Remember Soupy Sales? What about Charlie Briggs?
Both were television stars, before streaming became a preferred way of watching shows certainly before binge watching was a “thing.”
But both men share something else in common: They are both from the area known as “Old Granville County” and were the topic of Thursday’s TownTalk segment of the same name.
Sales, a comedian and variety show performer, hailed from Franklinton and Briggs was from right here in Henderson. His may not be a household name, but viewers of the old TV shows like Bonanza, Maverick and The Sons of Will Sonnet will no doubt recognize his face, said Mark Pace, local historian and North Carolina Room Specialist at the Thornton Library in Oxford.
The local area has produced its share of entertainers over the years – Gerald Alston of the Manhattans, country music songwriter Danny Flowers and Ben E. King, just to name a few.
But there are plenty of noteworthy individuals who achieved stardom of a sort in other endeavors as well, leaving their marks in the area of religion, the military and other segments of society.
Take Henry Haywood Bell, for example. Bell was from Franklin County, and was an admiral in the Union Navy during the Civil War. He was from the South, but when it came time to choose sides, he said he had made an oath to serve the United States, so his allegiance was with the North.
Then there’s Charity Adams Early, who was born in Kittrell. Early was the first African American female Army officer, who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. Early died in 2002.
Kirkland H. Donald, from Norlina, still serves as a consultant to the U.S. Navy, Pace said. Donald, a Navy admiral, became commander of all the nuclear submarines in the Navy.
Col. Redding F. Perry from Henderson was career military, and served as chief of staff for Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army, Pace said. Perry, who was the uncle of longtime local attorney Bennett Perry, also established the National Guard in the state.
The Wyche family produced numerous members who made significant contributions as well.
Brigadier General Ira Wyche commanded the 79th infantry division during the Normandy invasion of World War II
Mary Lewis Wyche is credited with bringing the first nursing school to the state. Known as the “Florence Nightingale” of North Carolina, Wyche also was the first trained nurse in North Carolina. She has a historical marker at Highway 39 and Glebe Road in Vance County, near the home where she grew up.
Alice Morgan Person, from Kittrell, contributed to people’s health in a slightly different way, Pace said.
“She was famous for her ‘remedy,’” he said. He’s not sure of all its ingredients, but he knows of one: “I know it contained alcohol.”
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