It
is special to arrive at this point, when we can look back at the chain
of events that brought us to today: enjoying the wonder of
the Page-Walker and the enrichment it has given to so many as an arts
and history center. When we spoke of the Friends’ journey at a recent
Board meeting, Regina McLaurin, who has been involved in the
preservation effort since our formation, remarked, “We were just
children.” She is right. Most of us were still in our twenties when the
seeds of the Friends and the hotel’s preservation were sown.
The effort to restore
the hotel began as a result of a conversation that my husband, Jerod,
and I had with Rachel Eaton Dunham at her home on Kildaire Farm Road,
now Glenaire. In contrast, Jerod and I, like most Cary residents, are
not native to the state. We chose to live in North Carolina because of
its location and university system. In 1971, we crossed the North
Carolina border listening to the sounds of James Taylor singing,
“Carolina in My Mind.” A good omen!
Searching
for teaching jobs, we discovered Cary on a trip from Chapel Hill to
Raleigh. Amazingly, Jerod had flown in the Air Force in Vietnam with an
officer who had mentioned that he was from this small town in North
Carolina called Cary. The population was about 8,000, and Cary citizens
were gracious. Curtis Westbrook, a local realtor, helped us find a home
on Shirley Drive, and we became neighbors of the Dunhams.
During
one of our conversations in 1974, Mrs. Dunham mentioned that there were
boxes of papers and photographs relating to the earliest beginnings of
education in Cary that were stored in the basement of Cary Elementary
School. Accompanied by other concerned residents, we asked the Wake
County Board of Education if we could preserve the papers. We were told
that only a bona fide organization would be allowed to do so. In
response, we formed the Cary Historical Society, Inc., categorized the
papers and preserved them in acid-free materials and fireproof boxes. We
then created committees to address other preservation needs. One of
those committees was the Historic Sites Committee, and it laid the
foundation for the effort to save the Walker Hotel.
| |
Full History in 9 Installments - Making connections
- A seed begins to germinate
- A seed begins to sprout
- We're on our way
- Beyond the bake sale
- Our mortar is in order
- The groundbreaking
- All aboard, full steam ahead!
- Warm memories, new dreams
Although
many individuals were involved in the formation of the Friends, these
articles are dedicated to the first official Board of Directors (1986):
Jim Allen, Mark Berube, Ann Burns, Barbara Brown, Dave Fischetti, Helen
Haft Goldstein, Dave Grant, Sharon Hendricks, Myrick Howard, Irene
Kittinger, Anne Kratzer, Sheila Lattner, Chuck Montgomery, Dick Paton,
Harold Ritter, Judy Rysdon, Pati Schetzina, Becky Yates and Joe Zaytoun.
|