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Congresswomen From Connecticutt Has Ties To Cooleemee

Davie County Enterprise Record

COOLEEMEE - The South’s roots run far and wide.

So do Cooleemee’s.

Plans for a multi-state southern textile heritage corridor got some support from up North last week, as U.S. Rep. Nancy L. Johnson of Connecticutt vowed to support the legislation when it is introduced in a few years.

Johnson visited the textile heritage museum here, but it wasn’t her first visit. Her grandfather, the late J.E. Smith, ran the company store in Cooleemee. Her family donated a wood cook stove that once was used at their house, and then was moved to a home in Michigan. It was sent back to Cooleemee to be used in the family life museum the Cooleemee Historical Association hopes to open later this year.

“I think what you’re doing here is wonderful,” Smith told a handful of people who had gathered at the museum. It is tremendously important to future generations and to those who have gone.”

It is also important, Johnson, that people in Washington never lose track of what is happening across the country. She praised fellow representative, Virginia Foxx, for routinely visiting her district and finding out what people are thinking.

“Only by being there and visiting can you see what are the systems that serve us ... and how are those systems changing,” Johnson said.

“I’m glad the community spirit is still here. I’m very glad to hear about your textile heritage and I pledge my support when the time comes.”

Foxx said she knew when she first heard Johnson speak, that she was someone she wanted to get to know, because people paid attention to what she said. Foxx was even more surprised when Johnson was already familiar with North Carolina - and Cooleemee.

In addition to Johnson, Foxx said that a senator from Georgia has a secretary who is a native of Cooleemee.

PHOTO CAPTION:
Congresswomen Virginia Foxx and Nancy Johnson and others walk from the Textile Heritage Museum in Cooleemee to a living history home that is being developed. - Photo by Robin Snow

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