I am Cousin Valarie Spaulding Little. It is an honor to have this opportunity to pay Special Tribute to our late Cousin Carolyn Hobson, who passed in May of this year.  I have been asked to share with you all, a brief over view of how our specific Family Crest came about and the significance of the pictures included in its design by Carolyn.  

Back in 1985, my father, Mr. John A. Spaulding, had seen an advertisement on TV for ordering your own family’s Crest.   He ordered one, but when it came, it looked rather plain and very British in Style.  
 

 Some years later, when we were involved in making plans to host the 1988 Family Reunion in our hometown of Greensboro, NC, my Dad introduced me to Cousin Carolyn.   I had been asked to develop our Reunion Souvenir Booklet and Cousin Carolyn had volunteered to share her Graphic Artist expertise with us.   She and I became the best of Cousin Friends, often staying on the phone, discussing various ideas and mailing different samples back & forth to each other.   After some months of this, we came up with the 1988 Reunion Souvenir Booklet Layout, but most importantly the BEGINNING IDEA for our Own Distinct SPAULDING DESCENDANTS FAMILY CREST. 
 

In our Crest design, we used the same shape as the British Spaulding Crest Design. However, we wanted to use graphic pictorial designs of things that would be more significant and meaningful to Benjamin and Edith’s Descendants Roots 1773-1862, starting out in the Farmers Union Community, Columbus County, NC.   

The design ideas were built from the home base of Columbus County, NC.  Carolyn & I tried to highlight a few of the things most important to our family’s Heritage.  The drawings used were to depict various items in our Family History.  For example:  The Bible/praying hands symbolize our strong Faith in God & Prayer, as well as the importance of education and reading.  

The various Industries family members made a living from, land & business ownership were represented by- farming/ the tractor, corn & grit mills, distilled turpentine & insurance-depicted by the initials NCM, & the North Carolina Mutual building pictures.
  
I would like to close, by reading excerpts from two letters Carolyn wrote me, in which I feel she shares best, the significance we both had in mind with the SPAULDING DESCENDANTS FAMILY CREST DESIGN:  [April 1988] She wrote and I quote  “I wanted to design some good artwork to be used at this reunion & future reunions.  To design a piece that would be very significant to our family history and truly portray our heritage.  

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions or modifications to what I have sent you. Please call me after you have reviewed the new pieces.  Love Cousin Carolyn”   As you can see by Carolyn’s letters, it is our Hope that for years to come, WHENEVER we see our Spaulding Family Crest Coat of Arms Logo, it will be seen as a Symbol of FAMILY PRIDE AND UNITY, in the SPAULDING FAMILY HERITAGE LEGARY.   

Thank you.