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SNAP Back In Time takes a look back at newsmakers from yesteryear. 

Tuesday, May 26, 1981

Miss Stanly

Nine women would compete for the title of 1981 Miss Stanly County. Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the pageant was the opening event for MAYFEST and a preliminary to the Miss North Carolina and Miss America pageants.

The contestants were Myra Ann Almond, 19, Richfield; Lydia “Gayle” Bolton, 22, Norwood; Frankie Gale Coley, 20, Albemarle; Patty Jolene Furr, 19, Oakboro; Joy Denise Huneycutt, 20, Albemarle; Dorothy C. Ingram, 21, Albemarle; Kelly Leigh Kepley, 19, Albemarle; Patricia Ann Love, 20, Albemarle; and Lisa Renee Sasser, 18, Albemarle.

Hospital

“The potential benefits to the community of this new hospital are great,” Billy G. McCall, deputy executive director and secretary of The Duke Endowment, said Sunday afternoon in the main address of the dedication ceremonies for the new $11.5 million Stanly Memorial Hospital.

“I encourage the leadership to continue to respond to the changing needs of the community, to look for ways to improve both the kinds of services available and the quality of those services, to reach out whenever and wherever possible to make health care more accessible to all,” he continued. “The great thing about this voluntary, not-for-profit system of ours is that we the people have an opportunity to make it better, more responsive, more caring.”

Review

William T. Huckabee III, the civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army for North Carolina, and a group of local citizens attended the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1981 Review Friday at Fort Bragg.

They were special guests of Lt. Gen. Thomas H. Tackaberry, commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps and of the Fort Bragg installation.

In the group were G.A. “Jake” Rudisill, L.C. Caudle, C.Y. “Chuck” Morehead, E.M. “Bear” Knotts and John A. Andrew.

Huckabee was among those in the official reviewing stand, sitting with Tackaberry, Sen. Alan Cranston, the guest of honor, and numbers of other military and civilian dignitaries.

Woody Durham

Woody Durham, noted Tar Heel sportscaster and former Albemarle resident, would deliver the main address at the Albemarle Senior High School All-Sports Banquet at Harward’s Steak and Fish House near New London. Durham was selected as the top sportscaster for North Carolina in 1980.