Salisbury native Phil Kirk reaching out to Triangle residents with Rowan connections
Published 12:26 am Thursday, September 14, 2017
Know anyone with Rowan-Salisbury connections who is now living in the Triangle — Raleigh, Durham or Chapel Hill?
If so, Salisbury native Phil Kirk would like to hear from you.
Three years ago, Kirk, a former teacher at Knox Middle and Salisbury High schools, began having breakfast on a periodic basis with former students who now live in the Triangle. That grew from four or five to a regular monthly breakfast with 10 to 12 participants.
Among the earliest members of the group were Tony Withers, Justus Everett, Jon Rufty, Bayard Alcorn, K.C. Ramsay, and George Ramsay.
Others now involved include Susan Green Coulter, Sally Lomax Turner, Dick Wright, Ken Eagle, Linda Johnson Folger, Bill Kluttz and Cary native Steve Zaytoun.
From his experience as president of the North Carolina Society of Washington in 1984, Kirk has been exploring the idea of creating a similar group in the Triangle. For the past year, he has been working on a list of prospective members He has identified 103 Triangle residents with Rowan-Salisbury connections, but not all have been located.
“We are sure that there are many more whom we don’t know are living in this area,” Kirk said.
Anyone who has names and contact information can send it to Kirk at 3017 Old Orchard Road, Raleigh, NC 27607.
An interest survey will be sent out to make sure there is support for such a social group.
“No projects and not a lot of meetings or events,” Kirk promised. “We will do what the members want.”
A train trip from Raleigh to Salisbury for the day may be a possibility, he said.
