NCC Professor to Present at Bicentennial Homecoming Celebration

Dr. Mary Wayne Watson, Professor of Humanities and a native daughter of Wagram, will give a historical presentation at the Bicentennial Homecoming Celebration of Spring Hill Baptist Church in Wagram, North Carolina, at 10:30 a. m. on Sunday, May 19, 2013.

In 1813, the church was founded with seven members by Daniel White. Daniel and his wife, Catherine Campbell White, Dr. Watson’s ancestors, came from Scotland on a mission to help Scottish immigrants.  Transitioning through at least five physical structures, the church itself still ministers to the community.  Watson stated that being invited to speak at this occasion was indeed an honor.  She said, “I am a community college professor who has spent my working life trying to help educate the children of others.  Perhaps I share a bit of the spirit of the founders of this church in that I have also been motivated by a desire to make a difference in the lives of others, and I am keenly aware that truly influential people, the ‘little’ people who enrich our lives daily, do not necessarily end up in history books.  Perhaps I got that passion from my early days in this church.”

Dr. Watson, a North Carolina Humanities Council “Road Scholar,” currently teaches English composition, literature-based research, film, and British and American literature at Nash Community College in Rocky Mount.  Now a Knightdale resident, she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from UNC at Chapel Hill, and her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.