Appointed to the ECC board by Governor Terry Sanford in 1961, Frederic Fries Bahnson Jr. served as a trustee until 1967, stepping down from his responsibilities as an East Carolina trustee just as the school’s drive for university status achieved success and its prospects for a medical school were more secure than ever. Although a UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus from Winston-Salem, Bahnson actively supported East Carolina’s efforts to realize new levels of service.
Bahnson was born in Winston-Salem, the son of Frederic Fries Bahnson Sr. (1876–1944), an engineer and manufacturer who, after perfecting technology related to humidifiers, co-founded, with this brother Agnew Hunter Bahnson (1886–1966), the Bahnson Company specializing in their manufacture for industrial purposes. The Bahnson Company, which later expanded into steel construction, became a success internationally. After graduating from UNC in 1935, Bahnson Jr. joined the family business and was especially active in its new undertaking, the Winston-Salem based Southern Steel Stamping, Inc., and the family’s 1,200-acre dairy farm, Win–Mock Farm, in Forsyth County.
Bahnson was also active in local politics, serving as a Forsyth County Commissioner from 1954 to 1960, and as chair from 1956–1960. In 1962, he was elected to the state legislature, and was reelected in 1964. Active in public service, he served as director of the N. C. Zoological Society, chairman of the Dixie Classic Fair, and as president of the Winston-Salem Kiwanis, the N. C. Cattlemen’s Association, and the North American Sheepdog Society. During the 1950s, Bahnson served as a trustee at Salem College in Winston-Salem.
In 1965, Bahnson emerged as an important backer in the state house of representatives of a bill proposed by Senators Robert Morgan (1925–2016), Walter B. Jones (1913–1992), and Ashley B. Futrell (1911–2005), calling for matching funds of $1.5 million for the construction of facilities for a two-year medical school at East Carolina. The same year, Bahnson considered introducing a bill calling for the dismantling of the State Board of Higher Education, widely seen, by ECC supporters, as thwarting the school’s ambitions for independent university status. In that session Bahnson worked with the so-called “East-West alliance” wherein thinly populated counties in the eastern and western parts of the state dominated lower house politics, exercising power that bore little relation to population distribution. That year, Bahnson was also elected by the state legislature to serve as a member of the board of trustees at the University of North Carolina, his alma mater. Bahnson’s service on both boards, that of ECC and UNC, as well as his service as a state legislator, soon complicated his standing as a trusted public figure.
As a state legislator, Bahnson achieved prominence early on for his advocacy of an increase in the speed limit, from 60 to 65, accompanied by a seat belt requirement for vehicles. In 1965, realizing that federal legal intervention was forthcoming, Bahnson proposed a population-based reapportionment plan moving the state legislature away from representation of individual counties and to representation of districts defined by county lines and population. At the time of Bahnson’s proposal, reportedly “27% of the population … [controlled] the House” largely because sparsely populated counties had the same representation as well populated ones. Bahnson’s plan sought to make representation a more equitable reflection of resident population. A strong anti-Communist, Bahnson was also an outspoken supporter of the Speaker Ban Law.
In the spring of 1966, the News and Observer ran an editorial, “Too Many Hats,” in which it pointedly criticized Bahnson for “outright conflict of duty between his two trustee positions.” The editorial reasoned,
“UNC is committed to the one-university concept, ECC is seeking independent university status. Mr. Bahnson cannot serve two masters. He could perhaps serve one best by intelligently dissenting from its policies. Whichever course he chooses, he ought to disqualify himself from the debate and decisions of the other…. The two hats Mr. Bahnson wears on top of his legislator’s hat may not be illegal, but they are obviously improper. He ought to take one of them off.”
The N&O piece echoed editorials which had appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal, one of Bahnson’s hometown papers, and the Asheville Citizen-Times. But with the News and Observer, questions about Bahnson’s multiple positions were broadcast state-wide.
The N&O editorial appeared less than two weeks after a crucial ECC board vote approving pursuit of a feasibility study determining the school’s readiness for independent university status. Trustee David J. Whichard II (1927–2015), publisher of the Greenville Daily Reflector, made this motion. The vote on Whichard’s motion, which carried by a 5–2 vote (with Bahnson’s support), followed the defeat of a previous motion, by a 4-3 vote (Bahnson abstained), suggesting that East Carolina pursue university status by joining the Consolidated University of North Carolina. That motion was made by Irving E. Carlyle (1896–1971) who, like Bahnson, was from Winston-Salem.
Bahnson did not, however, step down from the East Carolina board but instead remained a prominent proponent of the school’s causes. In April of 1967, Bahnson, in his last year of service as an East Carolina trustee, was allowed to speak before the house — he was, at that point, no longer a state representative —on behalf of ECC’s bid for university status. Perhaps as much in recognition of his past service to the state legislature as East Carolina’s cause, Bahnson received a standing ovation. While ECC’s cause did not prevail in the spring of 1967, by the summer of that year the state legislature had voted to grant ECC standing as an independent, regional university.
With the expiration of Bahnson’s term, Governor Dan K. Moore (1906–1986) appointed Raleigh attorney William Woodruff Taylor, Jr. (1912–2008), to serve as his replacement on the board. Though no longer a trustee at the October 1967 meeting when East Carolina’s victory was celebrated, Bahnson had seen the school achieve its goal of becoming a university and in no small way, had contributed to its success.
Sources
- “Bill May Try to Disband Higher Education Board.” Winston-Salem Journal. May 1, 1965. P. 20.
- “Box 36: Bahnson, Fred F., Jr. member of the Board of Trustees, 1961-1967.” Records of the Chancellor: Records of Leo Warren Jenkins, 1960-1981. University Archives # UA02-06. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C.
- Connelly, Bill. “Forsyth’s Five Hold Few Rigid Positions.” Winston-Salem Journal. P. A9.
- Connelly, Bill. “Will the Real Delegation from Forsyth Please Stand.” Winston-Salem Journal. June 20, 1965. P. A12.
- Cooper, David. “East-West Alliance Rules ‘65 Assembly.” Winston-Salem Journal. June 20, 1965. P. A12.
- Cooper, David. “Views on ECC Watched.” Winston-Salem Journal. September 24, 1966. P. 3.
- “Deaths and Funerals: Bahnson.” Winston-Salem Journal. February 22, 1987. P. B6.
- Doster, Joe. “ECC Conflict May Leave Bruises: Legislators Fear Permanent Injury to N. C. Higher Education.” Charlotte Observer. February 26, 1967. P. 19.
- Ellison, Harold. “Bahnson Company Dedicates Huge New Plant to Man Who Directed Greatest Growth.” Winston-Salem Journal. August 1, 1965. P. D11.
- “Ex-Trustees of ECU Get New Board Terms.” News and Observer. August 19, 1967. P. 24.
- Hardee, Roy. “ECC To Press Its Case.” News and Observer. May 19, 1966. Pp. 1, 2.
- “Jenkins Talks Here To Boost ECC Plan.” Winston-Salem Journal. February 24, 1967. P. 10.
- King, Adrian. “ECC Med School Advocates Build Case with Care.” News and Observer. March 7, 1965. P. 4.
- Lewis, Susan. “27 Trustees Chosen in Stormy Session.” News and Observer. May 20, 1965. P. 1.
- “Local Leader Fred Bahnson Dies at Age 73.” Winston-Salem Journal. February 22, 1987. P. 3.
- Poindexter, Jesse. “Apportioning Plan Offered.” Winston-Salem Journal. October 26, 1965. P. 1.
- Poindexter, Jesse. “Forsyth Lawmakers Oppose Death Penalty.” Winston-Salem Journal. April 21, 1967. P. 18.
- “Raising ECC Status Is Backed.” Winston-Salem Journal. November 20, 1965. P. 1.
- “Reapportionment Called Inevitable.” Winston-Salem Journal. September 21, 1965. P. 5.
- “Solons Serve Conflicting Goals.” Asheville Citizen-Times. July 14, 1965. P. 4.
- “Too Many Hats.” News and Observer. May 30, 1966. P. 4
- “Trustees Appointed.” Charlotte Observer. October 18, 1961. P. 1.
- “Under the Dome.” News and Observer. March 28, 1965. P. 3.
- “Under the Dome.” News and Observer. May 26, 1966. P. 6.
Related Materials
Image Source: Yackety Yack (UNC-Chapel Hill Yearbook), 1935 P. 56. Bahnson's senior picture.
Image Source: Buccaneer 1963. P. 11. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15314
Image Source: Buccaneer 1964. P. 12. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15315.422
Citation Information
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 09/7/2023