One of these, Dr. Walter Lee Colson, was born on the farm in Anson County, on May 17, 1885. His father Jere Colson was a farmer and passed away in 1908. His mother, who still lives (1922) was, before her marriage Tabith Lilly.
Young Colson pursued his elementary studies in the public schools of Anson County, and as a boy engaged in the sports and did the work on the farm which a boy in the South usually does.
Rather early in life he came under the inspiration of his parents ambitions for an education. Of course, the way was not easy, but the boy was never afraid to work. He spent one year at the celebrated Congregational School at Bricks, near Enfield, N. C., after which he attended Kittrell Colloge four years. When ready for his dental course he matriculated at Howard University and won his D. D. S. degree from that institution in 1911. He had earned the money for his course largely by work on the boats out of New York during summer vacations. Following his graduation, he practiced for eleven months at Wilmington and went from there to Clarksburg, W. Va., for a year. At the end of that time he moved to Keystone where he has since resided and has built a practice that would be a credit to a man twice his age. In politics Dr. Colson is a Republican and is vice-president of the local Republican organization. He is an active member and a trustee of the A. M. E. Church. He is a member of the local Flat Top and the State and National Medical and Dental Societies.
Familiar with conditions in the city and in the rural districts, Dr. Colson believes that the greatest single need of the race as a whole is education. He has property interests in both North Carolina and in West Virginia.