A group of area residents have started a petition drive to have the new Mount Airy Visitors Center that is part of the grand plan for the area surrounding the Spencer’s Mill hotel project named after a local legend: Flip Rees.
If one goes by the book, it would be named for Floyd Eugene Rees but if the name Rees is said, most will reach for Flip before Floyd. The Rees name continues to be a staple in downtown Mount Airy as Gene Rees continues the tradition of the F. Rees Company.
The effort is being led by Sandy Hutchens, Ann Vaughn, Anita Watson, Trudy Soloman, and Bettsee McPhail. The petition already has more than 450 signatures and Hutchens said the goal is to have 1,000 before they present the petition to the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners in June.
“Flip, well I called him Mister Rees, was a leader in this community forever and Gene Rees is carrying it on even further,” Hutchens said.
McPhail said the idea began a little over a year ago when she and Hutchens decided they wanted to do something special to honor Rees.
She said Hutchens had the idea to name the visitors center after Flip Rees adding that it would be a wonderful tribute to him. “He made such a difference in this town. He is the only reason that Mount Airy is or has a downtown,” McPhail said.
“When the mall opened, he told me that soon where will be no downtown, all will go to the mall and downtown will no longer exist,” she said. A walk down Main Street in Mount Airy today versus a walk through the Mayberry Mall shows that because of the efforts of businessmen like Rees — Main Street thrives.
“I grew up with the Rees family, they were my neighbors my entire life,” McPhail said, calling them her second parents, “and Susan, John, and Beanie (Gene) were my brothers and sister. I was three when Gene was brought home from the hospital…He’s been my baby brother ever since.”
She said the Rees family is wonderful and “I was so blessed to have been a small part of their family.”
Hutchens said the Rees family is on board with the effort to name the visitors center. “They are absolutely behind it, but he and his wife did not feel like they should campaign for it.”
Flip Rees, who lived from Dec. 28, 1914 to Nov. 9, 2009, was a decorated war veteran earning two Bronze Stars and a field promotion to major while serving with the 381st field artillery battalion in Europe.
Stateside he made a lasting mark on downtown Mount Airy opening F. Rees Company in 1946. He was chosen by the business community as the first Merchant of the Year and year later they circled back to name him the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 1982. Gov. Mike Easley honored Rees with the state’s highest civilian honor, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, in 2005 — the same year Rees won the Granite City Award.
While the Spencer’s Mill project has only just begun, and the surrounding projects are still on the horizon, Hutchens said he wanted to get the petition going before it was too late for all interested parties to be heard.
There is no online path to signing the petition, Hutchens encouraged interested parties to reach out to him directly by phone at 323-806-8994, or contact another member of the petition committee.
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