Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Lois and Billy Grueninger

  • wcu_picturing-5487.jpg
  • This 1943 image of Lois Grueninger and her son William “Billy” taken in front of Rock Apple Station, now Barber Orchards Fruitstand, is part of the Stearns-Grueninger collection. After the death of Billy’s father Walter in 1945, Billy went to live with his aunt Betty Stearns. 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).