Mike Parker
Multiplied thousands – perhaps millions – across this country heard Mother’s Day messages this past Sunday. The story of Mother’s Day usually focuses on Anna Jarvis. Following her mother’s death in 1905, Jarvis had the idea of establishing a day to honor the sacrifices mothers make for their children.
According to an article on History.com, she gained financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker. In May 1908, she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. The observance drew thousands of people to a Mother’s Day event at one of Wanamaker’s retail stores in Philadelphia, as well.
Free Press staff
Daniel W. Rice III of Kinston, N.C., is retiring from the National Board of Directors of WoodmenLife after 20 years of service.
Rice has been a member of WoodmenLife for 47 years and currently serves as president of WoodmenLife NC Chapter 46 in Kinston, according to a news release.
“Socializing with members at conventions and meetings has exposed me to the vast differences that exist in our organization, with the unifying factor of community service,” said Rice, in the release.
Rice retired as the director of community services at the Caswell Center in Kinston. Rice and his wife, Johnnee, plan to continue their involvement with WoodmenLife at the local level, giving back to the community and traveling to visit family.
Free Press staff
One dead in an early morning Kinston fire.
Around 1 a.m. a 911 call was received that reported a structure fire was taking place at 694 Albrittons Road in Kinston.
When responding agencies arrived at the scene, heavy fire conditions were present at the home.
The 911 call reported there were five people in the home; three were able to self-evacuate the home to safety, where they were later transported to UNC Lenoir Health Care in Kinston for medical evaluation; they were treated and released from the hospital, according to a news release.
The other two people in the home were rescued by members of the responding agencies.
Free Press staff
In recognition of Nurses Week, May 6-12, the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce is presenting more than 300 gift bags to the nurses at UNC Lenoir Health Care.
This giveaway will take place Thursday, May 6, at 11 a.m. in the lobby of the hospital.
The Chamber staff has collected donations from businesses and individuals throughout April. Every nurse at UNC Lenoir Health Care with get a gift bag filled with items, including pens, note pads, lanyards, penlights, koozies, gift cards and much, much more.
Sponsors include Lenoir Community College, Coastal Connections Marketing, Belk, Kinston State Farm Agents - Judy Jones, Keith Thompson and Will Hardy, Crown, LCPS, MasterBrand, Union Bank, Eastern Carolina Insurance, WoodmenLife Kinston Chapter 46 and AARP - NC.
Mike Parker
When Dennis Harper was 11 years old, he became fascinated with the Wyse Fork Battlefield. In the decades since, Harper has collected more than 12,000 artifacts from that battle.
“First one I ever found was laying in my front yard,” Harper told Zach Frailey in a 2016 interview. “I got a metal detector at 14 and upgraded from there. When most kids played ball, we hunted bullets.”
Over the years Harper has recovered pieces of china dating back to the late 1700s (soldiers may have used to help dig earth works due to their lack of shovels), bottles, and other not-so-obvious era relics.