Lenoir County NcArchives Obituaries.....LaRoque, Walter Dunn July 5, 1930
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North Carolina, the Old North State and the new
Walter Dunn LaRoque, whose position in North Carolina was recoginzed as that 
of a business and civic leader of Kinston, passed from this life July 5, 1930. 
He was born in Lenoir County, December 30, 1878, his parents being Walter Dunn 
and Annie Parrott Mewborne LaRoque. The father was a livestock dealer, planter 
and merchant whose success enabled him to provide liberal educational 
opportunities for his son, who after attending private schools in Kinston 
became a student in the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and 
Engineering at Raleigh.

He was the fourth in order of birth in a family of six children and he started 
out in the business world in the employ of his uncle, William Alexander 
LaRoque, a Kinston grocery merchant. Subsequently he was connected with the 
Hines Lumber Company of Kinston and in 1904 he entered the insurance and real 
estate business, organizing a company for that purpose. This claimed his 
attention to a considerable measure throughout his remaining days but he also 
organized the Caswell Bank, of which he was the only president. The 
institution merged with the National Bank of Kinston in 1923. He was also 
active in manufacturing circles as secretary and director of the Caswell 
Cotton Mills.

On the 2d day of December, 1903, Mr. LaRoque was married to Miss Mary Pauline 
Hines, of Kinston, daughter of Lovit and Mary Jane (Murphrey) Hines, of a 
prominent Kinston family, her father being president of the Hines Lumber 
Company. 

Mr. and Mrs. LaRoque became parents of six children: Marianna, the wife of 
Meriwether Lewis, of Kinston; Louise, now Mrs. G.V. Cowper Jr., of 
Scarborough, New York; Mamie Hines, who is the wife of W.J. Nicholson Jr., of 
Kinston, and has two daughters, Mary and Margaret; Walter Dunn III who is now 
carrying on the insurance and real estate business which was founded by his 
father; Lovit, who attended the Virginia Episcopal School of Lynchburg, 
Virginia, and is now a student of Scarborough School of Scarborough, New York, 
and Marguerite, attenting Kinston high school. Walter Dunn LaRoque III, who 
was born in Kinston, September 7, 1915, attended the public schools, the 
Woodberry Forest School of Virginia and the University of North Carolina, 
being graduated from the last named institution with the Bachelor of Arts 
degree in December, 1937. He is a member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce and 
of Cotillion Club.

Mr. LaRoque was connected with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and the Woodmen 
of the World, while his religious faith was indicated by his membership in the 
Gordon Steet Church of the Disciples of Christ. He belonged to the Kinston 
Chamber of Commerce, of which he was at one time president, and he served as a 
director of the Kinston Fair Association, was one of the organizers of the 
Kinston Country Club and also organized the Rotary Club.

As mayor from 1907 to 1913 he gave to Kinston a businesslike and progressive 
administration, for which he had qualified through serving as alderman from 
1903 to 1905, thus gaining intimate knowledge of municipal affairs. He was 
appointed postmaster in 1914 and was chairman of the board of directors of the 
State Prison. It has been said that he was "regarded by Governor Gardner as 
one of the six best men of the State of North Carolina." Mrs. LaRoque still 
occupies the family residence in Kinston, over which whe presides with 
gracious hospitality, and she has membership with the Colonial Dames.

Harvey Hines, brother of Mrs. LaRoque, is one of the prominent business men of 
Kinston. He was born in Lenoir County, North Carolina, in December, 1884, a 
son of Lovit and Mary Jane (Murphrey) Hines. He is a graduate of the 
University of North Carolina and has extensive and important business 
interests, being a wholesale grocer, the owner of the Coca-Cola Bottling Works 
and an ice and ice cream manufacturer of Kinston. He married Marguerite 
Walker, who was born in Asheville, North Carolina, but lived in New York. They 
have two sons, Harvey C. and William Walker. Mr. Hines has membership in the 
Episcopal church and also belongs to the Masonic fraternity.


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