Oscar Percy “O. P.” Makepeace

Appointed by Governor Angus Wilton McLean (1870–1935), Oscar Percy “O. P.” Makepeace served on the ECTC board of trustees from 1927 until 1946 as the school transitioned from an era of multifaceted growth to one, in the 1930s, of marked gender transformation as increasing numbers of men enrolled. The remainder of his tenure was also a time, with the Great Depression, of financial retrenchment and then, with WWII, global conflict.

Most significantly, however, Makepeace presided over the rise of Leon R. Meadows (1884–1953) as ECTC’s second president, following Robert H. Wright’s (1870–1934) unexpected death in 1934, and then a decade later, his fall from office and criminal prosecution for embezzlement. Although an initial supporter of Meadows for the presidency, once apprised of the financial irregularities Meadows had engaged in, Makepeace emerged as one of Meadows’ most outspoken opponents, not only refusing to sanction, at the board level, exoneration for Meadows (which eight of twelve trustees supported), but moreover testifying for the prosecution at Meadows’ trial.

A state legislator who served five terms in the General Assembly (three in the House and two in the Senate), Makepeace also served as the mayor of Sanford. A successful businessman, Makepeace, in addition to extensive farming interests, was president of the Sanford Sash and Blind Company, organizer of the Sanford Hardware Company, and built and owned the Carolina Hotel in Sanford. He also served as a director of the National Bank of Sanford, the Sanford Savings and Loan, Sanford Cotton Mills, Atlantic and Yadkin Railroad, and as a member of the Sanford Chamber of Commerce and of the Lee County Hospital Board.

In 1934, Makepeace was a member of the board committee tasked with evaluating candidates to succeed Robert H. Wright (1870–1934) and concurred with the committee’s decision to endorse Leon R. Meadows (1884–1953) as the best candidate for the position. However, less than a decade later, Meadows’ apparent misuse of student funds dating back to shortly after his inauguration as president landed him in nightmarish scandal that sharply divided the campus, the town, the alumni, the trustees, and academic observers statewide.

Following a routine state audit in the fall of 1942 that discovered Meadows’ apparent mishandling of student funds, a committee composed of three trustees — O. P. Makepeace, Alexander Boyd Andrews II (1877–1946), a Raleigh attorney and vice-president of the Southern Railway, and J. Herbert Waldrop (1895–1966), cashier of Guaranty Bank and Trust Company — was appointed in January of 1943 to “clarify the situation relative to non-state funds,” i.e., Meadows’ mishandling of student funds seemingly for purposes other than those of the college.

The committee’s study prompted skepticism regarding Meadows’ integrity, and a request, which Makepeace, the committee chair, made publicly, that Gov. J. Melville Broughton (1888–1949) have a full audit conducted with a detailed report to the trustees. Almost simultaneously, members of the ECTC Student Government Association, aware that student funds were being used for purposes other than the student body, had, in a bold move, directly approached Gov. Broughton similarly asking for an investigation. Shortly after, state auditors and SBI agents became a presence on campus and remained for much of 1943 scrutinizing college financial records.

In 1944, as Meadows’ troubles multiplied, he blamed a group of faculty members for their supposed disloyalty to the administration. These included Dr. Herbert Rebarker (1894–1979), dean of men and director of mathematics; Martin L. Wright (1882–1945), economics and sociology; Dr. Elisha Lane “E. L.” Henderson (1884–1990), director of instruction; Dr. J. Beecher Flanagan (1896–1951), economics and government; Dr. Katharine L. Holtzclaw (1897–1979), director of home economics; and Pearle Winifred “Winnie” Chapman (1904–1993), home economics. Meadows fired these six faculty, and the majority of the board of trustees supported him, explaining without substantiation that said faculty exerted “unwholesome influences” and had been “inciting students to insurrection.” Following statewide protests of this highhanded action, the board rescinded its dismissal of Flanagan, Holtzclaw, and Chapman, but refused to do so — by a vote of 8–3 — for Rebarker, Wright, and Henderson.

O. P. Makepeace, J. Herbert Waldrop, and Arthur B. Corey (1891–1950) were the three trustees who voted, distinctly in the minority, to rescind the dismissal of Rebarker, Wright, and Henderson. Earlier, the same three — Makepeace, Waldrop, and Corey — along with A. B. Andrews, had refused to join the board majority in voting to exonerate Meadows “of any suggestion of wrongdoing or misapplication of college funds.”

In August of 1945, during Meadows’ trial, the state called on Makepeace to testify regarding what he knew about the financial irregularities. Makepeace testified that prior to the state’s audits, he had no knowledge whatsoever that Meadows was handling student funds and no knowledge that Meadows had held student funds in his personal bank account. Makepeace’s testimony also denied Meadows’ claims that he, Meadows, and E. G. Flanagan (1875–1942), chair of the board’s Budget Committee of which Makepeace was a member, had worked together in handling student funds.

In 1945, in the wake of Meadows’ conviction, Gov. Robert Gregg Cherry (1891–1957) appointed five new members to the ECTC board, all of them men, declining to reappoint, as had been commonplace, board members whose terms had expired. Notably, three of the board members with expired terms were women, all of whom had been supporters of Meadows throughout. Departing female trustees included: Mrs. Charles S. Forbes (1883–1964) of Greenville, Mrs. W. B. Murphy (1888–1980) of Snow Hill, and Mrs. John G. Dawson (1888–1975) of Kinston. Two other female board members — Mrs. Frank L. Greathouse (1893–1970) of Rocky Mount and Mrs. Charles M. Johnson (1893–1972) of Raleigh — remained on the board because their terms had yet to expire. Speculation was that Gov. Cherry, otherwise known for fairmindedness in appointing women to important offices, took a different approach in naming new members to the ECTC board.

The following year, O, P. Makepeace, age 63, resigned his position on the board in advance of the final year of his term, having served for nearly 20 years, from 1927–1946. At that juncture, Meadows was in Central Prison, Howard J. McGinnis (1882–1971) was interim president of ECTC, and the newly constituted board of trustees was making plans to conduct a search for a permanent president. Despite his earlier opposition to Meadows, Makepeace was not merciless: he joined several prominent figures who, approximately one year after Meadows’ incarceration, called for a pardon, recognizing that, by that point, he had been sufficiently punished.

In the wake of Makepeace’s resignation, Gov. Cherry appointed Warren Rand Williams (1890–1965), mayor of Sanford, to fill the vacant seat. Williams’ brother, Superior Court Judge Clawson L. Williams (1887–1964), also of Sanford, had presided over Meadows’ first trial, in Pitt Superior Court, which ended in a mistrial when the jury failed to agree on a verdict.

Sources

• “Board Stands Firm in Firing Three Teachers at E.C.T.C.: Rebarker, Henderson, Wright Get Second Hearing on Charge of Inciting Students.” News and Observer. July 19, 1944. P. 3.
• “Council Requests Pardon for Former ECTC President: State Paroles Board Reopens Investigation in Case of Dr. Leon Meadows.” News and Observer. September 20, 1946. P. 8.
• “Former Solon, Mayor of Sanford Succumbs.” News and Observer. December 2, 1965. P. 35.
• Newsome, Frances. “Dr. Meadows Exonerated by Trustees of College: ECTC Board Votes, 8 to 4, to Exonerate President of ‘Not Satisfactorily Accounting’ for $18,636,34 of College and Student Funds; ‘We Found All Such Funds Accounted for,’ Board Says.” News and Observer. March 22, 1944. P. 1.
• “Oscar P. Makepeace.” Durham Morning Herald. December 3, 1965. P. 2.
• “Oscar P. Makepeace, Former Legislator, Dies.” Charlotte Observer. December 2, 1965. P. 9.
• “Trustee of ECTC Testifies in Pitt: O. P. Makepeace Says He Didn’t Know Meadows of Flanagan Handled Funds.” News and Observer. August 10, 1945. P. 12.
• “Under the Dome.” News and Observer. January 22, 1946. P. 1.
• “Under the Dome.” News and Observer. August 20, 1945. P. 2.

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