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Tuesday, 16 September 2025
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Written by Bill Bowman
The loss of Bill Hurley—with his vision, sense of humor, and passion for the City of Fayetteville—was a tremendous blow to our progressive community. The memorial and designation of Hurley Plaza at the gateway to Segra Stadium is a fitting tribute to his legacy.
However, the passing of two other significant members of our community, Don Price and Bob Smith, within the span of a week, has left many of us shocked and deeply saddened. We find ourselves asking: Who will replace them? Who can replace them?
In their own unique ways, these three gentlemen were icons in Fayetteville. I will always be grateful for having known them, worked with them, done business with them, and most of all, called them my friends.
Fayetteville is a city built on service, vision, and heart—and few individuals have embodied those virtues more profoundly than these three passionate entrepreneurs: Bill Hurley of Hurley Insurance, Bob Smith of Copiers Plus, and Don Price of LaFayette Ford.
Faith, Family, and Service
These men were far more than successful businessmen. They were God-fearing men, devoted husbands, fathers, and grandfathers. They were active community leaders, faithful stewards of their values, and tireless champions for the people of Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, and all of Cumberland County.
Each built and nurtured locally owned businesses rooted in integrity, excellence, and genuine human connection. Their faith guided their decisions, their families inspired their purpose, and our entire community benefited from their unwavering love and commitment.
Bill Hurley
Bill built a thriving business and legacy career with Nationwide Insurance Company. He offered more than policies—he offered peace of mind and friendship. His reputation for honesty and compassion made him a cornerstone of Fayetteville’s business landscape. Always respectful and never without a smile, Bill’s legacy is now proudly carried on by his sons, Mark, Brad, and Todd.
Bob Smith
Bob, founder and owner of Copiers Plus, revolutionized how local businesses operate with his philosophy of putting people before profit. His gentle nature, tireless work ethic, and dedication to customer care earned him respect throughout the industry and across every community he touched.
Bob loved Fayetteville, supported it, and served it. He wasn’t afraid to take chances or embrace the endless wave of technological innovation in his field. He placed complete trust in those he hired and mentored. Like Bill, Bob groomed family members to carry on the Copiers Plus legacy—where the “Plus” truly stands for service.
Personal note: I’ve used Copiers Plus equipment since the very first day I opened my newspaper business nearly thirty years ago. And for decades, like clockwork, 50 Cape Fear Kiwanis Club pancake tickets would mysteriously appear on my desk each year in my absence. Go figure—no one could turn him down
Don Price
Don, owner of LaFayette Ford, was a visionary businessman filled with kindness, empathy, and a deep love for Cumberland County and humanity as a whole.
Like many residents, I bought my first Fayetteville vehicle from Don back in the seventies.
Twenty years later, I purchased my first Up & Coming Weekly delivery vehicle from him—without ever stepping foot on the lot. I called the dealership, told them what I needed, and they delivered it to my front door. Sold! Trust and honesty—that’s how business used to be done.
Year after year, I watched Don’s success grow as LaFayette Ford became a symbol of integrity, reliability, and community leadership. His support extended to Fort Bragg, the Chamber of Commerce, the Fayetteville Kiwanis Club, and countless other local initiatives.
Like Bill and Bob, Don’s legacy will be carried on by his wife, Karen, and their children, Tim and Kim.
In all three families, the phrase inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson rings true: “The apple never falls far from the tree.”
A Community Forever Changed
Together, these three men spent decades lending their time, talents, and resources to make Fayetteville and Cumberland County a better place to live, work, and play.
From civic clubs like Kiwanis to youth programs, military family support, education, infrastructure, and nonprofit organizations—their fingerprints are on everything that represents progress in our community.
They didn’t just talk about change—they made it happen. They didn’t just build businesses—they built bridges between people, organizations, and neighborhoods. Their impact is permanent.
The legacies of the Hurleys, Smiths, and Prices have shaped a Fayetteville that is more united, more compassionate, and more forward-looking.
Like I said: Who will replace them? Who can replace them?
Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.
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Tuesday, 09 September 2025
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Written by D.G. Martin
In some North Carolina houses, this is a time of empty rooms and empty spaces. Children, so long ever-present, are now suddenly gone away to college.
Even though they knew the day was coming, there was great emptiness in their homes and in their hearts. This is true especially for parents, but also for grandparents, even though they all knew that the day was coming.
One of my grandsons is in college, far from home in Colorado. And both my granddaughters just graduated from college far away-- one in Vermont and the other in Scotland. After some time at home, one is heading even further afield, to Alaska, and the other back to Scotland. These “grandbabies” are so far away that I will seldom see them.
My own children stayed reasonably close to home in North Carolina at Davidson and graduate school at UNC. Still, the break was painful.
How much more so when the distance is more than a long drive away?
Each year, I watch young parents bring their children to Chapel Hill.
So much is the same every year: Heavy trunks to carry up long stairways on the first day.
Waiting for them are professors — giants of teachers — whose love of scholarship and service is exceeded only by their commitment to the opening and nurturing of the minds of their students. Will they be worrying about the meaning of life, or something more important — like a broken date?
What makes taking or sending a child to college such a milestone for parents, such a passage? Is it the sudden freedom from the hour-to-hour worries of child rearing? No more waiting up past midnight — waiting and worrying. No more strain of daily negotiation for the use of cars, time of meals, attendance at church, volume of the music, or use of the bathroom.
Or is it the extra worry and uncertainty that comes with an absent child so far away in distance and independence?
Suddenly, the house is peaceful — and so empty. Gone is the daily joy of their companionship. Gone is the excitement of their new ideas. Gone is the richness and seasoning that their growing up brought to our lives, every day.
You wonder, “Does life have meaning without children to watch over?”
The answer is not certain.
But the question remains.
My grandchildren will live in the future, but the occasion draws me almost 100 years into the past when, in 1928, my father entered Davidson. When these men (it would be 50 years before women were allowed at Davidson) first came to college in the fall of 1928, they brought everything they needed in a suitcase or small trunk.
Things were different in the 1980s when my children entered college. Most students arrived in cars driven by their parents and loaded down with the students’ “things.” Former Davidson President John Kuykendall welcomed them with a short “freedom and responsibility” sermon to help explain what this business of leaving home for college is all about.
He reminded them that colleges and universities no longer pretend to take the place of parents or impose strict parental rules to dictate how the students will act. At 18, they must seek and find their own moral guides. And freedom means the freedom to fail.
Kuykendall would then talk about responsibility, explaining that free people have the responsibility to develop and accept rules if they are to live together in harmony and dignity. Our freedom to make choices makes us responsible for those choices. Freedom gives us the free choice to serve others. Freedom gives us the opportunity and the responsibility to search for the truth.
That quest brings us towards the goal of a college education: a liberated mind, a mind that never stops searching and never stops learning.
If our grandchildren’s college experience helps make them partners with us in a search for truth, then the pain of physical separation and giving them up to their own freedom can bring us together in a way that gives our lives rich new meaning.
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