What We Remember: Personal Recollections of Raleigh

What We Remember is the story of some memories as Raleigh made the transformation from a quiet capital city to a significant cultural and governmental center. The beginning of the story is from the perspective of a native son who made his first public appearance as the "Red Feather Boy" marking the success of fund raising for Community Chest through his career as a member of the city council, mayor, and businessman.

Smedes York and his family were at the center of the transformation of the city in those vibrant days after the end of World War II when returning soldiers were seeking homes for their families, and businesses were looking for new locations. In response to those demands for housing as well as shopping and business, Smedes's father James Wesley "Willie" York and his father Charles Vance York left evidence of their building and development skills throughout the city and the state.

Raleigh: What We Remember attempts to broaden the scope to view the growth and changes in the city as seen from the perspective of Smedes and others who have experienced this transformation.

John Lawrence Sharpe, a South Carolinian, graduated from Wofford College with a degree in English and foreign languages and then entered Duke University where he received a BD degree in Greek New Testament language studies. For the first year of his graduate work he was at St. Mary's College of St. Andrews University, Scotland, before returning to Duke to complete his PhD where he remained as Curator of Rare Books in Perkins Library for forty years. His research in the history of the book has taken him to libraries in Europe and Egypt. In pursuing his research he has spent sabbaticals at both Cambridge and Oxford.His publications and lectures have included editing and writing about the history of bookmaking and publishing as well as assembling and writing memoirs among which are Early Days and Achievement: The Life of Harry L. Dalton, published by The Pentland Press in Edinburgh in 1986 and Growing Up with Raleigh: Smedes York: Memoirs and Reflections of a Native Son, published in 2014.

Smedes York grew up with Raleigh. He was both a witness to and participant in the evolution of the city from a small state capital with legislative and educational institutions to the vibrant metropolitan community that it is today.Smedes bears the name of both families that have been influential in Raleigh's maturing. With the arrival in Raleigh of the Yorks, his father's family, and the Smedeses, his mother's family, the foundations for building successful businesses and educational enterprises were laid. The Yorks came from England by way of Randolph County and brought with them their knowledge and abilities in construction and development. And then the Smedeses arrived from the Netherlands by way of New York in the 1840s when Bishop Levi Silliman Ives of the Diocese of North Carolina invited Aldert Smedes and his family to relocate in Raleigh to revitalize St. Mary's, a languishing girl's school. Smedes was the beneficiary of these two creative and industrious families from whom he learned devotion to family, friends, and community, bound together with vision and hard work.Early on as the Smedeses and the Yorks put their mark on the community through their contribution to education, construction, and development, he followed the examples set by his parents and grandparents. In these conversations he reflects on both what his families gave him as well as the rich offerings of his community. As he observed the changes, he made his own contribution to the transformation of the City of Oaks.