Dell Flowers & The History of Whitley Corner

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The neighborhood of WHITLEY Corner, located on the southeast side of Flowers Crossroads, is named in honor of Mrs. Delma Pauline Whitley Flowers.

“Dell,” as she was lovingly referred to, was born on August 23, 1907, near the Antioch community just east of Flowers Plantation. She graduated high school in Clayton, N.C., was tall and had black hair and green eyes. She was the first “Miss Clayton”!

She met Joshua Percy Flowers in her home when he visited to date her older sister “Nell.” Well, once was all that courtship lasted. The very next week, he was asking Dell out. They married in 1927. Their honeymoon was all grandeur at the Kenly Hotel. One night and back to the farm to work.

In April 1928, Joshua Percy Flowers Jr. was born. For twenty-two years, he was their only child. He attended Edwards Military Academy and the University of North Carolina and went on to attend UNC for law school. He was married to Margaret Baucom from the Clayton area. They lived in Chapel Hill. However, there was a small home in which they stayed, at every opportunity at Flowers Plantation. Their wedding rehearsal on Christmas Eve 1949 contained a considerable surprise. Dell told her 22-year-old son… he would have a sibling in June 1950! Rebecca Dell Flowers was born on June 9, 1950. Joshua Percy Flowers, Jr. died in a private plane accident near the UNC campus on December 17, 1952. Mr. Joshua Percy Flowers died in 1982, two weeks after the birth of his identical twin grandsons, Jordan White Finch and Joshua Flowers Finch.

Mrs. Dell Flowers assisted Rebecca Dell Flowers with the estate of her deceased husband, Joshua Percy Flowers. She lived to enjoy her grandsons until 1995. She taught a class at White Oak Baptist Church, in Archer Lodge, for 55 years and was active as a volunteer patient assistant at Johnston Memorial Hospital for many years.

We continue to honor her legacy as the “Heart” of Flowers Plantation!

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