General Notes

OBJE: C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\Genealogy pic\granddaddy WCH.jpg
The following was a newspaper article from The Rocky Mount
, N.C. Telegram, Sunday December 13, 1959.:
During a public ceremony last Wednesday, the head of the N
C Medical Care Commission handed Walter Clark Hargrove a li
cense to operate Edgecombe General Hospital.
The document, giving official permission to open the firs
t county-owned hospital in Edgecombe's history, was a miles
tone for Hargrove and the people of the county.
As chairman of the Board of Commissioner for 23 years, he h
as had a strong role in shaping the county's future.  As he
ad of government, he has, in turn, seen advancements and se
tbacks.  He regards the new hospital as a definite advancem
ent.
Soon, the new medical center will be regarded as just anoth
er working part that makes Edgecombe a functioning unit.  H
argrove and the commissioners will be busy with other probl
ems which in their time and place, will be just as necessar
y as the hospital.
With the voters' permission and they have never turned hi
m down, Walter Hargrove will serve five more years.  Befor
e he steps down he wants to see a new headquarter for the c
ounty.
First it was a county nursing home, then a hospital and no
w a courthouse.
Walter Hargrove has spent all of his 68 years in Edgecome C
ounty.  He has held public office of one kind or another fo
r 26 years.  He has seen the county break its shell of aris
tocracy, at least to a degree, and emerge as a working unit.
Though he owns and sees to the farming of 1500 acres, the c
hairman feels the need for diversification.  There is no an
swer to the farmer's dilemma, he says, as long as there ar
e too many farmers producing more and more each year.
He was born at a crossroads called Logsboro in the north o
f the county.  He attended Wilkinson Academy, that once sto
od on Tarboro's Common.  He also studied at Massey Busines
s College in Richmond, Va.  He worked first for the Pinetop
s Bank for a year and a half.  He spent seven years as an E
astern Carolina Railroad conductor, and another stretch a
s a yardmaster for the Atlantic Coast Line.
In 1916, he married Helen Edwards, of Spring Hope.  She gav
e him two children, Walter Jr. and a daughter who is now Mr
s. Herbert Bailey (Sally Gray Hargrove), before her death i
n 1942.
In 1919, he began a small mercantile house in Tarboro.  Dur
ing WW II, he opened a hardware store here, but both busine
sses have been discontinued.
Editorial from The Rocky Mount, N.C. Telegram, Tues, July 2
6, 1960:
Leadership is Eternal
Last week,  Edgecombe citizens closed a chapter in their hi
story that began in the depths of The Great Depression an
d ended in the throes of the county's rebirth.
Taken from the scene was a leader who held the reins of cou
nty government 24 years.  But as the county mourned the los
s of Walter Clark Hargrove, it found new leadership to guid
e it into what could be an era of unprecedented progress
.  That is as it should be, for leadership is, and must b
e an eternal quality that flows from man to man.
Since he was elected to the Board of Commissioners and pick
ed as its chairman in 1932, Walter Hargrove had become a fi
xture wherever important decisions were made.  An intellige
nt, patient man, he was beloved for his ability to mix a wo
rking knowledge of human nature with keen administrative in
sight.  A numbness spread over the county when he was stric
ken suddenly at 68.
It was Walter Hargrove who did things in the county.  Whe
n he was serving as Tarboro's mayor, 1928-31, he pushed a p
rogram to continue municipal production of electricity.  H
e converted the town's plant from coal to diesel engines an
d the plant showed a $60,000 profit  at the end of a year
.  As a commissioner, he immediately launched a drive to pr
ovide a new nursing home for the aged.  In 1935, the new fa
cility was a reality.
His third dream for the people of Edgecombe