No monument, statue, tablet, painting, or other article or  structure of a permanent nature intended primarily to commemorate any  person or persons shall be purchased from State funds or shall be placed in or upon or allowed to extend over State property within 25 years after the death of the person or persons so commemorated: Provided, nevertheless, that nothing in this Article shall be interpreted as prohibiting the acceptance of funds by State agencies or institutions from individuals or societies who wish to commemorate some person or persons by providing funds for educational, health, charitable, or other useful work. The agency or institution to which such funds are offered for memorial enterprises shall exercise its discretion as to the acceptance and expenditure of such funds. Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted as prohibiting the erection on the lands of the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park an appropriate tablet or plaque honoring the life and memory of the late Lionel Weil of Wayne County. Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted as prohibiting the erection on the lands of the Morrow Mountain State Park an appropriate tablet or plaque honoring the life and memory of the late James McKnight Morrow of Stanly County. Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted as prohibiting the erection on the lands of the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park an appropriate tablet or plaque, of such size and containing such language, as may be agreed upon by the donors and Director of State Parks, honoring the Whitfield heirs for their contributions to the establishment of the said park. (1941, c. 341, s. 8; 1957, c. 181; 1961, c. 976; 1963, c. 1128; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1306, s. 4.)