Tag Archive for: #gillclopton

TownTalk: Gill Clopton Remembered

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Gill Clopton had a variety of interests – he loved to write and take photographs – but he also was a self-proclaimed archivist who had taken it upon himself to try to preserve local history, one photograph at the time. In doing so, Clopton developed a following of almost 10,000 followers on social media.

Oh, and cats. He loved cats.

News of Clopton’s death was reported today.

Clopton, a 1979 graduate of Vance Senior High School, was not trained as a journalist, but he loved to write. About a year ago, he started an e-paper called “Piedmont Online” to promote positive news, sports and feature stories from Vance County and the surrounding area.

John C. Rose remembered Clopton during Tuesday’s TownTalk as someone whose efforts will be remembered.

“Even if it only exists on a Facebook thread, it’s been preserved,” Rose said, referring to the “Remember when…(reminiscing about Henderson, NC) posts that Clopton used to show long-forgotten photos that he had dug up, many from the former office space of The Daily Dispatch.

“It really underscores what he has done for the community,” Rose said in his discussion with Dr. Bill Dennis, known familiarly as “Little Bill,” whose grandfather started the local paper in the World War I era.

Dennis said, thanks in large part to his father’s and his grandfather’s “pack rat” tendencies, there was a lot of stuff for Clopton to go through.

After the paper was sold and the Chestnut Street building was being emptied, Clopton and several others carted out stacks and stacks of archived newspapers, clippings, photographs and more.

“He went down to the newspaper and talked to the people who were running the place,” Dennis said, and he was able to take possession of all that, well, history.

Clopton “single-handedly” saved so much that would otherwise been discarded

“Gill was tireless,” Dennis said, of his work on digitizing photos from The Dispatch.

As a college student, Dennis spent a couple of summers trying to help get things organized a bit at the paper. Whether Clopton saw the result of that effort is unclear.

And although Clopton never worked at the paper himself, he befriended “Big Bill” Dennis and spent many a happy time talking at the old Eckerd’s lunch counter – a fact that “Little Bill” hadn’t known at the time.

“He was an aspiring newspaper person for a long time,” Dennis said of Clopton. “It was always fascinating to talk to him,” He took photographs and wrote a column for the Henderson Dispatch for a time.

“Some of his columns were great,” Dennis said.

The online publication was a real labor of love, he added. “You just can’t ever do enough when you’re doing something like that.” Dennis said he read each weekly installment. “I thought he did a really good job with it…especially women’s sports because they didn’t get as much publicity as the boys’ (sports).”

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The Wall of Hits & The Big 89

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-Article written by, and reprinted with permission from, Gill Clopton – Photo courtesy The Daily Dispatch

I was eleven years old and clutching onto the three dollars Mom had given me. It was probably the most money I’d ever had at one time and I can’t recall what I did to earn it. But I held on to it for dear life as I walked into Nits Nats at the Henderson Mall. In front of me was this massive board with metal prongs sticking out, each one holding a 45 rpm record and numbered 1-100. In the center was a Billboard chart, the first one I’d ever seen and the beginning of a hobby I would cherish for years. It was the chart Casey Kasem used, and to me, that was big. Many years later, I was visiting the WHNC studio and saw my name on the side of an AT-40 box. I had sent in a question and Casey answered it, but I missed it. To this day, I’ve never heard it and no one claims to know where the records are now.

Nits Nats in November 1979 (Daily Dispatch file photo)

I bought three records that day: “I Gotcha” by Joe Tex, “Shambala” by Three Dog Night and “Down By The Lazy River” by The Osmonds. There’s no way to have musical taste stretched to that variety unless you listened to WHNC all day. It was the only place you could hear John Denver and Little Feat played back-to-back.

WHNC, or The Big 89 as they liked to be called (also The Rock of Henderson), was the closest thing Henderson had to a teenage cult. The DJ’s were local legends: Terry Wayne, Dave Foster, Don Morgan, Mike the Moose, the great Larry D. Williams, and of course Bob Harrison with the long and dragged out 5:00 news. If you were in a fender bender, Bob would tell everyone.

I don’t know if it were ever mentioned by anyone, but WHNC and Nits Nats (as well as Henderson Music Co.) complimented each other well. None of them had specialties and the radio station was a dungeon of death for playlists. If you wanted to hear it, they had it. If they didn’t, they’d order it. Nits Nats survived the record store chain boom which produced huge outlets like Record Bar, Sam Goody’s and School Kids. Only the latter ever came to Henderson. Billboard magazine recognized Nits Nats in an article about their ability to thrive as an independent in a very competitive business.

Recently, I saw former Nits Nats owners Phillip and Cheryl Hawkins at Thornton Library. That was a treat worth making the trip for. I probably invested three, maybe four million dollars into their little corner of the Mall and I don’t have a thing to show for it. But I have priceless memories and great friends.

In a great addition to the story, Phillip updated me on my favorite Nits Nats employee, Karen Bullock. Karen, a long time employee, decided she wanted to take a few courses at Louisburg College. LC later sent her to NC State, and State sent her to Columbia University. Today, she’s back in Pack country as a professor and head of the Department of Social Work. It could not have happened to a better person.

What happened to everyone else? Bob Harrison passed away several years ago but is still one of Henderson’s most cherished memories. Larry D Williams, who still reigns as the best DJ I ever heard, is also deceased. Last I heard, Bob Brogren was still doing radio part-time, now in Kentucky.  The Moose, Michael E Smith, is Vice President and General Manager for several stations along the outer banks and still does a morning show on one of them. Terry Wayne (Freitag) is retired and still living in Vance County. Donald Norwood is a member of Oceanfront Band, a great beach music band. His brother Ronald is no longer with us. Dave Foster was in Virginia the last I heard. Mike Lassiter, aka Chadwick the Chipmunk in WHNC’s later years, is a lifelong friend of mine and is a local legend in his own rights. He, too, remains in Vance County.

Nits Nats is still alive and well and they still have plenty of vinyl to flip through. Owner Bill Harris can also get most new albums on vinyl, or any other way you want to buy. They are the last of the great record stores.

*Gill Clopton is the creator and an administrator of the “Remember When (Reminiscing About Henderson, NC)” Facebook page which currently includes 8,000+ members. Clopton says of himself, “I write blogs and preserve pictures of local history, all available on Facebook.”