Five from Edgecombe to enter Hall

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September 2, 2010

Anonymous For The Daily Southerner The Daily Southerner Thu Sep 02, 2010, 10:48 AM EDT

TARBORO — Five individuals from Edgecombe County are among the next 10 inductees into the Twin County Hall of Fame.

The next class of members will be inducted on Thursday, Nov. 18 at the Dunn Center at N.C. Wesleyan College. This year’s inductees includes a congressman, a local business leader, several members of the arts including artist, author, and musician, a Medal of Honor recipient, along with people active in their communities.

More than 50 individuals were nominated from various professions. Five will be honored at the program and the other five are being posthumously inducted.

The new members are Mae Woods Bell, Harold Cooley, Daniel Finch, Richard T. Fountain, Alian Gurganus, George Higgs, James W. Hines, Warren R. Jones, Aldolphus Staton and Thomas Walker.

Fountain, Higgs, Jones, Staton and Walker are from Edgecombe County.

Edgecombe County native Fountain was born near Leggett and practiced law in Rocky Mount in the early part of the 20th century. He was elected five times to serve in the state House of Representatives. He also served as lieutenant governor of North Carolina.

He helped establish the East Carolina Training School for Boys in Rocky Mount in 1923, later named the Richard T. Fountain School and now known as Fountain Prison for Women.

From 1934-1942 he published the Rocky Mount Herald newspaper. He served on the board of various banks and community organizations before his death in 1945.

Trained as a carpenter, Higgs of Speed is better known for his music playing harmonica and guitar in a style recognized as Piedmont Blues.

At 80 years old, Higgs has been performing most of his life and has toured throughout the United States and performed in Switzerland and Australia. Higgs has been honored with the NC Folklore Brown Hudson Award and the NC Folk Heritage Award from the NC Arts Council.

He has released two CDs and continues to perform across the state.

A lifelong resident of Edgecombe County, Warren Ray Jones was educated by county schools and graduated from Conetoe in 1957. He spent six years in the U.S. Army before graduating from Shaw University and attending graduate school at N.C. A&T University.

He brought his training and talent home and coached in area schools. He coached basketball for 30 years and took his teams to six conference tournament championships and 14 consecutive years to the state playoffs. He was honored as Coach of the Year four times.

In addition to teaching and coaching, Jones also mentored many young men in the North Edgecombe Community until his death in 2008.

The son of a doctor, Staton first attended Virginia Military Institute for his advanced education. He then transferred to the U.S. Naval Academy where he graduated in 1902.

In 1915 Staton was awarded the Medal of Honor for “gallantry and distinguished conduct in the battle of Vera Cruz in 1914. Just five years later he was awarded the Navy Cross for his bravery in battle in World War I. He later attended George Washington University Law School where he earned is LLB in 1917.

Before he retired in 1937 he had attained the rank of rear admiral. Staton died in 1964 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Former Edgecombe County Commissioner, the Rev. Thomas L. Walker is an Edgecombe County native that was active in this region through his church, but also through his work with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

He founded the Edgecombe Nash Political Caucus, authored "Brother to Brother – You Don’t Have to Die of Prostate Cancer," created Project Empower and recorded songs including "One Day at a Time" and "Keep Me in Your Will."

Bell was born in England, but has spent the past 60 years in Rocky Mount. She began the Children’s Museum which grew from a few exhibits to a major community program. She served as museum director for over 30 years. She has also published poetry and writes book reviews for the Rocky Mount Telegram. Bell has received the Daughters of American Revolution national Americanism Medal, the Silver Fawn Medal for distinguished service to Boy Scouts of America, NC Press Club Communicator of the Year in 1989, and the Southeastern Museums Distinguished Service Award in 1978.

Nash County native Cooley, served in the Navy in World War I, then attended Yale Law School. He was elected to 12 terms in Congress representing the 4th District in North Carolina. While in Congress he chaired the agriculture committee, and later became a congressional advisor to the United Nations. The library in Nashville is named in his honor. Cooley died in 1974.

Finch of Bailey is recognized for his artistic talent and his many workshops to teach others about pottery and bluebirds. His work has been shown at museums and exhibitions throughout the southeast. He has served on the advisory board at the NC State Fair and for five years was president of the Village of Yesteryear at the State Fair. In addition to his fine pottery work, he has also been recognized for his outstanding contributions to the nursery industry with the D.S. Copeland Award from the N.C. Association of Nurserymen.

Rocky Mount native Gurganus studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before serving in the U.S. Navy. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Gurganus published his first novel in 1989, "The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All," which was on the New York Times bestseller list. That story was made into a TV movie and a Broadway play. He is recognized as a novelist and short story writer. His other books include "White People," "Plays Well with Others" and "The Practical Heart," a collection of novellas.

Known as the “Ice King” in the early 20th century, Hines was a self made businessman. He began an ice business, Rocky Mount Fuel and Ice Co., to supply ice for trains to carry fresh produce from Florida to New York. He was also involved with the tobacco warehouses in the area. He eventually opened ice shops all across North Carolina. He used his success to build MacHaven a fine home in Rocky Mount. He served the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce and on the Board of Trustees of East Carolina Training School (now East Carolina University) and Atlantic Christian College (now Barton). Hines died in 1928.

Tickets to the annual banquet will go on sale in October from Twin County Board Members, at area Chamber of Commerce offices and at the Twin County Museum in the Rocky Mount Train Station that is open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m and and from 2 to 4 p.m. Sundays.

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