C.O. Heavner Sr. Scholarship Endowment

When Frank Holding was a kid, he loved to hang out at Smithfield Mule Company with its owner, C.O. Heavner. He’d go there after school and sometimes skipped school just to spend time with the mules and Heavner.

He never forgot that relationship with Heavner and created a scholarship in Heavner’s name.

He said my dad was like a father to him, said Cecil Heavner Jr.

Holding is best known for his banking interests, from First Citizens to Southern National Banks, but Heavner was more of a small-town businessman.

Heavner moved to Smithfield from Williamston in the 1930s. While the buying and selling of mules long went out of fashion, Heavner was successful with a string of other businesses in Eastern North Carolina.

Pictured: Student recipients