John Milton Gold was born on this day in 1908, in Cleveland County, to John M. and Mary Putnam Gold.
He attended Shelby High School, where he was a star football player. He also attended Oak Ridge Military Institute and Wake Forest College.
He married Jane Irvin in 1935.
He briefly played minor league baseball in Goldsboro, then he worked for the Highway Patrol. He worked as chief of police in Reidsville, and then he joined the State Bureau of Investigation.
Gold became an agent with the FBI, serving in Winston-Salem, then took the position as the city’s police chief from 1944 to 1950.
Gold became the city manager in 1951 and served for 21 years. He passed away while in office in 1972.
Photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
