Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Commodore and Anna Casada

  • wcu_picturing-5505.jpg
  • This 1941 image of Commodore Andrew Casada (1909-2011), employee of Carolina Wood Turning Company from 1920 to 1975, and his wife Anna Lou Moore Casada (1913-2000), librarian at the Marianna Black Library, is part of the Stearns-Grueninger collection. Irving Kip Stearns (1895-1942) was president of Carolina Wood Turning Company from 1928 until his death in 1942. Stearns’ grandfather, Jeremiah Shank, started the company in 1903 as Bryson City Pump Works and it grew to be a thriving industry for the community. In 1911, Stearns was in the first graduating class of Bryson City High School. He had one son, Joseph Pease Stearns (1917-1948). In 1935, I. K. married Betty Grueninger (1896-1971).