine art of piano playing, though many remember her instead for The Corner, where she dispensed ice cream and wonderful chicken salad sandwiches.
Space means that the book says little about N.Y. (Needham Yancey) Gulley, the founder and longtime dean of the Wake Forest College School of Law, shame because because I find his life story and what I can discern of his personality fascinating. He was a Wake Forest College graduate, a teacher, who became interested in the law and was licensed when he was 26. He moved to Franklinton, taught school, began a law practice and was the editor of “The Franklinton Weekly.” He even was elected to the state legislature for a term.
The college trustees established a school of law with Gulley as its professor when the school year began in 1893, but there were no students. Gulley drove “a buggy pulled by a sorrell (sic) nag” from Franklinton to Wake Forest once a week to give free lectures on different points of the law. Only one student chose the school of law in the summer of 1894, but there were 12 more in the fall semester. The department grew with Gulley as the chairman and in 1905 he was made the dean and another instructor was employed to assist him.
Gulley changed the way the law was taught. Instead of the old practice of asking questions and reading from a book, he began teaching students about the law.
He taught about 1,700 men during his 54 years, and for 23 years everyone who studied under him passed the state bar examination. More remarkable, for at least a decade every single aspiring lawyer taught by Gulley passed the bar exam on the first attempt.
But he also never really left teaching. He served on the Wake County board of education for many years and was chairman when he died. He battled in the legislature for improvements in the public schools. He and two others revised the state’s statutes between 1903 and 1906.
Gulley and his wife, Alice Wingate, daughter of an early college president, and their children lived on Faculty Avenue (now North Main Street) but he also owned a small farm in Forestville and operated a dairy, Forestville Dairy. You can see one of its bottles in the museum. He retired to the farm in 1938 but returned to teaching during World War II and died as the war was winding down.
One of his sons, Donald, also became a lawyer, stayed in Wake Forest and built the stone house on Durham Road, and was the judge for the Wake Forest Recorder’s Court (a precursor of today’s District Court) for many years.
Maybe the book will spur you to find out more about the featured people. One source is the “Dictionary of North Carolina Biography,” which is online available to everyone.
I hope you buy this book. You will find a delight on every page, and you must look for Mae West. And you can begin making a list of those who should be included in a sequel.
One Response
Re: Legends: Miss Pearl Ray, one of the most loved teacher at Wake Forest school, who taught in the ’40’s and ’50’s and into the ’60’s.
Another great teacher, Mrs. Hildreth Barnes. P. D. Weston who people who grew up the ’50’s remember, as well as all the locals, had a soda shop across the street from the hardware store. He also owned the hardware store. He was a well known WF merchant, but resided in Franklinton.
Two others whom I would like to mention are Gail Edwards and Tom Holding. Another is Miss Ruby Reid.
I am sure some or these are already in your book, but these are people whom I remember who were prominent in their time (and mine as well). I can think of many others, but you have probably read enough. If you need other names, just let me know. JOE