In honor of his parents, Dr. George Mackie and Kathleen Mackie Lake, Jim Mackie and his wife Clare donated the home at 340 North Main Street to the Wake Forest Historical Museum. This generous gift, announced on September 17, 2010, was accompanied by a $50,000 donation to help the museum in its quest to preserve and share the history of Wake Forest.
Wake Forest and its history have always been important to the Mackies. George Mackie spent his career caring for the residents of Wake Forest while also teaching at the Wake Forest College Medical School and later embracing the people and mission of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Kathleen Mackie Lake, who married former Wake Forest College law professor I. Beverly Lake, Sr. following Dr. Mackie’s death in 1969, was famous for driving her exhausted husband on housecalls and for her deep commitment to the community as a member of many civic organizations and a founding member of the Wake Forest College Birthplace Society.
The donated house has belonged to the Mackie family for more than half a century. Once the home of Wake Forest College law professor N. Y. Gulley, it was later renovated into a working medical office where Dr. Mackie saw hundreds of patients in his role as town doctor throughout the 50s and 60s. The first floor still boasts an impressive array of exam rooms, lab areas and even a facility for taking x-rays. Four separate apartments fill the second floor… a space where students and teachers have roomed while attending college and seminary.
This is a wonderful gift that will help the museum immeasurably. All associated wtih the museum and the Wake Forest College Birthplace Society offer a sincere and heartfelt thanks to Jim and Clare Mackie for their kindness and generosity.