Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

GATESVILLE – The man hailed as the “oldest rat in the Democratic barn” will be remembered during a ceremony here later this month.

The Gates County Historical Society will sponsor and host the unveiling and dedication of the State Historic Highway Marker for Thad Eure on Saturday, Sept. 28. The unveiling of the marker and pictures with family members and other special guests will take place at 2 p.m. at the intersection of Hwy 158 and White Oak Road.

Eure, born in Gates County on Nov. 15, 1899, holds the record for longest tenure as an elected official in the United States, serving as North Carolina Secretary of State from 1936 to 1989. He died at the age of 93 on July 21, 1993.

Eure was the son of the Tazewell Augustus Eure and Armecia Langston Eure. A farmer, Tazewell Eure was in the first graduating class at North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College (now North Carolina State University) and served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1925–1927.

Thad was the oldest of five Eure children. He grew up on an 80-acre farm that grew cotton, corn, and peanuts. He graduated valedictorian from the now-closed Gatesville High School in 1917.

He attended the University of North Carolina where he was a member of the Theta Chi Fraternity. He left UNC to serve in the Army during World War I, returning to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to attend the University of North Carolina Law School, graduating in 1922.

Prior to his service as secretary of state, Eure served as mayor of Winton at age 27 followed by an elected term in the North Carolina House of Representatives.