C2 — The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 • www.thedigitalcourier.com
A PRIME
Passion
By Jean Gordon
P
eople in this part of the country like pork sausage. Billy Wells is one of those people. In the early 1970s, Billy said he was trying “to get a’hold of sausage that didn’t give you heart burn and indigestion.” “That’s one of the biggest reasons we got into that type business,” Billy said. A first generation member of the meat processing plant, Wells Jenkins Wells, Billy is now retired. His business partner and brother, Grady Wells, retired last year from the business they started more than 40 years ago. The second generation family members have picked up the reigns, added a new retail shop and other entities to the business located off US 221A in Sandy Mush off Rollins Road near Mt.Pleasant Baptist Church. Jeffery Wells, Grady’s son, and Jody Thompson, Billy’s son-in-law, are business owners. A third generation member, Paige Johnson, Jody’s daughter is also employed at the shop. Billy talked about the humble beginnings of the plant and how it has experienced significant
Jody Thompson waits on a customers at the Wells Jenkins Wells retail shop.
growth over the past few years. “Good sausage was just hard to come by before we started the business. We had some pigs we ground up into sausage and we began selling the sausage ... People kept coming back for more,” he said. The secret recipe that kept people coming back was simply adding salt, sage, pepper and sugar to the meat, Billy said. “There were no perservations in there to give you heart burn and indigestion. That was what I was trying to get away from. That was our beginning, trying to find some good sausage.” The brothers were in the sawmill business and were farmers trying to make a living for their families when they began butchering beef and hogs. When Billy started the business, he asked Grady to quit his job to join him. That’s when they began butchering hogs
Jean Gordon/Daily Courier
and beef for custom use. They started the business in the basement of Earl Jenkins’ house where they butchered the hogs. “Earl had a store and he also had the experience in slaughter house business we didn’t have,” Billy explained. Earl worked in the cotton mill at the time and Billy and Grady ran the family sawmill. “Earl was killing hogs before my uncle (Billy) and daddy were,” Jeffery Wells said. After constructing their first building ,Wells Jenkins and Wells, put all their assets together and formed the partnership Wells Jenkins in 1975 under North Carolina Department of Agriculture inspection. “Up until then we slaughtered them out on the farm ... We’d go out where the animals were, kill them, dress them and bring them back ... We didn’t have the money to build a building,” Billy said. That’s about the time the state inspectors arrived on the scene and told the business owners they would have to bring their operations under state standards or the doors would be shut. It wasn’t easy doing everything required by the state, financially, Billy explained. But as the days and months and years moved along, they were able to borrow money and sell their old sawmill equipment to help finance the business, and received state approval to move forward.
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WELLS, JENKINS & WELLS FRESH MEAT MARKET is dedicated to serving this area with the finest fresh meats and they have been doing this for the area for over 30 years. Everyone at WELLS, JENKINS & WELLS FRESH MEAT MARKET thanks the families of this area for placing their comlete trust and confidence in them, and reminds you they are of service to the entire area!
www.thedigitalcourier.com • The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 “As we tried to operate a business, at times it was was pretty stressful as far as making ends meet. A lot of things came up that were unforeseen. But we made it with the help of the good Lord,” Billy said. At the processing plant, owner Jeffery Wells oversees his employees as the team slaughters and processes beef, pork, lamb, goat and bison for farmers who direct market farm grown meats. Farmers come from across the region to have their animals slaughtered at Wells Jenkins, meat vacuumed and packaged with their custom labeling for sale in other areas. The company opened its new retail store off US 221 in Sandy Mush in the winter of 2011. The owners worked with Rutherford County Economic Development Commission and the North Carolina Building Reuse Grant program to acquire the former Broad River Cabinet Company building and warehouse for renovations. The additions to the processing plant have allowed the company to hire additional employees, a requirement of the state grant. “It has become a pretty big help to other farmers ... Inspection services have permitted them to do that and there is such a demand for local products,” Billy said. “It is touching a whole lot of people. When you look at the overall operation and total processing end of it, they are working more people than ever before.” “There has definitely been a need,” Jeffery said. “There is plenty of work available for small farmers and we can cater to those
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guys on the processing side.” Jeffery said when they opened the retail store and kept the processing plant at its location, they were able to go to a different level of retail. Before opening the store, the retail operation was in the front of the processing plant. “It was hard to stop cutting up a whole pig and go out and help a little lady find the kind of meat she wanted for Sunday lunch. This has enabled the retail to grow along with the processing,” Jeffery said. In 2010 Wells Jenkins Wells came under the USDA inspections rather than the NC State Inspections. “That was a major move ... that has over doubled the processing business.” Jeffery said it was difficult to keep up with the retail and processing in the same building, which led to the two locations. “Without a doubt God has blessed us,” he said. “Things are good and we are working some people right here in the county.”
Jean Gordon is the Senior Reporter at The Daily Courier. Family-oriented, Jean has enjoyed the time she spent with generational family members across the county for this special section.
Jean Gordon
Jean Gordon/Daily Courier
Jeffery Wells (right) with employee John Watson in the processing plant which provides the retail shop (Below) with plenty of fresh cut meat for purchase.
C4 — The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 • www.thedigitalcourier.com
A Service of Excellence By Erin Kidd
T
erry Watkins, CEO of Charles Watkins Automotive Group, says that if you take care of your customers, they will take care of you. Charles Watkins Automotive Group in Forest City has been providing excellent service to customers since the late 1930s. From its humble beginnings on Trade Street where it was originally known as The Charles Watkins Used Car Exchange, the company has grown into a place that is trusted to give customers the best experience possible when shopping for a car. Today, The Watkins Group consists of Charles Watkins Automobiles, Charles Watkins Trucks and Vans and Charles Watkins Service Centers. Charles Watkins, Terry’s father, started the company. The first known bill of sale is from 1937. “The total deal was $20. The guy payed $5 down and he owed us $15,” Terry Watkins said. According to Tim Ridenhour, Terry’s son-inlaw and current president of the company, business was done very differently back then. He recalled one interesting story that involved O.A. Fish, owner of South Mountain Christian Camp. “We went back and read where O.A. Fish traded Charles a cow for a vehicle. The cow was worth $20 more than the car that he got. Charles took the cow, gave O.A. Fish $20 and a car,” Ridenhour said. In the early 1950s, the business moved to its current location on West Main Street in Forest City. Terry began working with his father after school. “I was blessed to have a good father. He started training me when I was 13. He started letting me drive when I was 14. We lived out in the country and he told me I could learn to drive on the country roads just like I could on the highway, just take it slow and take it easy,” Terry said. “I was hanging around when I went to high school at Cool Springs. I would come over here after school was out and they would have me running cars or doing this and that. I started walking out and waiting on people when I was about 18.” Eventually, Charles began sending Terry to car auctions. “I started to go to auctions when I was 17 or 18 years old. We had to get an okay for me to buy cars and the company would be responsible for what I did. There was a big auction in South Carolina and it didn’t take me long before I was the top buyer down there,” Terry said. For years, he traveled to Virginia and Washington D.C. to purchase cars to sell. “I started going to (Washington) D.C. when I was 21 to buy cars. I also went to Alexandria, VA to buy them. That was one of my main places. They would take me down to Charlotte where I would get on a plane and be up there in an hour,” Terry said. “I got involved with a Chevrolet dealer up there and went up there every other week for 27 some years. I got to know them real well and bought a lot of cars from them.” “At the time, there was more activity in that area. There was more trading and more access to vehicles up there in the Washington market,” Ridenhour said. “A lot of people in the South would go there and buy trade-ins from new car dealers because they had more activity.” Terry made a name for himself in that area. He
Terry Watkins, CEO of Charles Watkins Automotive Group.
was featured in a Virginia newspaper for buying and reconditioning used cars and set a record for the most cars purchased at one auction. “I had to be a little bit crazy, but it worked. The most I bought at one sale was 101 cars. That broke the record at that auction,” Terry said. “It has been very interesting, but I made it work and we really got to growing.” Terry became CEO of the company in 1970. “I like just being a part of it. Everyday is a dif-
Erin Kidd/Daily Courier
ferent day. You come in here at 8 or 9 a.m. and then you make that day and you make it the best for your customers,” Terry Watkins said. “We have people that have been buying from us for 30 or 40 years. Not only that, but they come and they tell their relatives about us. If we treated those first people right, then they helped us sell. It just kept going.” According to Ridenhour, the company tries to really get to know the customer and their needs
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www.thedigitalcourier.com • The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013
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Contributed Photos
(Left) Charles Watki≠ns Used Car Exchange in 1953. (Below) Prior to selling cars Charles Watkins sold horses.
so that they can provide them with the best service possible. This may include filling up their gas tank, giving them extra keys or providing them with floor mats. “People don’t forget that extra stuff. Spending the time and getting involved with the customer helps a lot. We get a lot of repeat customers because of it. I have seen Terry help people that are looking at a particular car and they think that is what they want and he tells them that is not what they want,” Ridenhour said. “He would take them, try to find out their situation and show them something different that made more sense. Later on they get to thinking that he was right.” The business also has a special unofficial club. “It started out as women from our church who didn’t have a husband or didn’t understand cars. We tell them if they buy the car we will put them in the club,” Ridenhour said. “We tell them if you don’t understand something and hear something quirky, pull up here and we will look at it with you. We are your extra eyes and ears if you need something at no extra charge. Doing those simple things sometimes, that advertisement is far better than anything we can put in print.”
Erin Kidd is a reporter at the Daily Courier. She has lived in Rutherford County for a little over a year and always enjoys meeting new and interesting people as she learns more about the county.
Erin Kidd
Contributed Photos
The down paymet made on the first car purchased from Charles Watkins in 1937 was for $5, leaving a remaing $15 to make up the grand total of a $20 price.
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C6 — The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 • www.thedigitalcourier.com
“Privately Owned Since 1903” THE
P ADGETT & K ING MORTUARY
James Padgett
Original Funeral Home
T.R. Padgett
The Padgett and King Mortuary was founded in 1903 by T.R. Padgett and his brotherin- law, Grover King on the square of Forest City. The enterprise began operations as a furniture company and later added the services of a funeral home. About a year into the business venture, Mr. King sold his interest to Mr. Padgett and went on to pursue other interests. Mr. Padgett’s interest in the funeral business came as a result of buying the Florence Mill Company Store which had a number of caskets in stock. Also, in his furniture business, caskets would be shipped in and it would be the responsibility of the furniture store owner to install the interior and linings in the caskets and to place the handles on the outside of the caskets. In selling the caskets to families Mr. Padgett saw the need to establish a business to provide this type service. He purchased his first horse drawn hearse in 1916, but most of his work was still completed in the homes of the deceased. It was not until the 1920’s that he established his first funeral home facility. It was located at the site of the present funeral home. He operated in this facility until 1932 when the present structure was constructed. More than 110 years following its inception, Padgett and King remains the oldest mortuary in Rutherford County and the oldest business operating under its original name in Forest City. Along with furniture and funerals, the mortuary also operated Padgett and King Ambulance Service until 1973. The company has had a succession of family to carry on the Padgett and King enterprise. James T. Padgett, son of the founder was the President of the company for many years and earned a reputation for honest and professional service. Likewise his cousin, D.G. Padgett served as company President as did Ron Guy, son-in-law of James Padgett. With the help of longtime employees James Collins, and Shane Earley, Padgett and King continued to serve Forest City and Rutherford County In 1989 upon the death of Mrs. Elizabeth Padgett, widow of the late James Padgett, the funeral home was sold to Ron Guy and Shane Earley who formed a partnership which lasted until the death of Ron in 2005. It was at this time that Shane Earley purchased Mr. Guy’s interest in the company and became the sole owner. Today, Shane Earley serves as President and Owner of the company, Steve Herndon as Vice-President and the staff, Jeff Braley and Dennis Matheny continue to carry on the tradition of caring service that has made Padgett and King a household name in Rutherford Furniture Store County. The Padgett and King Mortuary is proud to be privately and locally owned. We are also members of Selected Independent Funeral Homes, a by invitation only organization of independently owned funeral homes. 227 EAST MAIN STREET • FOREST CITY, NORTH CAROLINA 28043
Telephone - 828-245-4951 • Fax - 828-247-0350 www.padgettking.com J. Shane Earley, President and Owner Jeffrey D. Braley, Funeral Director/Embalmer
J. Stephen Herndon Vice-President Dennis R. Matheny, Funeral Assistant
www.thedigitalcourier.com • The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013
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More than just a Pharmacy By Matthew Clark
W
hat started as one in a line of 12 grocery stores in the early part of the 20th century turned into a local icon. Opened in 1920, Smith’s Drugs was started by J.M Smith as one of a group of grocery stores and pharmacies scattered across western North Carolina and South Carolina. Now, Smith’s Drugs stands alone in downtown Forest City. Current owner, John Higgins is the fifth owner of the store since its inception. He said that Smith sold the store to the Shuford family who retained ownership until 1988. From there, Hugh Moore bought the store from Grady
Shuford and owned it until Higgins — who is a pharmacist from Forest City —bought it in 2000. The thing that sets Smith’s Drugs apart from other traditional pharmacies is that it is not just a pharmacy. “It’s always been more than just a pharmacy,” Higgins said. “In the 90s, we started to look for ways to diversify the business.” That diversification included adding home infusion — or intravenous injections to patients and expanding the offering of medical equipment like hospital beds and oxygen. But, the diversification of Smith’s Drugs happened way Matthew Clark/Daily Courier before the 90s. For over 60 years, the estab- Pharmacists behind the counter at Smith’s Drugs prepare to fill prescriptions for customers. lishment has been home to a
Garrett Byers/Daily Courier
Patrons to Smith’s Drugs enjoy sampling orders of the diner’s famous homemade Pimento Cheese sandwiches which was also featured on the cover and in an article of Our State magazine.
C8 — The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 • www.thedigitalcourier.com fountain, another rarity among current traditional pharmacies. “A lot of people remember Smith’s Drugs and they remember the fountain,” Higgins said. Growing up in Forest City, Higgins remembers the fountain and the throngs of people that lined up to take part in the fountain. “When there was Cool Springs High School, there would be a mass of kids lined up for the fountain,” Higgins said. Keeping up with the trends of business has presented owners with challenges, even to this day. “It’s always a challenge and I don’t know how the owners in the past kept up with things,” Higgins said. “You have to do your research and keep with the times.” Combining the fountain, the diversification of additional medical equipment, pharmacy and other additions that has turned into the make-up of the current Smith’s Drugs, Higgins said that J.W. Smith would be proud of what Smith’s Drugs is today.
“Knowing him and what he did with his career, he would probably say ‘well done,’” Higgins said. “It has stayed around for over 60 years.” He added that he wants to maintain the traditions of the past to keep the business thriving for the future. “I would like to have the store continue with the same traditions that it has had for so many years,” Higgins said.
Matthew Clark is the Editor of The Daily Courier. He has been in Rutherford County for close to 2 years and enjoys meeting and talking to people from the county every day.
Matthew Clark
Matthew Clark/Daily Courier
(Top Right) Customers enjoy lunch at the bar inside Smith’s Drugs. (Right) An assortment of a little of everthing can be found inside the gift shop at Smith’s Drugs.
FAIR HAVEN 828-245-9095
Skilled Nursing and Assisted Living A Company is made up of many factors. What goods and services it provides and the personnel, its people from floor sweeper to President, administrator, or owner, band together to create an entity which can either fail or survive. Fair Haven Nursing/Assisted Living Facility is such a company where its services include the care, treatment and rehabilitation of the people of Rutherford and surrounding counties. It functions under an Administrator form of governing, but the story of its beginning and development is one which includes individuals, family and friends who have ultimately become family. On April 30, 1964 Fair Haven opened its doors as a result of dreams of Bill Higgins and Iris McKeithan. They saw the need to change the care of our elders from a county home environment to a more resident care centered environment as an Assisted Living facility. Three months after Fair Haven opened, Bill died suddenly of a heart attack. Iris ran the business until 1972 when she, too, suffered a heart attack. At that point, Iris’s son, Mack, came into the business as administrator and eventually, owner. Mack still is involved in the business, but not as administrator. In 1979 Mack began the development of Eastwood Village Retirement Community, adjacent to Fair Haven and in 1992 Mack added 30 skilled nursing beds. Fair Haven got its name from the Bible as one of the places Paul visited on his mission trips. It has been our philosophy to provide ministry through excellent and loving care since our inception. Our 49 year history reflects the rich tapestry of our area. We have had a resident who claimed to be a descendant of Abraham Lincoln and his birth in Rutherford County, men and women who fought in WWI, two residents who were at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed, a chauffeur of Queen Elizabeth during WWII, doctors who were pioneers of medicine in this county, a resident that grew up at the Biltmore House, people who remember the great flood in this county and life before Lake Lure was developed, CIA agents, people who worked at the Pentagon, local mayors and a state senator, people involved with the development of Gardner-Webb University, as well as many other interesting lives. Our life as a business reflects the rich heritage of Rutherford County and we are proud to be a part of that heritage. Thank you, Rutherford County for your continued support.
& Administrator
Owner
www.thedigitalcourier.com • The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013
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Furnishings
With Care
By Matthew Clark
O
ver the course of his life, Eddie Holland has learned a lot of lessons. Not the least of which have come from his father B.E (Gene) Holland and his grandfather Summie Holland. The latter established a small furniture store in Henrietta in 1920. “He (Summie) started selling things on the side and it grew into a furniture store,” Eddie said. “At one point, he wanted to get into the funeral business.” Now, over 90 years later, Holland Furniture has grown over four generations to include three showrooms on Harris-Henrietta Road. A lot of the staying power of Holland Furniture has been the knowledge and service passed down from one generation to the next. That’s something that is not lost on Eddie Holland. “I try to have value for our customer,” Eddie said. “My daddy taught me that your
Contributed Photos
(Left) Eddie Holland’s parents Gene and Jo Hemphill Holland. (Above) Eddie Holland alongside his son Bryan in front of a Holland Furniture sign in Henrietta.
money is made in the buying, not the selling. My daddy was a wise man.” So, even though the downturn of the furniture business, Holland Furniture has remained a mainstay, not just in Henrietta but in Rutherford County and beyond. The reason for the “beyond” is because of the service offered by the staff, Eddie said. “I try to sell merchandise that doesn’t give us problems but, when we do, we take care of it,” Eddie said. “A big part of your business is your service.” Holland Furniture started in a home in Henrietta in 1920. Gene Holland built a new store on Harris-Henrietta Road in 1955. In 1995, Eddie built the first of two warehouses and showrooms. The second came in 2002. In 2002, Eddie tore down a series of buildings on Harris-
Henrietta Road to construct the newest warehouse and showroom. One of the buildings was a bank and Eddie had the bank vault removed and placed it in the new showroom, where it stays today. “I really do believe in history,” Eddie said. Through it all, the Holland family had opportunities to move to more populated locations but Eddie said that was never a consideration. He said Henrietta and Rutherford County was where the family wanted to stay. “It’s not where you’re located, it’s your service,” Eddie said. “People don’t mind driving for that.” Eddie said he learned the benefit of customer service from his father Gene. “My daddy would tell everything about someone’s family tree because he knew it. Their families had bought from our family for years,” Eddie said. “I have people to this day tell me about my dad and the kind of man he was.” After Eddie finished college, he worked for three years at
Contributed Photo
The main Holland Furniture store in Henrietta was built by Gene Holland in 1955 and is still in use today.
Thank you for your business and friendship!
C10 — The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 • www.thedigitalcourier.com Levitz Furniture where, for his last two years he was a top salesman. From there, Eddie came back home to Henrietta to work for his father. “Their (Levitz) concept was showroom and warehouse and that’s what I did here,” Eddie said. “But, like I said, daddy was wise, so I used his ideas too.” Now, Eddie spends his days talking to customers and training his son Bryan to, perhaps, take over the family business. But with that, Eddie said things have changed since he started in the furniture business. “His (Bryan) challenge will be to try to put our business on computer,” Eddie said. “I can see that happening soon.”
Eddie said there have been other changes in the business that he has seen that are less favorable. One has been the change in personal connection in the industry. As businesses farm out work to other areas, local distributors have turned into warehouses with no personal interaction. “That’s one thing I really don’t like about where things are going,” Eddie said. Through it all, Eddie said that there have been numerous joys. Those joys include his employees — who he refers to as ‘family’ — and the generations of customers that have come through the Holland Furniture doors. “I’ve worked hard, so I have no regrets,” Eddie said.
Contributed photos
(Top) A photo of several generations of Hollands together inside Holland Furniture. (Left) The first Holland Furniture building constructed by Summie Holland in 1920. (Below) The Holland showroom and warehouse was built in 2002 and is located across the street from the main store in Henrietta.
Your local GM dealer since 1966. Come see our new renovations to better serve our customers
Matthew Clark Matthew Clark is the Editor of The Daily Courier. Over the course of working on this section, he said he loved learning about generational businesses in Rutherford County.
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Thank You Rutherford County for your support all these years. Herman Sisk, owner/president
www.thedigitalcourier.com • The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013
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Family, Scoggin’s Secret for Success By Jean Gordon
D
ale Scoggin chuckles when she thinks back on the day she told herself she’d never return to Rutherfordton after college. Certainly she had no plans to be a second generation family member of Scoggin’s Fish and Steak House. Dale is the only child of restaurant owners, the late Jim and Louise Scoggin, who started the restaurant in May 1959. But as the years came and went, mother and daughter talked about the restaurant in 1986 and Dale agreed to leave a job and run the business. Louise Scoggin was planning to retire and thought about selling the restaurant but Dale didn’t want that to happen to the loyal customers. “She stayed on a couple years and trained me,” Dale said. “I grew up working here (at the restaurant) and when I went off to college I vowed I’d never be back,” she said. Dale operates her business like her mother did when the restaurant opened in 1959. “Good service and good food at a reasonable price” was her philosophy and I think that’s why we have been so successful. I’ve tried to do the same thing.” According to a story reported in The Daily Courier in 2009 when the restaurant celebrated 50 years, Scoggins was working third shift jobs at Marion Manufacturing in 1959 and a trip into Rutherfordton one day sparked a desire to operate a business. The building off US 64/74 was empty, Dale said, and her mother told her dad it would make a restaurant. Louise Scoggin already had a background in the restaurant
Jean Gordon
business. Her father owned Lake Brooks which had a fish camp and he also loaned the couple money for the business, paid the first month’s rent and purchased food. In the early days, Jim and Louise ran the business by themselves. Dale said her dad cooked on the second shift at the restaurant and worked third shift in Marion. The restaurant employs 22 to 23 people and has seating capacity for about 260. Dale isn’t thinking about retirement any time soon, but when she does she isn’t sure what she’ll do with her business. Until then, she’ll keep the place running like she was taught by the first generation owners.
Jean Gordon is the Senior Reporter at The Daily Courier. She’s the proud aunt of four nieces, one nephew; five greatnephews and one great-niece. Life moves on, generation after generation.
Contributed Photos
(Above) Jim and Louise Scoggin established the restaurant in 1959. (Right) The couple’s daughter, Dale Scoggin, is the sole owner of the fish and steak house today.
4076 U.S. Highway 221-A · P.O. Box 337 · Cliffside, NC 28024 828-657-6322 · www.mckinneylandrethcarroll.com
Locally and Family Owned and Operated Since 1953 Steve & Lyn Carroll, Owners Funerals · Cremations · Pre-Arrangements Life Insurance · Pet Services
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C12 — The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 • www.thedigitalcourier.com
The Gift of
By Jean Gordon
T
he souvenir industry has changed over the years but one thing remains the same. When a tourist comes into Gale’s Gift Shop they are looking for the “souvenir” that will remind him or her of time spent in Chimney Rock. “Everybody wants a magnet, a shot glass, a cow . . . they want something Chimney Rock” said owner Steve Gale. “Especially people from foreign countries. They really like this stuff. . .The souvenir is still the profit item.” Gale’s friends often refer to him as the man who sells the snakes. He doesn’t dispute that. He sells lots of snakes, cowboy pistols, hats shirt, rings and so many other things. “People love handmade-in-America items. They are hot and people also love local crafts.” Gale’s grandmother, Georgia Gale, was the first generation family member to have a sou-
venir/gift shop in the Hickory Nut Gorge. “The Studio Rug and Jug Shop” was located in Bat Cave where Steve Gale grew up and where he and his wife Mary Jaeger-Gale reside today. After Mrs. Gale’s shop, Steve’s parents, Harvey and Bunny Gale, started the original Gale’s Gift Shop in 1947 in the village. The senior Gales also partnered with a couple owning a shop together in Cherokee. After they sold their half of the Cherokee shop, the Gales leased the Sky Lounge in the 1950s from Chimney Rock Park. Bunny Gale ran the Sky Lounge and Harvey Gale ran the couple’s shop on Main Street. Steve was 10-years-old when he began his career in the retail business. Every summer as he was working in his parents shop, he served apple cider from paper cups to tourists.
Contributed Photos
(Above) The Studio Rug & Jug Shop in Bat Cave was owned by Georgia Gale, first generation family member to operate a souvenir shop. (Right Top) The Sky Lounge in Chimney Rock Park was leaded by the Gales. (Right Bottom) Steve Gale inside the shop his parents, Harvey and Bunny Gale, started in 1947 on Main Street in Chimney Rock Village.
“I would get everyone a cup of cider . . . and they would give me a tip,” he said. When he turned 12, Steve said he would catch a ride on one of the tour buses transporting visitors to the top of Chimney Rock Park and join his mother there. “I’d help my mother in the Sky Lounge and later I would hop back on the bus and work in my father’s shop,” he said. Steve worked in both shops until the early 1970s when Chimney Rock Park changed its managership and Harvey Gale relinquished the lease on the Sky Lounge. The Park staff ran the Sky Lounge and the Gales continued running their shop in the village. As a young boy and teenager, Steve’s main task was operating the fountain that was located inside the corner shop in the village. “It was great.” “Inside the shop we used to have Lance crackers and a Coca Cola machine and also cider,” he said. “Then we built an outside concession stand on the corner of the shop.” From the concession area, Steve sold popcorn, fountain drinks, cider and made fresh snowballs flavored with cherry syrup. “We crushed the ice right there on the spot.” One of his favorite stories was when children arrived at the stand and always wanted extra cherry syrup. “I’d mash the bottle a little bit harder and the syrup would go all over them.” Steve said. Steve worked in the shop and ran the concession stand every summer until he graduated college. While working in Atlanta, Steve met his future wife, Mary Jaeger and when he brought her to Bat
Cave to meet his parents, his father invited Steve to come back to Chimney Rock anytime he wanted and go into business together. After talking it over with Mary and after they were married in 1978, they moved to Bat Cave and the rest is history. Steve has been in the shop since 1978 and Mary is the general manager of Chimney Rock at Chimney Rock State Park. “There is a draw to western North Carolina and to Bat Cave. There is nothing better than the little Village of Chimmney Rock,” Steve said. “There was not any better place for a boy to grow up than in Chinmey Rock,” Steve said. He was at the very first Chimney Rock Hillclimb in the 1950s and subsequent Hillclimbs a long with other Park events. “I have a photo of me standing underneath the guy’s elbow as he was receiving his trophy that first year. I am 9 years old,” he said pointing to the picture. Steve spent a lot of years running up and down the mountains in Chimney Rock and “going all over the Park. Today that is unheard of.” Steve admits he is a bit of a prankster. He recalled the day as a teen when he was working the snowball machine. He told everyone who was at the concession stand they were on Candid Camera. He had caused quite a ruckus as the customers believed him. He later told the person who was working with him what he had told customers and a customer overheard him. “She walked up to me and threw her drink on me,” he quipped. “I have endless stories.” he said.
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Jean Gordon came to The Daily Courier in 1994 from the Rutherford County News where she began her newspaper career in 1970 as the paper’s typesetter.
Jean Gordon
www.thedigitalcourier.com • The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013
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Progressive Healthcare The following information was compiled by Rutherford Regional’s Marketing Department, and contains information from Robin S. Lattimore’s book “Rutherford Hospital The Legend & Legacy” and Vicki Dameron’s DVD “Rutherford Regional Medical Center: Celebrating Our Healthcare, History and Heritage.”
I
n the early 1900s – about the time Dr. Henry Norris and his wife, Ethel Wheeler Norris, were visiting Rutherford County – there were 25,101 residents and only 26 licensed physicians. The closest hospitals were in Asheville and Charlotte, keeping residents of the county in poor health. During the Norris’ visits to Rutherford County, in which they visited the Coxe family at Green River Plantation, Dr. Norris was often asked to help treat local citizens. His reputation as an accom-
plished physician grew so that by his fourth visit to Rutherford County in 1905 it is said people would wait for hours at the train depot for his arrival. If they had not done so prior to that 1905 visit, the Norrises decided that founding a hospital in Rutherford County would be a way to give back to the community they’d grown to love. Paying $1,500 for the building and property, the couple bought the former Rutherford Military Institute, and by June 1906 had drawn up documents to create Rutherford
Hospital Incorporated. Portions of the original incorporation papers for Rutherford Hospital stated that part of the hospital’s objective was “…. for the training of nurses …. And to do and perform all and any of such things and business as may be necessary to properly establish, conduct and maintain such a hospital and training school ….” Just months after the hospital opened, Mrs. Norris – who had trained as a nurse – opened the Rutherford Hospital School of Nursing, adding to the hospital’s
Dr. Norris
Dr. Biggs
Compassionate care for Rutherford County since 1906. Since the days of Dr. Henry Norris and Dr. Montgomery H. Biggs, Rutherford Regional Health System has existed to provide a full range of services to meet the health care needs for the residents of Rutherford County and surrounding areas. Rutherford Regional Health System has more than 120 qualified physicians and over 23 medical specialties, including family care, home care, orthopaedics, general surgery, wound care and more. Rutherford Regional has received national recognition as one of America’s Great Community Hospitals by Becker’s Hospital Review, as a Five-Star Award winner by Cleverley & Associates and for outstanding quality results by The Joint Commission.
288 S. Ridgecrest Ave. Rutherfordton, NC 28139
MyRutherfordRegional.com
C14 — The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 • www.thedigitalcourier.com diswtinction throughout the state. “From the very beginning they really maintained high standards for nursing students,” said Dolly Cordell, a graduate of the Rutherford Hospital School of Nursing. Nursing students lived on campus, Cordell said, and assisted the physicians and staff at the hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week, under the supervision of a registered nurse. In the early days of the school, student nurses were also asked to attend the births of babies in private homes and assist local physicians during county influenza epidemics. The last class to graduate from Rutherford Hospital School of Nursing did so in 1965, when the program became integrated into GardnerWebb College’s nursing degree program. “Between 1909 and 1965, more than 400 nurses graduated from the program,” Cordell said. In the 1960s, the hospital instituted an improvement and modernization program that would meet the medical and healthcare needs of the county in the coming years. A study provided by the J.N. Pease Company of Charlotte to determine the physical improvements needed at the hospital indicated that replacement of the 1911 hospital building and alterations to the 1951 Norris-Biggs wing were the greatest immediate needs. Responding to the need for more specialized healthcare in the county, the hospital began the first step of its expansion plan in December 1961 with construction of a new clinic. The clinic was built to the rear of the 1952 wing and was named the Norris-Biggs Clinic. It was designed to house 10 medical specialists and to centralize their care into one facility – bringing under one roof obstetrics, gynecology, orthopedics and eye, ear, nose and throat. Eleven years after the study by J.N. Pease Company, the new hospital facility Contributed Photo opened on March 7, 1971. The new facilDr. Henry Norris purchased the former Rutherford Military Institute in 1906 ity increased the hospital’s bed capacity to with the intent of opening the first hospital in Rutherford County. 172, and the occupancy rate for use of the patient rooms was consistently between 75 and 80 percent. The next large phase of growth began in 1986, when the Hospital Board of Trustees announced the largest renovation and expansion project in the hospital’s history. A $13 million project – planned without a bond issue or public referendum – included the addition of two patient floors to the 1971 facility, a new lobby and main entrance, relocation of outpatient services and demolition of the 1951 wing. Highlighting the renovation phase of the project was the creation of all private rooms, each with its own bathroom. The late 1990s saw further efforts to expand outreach services in the county. Contributed Photo In 1997 the Becknell Family Practice was Nurses at Rutherford purchased and in 1998 the Rutherford Hospital’s School of East Medical Services facility opened in Nursing used St. Luke’s Mooresboro. A fourth family practice was Chapel for daily chapel as brought into the fold in 1998 with the well as special services. acquisition of the England and Godfrey operation.
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www.thedigitalcourier.com • The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013
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“I have always felt our hospital was moving and progressing as well as any that existed anywhere,� said Dr. Bobby England, one of the founders of the England and Godfrey practice. Growth continued at the hospital campus in the early 2000s, with a new Birth Place and Intensive Care Unit. A new Marconi Magnetic Resonance Imaging Unit was added in 2001, and in the late spring of 2002 physicians at Rutherford Hospital were among the first in North Carolina to use an innovative miniature camera to diagnose problems in the small intestine. On May 3, 2011, Rutherford Hospital Inc. became Rutherford Regional Health System, the new corporate brand which was representative of a desire to be progressive and continue to grow. Contributed Photo
The Museum at Rutherford Regional displays a collection of items used for health care in years past as well as mementos that belonged to the hospital’s founding families, the Norris and Biggs families.
Contributed Photos
(Above) Rutherford Hospital’s School of Nursing graduated more than 400 nurses between 1909 and 1965. (Left) Rutherford Regional Medical Center as it appears today.
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The Fabrics of
Tradition
By Jean Gordon
J
immy Tanner says every time he goes to the grocery store he runs into a former employee of Tanner Companies. A son of Millie and S.B. Tanner who founded the company in 1931, Jimmy says it’s with much pride he still sees people who worked in the family business. “They always tell me how much they enjoyed working for us,” Tanner said at the company’s home office in Rutherfordton. Although Jimmy and his brother, Mike Tanner, second generation members, are still in the business they don’t go to the office every day. Those duties are relinquished to third generation member, Allison Pell Tanner, CEO of the company. Pell’s son, Ruffin, joined the company a couple years ago and is a fourth genertion member. Ruffin spent his first year with the company at the distribution center, located off Oak Springs Road in Rutherfordton. “That’s a family tradition,” he said. Ruffin is in charge of direct mail marketing. When visitors walk into the front office of the Tanner Companies, LLC, they notice immediately a framed June 1988 newspaper page from the Atlanta Journal/Constitution. The front page spread carries the headline, “Dressmaking Dynasty.” The story includes a half-page color picture of the second generation brothers, Jimmy, Bobo and Mike. (Bobo lost a battle to cancer a few years ago). “That’s the real picture hanging over there,” said Barbara McCurry as she pointed to the newspaper from her reception desk and described the history of the generational business. There are other historic photos in the plant,including the one in 1960 when Millie Tanner and her sons, Jimmy and Bobo, are holding shovels and breaking ground on a new manufacturing plant off Oak Springs Road in Rutherfordton. From its beginnings off North Washington Street in Rutherfordton as the Doncaster plant, the Tanners later built two larger plants off Oak Springs Road that, at one time, had more than 2,000 employees. The distribution center and the retail shops and warehouses followed. With the change in the textile market in the United States, Tanner Companies sent its manufacturing work to China in 2000 where today approximately 280 people are employed in the factory there. There are over 700 consultants across the United States who are marketing the Doncaster label. Approximately 125 employees are in the Rutherfordton offices and the New York office has 12 employees. Tanner Companies was the the parent company of
Doncaster, that got got its start in 1931 as the Doncaster Collar and Shirt Company, in Rutherfordton. Bobo and Millie Tanner named the company after the town of Doncaster, England — a favorite stop on their honeymoon tour, and famous for hosting the world’s oldest classic horse race. According to the history of the plant, a rare opportunity in 1935 transformed the familiar shirt patterns of the Doncaster Collar and Shirt Company to the fashionable shirtwaist dress inspired by design developments in Paris. A call from the Junior League of Charlotte introduced the idea of selling these fashionable designs through the organization to raise funds for their various civic projects. According to DoncasterCharlotte.com, with Millie as the stylist and Bobo’s established shirt-making capability, Doncaster launched the original direct sales of high-end fashions. The earliest dresses were sold through the women of the Junior League, an able and energetic sales force who were in contact with a large network of women. They were some of the city’s most prominent citizens, women of elegant taste and independent means, who were giving their time and energy to support projects of importance. As women in other cities began to hear of these Doncaster fashions, mostly by word of mouth, the interest in wearing them and selling them spread quickly across the United States. By the early 1950’s,the couple’s sons entered the business. They began to grow and refine the business of selling beautiful, quality fashion directly to the consumer through a national network of “wardrobe consultants.” Through the Tanner Foundation and Partners in Caring philantropic program, the company continues to support the Rutherford County projects beneficial to women and their families.
Jean Gordon/Daily Courier
Generation family members (l-r) Pell Tanner, third generation; Mike Tanner and Jimmy Tanner, second generation and Ruffin Tanner, fourth generation.
Daily Courier Senior Reporter Jean Gordon enjoys spending time with family, friends and her two cats, Blue and Sky.
Jean Gordon
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www.thedigitalcourier.com • The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013
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Sharing the Dream By Erin Kidd
Garrett Byers/Daily Courier
Boyce Grindstaff alongside daughters Tammy McCracken (Left) and Sharon Easler.
B
oyce Grindstaff and his daughters are keeping the family dream alive at Grindstaff’s Interior in Forest City. “It is the people who have made us who we are and it started right here in Rutherford County,” said Boyce Grindstaff, owner. “We started with Rutherford County people and they are still an integral part of our business. We are grateful for them.” Boyce’s father, E.M. Grindstaff, started the business around 1947. “Before he got into the furniture business he was in general merchandise. He started in the grocery store business in Rutherfordton. He bought out one of the first supermarkets. Up until that time, he had a little store in Ellenboro located directly across from the courthouse up there,” Boyce said. “In 1947, he sold out the grocery store part of the business and remodeled the old Rutherford Transit Company where he started in the furniture business.”
However, Boyce says that finding furniture was more difficult during the wars years. “Soldiers were coming back home from the war and you couldn’t hardly buy anything that was an appliance. So my dad went up into the mountains where he owned mountain timber and traded timber for furniture. That’s how he got started with Mt. Airy Furniture Company and got started in the furniture business in Rutherfordton,” Boyce said. “He stayed there for a few years and the business did extremely well.” One of Boyce’s most vivid memories from the first furniture
store was selling televisions. “We were probably one of the first stores that had television and I can remember putting that first television in the window of that store in Rutherfordton. In those days you didn’t have TV all day, you had a test pattern all day. The TV would come on at 7 p.m. with the local news in
Charlotte,” Boyce said. “From that situation, people would gather out in front of the window and watch the test pattern all day.” The business moved to West Main Street in Forest City in 1949. In 1968 it was featured in Home Furnishings Today as one of the 10-best furniture
C18 — The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 • www.thedigitalcourier.com
stores in the nation. Today, Boyce works at the store with his daughters Tammy McCracken and Sharon Easler. The business has had four generations of family working as employees. “I work with my two daughters who I am so proud of and my wife, Dorothy Grindstaff, is an officer of the company. We even now have grandchildren coming in and working for us,” Boyce said. “That is how I grew up as a family. From the time I was 4 years old I was selling chewing gum behind the counter. All I have known is family.” The store, which is known for its higher end furniture, has recently introduced a new line of Lifestyles furniture. “We have not given up the better-end furniture, but in addition we have added Lifestyles which has the theme ‘Your life, your style, your price.’ It is a more medium priced furniture. We wanted something we could give the same warranties and the same guarantees on,” Boyce said. They also offer a free design service to their customers. “We work individually with the client and they may have some idea of what they like in style or colors or they may not. We may have to introduce them to what is current and what is out there. We have to find out what their taste is. We take that and build around it and make their house into a home that they can love,” Easler said. “We want to be more to more people. We are not a store that has a certain clientele. That is why we did the restructuring last summer and where we are heading. That is our vision for the future.” Along with selling to people in the county, the store caters to others around the world. They have shipped furniture to Japan, Alaska, Turkey, Egypt and a variety of other places. “What began as a business for our grandfather has become a heritage down the road. What has made this business successful is the captain of the ship, my dad. But right alongside of that has been our customers,” Easler said. “They have been loyal to us over the years. We have made countless contact throughout this country through customers and I think our reputation comes from them and we value that as much as anything.” The family loves sharing the same dream and hope to continue in the furniture business for many years to come. “Being in a business as a family is sharing the dream. We knew our grandfather had it, we know our dad has that dream and we are supporting that dream,” McCracken said. “It will be something for our whole family because they have worked so hard and with all of the sweat, tears and many hours that they put in here. It is in our genes, this is what we do. It is our passion.”
Erin Kidd
Contributed Photo / Garrett Byers/Daily Courier
Erin Kidd spent most of her life working on the tobacco farm with her family. The generational business topic hit close to home when she thought about the many generations of her family that have worked in tobacco. On any given day in the summer, she worked alongside her grandparents, parents, aunt and uncle, cousins and brothers. Her family is still in the tobacco business today.
(Top Photo) Boyce Grindstaff alongside his father E.M. Grindstaff in 1968. (Bottom Photo) Boyce Grindstaff today still following in the footsteps of his father and paving the way for future generations to continue with the family’s legacy.
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C20 — The Daily Courier, Sunday, March 3, 2013 • www.thedigitalcourier.com have worked in the store. Today Virginia, Clement and Tammy Morrow are the faces you will see when you come in to shop. “Tammy came to work here about 33 years ago. Johnnie Mae is the one that hired Tammy, who was working at the Community Cash grocery store in Forest City,” Virginia said. “My sister-in-law knew how good she was with customers, so they hired her.” Virginia said that business is slower today than it was in earlier years. “Business has done okay, but over the last few years nobody’s business has done very well. We still have a lot of loyal customers who even come back on a weekend if they are coming to visit and they will come in. We are trying to keep the store going for Ty,” Virginia said. “I think silver has really taken over because of its price and it seems like the things they come out with are more updated.” The store tries to carry jewelry and other items that appeal to all generations. “We are kind of revamping to get a different clientele. Their clientele was older. I am trying to get a younger clientele and since the younger clietnele is totally opposite between the two, you try to get stuff that both of them will like,”
Clement said. “Our generation is just now starting to get good and paying jobs, so you have to have the less expensive stuff.” The employees pride themselves on providing shoppers with jewelry lines that are made in the United States. Clement and Morrow find many of the lines of jewelry that the store offers by attending jewelry shows. “Times have changed. When they go to the show now, it is a whole different ball game. They are looking for something Americanmade, which we think is really important now,” Virginia said. “Ty and Tammy go to jewelry show in Atlanta, the salespeople will call on us and they do a lot of ordering online. We are hands-on people. We really like to have it in our hands at least once or twice to see the quality.” No matter what happens to the economy, Vassey and Hemphill Jewelers has been serving Rutherford County for years. This small store is definitely full of memories. “It started out really small and it is still small, but it has been a service to the community,” Virginia said. “It has been here for so long and helped a lot of people.”
Erin Kidd
Courier File Photo
Erin Kidd, 23, enjoys spending time with friends and family. She is a very social person and will be friends with almost anyone she meets. She loves clothes, makeup, jewelry and basically anything girly, but she also loves her sports. Being a former softball player and tomboy, she would never turn down a good game.
A 1996 photo of Jim Hemphill and his wife Virginia Hemphill, owners of Vassey and Hemphill Jewelers in Spindale.
BUSINESS HONOR ROLL 35 Years
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Maty Incorporated
HINKLE’S PET HOSPITAL
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David Wilkie Construction
Recliner Center
1639 US Hwy 74A Bypass, Unit 17 Spindale, NC 28160
601 Oak Street Forest City, NC 28043 828-245-6431
117 Furman Drive Forest City, NC 28043 828-245-1883
520 Coopers Gap Road Rutherfordton, NC 28139
PO Box 388 Rutherfordton, NC 28139 828-429-1030
Established 1978
Established 1978
Established 1981
Established 1986
Established 1989
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431 South Main Street / Suite 8 Rutherfordton, NC 28139 828-288-1378
828-245-6333 828-243-5695
251 Bent Creek Drive Rutherfordton, NC 28139 828-429-6410
Established 1993
Established 1994
Established 1997
Established 1997
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Robbins Remodeling
CKL Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Element Church
Big Dave’s Family Seafood
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334 Ridgeview Drive Rutherfordton, NC 28139 828-287-2353
1071 S. Broadway St Forest City, NC 828-245-7766
123 Commercial Drive Forest City, NC 28043
Established 2000
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877 Railroad Avenue Rutherfordton, NC 28139 828-288-3806
122 Charleston Court Spindale, NC 28160 828-429-2851
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