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Local figure

Dwight Ray

Dwight Ray was a Carrboro merchant and local officeholder. In April 1922 he and Seaton Lloyd opened the Lloyd-Ray hardware and furniture store on Main Street, which for 37 years was a place where Carrboro talked over town and county politics. He served on the Carrboro Board of Commissioners from 1949 to 1954 and on the Orange County Board of Commissioners from 1954 to 1958.

Source: The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 26, 1959

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Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 32 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Merchant Dwight Ray builds a bungalow on Hillsborough Road Ray, co-owner of Lloyd-Ray Hardware and later an Orange County commissioner, had the one-and-a-half-story house built at 218 Hillsborough Road. Bungalows lined the road through the 1920s and early 1930s, among them one next door built for businessman Miles Andrews. People: Dwight Ray Place: Dwight Ray House, 218 Hillsborough Road, Carrboro · Also named: Miles AndrewsSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 31
  2. Dwight Ray and Seaton Lloyd open the Lloyd-Ray hardware store in Carrboro Dwight Ray and Seaton Lloyd, both from families of the White Cross and Carrboro communities, opened their hardware and furniture store in April 1922. Over the next 37 years it became the place where Carrboro talked over town and county politics. People: Dwight Ray Place: Main Street, Carrboro · Also named: Seaton LloydSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 26, 1959, p. 11 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 1, 1923, p. 5
  3. Orange County registers 1,889 men aged 45 to 65 for selective service In the draft registration of men between 45 and 65, 1,889 men registered in Orange County, 530 of them in Chapel Hill, where George Lawrence and L. J. Phipps ran the registration, and Dwight Ray conducted it at the Carrboro school. People: Luther James Phipps, Dwight Ray Place: Town Hall and elementary school, Chapel Hill; Carrboro school · Also named: George Lawrence · Also mentions: Carrboro schoolThe Chapel Hill Weekly, May 1, 1942, p. 1
  4. Dwight Ray of Carrboro joins the Chapel Hill ration board Dwight Ray of Carrboro, the county draft board's registrar there and a Carrboro school board member, was appointed to the War Price and Ration Board in place of Winslow E. Williams of Carrboro, who had resigned. He was nominated by Civilian Defense coordinator Guy B. Phillips, Clerk of Court Edwin Lynch, county commissioners' chairman Collier Cobb, Jr., and board chairman M. W. Durham. People: Dwight Ray, Collier Cobb Jr., Edwin M. Lynch, Moody W. Durham Place: Town Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: Winslow E. Williams, Collier Cobb, Edwin Lynch, Guy B. Phillips · Also mentions: Carrboro schoolThe Chapel Hill Weekly, January 22, 1943, p. 1
  5. Carrboro re-elects I. A. West mayor Carrboro's town election returned I. A. West as mayor and chose D. M. Ray, P. L. Senter, Roy Riggsbee and Mac Poole as aldermen. People: Dwight Ray, Roy Riggsbee Place: Carrboro · Also named: I. A. West, P. L. Senter, Mac PooleSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 8, 1947, p. 3
  6. Carrboro voters elect I. F. Hardee mayor over Mayor I. A. West In a light turnout of 211 votes, I. F. Hardee won Carrboro's three-way race for mayor with 81 votes to 68 for L. B. Collins and 64 for Mayor I. A. West. The four sitting aldermen, D. M. Ray, Roy Riggsbee, P. L. Senter and A. B. Poole, kept their seats against three challengers. People: Dwight Ray, Roy Riggsbee Place: Carrboro · Also named: I. F. Hardee, I. A. West, L. B. Collins, P. L. Senter, A. B. PooleSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 5, 1949, p. 1
  7. Carrboro school committeemen oppose putting Carrboro and White Cross in the Chapel Hill school tax district Dwight Ray of the district committee and E. T. Hearn and Raymond Andrews of the Carrboro school committee told the county board of education that Carrboro preferred to stay in the county school unit and opposed a proposal, raised in September by Chapel Hill school board member Carl Smith, to enlarge the special Chapel Hill school tax district to take in Carrboro and White Cross. The county board said it was not sponsoring the idea. People: Dwight Ray, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Carrboro; White Cross · Also named: E. T. Hearn, Raymond Andrews · Also mentions: Carrboro school, Chapel Hill school board, Chapel Hill schoolSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 14, 1950, p. 1
  8. J. Sullivan Gibson unseats Mayor I. F. Hardee in Carrboro UNC geography professor J. Sullivan Gibson, in his first race for office, beat Mayor I. F. Hardee, who was finishing his first term. Roy Lloyd and Sidney Barker ousted commissioners P. L. Senter and A. B. Poole, while Dwight M. Ray and Roy Riggsbee were reelected. People: Dwight Ray, Roy Riggsbee Place: Carrboro · Also named: J. Sullivan Gibson, I. F. Hardee, Roy Lloyd, Sidney Barker, A. B. Poole, P. L. SenterSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 10, 1951, p. 1
  9. The school board sets the boundary between the Carrboro and White Cross school areas The county Board of Education approved a line between the Carrboro and White Cross school areas, following the voting precinct line, after Carrboro's committee accepted the line White Cross had proposed. A Carrboro delegation also pressed the board to hurry a new building and to improve the old school's grounds. People: Dwight Ray Place: Carrboro and White Cross schoolsSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 4, 1954, p. 1
  10. Orange Democrats nominate four men for the newly enlarged five-member Board of Commissioners In the Democratic primary, the first election for a five-member county board, Edwin S. Lanier, Henry S. Walker, R. J. M. Hobbs and Sim L. Efland won majorities among twelve candidates, with Dwight M. Ray narrowly ahead of H. Broadwell for the fifth place. In the sheriff's race to succeed the retiring Sam T. Latta Jr., Odell H. Clayton led with 2,434 votes but fell short of a majority, and Frank C. Maddry, voting from a hospital bed, called a runoff. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Sim Efland, Dwight Ray, Odell H. Clayton Place: Orange County · Also named: Henry S. Walker, Frank C. Maddry, Sam T. Latta Jr., H. BroadwellSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 3, 1954, p. 1
  11. Dwight Ray becomes the Democratic nominee for county commissioner when Broadwell declines a runoff Trailing Carrboro hardware merchant Dwight M. Ray by 37 votes after the May 29 primary, Broadwell, a former town commissioner and Cone Mills official, declined to call a second primary, leaving Ray the Democratic nominee for a two-year seat on the new five-member board of commissioners. The News called him the first Carrboro Democrat to hold a county office, since the nomination was as good as election. Place: CarrboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 10, 1954, p. 1
  12. Orange County voters elect an enlarged five-member board of commissioners Under a local act of the last General Assembly enlarging the board from three members to five with staggered terms, voters gave four-year terms to the top three, Dwight M. Ray (3,100 votes), Edwin S. Lanier (3,098) and Henry S. Walker (3,090), and two-year terms to incumbents R. J. M. Hobbs and Sim L. Efland. Democrats won every county race in a light vote, Odell H. Clayton for sheriff and Betty June Hayes for register of deeds among them, and the county voted against the amendment limiting each county to one state senator. People: Dwight Ray, Edwin Sidney Lanier, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Sim Efland, Odell H. Clayton Place: Polling places countywide; canvass at the courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Henry S. Walker, Betty June HayesSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 11, 1954, p. 1
Show all 32 dated events
  1. The county's new five-member board of commissioners takes office and elects R. J. M. Hobbs chairman The first five-member board took office, elected R. J. M. Hobbs chairman by secret ballot, reappointed the county's appointive officers, hired Chapel Hill attorney Emory B. Denny Jr. to collect taxes more than five years overdue, and told court officials that the $7,000 to $8,000 owed to the county court in unpaid fines and costs was very disturbing. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Edwin Sidney Lanier, Dwight Ray, Sim Efland Place: Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Emory B. Denny Jr.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 9, 1954, p. 1
  2. The county commissioners refuse to call a referendum on ABC liquor stores The Orange County commissioners unanimously denied the Chapel Hill PTA's request for a countywide vote on ABC stores, on a motion by Edwin S. Lanier seconded by Dwight Ray and Henry Walker. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Ministers Association, in a statement signed by sixteen members, and several churches had written in opposition. Supporters were left with a petition of 15 per cent of the voters as the only way to force an election. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Dwight Ray Place: Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Henry WalkerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 10, 1955, p. 1
  3. County commissioners inspect the Chapel Hill schools, including the site for a Lincoln High addition The county commissioners toured the schools of the Chapel Hill district to see their condition before acting on the Chapel Hill school board's budget requests. At Lincoln High School they looked over the site of a proposed addition with principal C. A. McDougle. The board had made a similar tour of the county schools some weeks earlier. People: Charles A. McDougle, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Edwin Sidney Lanier, Sim Efland, Dwight Ray Place: Lincoln High School and other Chapel Hill schools, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill school, Lincoln High SchoolThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 19, 1955, p. 3
  4. County commissioners hold the 62-cent tax rate and find money for the Lincoln gymtorium The commissioners tentatively approved a 1955-56 budget of $869,720.50 at an unchanged 62-cent rate, denied all salary raises until a job classification system was adopted, set the Chapel Hill district supplement at 15 cents, and voted $34,000 in bonds, issued without a public vote and split evenly between the county and Chapel Hill school units. The Chapel Hill share brought the long-delayed gymtorium addition at Lincoln within reach of a call for bids, with commissioner Edwin S. Lanier, who days earlier had fought it, leading the fight for Chapel Hill's request. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Dwight Ray, Sim Efland, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Chapel Hill schoolThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 7, 1955, p. 1
  5. Carrboro parents fill the school auditorium to debate joining the Chapel Hill school district A special meeting called by the Carrboro PTA drew parents from the Carrboro and White Cross districts for a long debate on merging the Carrboro school district with the Chapel Hill administrative unit. Speakers split over whether merger or staying with the county would bring Carrboro its long-awaited new school building sooner; County Commissioner Dwight Ray said the county had already bought 14 acres for a school site. People: Dwight Ray Place: Carrboro School auditorium, CarrboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 3, 1955, p. 1
  6. County commissioners call a March 1956 vote on $2 million in school bonds After the county and Chapel Hill school boards laid out building needs they had never agreed to put into a joint request, the commissioners voted unanimously to let the people decide on March 20, 1956 whether to issue $2 million in school bonds. The money was to be split by tax valuation: $860,730 for the county schools outside Carrboro, $311,202 for Carrboro and $828,068 for the Chapel Hill unit. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Dwight Ray, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs Place: Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Chapel Hill schoolSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 10, 1955, p. 1
  7. Commissioners urge passage of the school bonds as two objectors cite the segregation ruling At a hearing on the $2,000,000 school bond order, the county commissioners passed the order and a resolution urging voters to approve the bonds. Two Hillsboro men objected, citing the unsettled situation caused by the Supreme Court's school decision and the empty St. Mary's school; bond co-chairman Remus J. Smith Sr. answered that the county would need the classrooms even if segregation ended. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Dwight Ray, Remus J. Smith Sr. Place: Courthouse, HillsboroThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 23, 1956, p. 1
  8. The Hillsboro Exchange Club formally opens its community park Mayor Ben Johnston, club president Clarence Mangum and Commissioner Dwight Ray cut the ribbons on the park south of town and dedicated it to the youth and recreation of the town and county. Its first unit, a miniature golf course paid for with notes the members endorsed, had opened for play on May 3; the club's plans for the 7.5-acre site included a swimming pool. People: Dwight Ray Place: Exchange Club park, old Chapel Hill road, Hillsborough · Also named: Ben Johnston, Clarence Mangum, Frank RaySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 17, 1956, p. 1
  9. Chapel Hill freeholders petition for a recreation district vote Attorney William S. Stewart, for the Chapel Hill Jaycees recreation committee, handed the county commissioners petitions signed by about 1,150 freeholders asking for a referendum on a tax-supported recreation district in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area under the 1955 enabling act. A majority vote would let the county levy up to 10 cents per $100 for a public recreation program run by an appointed commission and issue bonds for facilities. People: Dwight Ray, Charles S. Hubbard Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: William S. StewartSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 6, 1956, p. 1
  10. A hearing on the Chapel Hill recreation district turns to Carrboro's school tax and integration About 60 people attended the county commissioners' hearing in the Chapel Hill Town Hall on the proposed recreation district, where the Rev. Charles Hubbard led the supporters and Carrboro residents asked to be left out lest the recreation tax defeat their planned school tax. Grady Pritchard opposed the plan, citing the school integration trouble at Clinton, Tennessee, while Black PTA leader Lattice Vickers said integration should weigh heavily and asked what Black residents would get; backers proposed improving the Negro Community Center and building a new white recreation center. People: Dwight Ray, Charles S. Hubbard Place: Town Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: Charles Hubbard, Lattice Vickers, Grady Pritchard · Also mentions: Negro Community CenterSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 10, 1957, p. 6
  11. Commissioners call an April 2 recreation vote in a reduced Chapel Hill district The four commissioners present agreed unanimously to drop Carrboro and the outlying rural areas from the proposed recreation district and set the referendum for April 2, 1957, on a tax of up to 10 cents per $100 for a public recreation program and $250,000 in bonds for parks, playgrounds and recreation centers. Gran Childress, first chairman of the Jaycees recreation committee, had proposed the reduction in a letter to acting chairman Dwight Ray. People: Dwight Ray Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Gran ChildressSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 7, 1957, p. 1
  12. County commissioners endorse a bill to ban Sunday racing in Orange County After a plea from the North Orange Ministerial Association, the four commissioners present voted unanimously to approve Senator Edwin S. Lanier's bill against Sunday auto racing, asking only that it wait until June 1 so the track owners could recoup some of their investment. The Rev. C. H. Reckard spoke for the ministers and jalopy track owner Dace Ward for the racing side. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Dwight Ray, C. H. Reckard Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Dace WardThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 4, 1957, p. 1
  13. County commissioners reverse themselves and back limited Sunday racing At a special meeting called without public notice, commissioners Henry Walker, Donald Stanford and Claude Pope voted to rescind their endorsement of the Sunday racing ban and to ask instead that each track be allowed to race no more than four times a year; acting chairman Dwight Ray voted no. Representative John W. Umstead declined to offer their amendment, and the ban passed the following week. People: Dwight Ray Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Henry Walker, Donald Stanford, Claude Pope, John W. UmsteadThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 2, 1957, p. 1
  14. The state hands the county a priority list for paving 79 secondary roads Division Engineer Tom Burton gave the county commissioners a ranked list of the 79 unpaved Orange County secondary roads carrying 50 or more vehicles a day, with an estimated paving cost of $2,536,343, the first step of the state's new secondary road plan. North Columbia Street Extension and Mitchell Lane and Nunn Street in Chapel Hill topped the list; Commissioner Dwight M. Ray objected that three Carrboro-area roads had been struck from it. People: Dwight Ray Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Tom Burton · Also mentions: Mitchell LaneSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 9, 1958, p. 1
  15. County commissioners call the May 20 Carrboro-White Cross school merger election On their third try at a legal description of the area, the commissioners adopted the resolution calling a May 20 election on enlarging the Chapel Hill city school unit to take in the Carrboro and White Cross school districts at the Chapel Hill school tax rate. They ordered a new registration of voters and set polling places in Carrboro and White Cross. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Dwight Ray Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Chapel Hill school, White Cross schoolThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 10, 1958, p. 1
  16. Commissioners adopt a $1,144,118 budget and raise the county tax rate to 82 cents Meeting in special session, the commissioners gave final approval to a $1,144,118 budget for 1958-59 and an 82-cent tax rate, ten cents above the 72-cent rate of the past two years, mainly to meet school debt payments. They also asked to enroll county employees in the state Local Government Employees Retirement System, with the county paying 6 per cent of salaries. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Dwight Ray Place: Courthouse, HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 31, 1958, p. 1
  17. Commissioners vote down a referendum on ABC liquor stores by one vote Commissioner Donald M. Stanford of Chapel Hill moved to call a countywide vote on state-run ABC liquor stores, saying the county needed the profits for school buildings after raising taxes, and Donald McDade seconded. Dwight Ray and Henry Walker voted no, and Chairman R. J. M. Hobbs broke the tie against it, saying he wanted some sign of popular support; petitions asking for a vote were circulating within days. People: Dwight Ray, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs Place: Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Donald M. Stanford, Donald McDade, Henry S. Walker, Henry WalkerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 7, 1958, p. 1
  18. The county commissioners call a countywide vote on ABC liquor stores On petitions bearing 1,049 names, the Orange County commissioners voted 4 to 0 to hold the county's first referendum on ABC liquor stores since 1938, setting it for February 7, 1959. On September 11 they moved the vote to February 3 so it would come before the legislature met and could interfere. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Dwight Ray Place: Courthouse, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 4, 1958, p. 1
  19. County commissioners begin new terms and name F. Lloyd Noell recorder's court solicitor On the day most county officers took their oaths, the Board of County Commissioners reelected R. J. M. Hobbs chairman for two years, reelected L. J. Phipps judge of the recorder's court, and named Hillsboro attorney F. Lloyd Noell solicitor in place of Roy Cole of Chapel Hill. Clarence D. Jones joined the board, Henry S. Walker and Donald McDade returned, and retiring commissioner Dwight M. Ray received a plaque. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Luther James Phipps, Dwight Ray Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: F. Lloyd Noell, Roy Cole, Clarence D. Jones, Donald McDade, Henry S. WalkerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 4, 1958, p. 1
  20. Dwight Ray and Seaton Lloyd sell the Lloyd-Ray Hardware Store after 37 years The partners sold the Carrboro hardware store they had opened in April 1922, long a gathering place for local politics. People: Dwight Ray Place: 110 East Main Street, Carrboro · Also named: Seaton LloydSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 26, 1959, p. 11 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, April 30, 1959, p. 1

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