Well Known North Carolinians And Their Heroes

How do we define our heroes? Webster's Dictionary tells us they are mythological or legendary figures "endowed with great strength, courage or ability." Certainly our militia, our firefighters, our policemen and others who face great danger with dauntless courage fit that definition, and you'll meet at least one of those folks, Daniel Johnson, on the following pages.

Johnson, who lost both legs saving the life of a fellow sailor, says heroes are people who act as "symbols for us to model our lives after." After talking with many North Carolinians for this story, we suspect Johnson's definition is closer to the truth.

Heroes inspire us to be the best that we can be. Many of the North Carolinians you'll meet on the following pages took inspiration from someone who they considered to be the best at what they did.

Heroes need not perform feats of heroic proportions to be admired. They do not have to rush into burning buildings or put themselves in the line of fire. They may be immortalized as heroes simply by listening, or loving, or caring.

When Morley Safer asked Charles Kuralt why he defined the people he met on the back roads as heroes, Kuralt replied, "Because they keep the spirit of the country alive." That is the essence of heroes. By keeping the spirit alive, they embody us with irrepressible verve. In doing so, they perpetuate a new generation of heroes, endowing all of us with strength and courage - and teaching us to tap into abilities that we never knew we had.

Bob Timberlake, artist

My dad instilled his work ethic in me. He worked hard, was the salt of the earth, one of the people who made America what it is. He worked in a furniture store that my grandfather started in 1910. The furniture store had a funeral home in back, and he ran both. He enjoyed the relationships that he had with the families. It wasn't death [to be mourned] but a family gathering, a reunion. He made lemonade out of lemons wherever possible.

Later, he started a gas company. After working all day, he and Jack [an employee] would leave the house with some sort of gas appliance - a water heater or a stove - on the truck. Dad would not come home until he had sold that gas appliance. For the first three years, he averaged selling 365 gas appliances a year. He taught me that the best salesmen in the world were the ones who were in love with what they were selling. I am in love with what I am selling. The whole idea of what I do is to bring a little joy and happiness into people's lives. Dad set the stage for that.

Betty Rae McCain, former secretary of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

"North Carolinians are so wonderful that you can be inspired by all sorts of people.  One may be a lawyer; another, a musician, an artist or a doctor. So it's hard to single out just one. Jim Hunt, who I worked with since 1966, is one. Bill Friday, who I adore, is another. My daddy was the funniest man alive, and my mother was saintly. I miss both of them daily. And I devotedly loved Mrs. J.B. Spilman, now deceased. She was the first North Carolina Employment Security Commission Chairman, worked until she was almost 90 and was someone who persevered in the face of great tragedy, including the loss of her son in World War II. My husband makes the cut - for his long-suffering."

William Friday, University of North Carolina President Emeritus

"My dad had four sons and a daughter, and though he had attended Chapel Hill for only one summer session, he sent all five of us through college, four of us for advanced degrees. He just drilled education into us all the time when we were growing up. One of the most memorable times was when he drove me in an A-Model Ford to Wake Forest. We walked in, and the dean said, 'Son, do want to go to school here?' He took my father's word for [tuition payment]."

Friday's father David L. Friday was chairman of his church's Board of Deacons and Mayor of Dallas, North Carolina. He worked with the Boy Scouts and "did all the things that inspired us to be committed to public service."

"My dad taught us lessons of tenacity, commitment, hard work and family love. So he has to be my hero."

Charlie Daniels, Award-Winning musician, vocalist

"Jesus Christ is my big hero, and along with him Billy Graham and Pat Robertson. Billy Graham has such integrity. He is a man who has stood for what he believes in for so many years and has never wavered. There's never been a doubt about his integrity or honesty. He's just someone you can really look up to."

Daniels, born in Wilmington, says he was raised in a Christian home and that though he strayed, he gradually came back to Christianity. The Charlie Daniels Band frequently has performed at the Billy Graham Crusades. Recalling the first time he met Graham, Daniels says: "I was excited about meeting him. I called him Dr. Graham. He said, 'I'm not much of a doctor.' He was very humble."

Daniel Johnson, naval officer who lost legs saving sailor's life

"I was fortunate when I was growing up that I didn't have to look too far to find heroes. My grandfather [Eugene L. Daniel] was a chaplain during World War II. He landed in Africa with the U.S. forces and was captured during a campaign by the Germans. Though he could have avoided capture, he volunteered to stay behind with troops who were injured and could not retreat with the Americans. He set the example for me.

"I found his stories to be heroic and learned through him that heroes were important. I think of heroes as people who have lived a certain standard that a lot of us look up to. They provide visible symbols for us to model our lives after. I don't know what life would be like without them."

Johnson, a native of Hickory, lost both legs below the knee in 1999 after saving the life of another sailor during an accident aboard the command ship USS Blue Ridge in Korea.

Doris Betts, novelist and Alumni Distinguished Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill

"Apart from my parents, I have to name the Litaker family, which bought the house where we were renting an apartment when I was about 8. They were schoolteachers, the kind of people who took - and kept - piles of National Geographics, who still had their own childhood books stored in the attic waiting for a starved reader like me,  and who allowed  me to learn to play their piano."

Betts also recognizes "a long string of devoted teachers" in the Statesville public schools, "especially Mrs. Josie White who died recently, in her 90s, and was still correcting hospital workers' grammar from her deathbed.  The Rev. Mr. H. Louis Patrick, now of Charlotte, who first made it clear that believers and intellectuals were not in opposition. College writer and teachers, like Peter Taylor, Robie Macauley, Frances Gray Patton at Woman's College in Greensboro, and Jessie Rehder and C. Hugh Holman of UNC-Chapel Hill, newspaper editor Robert Mason of Sanford and Norfolk. So many of these, after emptying themselves of many kindnesses and after setting so high a standard of performance and character, have died, but never their memory, never their influence, never my gratitude."

Earl Scruggs, born in North Carolina, the banjo picker moved to Nashville in 1945.

"My hero was my father, who died when I was 4 years old. I remember him pickin' a little bit, and I missed him a terribly lot after his death. He was a farmer in the Flint Hill community in Cleveland County. Like him, I farmed until I was 16, then went to work in a thread mill in Shelby. Because of my father's early inspiration, I grew up with a banjo and guitar - I was playing before he passed away - but my favorite was always the banjo."

Roy Ackland, host of Roy's Folks

"Charles Kuralt was such an inspiration to me when I was younger. His genuiness is the thing I learned to appreciate most. He was not just reporting; he went beyond the story and showed genuine interest in the individual. In his travels around the country, he would never go out on our differences. He showed us to be all members of the same club - just living in different places."

Fred Chappell, award-winning poet and novelist

"Ron McNair, the astronaut who died aboard the Challenger (1986) and who was one of the few black astronauts. He was courageous and extremely learned. I always wanted to meet him. I think of him as one of the martyrs for science. Astronauts have done so much to further our knowledge of our own world."

Senator Jessie Helms

"My number one hero is Jesus Christ, followed by Thomas Jefferson, Douglas MacArthur, Robert E. Lee, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Jefferson understood the meaning of freedom. To him it was not just a word but a blessing. He realized it can't be achieved or kept easily. MacArthur showed courage when others did not, and Robert E. Lee - well, my wife would kick up a fuss if I didn't include him. If there were no Churchill, I don't know what would have become of World War II. Thatcher was cut out of the same bolt of cloth as Churchill. She was a tough lady who understood that the socialist government, which was the alternative to hers, just wouldn't work."

Hugh Morton, photographer, guardian of Grandfather Mountain

"Charles Kuralt, Charlie Justice and Bill Friday come to mind. All of them were - or are - the best at what they did. Charlie Justice was unquestionably the most exciting football player we ever had in North Carolina. Bill Friday, having served as head of the university system for 30 years, did a lot for higher education in the state. Charles Kuralt was the best ever in his line of work.

"I'm a hero worshipper. If I see someone who is good at what they do - a good plumber, a good carpenter - I have admiration for them. . I never have been the best at anything, but I am inspired by people who are. Just recently I went to the 90th birthday of Luther Thomas, who lives near Burnsville. He can carve the most marvelous black-eyed Susans from one piece of wood. He doesn't use glue or anything else. He carves a narrow stem with flowers branching out of the top."

Jerry Bledsoe, Best-selling author

"Mark Twain, our greatest writer as far as I'm concerned. Wise, funny, true

and good. His work is as fresh today as when it was written, and I never tire

of reading it. In low times, I often pull Twain down from the shelf."

Joe Gallison, actor, now living in Wilmington, who for 17 years played Dr. Neal Curtis on "Days of Our Lives."

"Anton Checkov, the consummate writer who died at age 44. To be a great writer you have to understand the human experience. Checkov understood it more beautifully than any other writer, except for Shakespeare perhaps. It's also true of actors, to the extent to which they understand humanity and themselves and have access to that, they can recognize their own potential as illuminators of the human condition."

John Ehle, novelist

"Paul Green took a special interest in my work and was supportive of all sorts of causes that were important to me when I was in my 30s. He was very helpful and encouraging, a good advisor, and a wonderful person to sit down with and talk over a manuscript or an issue. He was very much against the death penalty. When he was living in New York City, he would invite me to use his guestroom at no charge, but he would always ask for a contribution for somebody on death row. I'd give $100. He thought money to hire the right lawyers could save anybody on death row. Writing was one thing for him, but so were certain liberal causes."

Lee W. Kinard Jr., former TV anchor, reporter, writer and producer.

"Edward R. Murrow is a hero for me. His voice was one of the first radio voices that I adhered to when I was 9 or 10 years old. From my earliest years, radio was a real companion. My mother put me to bed so early that I had to read books from the Concord Public Library or listen to radio. I listened to Murrow on WBT radio out of Charlotte. He became the inspiration for me to get into radio. The drama of, 'Gee, wonder what it would be like to do what he's doing?' "

Linda Lavin, the star of "Alice" from 1976 through 1985 makes her home in Wilmington

"It's not one particular person. There are many, such as the women of the last two decades who have made great positive strides for all women economically, spiritually and politically. No one woman embodies all of that for me. I learn from multitude. My philosophy is that my life hasn't been turned around by just one person but by the inspiration of how one person connects with another and another and how the community formed from those connections informs me."

Marijo Moore, Cherokee author, artist, poet and journalist.

"My paternal Cherokee granddaddy, Cornelius Hansford Moore. I see his faint outline in a ragged gray suit and worn fedora hat as he stands on a street corner in front of my grandmother's tiny shotgun house. Granddaddy stood five-feet-four inches and was slight of stature. 'Paper-sack-brown' was how my family described his coloring. Shiny, crow-black hair and eyes, he called himself a 'full-bloodied Cherokee.'

"When I was growing up in the 50s, it wasn't as acceptable to be American Indian as it is now. I am sure at one time Granddaddy was extremely proud of his Indianness, but because he was constantly put down by others, this changed. Granddaddy preferred to pray down by the  river or in the woods. I think these were the only two places he felt safe and at peace with the  world. Because he did not attend a Christian church, he was ridiculed and,  more often, ignored. I know this hurt him terribly and so he drank to hide his pain. It was during his drunkenness that he would sing in Cherokee and tell me how proud he was that I had his blood. Some people called Granddaddy crazy.  

But his craziness has manifested itself in my spirit as the madness of creativity, and for this, I am grateful. The Cherokee songs he sang to me and the stars are the words that sparkle in my writings and the blood he passed on to me is the blood of survival."

Max Lanier, former Major League pitcher and North Carolina Sports Hall of Famer

"Stan Musial was my hero. He was not only a good hitter but also a friend of mind. A down-to-earth guy." Now living in Florida, Denton-native Lanier says Musial taught him to not let fame go to his head. "Musial would talk to anybody and go all out to help them. He was just an everyday guy who was raised in Pennsylvania where his dad worked in the coal mines."

Pat Hingle, living in Wilmington, Hingle is one of the industry's busiest character actors 

"My father flew the coup when I was six years old, so as a child, I lived off and on with my grandfather who was a [railway] engineer. I would swell with pride when he came puffing up the Saluda Grade. He would wave to me with his red bandana and engineer's cap. Now this was before the airplane, so a steam engineer was a very respected character. The railway ran right by Main Street, with people piling into Saluda from Charleston to get away from heat. I was this skinny kid with short pants and no shirt. The other kids would point at me and say, 'That's his grandfather.' I'd strut around. It was a big deal."

Robert Morgan, novelist

"One of my heroes is Dean A. Ward, principal of Tuxedo Elementary School when I was a student there in the 1950s, and my Sixth Grade teacher. Growing up at a time when there were no rural high schools in Henderson County, Mr. Ward had worked his way through Fruitland Institute, and entered Furman University around 1922. After graduating from Furman he earned a master's degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. I'm sure he was the first person from our community to earn an advanced degree. I have two particular memories of Mr. Ward as a teacher. When I began school in 1951, I was overwhelmed by the bleak prospect of sitting in a desk all day. I made it through the first half day, but the next day, the first full day, I broke down in grief and desolation, knowing I'd be away from home all day. The teacher took me to the principal's office. Instead of scolding me, Mr. Ward sat me on his lap and let me play with the gold Phi Beta Kappa key on his watch chain. He made funny faces until he had me laughing, and he said, 'Robert, you don't want to go home now; we couldn't run this school without you.' I returned to the classroom feeling my importance, and never cried again.

"In the Sixth grade I fell in love with reading, and because the Henderson County Bookmobile had begun to come to Green River Church once each month, I had access to more books than I had ever seen before. I read Jack London and James Oliver Curwood's stories of the Yukon. I read 'Farmer Boy' and 'Oliver Twist.' I liked to read so much I often took the books to school and read them inside my spelling book. If Mr. Ward caught me reading while he lectured, he simply lifted the book out of my hands and laid it on the shelf, without pausing in his presentation. He drilled us in grammar and made us recite the parts of speech. He was a master storyteller and often entertained us with scenes from 'The Odyssey' and one afternoon told us the whole plot of 'Silas Marner.'

"In the spring of 1957 the class took a day trip to The Biltmore House near Asheville. Because I didn't have the three-dollar cost I had to stay at school while the rest of the class left on the excursion. Mr. Ward told me that instead of sitting idle all day I should write a story. Knowing I loved stories of the North he gave me a plot: a man is lost in the Canadian Rockies. How does he find his way back to civilization? I sat with the page in front of me, puzzling about how to begin a story. Finally I decided I would just put down the details about how he survives. I told how he sharpened a stick on a rock to make a spear, and how he rubbed two sticks together to start a fire, and how he caught a fish by threading a worm on a thorn. I got so caught up writing the details that before I knew it the day was over and the other students had returned. That was my first story.

"Mr. Ward taught hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young people in his years at Tuxedo School. Many of us have had better lives, and been better people, because we knew him in those early years."

Roman Gabriel, National Football League's Most Valuable Player in 1969

"My father a Filipino guy who worked as a waiter and cook for Atlantic Coastline Railroad. They retired him at 69, but he went on to work as a short-order cook until age 90. He passed away working. He was probably first and foremost the guy I tried to pattern myself after, because of his work ethic. Dad wasn't a sports person, but he taught me to smile and laugh and enjoy what I was doing, whether I was having a good time or not. I don't remember ever going on the field not to 'play' ball."

Tom Wicker, former New York Times columnist

A native of Hamlet, North Carolina, Wicker, who now resides in Vermont, says the person he has admired most over the years is Dr. Frank Porter Graham. "I admired him for his character, integrity and his courage."

Wilma Dykeman, writer, historian and environmentalist

"I have many heroes. Eleanor Roosevelt, because of her political and personal commitment to justice and compassion for all people. Rachel Carson, because of her book, 'Silent Spring,' which brought the environment to our attention. James Stokely, my late husband, who treated everyone in the same wonderful way - by being a wonderful listener. John Hope Franklin, who overcame all the impediments of racism to make history by writing history. And Mark Twain, because he made us laugh and think at the same time."