William Cowell Flora (1890 - 1964)

                   c. 1892                                               c. 1895                                                    1910 - age 20

  The Daily Advance - 1959

The Virginian-Pilot - Sunday, Dec. 4, 1960 under the heading of Sligo Traveler by Richard J. Gonder.  Caption reads: Will Flora and Danny Boy

     When the weather's fine and a fellow happens to be in the vicinity of Sligo, it might be just his good luck to come across Will Flora riding the shoulder of the highway in a two-wheel cart being a pony.
     Flora, who for many years was deputy United States marshal for the Eastern District of North Carolina, carries a long whip in his right hand which is useful for waving at friends.  And he waves a lot.  Even folks who happened to cross up with him under one federal process or another years ago are his good friend.
     He sits that cart as if it were a throne, back straight as a jack oak sapling, with just a big bed pillow to cushion what transportation obstructions the wheels meet.  He's dressed fit to enter a hushed courtroom and announce the presence of a federal judge, even to a gold watch chain dangling pocket to pocket from his vest.
     The pony, a little black, is named Danny Boy and he's onery.  "He keeps trying to make me think he's afraid of this and that--like that old piece of tire over there.  But he can't convince me and we get along all right.  There's nothing to a pony but his qualities.  He just puts on a while lot," Flora said.  The pony was purchased for grandbabies, all of whom live away from Currituck County, but get back in summer to enjoy them.
     "I had a letter from one of them with a lot of instructions on how to put Danny Boy in the car and drive him on up to Baltimore and how arrangements have been made to stable him in the garage."
     After riding in automobiles commuting from Sligo to Elizabeth City when he was marshal and the other travel necessary in that job, Flora says he enjoys the leisurely pace of the cart.
     "I go to Moyock or Currituck and other places same as ever.  The only thing is I have to start a little earlier."  And as to speed, what does Flora care?  "I don't do anything now and I'm getting behind in that."

Katie Elizabeth (Bray) Flora (1890 - 1980)

                       c. 1892                                                  c. 1900                                                 1918 - age 28

MRS. KATIE FLORA PLAYS FAVORITE PARLOR MUSIC
The Daily Advance - Monday, August 11, 1975

Sligo - "Favorite Parlor Music at the turn of the century" is what Mrs. Katie Bray Flora calls her piano "concerts" given for friends, family and occasional small community groups.
     Mrs. Flora, a retired Currituck County teacher, enjoys giving piano concerts even though she is well into the "senior citizen" years.  She was born at Sligo on Feb. 5, 1890 and grew up in the small community.
     She remembers first attending school for a "very short term of free school," probably before she was 6 years old.  "There was no specific age for a child to enter school or to finish," Mrs. Flora stated.  "It depended on how well we could read and spell."
     Mrs. Flora remembers Friday afternoons for spelling matches "which everyone looked forward to."
     Mrs. Flora's grandmother was her first teacher at a small county school near her home.  :She was a perfectionist who abhorred sloppy English," she remembers.
     In the fall of 1902 Mrs. Flora remembers living with an aunt at Poplar Branch "so I could go to their school that had two teachers."  Later when consolidation created a larger school near Sligo, she returned home.
     It was then her interest in music began.  She took piano lessons from the regular teacher during lunch or after school.
     In 1906 Mrs. Flora left Currituck County by horse-drawn buggy and then by train to Norfolk, Va. for a trip to Greensboro.  She enrolled in the State Normal and Industrial College (now University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and began teacher training.
     Mrs. Flora's skill at the piano improved with participation in the college orchestra and private piano lessons.
     "At that time chapel exercises were held each morning," Mrs. Flora remembers and "permission had to be received to leave campus for any reason except Sunday church."
     During her early teaching years Mrs. Flora took organ lessons and taught piano.  Later she returned to Currituck County as a teacher and continued organ lessons from the minister of music at Epworth Methodist Church in Norfolk.  Mrs. Flora calls that "honest-to-goodness pipe organ" her favorite organ.
     Soon she was in great demand as an organist, teacher, and to play piano accompaniments.  She also teamed with other good musicians to play for civic programs.
     Recently Mrs. Flora performed again for Currituck County citizens.  She teamed with friends and a relative to present a "concert" of turn of the century parlor music" for the Currituck County Historical Society.
     The love of music and years of practice were evident as the audience listened to the performance by one of Currituck's own "senior citizens."