One of Neuse River Writers very own, Sherwood Owl Williford presented a book launch Saturday, October 31, 2026 at Goldsboro Museum, “From My Perch, Hunger, History & Heroes.” Mr. Sherwood captivated our attention as he provided much history from not only this book but a collection of each of his works.
We learned that Hurricane Hazel devastated St. Paul Methodist Church at the time which was the tallest landmark in Goldsboro as the storm ran through on October 15,1954 at 140 mph and 19 people were killed. He provided humor, and nonsensical information. Many distinguished guests attended today including Walter Joseph Marm, Jr. a retired US Army Colonel with the highest decoration for Valor, the Medal of Honor for his bravery 1965 in the Vietnam War.
In addition, the main character of his book, “Queen of the Court the Legendary Beulah Thomas Sutton” attended today. Ms. Beulah loved the game, and it has been recorded that in High School she outscored Caitlin Clark who scored 2,547, and Ms. Beulah 2,797; she even outscored Michael Jordan in High School, how impressive! I was honored to take a picture with her! One of the guests in the audience shared a story of a game that Ms. Beulah played in that she would go from one end of the court score and back to the other end continually doing the same back and forth while laughing at each scored point with gestures on her face of the joy she was having. She really loved the game!
The venue was very interesting as well with amazing historical artifacts of Goldsboro NC; sharing of this to be considered at another time! Today was a wonderful presentation by Mr. Sherwood of Volume 1 of 4, that is coming soon which has been taken from his newspaper columns over the years. May we continue to look forward to the joy that he continues to provide for us in writing from his Perch.
