In 1969 State Representative R. C. Godwin appointed me to serve as a page in the NC House of Representative. Mr. Godwin was a friend of my father's. When he retired he encouraged my dad to run for his seat. My father won and held that seat for many terms. Upon Dad's reitrement Beverly Perdue served in that seat for a couple of terms before moving on to higher office.
I served as a page for a week and stayed with my father's first cousin, Elsie Barker Houle. Elsie's mother was my grandmother's first cousin and her father was my great uncle Ebbie Basil Barker. Apparently Barker men were attracted to Henderson women. Elsie was a family favorite. She was a classic southern lady with a underlying current of mystique. Sort of a Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter) type.
Upon arrival the Sergeant of Arms and the Clerk of the House gave us our orientation. Our duties included distributing copies of legislation, delivering messages, running errands and delivering proposed bills from the legislators to the Speaker's desk. When the House is in session we were stationed around the chamber to be instantly available to the members.
The General Assembly from time to time decides to designate a plant, animal, activity or concept as the State "whatever". (See Chapter 145 of the General Satatute for a complete list. http//www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Statutes/StatutesTOC.pl?Chapter=0145) We have a State song, flower,dance bird and many other things. My father was instrumental in making the State Reptile the Eastern Box Turtle. He was fond of saying the turtle had to stick his neck out to make progress.
During my tenure as a page the members decided it was time to have a state mammal. I guess the rat was out even though Secretary of State Thad Eure was fond of saying he was the oldest rat in the Democratic Barn. A member stood and introduced legislation to make the gray squirrel the State mammal. That member and several cosigners gave great speeches in favor of the measure. Eloquent speeches of the virtue and beauty of the gray squirrel were given. Their playfullnes and industriousness of storing their food were espoused. It looked as though the legislation would pass unopposed.
The Dean of the House sat in seat six.That seat is on the front row on the center isle. If the House had been a Baptist Church that would have been where the Chairman of the Deacon Board sat. In 1969 I was quite young and that gentleman looked really old. I was sure he had been serving since Reconstruction. While not quite that old, he was born in the nineteenth century. All of the members gave him deference and proper respect. He was a Southern lawyer with great communication skills. He was sort of a Senator Sam Ervin type of character. I am certain they were friends.
He stood, and said "Mr Speaker, I rise to oppose this legislation". A hush fell over the floor and the gentleman commanded everyone's attention. He continued, "If we pass this legislation in time groups may form to protect the gray squirrel and to prohibit the lawful taking of the same by hunters. Should that come to pass the population of the gray squirrel will multiply exponentially. Everyone knows that the gray squirrel eats nuts and that would prove very dangerous to this body". With that he immediately sat and the members of the General Assembly almost fell out of their chairs. That is the only debate from that week that I remember.
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