My great Aunt Elsie Deaton was a librarian at the R.Y. McAden Memorial Library for thirty-five years.
The library is now on the National Register of Historic Places. She was the sister of my grandfather, Max Deaton. They were raised in McAdenville, North Carolina, which is now known as Christmas Town, USA. They once lived in a rented room of the Rufus Y. McAden House, which was built early in the 1880s.
Some believe that Alexander Adam Springs built it before then. Legend has it that Adam Springs was Abraham Lincoln’s true biological father. Adam Springs graduated with honors in the first graduating class of the University of North Carolina. He was a businessman and plantation owner. At his request, he was buried standing with a musket in his hand, facing the South Fork River. His ghost can be seen swinging a lantern near the woods and river.
My great aunt Elsie had a few stories of ghosts in their RY McAden home. Elsie was instrumental in developing the McAdenville recreational activities in the 1940s. It was the oldest library in Gaston County. She held a book club for children from third through eighth grade. In the 1880s, McAdenville Mills became the first community in North Carolina with electric lights. Thomas Edison visited the mills to install an electric generator.
I found a letter that made me chuckle, written by my grandfather to his cousin Bruce. Reading it, I can see his relationship with his family and personality. He instructed Bruce to contact his sister and father with specific requests to help him leave the Air Force. He thought he might return and run a gas station like his father. However, he ran Max Deaton Auto’s for 45 years.
After I got my hair done one day, I knew I was near our Gaston County African American Museum of History and Culture and thought I would stop by. It was my lucky Day.
None other than the founder, Dot Guthrie, greeted me and offered to show me around! What an honor.
She told me she was from Clover, SC. She and her husband, Bobby, were determined to showcase Black History and are the museum’s founders. She was on the Board of Education and has been a veteran educator for over 40 years, a school librarian, and a central office administrator.
She is also an author of Integrating African American Literature in the Library and Classroom.
It was published on my birthday, September 14, 2011. All these titles and hard work from Guthrie and so many before and after her, and yet, as we know, African American Literature hasn’t been integrated into our classrooms.
In 2024, after 12 years on the school board, Guthrie decided not to run for re-election. She wanted to focus more on her role at the African American Museum and continue a partnership with the school district.
Her current work is A.S.P.I.R.E. Yet another tie-in to my family and serendipitous moment. I also have my grandfather’s Shepherd Jewelry Clock, which was in his store in Belmont. It is hanging in my office and was found in Clover, SC, which is known as the city with love in the middle.
Not long ago, I shared a story about my great uncle John, a librarian who passed during National Library Week. This year’s slogan was “Drawn to the Library.”
In NY, they have a Library Way that leads to their Library. Librarians are the gateway to the world’s knowledge and truth.
Let There Be Light.
And restoration. I said earlier that people don’t understand how the enemy works. Well, God is Restoring.
His word tells us he will return what the enemy stole from your grandparents and ancestors. God knows what you personally and your family have planted and your genuine intention.
Let Love and Light shine bright.
