Whitesell-Somers Family Web Project - Person Sheet
Whitesell-Somers Family Web Project - Person Sheet
NameTurner Hezekiah BOONE 
24,3, Miss Sarah I. Boone,143, Obituary - Mrs. Ruth Whitesell Boone,333,492
24,3, Miss Sarah I. Boone,143, Obituary - Mrs. Ruth Whitesell Boone,333,492DeathJun 12, 1937, Alamance County, North Carolina24,3, Miss Sarah I. Boone,57,333
BurialGibsonville City Cemetery, Springwood Avenue, Gibsonville, Guilford County, North Carolina57
FatherSidney Alexander BOONE (1851-1925)
MotherSarah Jane MAY (1854-1929)
Spouses
BirthOct 15, 1895, Guilford County, North Carolina24,57,143, Obituary - Mrs. Ruth Whitesell Boone,333
DeathAug 29, 1982, Alamance County, North Carolina24,3, Miss Sarah I. Boone,57,143, Obituary - Mrs. Ruth Whitesell Boone,333
BurialGibsonville City Cemetery, Springwood Avenue, Gibsonville, Guilford County, North Carolina57
OccupationRetired From Boone Furniture Store143, Obituary - Mrs. Ruth Whitesell Boone
ReligionMember Of Sharon Lutheran Church143, Obituary - Mrs. Ruth Whitesell Boone
FatherJohn Lafayette WHITESELL (1860-1915)
Mother“Belle” Martha Teresa Isabel SMITH (1866-1944)
Times-News Article notes for Turner Hezekiah BOONE
9/20/2002
Keeping furniture in the family
By Adrienne Owens Times-News
GIBSONVILLE — There was a time when people in town would gather around a coal heater inside
Boone Furniture and Hardware in Gibsonville, talking and shopping until late in the evening, Julie
Isley says.
Isley wasn’t around back then, but she can be sure someone in her family was.
Turner Boone, Isley’s grandfather, bought the store as a young man in 1915. Her grandmother,
Ruth, worked with him and retired at 83.
After Turner died, Ruth ran the store along with Isley’s father, Keith Boone, and an uncle.
Isley remembers going with her father on courtesy collection routes when she was a kid. They
delivered furniture on Saturdays to customers in eastern Guilford County.
She continued the service herself until just a few years ago.
Today, Isley and her husband, Joel Isley, own the store.
While many independently owned stores across America are finding it impossible to compete with
retail giants, Joel Isley says their store is running “full steam ahead.”
In order to stay competitive, the couple attends about five furniture markets a year to do
competitive shopping, while many retailers only go to a couple.
Julie Isley says being a family helps. “We are more personable, and willing to help. If we don’t
know the answer, we try to find it.”
And while there is no coal heater in the store these days, the family has kept some remnants of
the past.
They sell more furniture than hardware, but keep the hardware around to carry on tradition. The
store even still sells nails individually.
The pair also say their daughters help bring in new ideas. Katie Isley, 19, is a student at
Greensboro College and Jodie Isley, 16, goes to Eastern Guilford High School.
The girls, just like their mother before them, spent much of their childhood amid the couches,
tables and colorful displays.
Before they were old enough to work, the girls “would walk around and pick out everything for our
houses when we grew up,” Jodie says.
They still help pick out furniture for the store. This summer, Katie and Jodie Isley got to go to a
Charlotte furniture market with their parents. Joel Isley says, because of the girls’ background,
“they appreciate furniture.”
At a sleepover many years ago, Katie Isley was appalled when another girl put her wet glass on a
table, Julie Isley says.
She doesn’t know if the girls will eventually run the store — “time will tell,” she says. But Julie and Joel Isley say they don’t plan to retire anytime soon.
Adrienne Owens can be reached at adrienne_owens@link.freedom.com96
Keeping furniture in the family
By Adrienne Owens Times-News
GIBSONVILLE — There was a time when people in town would gather around a coal heater inside
Boone Furniture and Hardware in Gibsonville, talking and shopping until late in the evening, Julie
Isley says.
Isley wasn’t around back then, but she can be sure someone in her family was.
Turner Boone, Isley’s grandfather, bought the store as a young man in 1915. Her grandmother,
Ruth, worked with him and retired at 83.
After Turner died, Ruth ran the store along with Isley’s father, Keith Boone, and an uncle.
Isley remembers going with her father on courtesy collection routes when she was a kid. They
delivered furniture on Saturdays to customers in eastern Guilford County.
She continued the service herself until just a few years ago.
Today, Isley and her husband, Joel Isley, own the store.
While many independently owned stores across America are finding it impossible to compete with
retail giants, Joel Isley says their store is running “full steam ahead.”
In order to stay competitive, the couple attends about five furniture markets a year to do
competitive shopping, while many retailers only go to a couple.
Julie Isley says being a family helps. “We are more personable, and willing to help. If we don’t
know the answer, we try to find it.”
And while there is no coal heater in the store these days, the family has kept some remnants of
the past.
They sell more furniture than hardware, but keep the hardware around to carry on tradition. The
store even still sells nails individually.
The pair also say their daughters help bring in new ideas. Katie Isley, 19, is a student at
Greensboro College and Jodie Isley, 16, goes to Eastern Guilford High School.
The girls, just like their mother before them, spent much of their childhood amid the couches,
tables and colorful displays.
Before they were old enough to work, the girls “would walk around and pick out everything for our
houses when we grew up,” Jodie says.
They still help pick out furniture for the store. This summer, Katie and Jodie Isley got to go to a
Charlotte furniture market with their parents. Joel Isley says, because of the girls’ background,
“they appreciate furniture.”
At a sleepover many years ago, Katie Isley was appalled when another girl put her wet glass on a
table, Julie Isley says.
She doesn’t know if the girls will eventually run the store — “time will tell,” she says. But Julie and Joel Isley say they don’t plan to retire anytime soon.
Adrienne Owens can be reached at adrienne_owens@link.freedom.com96