I. K. Stearns

unknown

Publication date

September 2020

Publisher

Hunter Library Digital Collections, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723;

Abstract

This 1941 image of Irving Kip Stearns (1895-1942) is part of the Stearns-Grueninger Collection. I. K. Stearns was president of Carolina Wood Turning Company from 1928 until his death in 1942. Stearns’ grandfather, Jeremiah Shank, started the company in 1903 as Bryson City Pump Works and it grew to be a thriving industry for the community. In 1911, Stearns was in the first graduating class of Bryson City High School. He had one son, Joseph Pease Stearns (1917-1948). In 1935, I. K. married Betty Grueninger (1896-1971)