50 Years Ago in Burke County

Doreen Duckworth, a Salem High School senior, will be crowned Miss Homecoming Queen by tri-captains Allan Byrd, Max Pearson and Jim White.
• Yates Scott of Glen Alpine reports flocks of birds sailing and gliding over homes and fields. These birds are nighthawks migrating to their winter home in South America.
• The brand-new fire truck purchased by the Town of Glen Alpine has a 300-gallon water tank and 500-gallon-per-minute pumping system. Mayor Crawford Melton, G.P. Anderson and Clyde Orders were photographed admiring the new truck.
• Bunnie Salisbury was crowned Homecoming Queen at Morganton High by one of the captains, Jimmy Connelly.
• W.E. "Bill" Cobb of Morganton, the state Republican Party chairman, criticized Gov. Luther Hodges' stand on state public health. Cobb accused Hodges of having a callous attitude. Cobb argued that elderly people on welfare are already the victims of inflation.
• Kathryn Whisnant, R.N., has accepted an appointment as director of recruitment for the Grace Hospital School of Nursing.
• Tommy Franklin, a pre-medical student at Wake Forest, has pledged Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
• Seen/Heard in West Burke: A crowd of men admiring the new 1960 Pontiac that belongs to two local teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Lane... Bill Winn driving a little-bitty red car... Little Earl Tallent with a live crocodile at school.
• A cowboy party was held to celebrate Mark Hord's third birthday. Each guest received a gun, holster and cowboy books.
• The Burke County Historic Society has found a permanent home in the old grammar school building on Avery Avenue.
• Charles E. Fox has been selected as a pledge of Company L-4 of the Pershing Rifle National Honorary Military Society at N.C. State College.
• When Gary Hemmings reached his 10th birthday, his classmates in Mrs. Richard Ogletree's class at N.C. School for the Deaf helped him celebrate by coming up town for lunch. It was the first time these students had eaten a meal away from the school.
• Ben Williams won first prize for men at the Dutch Club's Beatnik Party. Mrs. Burand McGinnis won first prize for the women. (For our younger readers, the stereotypical image of a Beatnik included a beret and sandals, a Vandyck goatee and turtleneck sweater on men and a sweater over tights or leotards on women and dark glasses — usually worn while listening to bongo drums, reading Allen Ginsberg's poetry or Jack Kerouac's novels and admiring abstract paintings by Pollock and de Kooning.)
• "One of the Best in the Business" is the description accorded Staff Sgt. James R. Page, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Page of Valdese. He is responsible for maintenance and repair of engines, controls and air frames of a supersonic fighter interceptor. He is stationed at Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base.
• Members of the new Amherst Baptist Church were photographed during an open-air service when they became an organized Southern Baptist Church. The Rev. J. Clint Noble was called as first pastor.
• Bits from J. Gordon Queen: Pretty Mrs. Nancy Collett giving her precious babies a ride in a carriage out College Street… Henry Branch leading his friendly little doggie out North Sterling Street… Phil Phillips downtown after a spell of eight weeks' sickness. He had high praise for all connected with Grace Hospital… Overheard from Sen. Sam Ervin: "I always carry my umbrella along to be sure it won't rain"… Kermit Fox enjoying his cigar… Ben Beach driving a "Wash King" truck. He said it was a cousin of "Sky King"… Dr. Clyde Grubb and banker Don Abernathy backslapping and laughing up a storm… Both sides and front of Whiteley Pharmacy being painted brick red… Mrs. Ernest Carswell killed a chicken and said the chicken had two craws, believe it or not, and the chicken weighed 10 pounds… Wilford Powell being a Good Samaritan to a driver out of gas… More and more little automobiles.

50 Years Ago in Burke County is submitted by Vivian Murray, a volunteer at the History Museum of Burke County.