We’re keeping the birthday love flowing for Cora Green Wellington Dawson, who turned 98 on February 28!
birthday
Happy 99th birthday, Henrietta Hines McIntosh!
Black Wide-Awake joins her children and church family in wishing Henrietta Hines McIntosh a wonderful 99th birthday!
On his 91st birthday.
Rederick C. Henderson and his bicycle, somewhere in East Wilson, circa 1950.
My father was my gateway to Wilson and sparked my love for people and place. I miss him every day, but especially on September 12.
Happy 100th birthday, Amanda Mitchell Cameron!
Sending extra-special 100th birthday wishes to the beautiful, warm, charming Amanda Gray Mitchell Cameron!
Mrs. Cameron lives independently on the land she grew up on and is always so generous with her time and memories of the Elm City area, Frederick Douglass High School, and her family’s fight for educational and economic opportunity. She is a treasure!
Happy 100th birthday, Catherine Gaston-Atkinson!
Happy birthday!
My mother is a native of Newport News, Virginia, but has spent almost three-quarters of her life in Wilson. I often rely on her to clarify my recollections or test tentative connections I make in my research for this blog. She introduced me to museums and historic sites and gladly fed my very early appetite for reading. I’m not sure what Black Wide-Awake would look like without her deep influence, and I ask you to join me in wishing Beverly Allen Henderson a wonderful 87th birthday. I love you, Ma!
Photo by Tracey E. Leon, February 2025.
Happy 97th birthday, Donald Lee Woodard Sr.!
Today we celebrate the 97th birthday of Donald Lee Woodard Sr.!
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In the 1930 census of Eureka township, Wayne County: farm laborer Marcelius Woodard, 36; wide Adlonia, 26, farm laborer; sons Andrew, 6, Roscoe, 5, Donie L., 3, and Kelvin [Calvin], 1; and boarders Leslie Malone, 30, farm laborer, and Nannie Hastings, 48.
In the 1940 census of Faison township, Duplin County, N.C.: farmer Marcellus Woodard, 46; wife Adlonia, 35; and children Andrew 17, Rosker, 15, Donie, 13, Calvin, 11, Rosevelt, 9, Mary, 7, Margree, 4, and Jessie James, 5 months.
In 1944, Donald Lee Woodard registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County.
On 28 December 1949, Donald Lee Woodard, 22, of Walstonsburg, married Hazel Artis, 20, of Stantonsburg in Wilson, Wilson County.
In the 1950 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: hired farm laborer Clinton Artis, 50; wife Mattie, 45; children Charles E., 19, lumber company laborer, Appie Louise, 17, cook, Constance B., 15, maid, William H., 13, Cleveland O., 10, Harley M., 7, Douglas, 5, Lois Jean, 3, and Carolyn E., 2; daughter Mary Hazel Woodard, 21; son-in-law Donald Woodard, 23, lumber company employee; and granddaughter Brenda Joyce Woodard, 1.
Many thanks to Portia Newman for sharing this joyful photo of her grandfather. We wish him so many more fantastic birthdays!
On his 90th birthday.
My father had a brief career as a journalist his sophomore year in high school covering Darden football games for the Wilson Daily Times under the byline “Skip Henderson.” By his senior year, he was editor of Darden’s yearbook. His writing career ended there, but he spent the rest of his educational life in sports, as a player, coach, and mentor.
Rederick C. Henderson would have turned 90 today. I miss him to my core and not a day passes that I don’t think of him and give thanks for all poured into those he loved.
Wilson Daily Times, 29 September 1950.
Wilson Daily Times, 27 October 1950.
Editor-in-chief R.C. Henderson, front, with some of the annual staff. From “The Trojan,” the yearbook of C.H. Darden High School, 1952.
Happy birthday to me.
While organizing my files a few weeks ago, I found a letter that I could not recall ever having seen. In the summer of 1964, my father was in Raleigh, North Carolina, taking teacher-training courses at his alma mater, Saint Augustine’s College. On June 22, he took pen in hand to write my mother a few lines. “I really will be glad when the baby comes,” he said.
The baby? Me.
“Every time the phone rings I listen to hear if it is for me,” he continued. “I’ll be home Friday evening or Saturday depending on what we have to do.”
He came home early Friday, June 26. And I was born at Mercy Hospital that afternoon.
My mother the month before I arrived, in Sunday-best, kitten-heel slingbacks and oversized cloche.
Today I am 60 years old. It’s an odd thing for me to hear coming out of my mouth, but I am grateful for every year. My father didn’t quite make it to see me here, but my mother’s love buoys me every day.
My father and me the month after I arrived. We lived at 706 Ward Boulevard (on land once owned by Samuel H. Vick) until early the following year.
I’ve been blessed in so many ways across these six decades — in family, friends, love, health, career. There are no greater gifts. Cheers to the next!
Happy 104th birthday, Mother Battle!
Wilson Daily Times, 25 April 2024.
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In the 1930 census of Oak Level township, Nash County, North Carolina: farmer William Gray, 68; wife Georgeanna, 48; sons Bennie, 19, and Stephen, 13, and grandchildren Robert, 12, Walter, 9, Boney, 8, and Ellen Gray, 10, and Loneva Battle, 5.
On 4 June 1937, Elroy Battle, 21, of Wilson County, son of Alfred and Exie Battle, married Ellen Gray, 18, of Wilson County, daughter of William and Georgeanna Gray, in Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina. Witnesses to the ceremony included Eva Gray of Black Creek and Alice Artis of Wilson.
In 1940, Elroy Battle registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 15 August 1918 in Wilson County; lived on R.F.D. 3, Wilson; his contact was wife Ellen Battle; and he was self-employed.
In the 1940 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: Elroy Battle, 21; wife Ellen, 20; sister Daisy, 19; brother-in-law Barney Gray, 18; and brother Lonnie Battle, 13.
In the 1950 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: Elroy Battle, 31, farmer; wife Ellen, 30; son Richard Ray, 4; and cousin Walter Gray, 29.