Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Queve Woody and Joe Ghost on Noland Creek

  • wcu_picturing-5497.jpg
  • This 1941 image of Robert Queve Woody, Sr. (1893-1963) fishing on Noland Creek with Joe Ghost is part of the Stearns-Grueninger collection. Woody was Carolina Wood Turning Company plant superintendent for several years and lost part of his left arm in a plant accident. 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).