Frances Gray Patton

Another successful writer associated with Koch was Frances Gray Patton. The daughter of a journalist, she was born and raised in Raleigh and attended Carolina, where she was an active member of the Carolina Playmakers. She taught creative writing at the university for many years. Primarily a short story writer, she focused on ordinary people in southern small towns. Her best known work was the novel Good Morning, Miss Dove, which she expanded from a short story titled "The Terrible Miss Dove." It tells the story of an eccentric North Carolina schoolteacher and her students. In 1955, it became a popular Hollywood movie of the same name.