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“If East Ca
never gotten off
L
ike so many from eastern North Carolina, The Honorable
Janice Hardison Faulkner ’53, ’56 grew up on a farm.
In fact, the quaint community that she’s from in Martin
County is called Farm Life, located just outside of Williamston
and known for Major League Baseball players Jim and Gaylord
Perry. But the quintessential life of a farm girl would not define
this go-getter, who after years teaching at East Carolina found
herself serving the state as North Carolina’s first female Secretary
of State and later as Commissioner of North Carolina’s Division
of Motor Vehicles.
Born in 1932 to Ben Hardison and Martha Peele Hardison,
Faulkner was the eldest of two children. While tending the
family farm, her father played baseball in the Coastal Plain
League with Herbert Bonner, who later became a North Carolina
congressman, and Evan Perry, the father of the Perry boys.
Baseball was an important part of life in Farm Life. “We lived
during the years of the Great Depression and World War II. We
had to be creative and inventive to entertain ourselves. During
breaks working in the tobacco fields in the summer, my brother
Ben Jr., me, Jim and Gaylord, and my dad would play impromptu
baseball games. It didn’t matter that I was a girl, I always played,”
said Faulkner. Her father believed that she should be involved in
and exposed to as many experiences as her brother, and Ben Sr.
provided many. “My dad was one of the first rural subscribers of
the Raleigh News & Observer, so we were aware of things going
on outside of our community. The first words I could read were
‘news’ and ‘observer.’ I was able to read when I went to first grade
because he spent time reading the paper to my brother and me.”
Faulkner’s father and Herbert Bonner remained good friends
throughout Faulkner’s childhood, and as a precinct chairman, her
father presided over elections in Martin County. Events involving
Bonner’s campaigns exposed Faulkner to politics, knowledge that
would prove vital later in her career. “My awareness of career
opportunities was non-existent at the time. Work that I had seen
women do was clerking in the dime store, teaching, or being
a nurse at the hospital. My high school civics teacher Milton
Griffin had a profound influence on me and so I aspired to be a
teacher.” The strength of the Farm Life community and support
of her neighbors, educators, church family, and friends prepared
Faulkner well for her life’s work to come.
During Faulkner’s youth, not many students went to college—
mostly because families just couldn’t afford it. “There’s no
mystery why I went to East Carolina; it was the only thing on
the horizon that I knew anything about. I knew there were other
places, but I didn’t know anyone else that was enrolled in those
other schools. A few of my classmates’ older sisters attended
ECTC, so that’s where I wanted to go. If East Carolina had not
been here, I would have never gotten off of the farm. Within five
or six days of graduating from high school I was taking summer
school classes at East Carolina.” Despite the tight household
budget, her parents found a way to send her to college, and
Faulkner also worked in the cafeteria to help make ends meet. “I
was paid in meal ticket coupon books. At first I rolled silverware
and then I became a cashier. My brother attended the Forest
Ranger school in Florida and became a certified forester. On
occasion he would send me money for school in a letter, a $5.00
bill or so. My grandfather was very proud that I was attending
college and made a provision in his will for me to get my master’s
degree.”
Faulkner loved her East Carolina experience, especially living
on campus. “I lived in both Cotten and Jarvis when I was there
and the doors were locked at seven o’clock in the evenings. You
could not go downtown without signing out and without wearing
a hat and gloves. We had to dress up to go downtown. If I recall
correctly, you had to be back on campus by four o’clock if you
had left in a car—even if you were with your parents. We had
our rooms inspected and had to take care of them. We would
get demerits if the wastebasket wasn’t emptied or the bed wasn’t
made. It was a bit militaristic, but it was with a purpose and was
sound educational methodology in those years.” Faulkner was
active in student organizations, including student affairs, activities
at the Y-Hut, and Vespers.
After undergraduate graduation, Faulkner took a position
not been here,
Faulkner, during her teaching years at ECU, looks under the hood of her
MG, circa 1969.
14 EC ALUMNI SPRING 2010