Shelby Shopper Shelby NC
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Page 26 - shelby shopper & info - 704/484-1047 www.shelbyinfo.com Thursday, March 28-April 3, 2019 SUDOKU Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column, and each 3 by 3 block contain all of the digits 1 thru 9 using logic. Answers ? ? ? ? ANSWER KEY POISON WORD SEARCH POISON WORD SEARCH ACCIDENT ALCOHOL ASSESSMENT ASSISTANCE BATHROOM BLEACH BURN CAUTION CHEMICAL CLEANSER DEATH EMERGENCY FERTILIZER GARAGE GASOLINE HARMFUL HEALTH HOME INGESTION INJURY MEDICINE PAINT PETS PHARMACEUTICAL PLANTS POISON PREVENTION SAFETY SPRAYS TOOTHPASTE TOUCH UNINTENTIONAL Joe DePriest of Cramerton still putting pen to paper By Alan Hodge alan@cfmedia.info What does a person who spent decade after decade writing news stories do when he or she "offi cially" retires from a paper? Sit at home watching daytime TV? Continually plunge the hands that once hov- ered over a typewriter into a refrigerator digging out snacks? Wander around the park observing squir- rels? No. They fi nd projects to do that allows them to continue using their talent and energy to create even more stories. For sure, that's the case with veteran writer Joe De- Priest, 75, of Cramerton. DePriest got his start in journalism as a senior at Shelby High. He started with the Cleveland Times in May 1962, just before he gradu- ated school in June. "My job was setting lead type for the old printing press," DePriest recalled. "They let me do a little writ- ing on the side." After high school, De- Priest attended Gardner- Webb and went on to grad- uate from UNC School of Journalism in 1967. He then went to work for The Shelby Star. A job that lasted about six months before Uncle Sam came calling. "I got a draft notice," De- Priest said. Joe decided to make the best of his looming selec- tive service and joined the Army for a three year stint as a military journalist. "The war was going on in Vietnam and they told me I would probably just have to serve in Germany if I enlisted," DePriest said. That turned out not to be the case. "I took basic training at Fort Bragg and began writing for the 'Paraglide' there," he said. "Then, I was sent to Vietnam from June 1968-June 1969 as a reporter for the 'MACV Observer' which was a weekly tabloid of news. I was also out in the fi eld traveling on operations with troops such as the 4th Infantry. I saw a little bit of the country. It was an interesting time." Returning from Vietnam, DePriest fi nished his mili- tary stint with the 197th Inf. Brig. at Fort Benning, Georgia where he worked in the public information offi ce. The year 1970 rolled around and DePriest was back at The Star, a post he fi lled for 20 years cov- ering every inch of Cleve- land County. After that, he heard the Charlotte Observer was expanding its regional scope with the Gaston Observer edition and he hopped on board turning out great stories there for many years until, on February 1, 2015, De- Priest decided to retire. Since his retirement, DePriest has done some freelance writing, most notably for Our State Magazine. However, in the spring of 2017 he got the chance to begin work on a large scale project- a book about the Banker's House in Shelby and the folks who not only lived there, but of high class society in that town during the Gilded Age when cotton and tex- tiles ruled the economic roost in Cleveland County. For those who don't know, the Banker's House dates back to the1870s and is located at 319 N. Lafayette St. It is a huge and ornate mansion done in Second Empire style, painted bright yellow and topped with a lookout tower. It was built by Jesse and Hattie Jenkins. "I was contacted by a for- mer resident of the house, Catherine Blanton Freed- berg, about writing a book telling the story not only of the house, but the people connected with it," De- Priest said. "I was thrilled to get the chance." DePriest got busy and spent countless hours re- searching his topic. Freed- This photo shows DePriest when he was a U.S. Army news reporter serving in Vietnam 1968-1969. Photo courtesy Joe DePriest berg supplied DePriest with a plastic tub full of family information. "I went through old news- papers, deeds,and public records," DePriest said. "I even resorted to informed speculation." What came out of a labor of love in October 2018 was a 136 page book fea- turing over 60 photos of the house as well as folks who had a connection to it at some point. The cover photo showing the mag- nifi cence of the Banker's House is by Thomas Scott Glover. Photos in the book's body are by Hal Bryant. The offi cial title is "The Banker's House: Voic- es in Time". Even though the Bank- er's House is in Shelby, its story is in many ways representative of the cycle of extreme wealth that tex- tile and agriculture barons once had in our area, and how even folks who seem to have it made can fall on hard times. It's a timeless tale. "It's not just about a pretty house," DePriest said. "It's about people." The Banker's House is available for tours or spe- cial events. The book is available at thebankershouse.org and at the Cleveland Memorial Library. Now that DePriest has The Banker's House under his belt, what's next? "I have some projects I'm considering," he said. "One is a book about Sunset Cemetery where I used to give tours." Seasoned news journalist Joe DePriest of Cramerton has been busy since his "retirement" from the Charlotte Observer in 2014. DePriest holds a copy of his latest writing project "Voices in Time". Photos by Alan Hodge "Voices in Time" cover. Carolina Carolina CLASSIFIEDS .com Your Link to Local Classifi eds! 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