OCTOBER 2020 | Your Community. Your Neighbors. Your Story.
EXCELLENCE IN ARTS
LEGEND AWARD
DISTINGUISHED POLICE OFFICER
INSPIRING COACH
VETERAN SERVICE AWARD
OUTSTANDING FIREFIGHTER
And the winners are...
RISING STAR
SPIRIT OF THE COUNTY
DYNAMIC ENTREPRENEUR
BEST HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL
NONPROFIT OF THE YEAR
EXEMPLARY VOLUNTEER
ON THE COVER OCTOBER 2020 | Your Community. Your Neighbors. Your Story.
EXCELLENCE IN ARTS
INSPIRING COACH
VETERAN SERVICE AWARD
OUTSTANDING FIREFIGHTER
And the winners are...
LEGEND AWARD
DISTINGUISHED POLICE OFFICER
RISING STAR
SPIRIT OF THE COUNTY
DYNAMIC ENTREPRENEUR
BEST HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL
NONPROFIT OF THE YEAR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcing the 2020 winners of Johnston Now Honors.
EXEMPLARY VOLUNTEER
YOUR JNOW
TEAM Volume 4, Number 11
A Shandy Communications, LLC publication
Publisher Randy Capps
randy@johnstonnow.com
General Manager
Shanna Capps shanna@johnstonnow.com
Creative Consultant Ethan Capps
Advertising Manager Irene Brooks
8-35
Office Manager Katie Crowder
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919-980-5522 www.johnstonnow.com Facebook.com/JohnstonNow 1300 W. Market Street, Smithfield, N.C. 27577 Johnston Now Magazine is a monthly publication of Shandy Communications, LLC for our Johnston County neighbors. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written consent by the publisher. Advertisers take sole responsibility for the validity of their advertisement. ©2020 Johnston Now. All rights reserved.
4 | JOHNSTON NOW
On the cover, clockwise from top left: William Strickland, Andy Borland, Devell “Bo” Durham, Joseph Fiorella, Stephanie Tedder Keene, Joey Powell (Me Fine Foundation), Matthew Cornett, Blake Gotliffe, Chris Johnson, Abby Stephens, Brian O’Branovich and Flora Grantham. We hope you enjoy reading about this year’s Johnston Now Honors award winners. Check our website, www.johnstonnow.com, or www.Facebook.com/JohnstonNow to watch the virtual awards ceremony and hear the acceptance speeches of each of our honorees!
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Johnston Now Honors goes virtual In a year in which time has lost its normal meaning, perhaps it’s not really all that strange that we’re celebrating Johnston Now Honors, presented by our friends at Johnston Health, in October instead of July. Tell me if you’ve heard this before: We had big plans for 2020. We had grand visions of gathering at the Clayton Center, rolling out the red carpet and shining a positive light on these 12 deserving individuals. Well, we kicked the can as long as we could. But it doesn’t look like four or five hundred of us are going to be hanging out together indoors anytime soon.
So, in our usual fashion, we decided to improvise. The magazine looks very much like it always has for Honors. We have a feature story and photos on each winner, and I lament the fact that I only had 900 words or so to write about some of our winners. What will look different is the awards ceremony. We asked our winners to record acceptance speeches, and our award sponsors graciously agreed to record introductions for them as well. If you visit www.johnstonnow.com or our Facebook page, you’ll find a link to the awards video we put together. It’s the closest thing we can get to an awards ceremony right now. On the
bright side, everyone still got a cool trophy. We know it’s not a perfect solution, but it’s RANDY CAPPS one that helps us randy@johnstonnow.com stay in line with CDC guidelines. This year, that’s really all you can ask for. We look forward to — at some point — honoring this year’s class with a VIP reception, and, of course, we all have our fingers crossed for 2021. Until then, join me in congratulating this year’s honorees.
OCTOBER 2020 | 5
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Excellence in Arts
William Strickland
Selma artist has creative influence all over Johnston County By Randy Capps
It’s humbling for an artist to see his or her work be recognized, and the fact that William Strickland already has his artistic fingerprints all over Johnston County didn’t dampen his enthusiasm when he was told that he’d be receiving the 2020 Johnston Now Honors Excellence in Arts award. “When I found out about this, it really meant a lot to me,” he said. “Because I work by myself, I’m never going to get real estate agent of the year for a company or whatever. I’m always in paint clothes. Sometimes, people treat you a little differently and you feel a little differently. So, to get this, I felt like was a whisper that I’m doing the right thing. That’s why it’s exciting.” As is the case with most creative people, Strickland’s spark showed up early. “Ever since I was little, I’ve painted and 8 | JOHNSTON NOW
drawn,” he said. “My mother had a florist in Elm City and early on I helped out and played with spray paint and Styrofoam and had a lot of creative freedom. After high school at Fike in Wilson, I went to East Carolina for two years. I was in the art school and I loved it. My parents had divorced, and I was out of money sending myself. So, I went to Raleigh for the summer to make money.” It was during that time when he got his break. “A friend opened up a business in a strip mall,” Strickland said. “About 2,500 square feet of vanilla walls and needed me to paint vignettes. He said, ‘Do you know how to marbleize?’ And I didn’t even know what it was. He said, ‘I have a book.’ So, I started doing that. I was actually waiting tables at IHOP and Darryl’s Restaurant in Raleigh at the time. When it opened, people started asking
for work to be done. So, it kind of just happened by accident.” Even though it was a very different place in the 1980s than it is now, it still served to broaden his artistic horizons. “It was fun because I was working with all types of different people,” he said. “People that had moved to the state that were more modern and contemporary. Being from the Elm City area, people were pretty traditional. So it was nice to work with people from different parts of the country that had different palettes. “The more I do, I keep learning. ... I’m a little bit of an odd mix between an artist and a designer.” That mixture, with a dose of faith tossed in for good measure, shows up in his work.
Excellence in Arts “I’m also a Christian,” he said. “I take a lot of humble pride in pleasing people and making them happy. My hidden talent is that I can walk into a house and sense if someone’s happy. I can walk into a house and see if time has stopped. I can quickly tell if there’s been financial trouble, health issues, a divorce or unhappiness. So, I try to work for everybody. If I’m working for a castle, I try to make that castle beautiful. If I’m working for a log cabin, I make it rustic and charming. That part of what I do is quite wonderful.” His journey hasn’t been without sadness, however, as he watched his partner of 18 years fight a cancer diagnosis. “That changed my life completely,” he said. I kind of looked at things differently and felt like design has a lot of value in making people’s homes therapeutic to them.” That perspective proved invaluable when
he did design work for the SECU Hospice House at Johnston Health. “Because of Donald’s situation, I had been in the hospital a lot,” he said. “Different hospitals, waiting rooms, staying overnight. So, I kind of knew what patients wanted. I knew they wanted to be more at home. The hospice job that I got was a little bit of grace because I was in grief at the time. I was working in a place where people were going through transitions, and I kind of knew what they wanted and what they needed. They wanted to be at home, so I tried to make the hospice house a little bit like a fictional grandmother’s house that you would go to.” If you’ve ever spent any time at Dewayne’s, you’ve seen some more of Strickland’s vision come to life. “They were doing the women’s boutique,” he said. “What’s so funny is that I’m
not really into fashion, but most of my clients have been women and I kind of understand what women like. So I decided to do dogwoods against black and to do it kind of Southern. That led to more and more. Dewayne and Tina (Lee) are really good friends of mine. I think a lot of them, and they give me a lot freedom. (They have) a lot of faith in me.” His advice to aspiring artists is simple: Share your passion. “Artist is the only profession they put starving in front of,” he said. “So, that is one thing. The other thing is I feel like writers, artists, dancers, they’re given a gift. When I meet young people, (I tell them) if it’s your passion, that’s where you’re going to find the most happiness. If you really are an artist, and you really are creative, you have to listen to that inner voice. When you have a gift, I think you have to share it, somehow, some way.”
OCTOBER 2020 | 9
Inspiring Coach
Andy Borland
Coach award winner uses empathy to reach his students By Randy Capps
For many people, the word “coach” conjures up memories of playing a sport or maybe getting a nugget of wisdom that one carries forever. Sometimes, that coach is someone who knows what you’re going through and tries to find ways to help you be successful. Andy Borland is doing a little bit of both, and for that, he has earned the 2020 Johnston Now Honors Inspiring Coach award. Borland, a Florida native who spent most of his formative years in New York, graduated from Clayton High School in 2013. And like many newly minted high school graduates, he was looking to earn a little extra money. “I had a little bit of experience when I was younger, maybe 11 years old, doing 10 | JOHNSTON NOW
taekwondo,” he said of his martial arts experience. “I didn’t stick with it all that long. But my passion for martial arts actually came after I got the job at Revolution (Modern Martial Arts), oddly enough. Most people in this industry, they start martial arts when they’re young kids, they stay with it and they eventually run a school or something like that. But it started as a typical 18-year-old looking for a job. I was recommended to go see Scot (Schwichow, the owner), went over there and ended up falling in love with it — working with the kids and martial arts in general. I trained just about every night I was there and just fell in love with it.” As a former lacrosse player and martial arts student, he knew he had an affinity for athletics. Finding out he had an interest in coaching young people was unexpected. “Honestly, it was kind of a surprise for
me, too,” he said. “It’s one of those things where the passion finds you. Coming up as a teenager, I was the typical, ‘aw, kids are annoying.’ But then getting into Revolution and seeing the kids progress and having those moments of pride in what they’re doing. (Seeing them) achieving things that they didn’t think they could do before. It’s just such an awesome feeling, and to be a part of that is just really, really special. I guess it just hooked me in.” It takes different approaches to reach the younger students than it does to get through to teenagers, and a good coach finds a way to do both. “It all comes down to what motivates them, really,” he said. “With a 3-yearold, pretty much everything is exciting. Everything is a lot of fun. So if you can make whatever you’re trying to teach them exciting and fun, they’ll usually stick
Inspiring Coach with it. With that age group, we try to present things as a game. If you run over here and punch a target five times, you get five points. “Now, with a 14-year-old, their motivations are a little bit more social. That’s when they get to the age where they start to care more about what people think of them and things like that. So you have to kind of go at it at the angle of, ‘Well, if you want to have a lot of friends, be successful, do well in school,’ things like that. That’s how we motivate them. Things like team games work well with them. If you can make it more social, they engage a lot better.” There are plenty of ways for kids of all ages to participate in extra curricular activities, but Borland believes that
studying martial arts has unique benefits. “For one, unless you decide to go into the lane of competition martial arts, there’s really no winning or losing in it,” he said. “Some kids live for that. Some are extremely competitive. I’m extremely competitive myself, so I get that. But in a team sport, whether or not you do your best, if the team loses, it’s always a bad feeling. Where in martial arts, you come in, do your best and you leave at the end of the night feeling good about yourself. “At Revolution, we really try to focus on the life skills most. Most parents, that’s what they’re looking for. Most parents aren’t coming in saying, ‘I want my kid to be an Olympic gold medalist.’ Most kids need discipline, focus or some kind of
confidence boost and martial arts can be really good for that. “It’s just cool to feel like a Power Ranger, too. You can do the awesome punches and kicks and all that.” The most important thing to Borland, however, is his relationships with his students. “To me, I’m not doing anything crazy,” he said of winning this award. “I think the only thing about it is that I try to think about things from a kid’s perspective. As an adult, with all of the stresses that come with adulthood, taxes and things like that, it’s really easy to forget what it was like to be 8 years old. So I try my best to put myself in their shoes, so I can work with them and build a rapport with them.”
OCTOBER 2020 | 11
Dynamic Entrepreneur
Blake Gotliffe
Smithfield restaurant owner quickly shifts gears during pandemic By Randy Capps
Being a small business owner is a roller coaster ride in the best of times. Being one in the midst of a global pandemic is like riding Space Mountain without a seat belt. Blake Gotliffe, of Under the Oak Restaurant and Catering, has been hanging on with both hands in 2020, and that determination has earned him the 2020 Johnston Now Honors Dynamic Entrepreneur award. When the first executive order came down in March, Gotliffe found himself in need of a Plan B. “We immediately made a big change back when they shut down restaurants,” he said. “Given our style of food, we relied a lot on destination diners that come from Clayton and Raleigh, not necessarily just Smithfield. When everything shut down, I knew that take out wasn’t going to be a viable option for us. 12 | JOHNSTON NOW
“So we switched over to doing a prepared meal service, which I started my business doing four years ago — cooking for a few families in Raleigh. Cooking their weekly meals. It just so happens that I still had it on my website. It was just kind of hidden in a menu. I just updated that, changed some things and it was ready to go in a few days. “It’s not your everyday prepackaged meal that you’d get in the grocery store. Right now, we offer two really big grilled pork chops with the jalapeno peach chutney. The menu’s changing with the season, so before, we did our bacon bourbon sauce with it. We have a stuffed meatloaf, which is grass-fed beef and Italian sausage stuffed with mushrooms and provolone cheese. It has a marinara sauce and romano cheese on top, like an Italian-style meatloaf.” There are also vegetarian options, hibachi and much more. Even with the good response and wide selection, another
solution was required at the end of May. “(The meal service) went really well,” he said. “We had tremendous support from our regulars in the community. As restaurants were able to slowly reopen, it started dropping off a little bit. But, at the same time, you started seeing all the food supply issues nationwide. Given that 90% of our ingredients are from North Carolina and small farms, that didn’t really affect us at all. “We were able to continue to provide fresh produce, pasteurized meats, chicken — everything you couldn’t find in stores I could still get from the small local farmers.” In addition to his culinary talents, Gotliffe is also a trained butcher. That allows him to offer steaks, beef, chicken, pork and top-quality deli meats. While pivoting to and from various aspects of his business plan, Under the
Dynamic Entrepreneur Oak Restaurant and Catering also took time to help combat food insecurity for school children in Smithfield. “It’s always been a passion of mine to give back to the community where I can,” Gotliffe said. “With school lunches providing so much food for low-income families that literally rely on that to eat, I saw a need there where I thought I could help out. With our grocery option, we started with you buy one meal and we provide four. We take the money from a person buying one meal, and we produce four of them and give them to families in need. We hooked up with a liaison at West and South Smithfield Elementary Schools, so she worked directly with those families.” The restaurant, which has pretty much been closed since March, is planning to reopen for dinner this month. To get ready, Gotliffe offered some ticketed dinners, including one featuring prime rib in September.
“We wanted to kind of ease our way back into the restaurant service,” he said. “We’re allowed to reopen, but I’m trying to do it as safely as possible. With a ticketed dinner with limited seats, we know exactly who’s coming. They buy a ticket that explains all of the guidelines as far as entering the building. It seemed to me to be the safest way.
“My wife (Megan) is a large part of the business,” he said. “She does amazing desserts, and we just started offering her homemade ice creams. She’s a phenomenal pastry chef, and an extremely talented cake decorator. So, she’s got cakes, wedding cakes. Pretty much anything sweet. If you name it, she can make it.”
“We had a lot of customers who were really ready for us to reopen, and this was the way to not only do it safely, but also control our costs. There’s a lot of gambling in the restaurant business, especially in times like this when you don’t know if you’re going to be busy. You have to purchase food, you’ve got to prep it and, if you’re not busy, you’re wasting it. Doing these ticketed events, I know exactly how much to prepare, so there’s zero waste. Except for whatever I eat. I’m not complaining about prime rib.”
It’s been a team effort, but the Gotliffe family is pressing on.
It’s not all meat and veggies at Under the Oak, either.
“It’s been a lot of long hours for sure,” he said. “I feel really blessed that we had such strong support right out of the gate,” he said. “That gave me the confidence to keep it up. For a lot of people, it’s really hard when they shut down your restaurant and you’re just trying to do takeout and you’re not paying your bills. ... You put your life into that business and to then have something like that slap you in the face and slow you down, it was a few sleepless nights. A lot of questioning of myself, but I feel very fortunate that we’ve made the right decisions and kept going.”
OCTOBER 2020 | 13
Outstanding Firefighter
Joseph Fiorella
Firefighting is a family affair for Long Island native By Randy Capps
When Joe Fiorella starts talking, it doesn’t take very long to figure out that he isn’t from around here. “I do have a nickname. It’s basically Yankee, but it’s normally with another word in front of it,” he joked. Fiorella, a captain at 50-210 Fire Department in Angier and a volunteer with Elevation Fire Department, still has his New York accent and, thanks to a family tradition, a strong passion for helping others. It’s for that dedication to his comrades and service to his community that Fiorella has been selected as the 2020 Johnston Now Honors Outstanding Firefighter award winner. Growing up on Long Island, there was never much doubt that he would become a firefighter. 14 | JOHNSTON NOW
“Back in the ’80s on Long Island, there wasn’t a lot of people believe it or not,” he said. “There were like seven houses on the whole block. So the volunteer fire department, Wantaugh Fire Department, was looking for volunteers, and they needed them during the day. ... My mother, we called her Bunny, Bernadette, her and (the woman across the street) were the first female firefighters on Long Island. So, they started that trend. A little bit after that, my father joined. And I’ve been in a firehouse since then, running around and playing and everything else. My sister’s husband is on the same department, too.” While his heart might be on Long Island, circumstances dictated a change of address for Fiorella and his family. “Back when we were looking to buy a house, it was crazy on Long Island,” he said. “We decided to come down here.
My buddy had a business, and I worked for him for a week and got a paycheck. I got the paycheck, and I was able to go buy a house.” He moved to the area for good in 2005, and today, he lives in Angier with his wife, Heather. They have three children, Joseph, Samantha and Sabrina. He credits Nathan Burgess, now chief of 50-210, and Timmy Stanley for easing his transition. “When I came down here, I had knowledge of fighting fires and doing everything else,” he said. “But the administrative end of it, dealing with people and how things work in Johnston County, I started working with Timmy Stanley. We were hired together as the first full-time firefighters at 50-210. He taught me a lot on the administrative end. How things work, how the county works.”
Outstanding Firefighter As it turns out, Stanley served an even more important role. “Understand that people here in Johnston County have a different accent than I do,” Fiorella said. “Trying to understand people on the radio was hard, and people understanding me on the radio was hard, so Timmy became like a translator.” The COVID-19 pandemic has forced firefighters to adapt even more. In addition to their normal gear, firefighters have been taking extra measures, like face masks, eye protectors and personal protective equipment. “It seemed like it slowed down our patient care a little bit, getting to the patients, but it’s working out OK,” he said. “You have
to adjust and move on.” It hasn’t affected his passion for firefighting much. In fact, in addition to his full-time work at 50-210 FD, he enjoys volunteering at nearby Elevation. “I’ve been a volunteer since 1991,” he said. “I volunteered for 10 years in Long Island, and when I came here, I volunteered at 50/210 before I started working there. So, when I got hired full time, I couldn’t volunteer anymore. When we sold the house and moved into Elevation’s district, my assistant chief on Car 3 is the chief at Elevation. So, we were together from day 1. Elevation’s a good fire department. They’ve got a good group of guys, so I decided to go over there and help out.
“When volunteering is in your blood, it’s in your blood. ... You sacrifice a lot with family, but it’s one of those things.” Volunteers, Fiorella believes, are a critical part of the success of local fire departments. “People need to volunteer,” he said. “We really don’t have a lot of them anymore. Most of the departments can’t afford having career staff there, so without volunteers, it’s not really going to work out. It takes a year or so to train and get going, so (it would be good) if they can get on young and get going.” What could be better, after all, than being young and soaking up knowledge around a firehouse?
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Best Healthcare Professional
Stephanie Tedder Keene Johnston County native followed her father’s advice By Randy Capps
If you ask Stephanie Tedder Keene why she decided to become a nurse, her answer might surprise you. “Because my daddy told me to,” she said. “He was an instructor at Wilson Community College, and had a lot of nursing friends. So he thought that was the area my sister and I needed to be in, and he highly encouraged that. I actually started nursing school before I graduated from high school. I started that winter semester, like in January. He signed me up, and back in those days it wasn’t an application. It was a matter of who would go.” She went, and because of her compassion and dedication to her patients, she has earned the 2020 Johnston Now Honors award for Best Healthcare Professional. “I’m greatly honored and humbled by this award,” she said. I’m only as good as God has made me to be. He gives me that 16 | JOHNSTON NOW
strength to do what I do every day and I’m very thankful.”
comfortable with things and we know a little bit more than we did to start with.
For the last 17 years, Keene has worked at Johnston Health.
“At the wound center, we were deemed essential. Because, by seeing people we kept them out of the emergency room. We stayed about the same, as far as the number of patients are concerned.”
“It’s a great hospital to work for,” she said. “The benefits are great. I worked with Ruth Marler (chief operating officer and chief nursing officer), used to be Ruth Bailey, at Wilson hospital when I first started nursing back in the ’80s. She’s a great chief officer. It’s an honor to work there, really. I’m just blessed.” Working in the Therapeutic Wound Center, Keene has faced the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic firsthand. “It’s greatly impacted all of us,” she said. “There’s a lot of fear from day to day. More so in the beginning than now because now we’re just a little more
While wearing a mask all day has been an adjustment for Keene, the rest of the protocols are old hat. “In wound care, you have to wash your hands,” she said. “You have to take all of those precautions anyway. “We have a great team. And we work together as a team. We love those patients. We see them every week. Some of them we see two or three times a week, some we see every day. You get to know their families, and you get to know about their life.”
Best Healthcare Professional It’s that relationship with her patients that brings her joy in her profession.
worst time. When I first came in, I was very angry. I was mad at the world.’
“This morning, as a matter of fact, I had a patient that was completing a whole term of hyperbaric oxygen therapy,” she said. “It’s one of the things that we offer there, and she had just completed it. She brought us a fruit basket, and she said, ‘You guys took care of me during my
“And a lot of them are, and you have to take it from that sense. They’re not angry at you, it’s just that they’re so sick and their whole life changes. And that’s what I told her. That’s why I love my job, because I get to see you at your worst times, but then I get to see you get
better.” There are plenty of places for talented nurses to work, but as a Kenly native who’s now living in Princeton, Johnston Health is the perfect spot. “I didn’t ever want to commute to Raleigh,” she said. “I’m a hometown Johnston County girl.”
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OCTOBER 2020 | 21
Legend Award
Flora H. Grantham
From the Eastern Shore to becoming ‘a true Johnstonian,’ our Legend award winner has had quite the journey By Randy Capps
When Flora Grantham and her husband, Preston, retired, they moved back to Smithfield, his hometown. Both spent their professional lives working in cancer research, and they developed plans for a home in East Smithfield. But when Preston suddenly passed away in May 1989, Flora, a Maryland native, decided to make Johnston County her home. In the 31 years since then, Grantham has left a lasting legacy on her adopted county, and for that she has earned the 2020 Johnston Now Honors Legend Award. “I’m surprised,” she said. “I’m 22 | JOHNSTON NOW
just an ordinary person.” She’s also modest. In her career as a biological research technician at the National Cancer Institute, she received seven service awards, co-authored 36 scientific reprints with titles like “The Collagen Content of Transplanted Tumors” and earned a patent for a more humane cage for laboratory animals. In looking for ways to spend her retirement years, she picked up the Smithfield Herald and saw plenty of opportunities with the Johnston County Extension.
“I was wondering what to do after spending 32 years in cancer research,” she said. “So, I joined the extension. I got a chance to meet Bruce (Woodard) and a lot of people around here in Johnston County.”
inducted her into the 2020 Class of the Jane S. McKimmon Family and Consumer Services Hall of Fame.
Soon the North Carolina Cooperative Extension had her busy, “working from Murphy to Manteo.”
Sarah Ann Sasser and Ellen Taylor introduced her to Keep Johnston County Beautiful, and with that organization, she helped get “The Historic Architecture of Johnston County, North Carolina” published in December 2016.
She served on the North Carolina State Board of Trustees from 1993-2001, and still serves on the school’s ECA/FCS Foundation Board and the College of Agriculture Advisory Board. For that work, N.C. State
Grantham found things to do closer to home as well.
“They had started the book, but after 20 years, it hadn’t been published,” she said. “We started the Festival of Trees in order to raise enough money
Legend Award to publish that particular book. Working with them, we were able to go to Raleigh where they had all of the historical pictures and put it together. In the 10 years we did the Festival of Trees, we were able to raise more than $64,000. We had a lady come down to put it to together and Todd (Johnson, director of the Johnston County Heritage Center) and Wingate (Lassiter, former editor of the Herald and current publisher of the Smithfield Weekly Sun) were interested in the history also, so we worked together in order to get that done. So, I was a part of that. Secretary, treasurer, coordinator, researcher and I took a few
pictures. It was just the next thing to do. “My sister was a librarian, and most of us in the family had a college education. So, I like reading, traveling and doing things like that. And with 36 scientific reprints, it was easy for me.” Her interests go beyond science and history, however. She was instrumental in getting the the JoCo Quilting Program started. “I noticed when I went to Asheville and different places, traditionally you saw pictures of quilts on barns in the countryside,” she said. “My mother quilted. She was a
homemaker, and I love to quilt. So, when one of the agents came here, I said ‘Let’s do some quilting.’ In this area, I hadn’t seen the native crafts of these people published anywhere. As we began, six or seven of us, the hospice center asked us to make a quilt. They asked for fabric from (the families) of someone who was deceased from the center, and once we received that, we made a quilt. “That’s what we do. That’s our joy.” That quilt, unveiled in April 2018, honored the memory of 49 people, one of whom was Grantham’s daughter, Patricia Ann, who died 10 months
earlier. The JoCo Quilters teach 4-H members how to sew, and they produce quilts for area hospitals, the Ronald McDonald House and Project Linus. In whatever free time she has left, she enjoys baking. “I love to bake,” she said. “I was in Pillsbury Bake Off (in 1984), so in much of my time, my friends are asking for cakes and cookies and things like that. “Outreach is amazing. I consider myself a real Johnstonian now.”
OCTOBER 2020 | 23
Nonprofit of the Year
Me Fine Foundation
Me Fine Foundation helps families in crisis By Randy Capps
A couple of words from a 2-year-old battling AML leukemia and his mother’s desire to ease the burden of families facing the same challenges led to the start of the Me Fine Foundation. “Me Fine!” was Folden Lee IV’s response when anyone asked him how he was doing during his treatments, and his mother, Lori Lee, started the foundation in honor of her son’s memory in September 2004. Me Fine has touched countless lives since then, earning it the 2020 Johnston Now Honors award for Nonprofit of the Year. “She would meet a lot of 24 | JOHNSTON NOW
different families that were going through their own different medical crises,” Joey Powell, executive director of the Me Fine Foundation, said. “The thing about leukemia is, if you get a bone marrow transplant, like a lot of invasive pediatric conditions, your treatment requires you to be inpatient at a hospital for an extended period of time. Most of the time, for a pediatric bone marrow transplant, you’re looking at between six and nine months. Folden went through that a couple of times. But while you’re in these units, you’re meeting families and you’re living beside them. Because you can’t have a child in a pediatric isolated unit without a parent having to be
there all the time. So, you’re looking at families who are giving up everything because they’ve got to get their kid well. “She just felt like that’s not OK. Like hearing about a family losing their house because they can’t afford to make their payments. Because their kid is sick? In what world is that just?” While the reach and scope of Me Fine has grown beyond its roots in Princeton, the basic mission is the same. “We’ve evolved tremendously over our 16 years, but it started with her wanting to make sure families weren’t getting kicked out of their houses. We’re still
responding to what families need. We still help pay bills. That’s primarily our focus now, to help families pay for the cost of being treated. “There are two ways to look at a child’s medical crisis: There’s a cost of treatment. That’s your medical bill, doctors, treatments whatever. Then, there’s the cost of being treated. That’s everything else that changes and amasses because your child is sick, or because your child is dealing with a major trauma. And we pay those life expenses so families can try to maintain some focus and maintain some time with their kid. While the diagnosis is the great equalizer, one thing we can do is allow these families a chance to be
Nonprofit of the Year more present.” Powell, who became the foundation’s first full-time executive director in 2013, quickly learned first hand about the impact his new employer can have on families. “I left a meeting with a person, who at that point was the chief of neonatal intensive care unit at UNC, a guy by the name of Dr. Wayne Price,” he said. “I left the meeting thinking, ‘something about that guy really stuck with me.’ ... Fast forward six weeks, and my wife and I were at UNC, going for a gender reveal ultrasound for our second kid. We found out that he would be born with spina bifida, and we’d probably be spending some time in that same NICU. Two days after
that, we were in a consult in that same room with Dr. Price, learning about what it was going to be like when our son was in that unit and how we were going to navigate it. In a matter of moments, the work that I did for Me Fine, went from something that I was very passionate about, to something that is very personal to me.” Of course, the work that Me Fine does would be impossible without the generosity of the public. “The easiest way is financial,” Powell said, of ways people can give. “Because we’re primarily a check writing organization. Money we get in goes right toward what we’re doing. Mefinefoundation.
org, there are plenty of ways to give. The most impactful ways folks can give, if you’re thinking, ‘what can I, one person, do?’ Become a sustainer for our organization. “Five bucks a week. Twenty bucks a month may be heavy for some people, but that also can make the difference for a family being able to afford parking to stay overnight with their child while they’re sick. Parking is 10 bucks a day. When my kid was sick, we were in the NICU for 59 days. Do the math between two cars for 10 bucks a day, and actually, it’s gone up to 12 now. Just for us to park to see our child. “Give $5 a week or $20 a month, whatever you feel
comfortable with. It makes a real impact. As somebody’s who has walked that road, I can tell you that it means something.” The Second Hope Shop, on U.S. 70 East in Princeton, is another way people can help fund the organization’s cause. Through donations and sales, the store generates about 20 percent of Me Fine’s annual revenue. Me Fine also has a virtual fundraiser planned for this month. Comfy for a Cause: A Night at Home with Me Fine on Oct. 16 will feature music, celebrity appearances and a live auction in an effort to meet the foundation’s revenue needs. To learn more about the Me Fine Foundation, visit www.mefinefoundation. org.
OCTOBER 2020 | 25
Distinguished Police Officer
Brian O’Branovich
Police lieutenant relishes serving in, being part of community By Randy Capps
As a young man, Brian O’Branovich knew he wanted to serve. He just wasn’t sure how. “I wanted to go into the military at a young age, but that didn’t work out for me because of a football injury,” he said. “I wound up getting into loss prevention and doing security. That made me ultimately decide to get into law enforcement.” For the last 16 years he’s served various roles for the Smithfield Police Department. And for that work, he earned the 2020 Johnston Now Honors Distinguished Police Officer award. “You don’t do it for rewards or recognition,” he said of the honor. “You do it because it’s the right thing to do. As an officer, you want to make sure you’re out there doing the right thing as a professional and representing your agency as well as the town.” 26 | JOHNSTON NOW
He began his career with the Crabtree Valley Special Police Department, working as a security guard. The CVSPD helped him cultivate his interest in law enforcement, and also paid for him to attend Basic Law Enforcement Training.
O’Branovich, it’s not a common Johnston County last name. Everybody calls me “OB,” and that’s how I’m known here.”
He joined the Smithfield Police Department in 2004, and the rest is history.
He’s not the only O’Branovich in town, however. He lives there with his wife, Jamie, and three sons. They also own and operate Salon 29:11 & Day Spa, named for a passage from the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, verses 11-13, which reads:
“I was 24 when I started here,” he said. “Now that I’m 40, I have matured with this community. I’ve been very fortunate. Smithfield’s been very good to me. I’ve had opportunities to go to the City of Raleigh and bigger agencies. I really didn’t want to be just a number.
“For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
“I wanted to make myself known in a community and strive to help people. The good Lord has provided an opportunity for me to be here in Smithfield, and I’m focused on being in Smithfield. People know me as me. With a last name like
“I love the fact that it’s all local, and we’re making this community home,” he said of his family’s roots in Smithfield. He started in SPD as a patrol officer. He has since been promoted to detective,
Distinguished Police Officer patrol sergeant and, in 2015, lieutenant. “I’ve grown through the ranks,” he said. “I started from the bottom and I’m working my way up. I’ve just found Smithfield to be home. I’m very proud to be here.” Even after a trying summer for some of his fellow police officers, it’s still a job O’Branovich is passionate about. “The climate nowadays is tough,” he said. “You truly have to be called to do this job. It’s one of those
professions that’s not easy. We deal with hardships on a regular basis. I try to mentor the younger guys who are trying to get into this, but they truly have to want it in their heart. It’s not something you do for the money. It’s something you do because you want to help people. “This is a job I do. I take this uniform off at the end of the night. I am a person. I’m Brian. I have true compassion for what I do as a professional in this field, but I have a family. I focus on treating everybody the same and trying to do the right thing.”
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OCTOBER 2020 | 27
Rising Star
Abby Stephens
Rising Star award winner still has her heart set on Nashville By Randy Capps
When Abby Stephens appeared on the cover of Johnston Now magazine in May 2018, our annual awards program was still in the process of being created. But it’s unlikely that anyone has been a more fitting recipient of the 2020 Johnston Now Honors Rising Star award than she is. From her Clayton Idol debut, to singing on stage at the Ryman Auditorium with Kelsea Ballerini, to adding a couple of songs to her rapidly filling Apple Music page, the Benson teen is no stranger to the spotlight. Even so, the rise of COVID-19 has affected her songwriting. She prides herself on creating positive, inspirational music — and that can be tough to do these days. “That kind of put a halt on everything,” she said. “In the beginning, it was like, 28 | JOHNSTON NOW
‘Oh, I’m just going to have an early summer,’ because I was still in school. Or, ‘maybe we’ll just have a few weeks off.’ But nope. I had a bunch of free time at home. The good thing is I still had the resources at home to keep making music, keep rehearsing, things like that. “I found it hard to stay motivated. Sitting at home all day, every day. Yes, you have plenty of time, but the inspiration you get from being around other people, being around other events, doesn’t come easily for me when I’m sitting at home. I would find myself walking around the house, thinking, ‘something jump out at me. I need to write something, but I need it to pop out at me.’” Another casualty of the pandemic was the frequent trips to Nashville, where she would immerse herself in the music scene. She returned there recently, and it was a memorable trip for a couple of different reasons.
“Seeing downtown being empty was crazy to me,” she said. “When we went a month ago, we toured (Belmont University),” she said. “It kind of went through my head. ‘What if I graduate early?’ ... I could just go ahead, get it out of the way and focus on my future. When we toured the college, we were amazed. It was stunning, and they offer everything I could possibly need.” The reigning Miss West Johnston is planning to graduate in December. She’s applied to Belmont, and if accepted, she’ll have to apply for its commercial music program. “It’s a series of auditions,” her mother, April Stephens, said. “We were looking forward to going in person, but unfortunately, they’re all online now. She has to send in video auditions and a portfolio. So, we’re putting together everything she’s achieved and really hoping that’s going to make a big difference in her getting accepted into the
Rising Star commercial music program. “It’s very competitive, but it seems like everything is set up so perfectly. They want her to do one classical piece, one musical piece and one commercial music piece. She can do all three of those. They want her to play the piano, she can do that. So, it’s like when they laid out the audition process, it was like check, check, check.”
If her musical exploits to date are any indication, she’ll be walking around on campus in Nashville come springtime.
guess, because we’re in such a weird time. Looking forward to something, anything, right now for me, is the best thing ever.”
“I’ve got my boxes ready,” she said. “I’m really excited for my future. I don’t want to get too excited for college or after college because I don’t know how things are going to lay out. But the unknown is kind of making me happy right now, I
Or, as she put it in one of her newer songs, “Dreamer:” “Dreamer, dreamer. Follow where your heart may lead. Go be who you need to be.”
OCTOBER 2020 | 29
Spirit of the County
Chris Johnson Honoree helps Johnston County put its best foot forward By Randy Capps
If you’ve ever met him, you don’t have to know Chris Johnson’s job title to know that he’s passionate about Johnston County. It’s a pretty good trait for the executive director of the Johnston County Economic Development Office to have, and it’s that passion and his dedication to promoting our community that has earned him the 2020 Johnston Now Honors Spirit of the County award. “I’m very fortunate,” he said. “A job is easy when you love it, and I was very fortunate to work with the Town of Smithfield and be the Main Street manager for almost 15 years. There wasn’t a day when I didn’t get up and not enjoy it. Every day, I looked forward to getting up and going to work. The same thing applies to Johnston County and the position I’m in now.” He’s been in his current role since 2013, and his background with the Downtown Smithfield Development Corporation, and the fact that he and his wife, Kim, own Jewel’s Formals on Third Street, helps 30 | JOHNSTON NOW
him relate to small businesses as well as the major corporations. “Being a small business person, I’m out there fighting for the mom and pops just as much as I am the large corporations,” he said. You apply those same principles that I learned on Main Street. It’s all about shaking a hand, looking somebody in the eye, making promises and then delivering on those promises. It’s all about relationships.” Those personal touches are a little tougher in today’s COVID-19 climate, but the pandemic isn’t stopping Johnston County’s rapid rate of growth. With Grifols announcing a $351 million expansion in June and the recent completion of the Ashley Furniture Retail Outlet and Distribution Center in Four Oaks — not to mention the parade of new housing developments popping up around the county — it’s still full steam ahead. “Obviously, masks are the new norm,” he said. “It’s given us the chance to take a deep breath and reevaluate the things that we’re
doing,” he said. “Our office really hasn’t slowed down that much. If anything, it’s given us the chance to reflect on where we’ve missed it before, and how we can address things in today’s climate. ... We’ve been very fortunate with a lot of growth in the western part of the county, and I wake up every morning thinking about how that can be applied to the rest of the county.” One area of focus for Johnson and his office is the West Smithfield Industrial Park, and the possibilities it provides for potential new industry. “It’s close to 400 acres of available property for business growth,” he said. “The county and town have worked together to go through the certification process to make this available. For the longest time, Smithfield didn’t really have an industrial site it could offer up. … The growth is coming from Raleigh, and it’s Smithfield’s responsibility, in my opinion, to meet it in that direction.” While industry and housing are important, Johnson says that they’re only
Spirit of the County part of the puzzle. “If you’ve ever seen my presentation, I talk about the six cylinders of economic development, and I relate it to my old ’55 Chevrolet,” he said. “I talk about the home builders, medical, manufacturing, small business, travel and tourism and agriculture. All six of those need to be running and firing for the engine to run. One is not any more important than the
other. It’s trying to figure out that balance and making sure we, as a community, have those opportunities for those six cylinders to be successful in whatever capacity the community sees fit. “We may disagree on whatever it is, but hopefully people can say, ‘I don’t agree with Chris, but he loves what he does and he’s doing it for the right reasons.’”
With that mind, he’s happy to turn the wrench on Johnston County’s economic engine — and help it get off the starting line just a little faster than its competitors. “It’s easy to sell home when you’re passionate about it,” he said. “It’s always easier to talk about Grandma’s cooking. Because you love Grandma and you love everything about it. It comes naturally. I want to see the county do well.”
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OCTOBER 2020 | 31
Veteran Service Award
Devell ‘Bo’ Durham Jr.
Retired Marine still serving his fellow veterans By Randy Capps
Devell Durham Jr. retired from the Marine Corps as a sergeant major on Halloween in 2010, and while he wasn’t wearing a uniform when he walked into an office in Smithfield on a sunny summer morning, the mirror gloss shine on his dress shoes was a pretty good indication on how he might have spent his professional life.
American Legion Post 71 in Clayton and commandant of Marine Corps League Detachment 1236 in Johnston County. He’s also active in the Smithfield Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5886, the county Boy Scout programs, and is a member of the Johnston County Veterans Advisory Board to the County Board of Commissioners.
Anyone who missed that clue would be all caught up moments later when he began speaking.
“It’s important to me that veterans become part of the VA process to get what they have earned,” he said. “If I see a sticker on a car, if I see a veteran with a hat on, if I see anything that indicates that this individual may have served or is currently serving, I’ll accost them,” he said. “I’ll give them the five trick questions that don’t have an answer. They’re thought provoking. Basically, ‘Are you preparing for the future.”’
“I think it’s important that all veterans’ stories are told,” he said. “Little Johnny that’s going to be born next week is going to want to hear about his grandpa, that perhaps he’ll never get to meet.” It is that desire to help his fellow veterans that has earned him the 2020 Johnston Now Honors Veteran Service Award. Since his retirement from active duty, he has served as commander of 32 | JOHNSTON NOW
His commanding presence and a slight raspiness in his voice offers two other clues at how he might have spent some of his time in the Marine Corps.
“If I had to look back over the years and peel the onion back to say which period in my life was most profound, being a drill instructor was the most profound for me as a young man,” he said. “When you first start out as a drill instructor, technically you’re acting. ... You go to your first platoon, and the senior drill instructor says, ‘All I want you to do is this: I don’t want you to teach nothing; I just want you to stress them out. You’re the stress monster.’ Your job 24-7 is (to believe) there’s nothing that they can do right. He could jump off a building and land on both feet, and I’d say ‘You should have used your hands.’ “When you graduate that first platoon and you had the opportunity to see them in that civilian format, and what their parents took 18 and 19 years to try to do, you gut all that stuff out. I don’t care how great parents think they are, you have to gut it out. Then you pour into them what’s going to be needed on the battlefield. What’s going to be needed for
Veteran Service Award moral courage, when nobody’s looking. Those traits that perhaps they don’t have. And when you see them get on that bus to go home ... it becomes real. I just impacted the heart of a man. I just changed the heart of a man. To me, there’s no greater joy.” His own journey to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina, oddly enough, started with an appreciation for a sharp uniform. He had already decided to join the Army as a 16-year-old until a chance encounter changed the course of his life. “As I was walking out of the recruiting station on Broadway in Newburgh, New York, I saw this guy, a black guy about my height,” he said. “His name was Alexander Peace. I was 100% civilian, and I was like, ‘Yo man. Where did you get that suit from?’ And like any good recruiter, he said, ‘You can get one, too.’”
It was, of course, a blue Marine Corps uniform — one that Durham would come to know very well. “I still have mine in the closet,” he said. “It fits somebody, but not me.” While spending more than three decades in the Corps, Durham also built a family. He and his wife, Tina, have four children, Devell III, Devaughn, Alyssa and Jonathan. Helping the latter two children form an appreciation for their country was part of the reason the Durhams wound up in Johnston County. “We did everything without even looking,” he said. “I never heard of Clayton or thought of Clayton. We wanted our children to experience the ambiance of a city, but we wanted to be able to escape from the city. Our daughter had spent her first 10 years of life overseas. And my son was born in mainland Japan in 2003. So, in their minds, America was
a place you visited. And we had to keep telling them, ‘no, no. no. That’s home.’” Durham closed his visit to Smithfield by doing 21 push ups to raise awareness for veterans. Well, 22 after doing one for the Corps. And everyone in the room helped him count them off. “Sometimes we can take for granted what a veteran brings to the fight,” he said. “The fight of growing a community. The safety of a community. The moral stability of the community. “I want to be that voice. I’ve been blessed to still be able to speak, to still be able to move. I’ve been blessed to do almost 31 years of active duty. ... My children have been blessed. Because of my labor, they can go to college. I’ve been blessed, but the blessing is not for me. It’s to help somebody else.”
OCTOBER 2020 | 33
Exemplary Volunteer
Matthew Cornett
Volunteer award winner: ‘The greatest reward you can ever receive is to give’ By Randy Capps
A common refrain for volunteers is the concept that it’s better to give than to receive. It’s a simple notion, but one that drives Matthew Cornett to give back. It is for that giving spirit that he has been named 2020 Johnston Now Honors Exemplary Volunteer award. Cornett lives in Princeton with his wife, Kerin, and two children, Isabella and Lucas, a senior and freshman, respectively, at Princeton High School. Interestingly enough, he already spends his day job serving others.
the Highway Patrol,” he said. “For me, what that looks like is providing support to them as an agency. New troopers who come out, I’m there to help them through that process. Troopers who are going through life crisis, I’m there for that. Probably the most non-glorious part about it is doing death notifications when people are killed in car accidents. Which is hard.
He serves as the lead pastor for Princeton Church, and it’s a job that uniquely qualifies him for his chosen volunteer efforts.
“I know this may sound weird, but I consider it an honor to be there. To help support them. Somebody has to do it, and when you really think about it, law enforcement have to keep a certain persona as law enforcement where I’m able to be there as more of an emotional and spiritual support for people who have felt that great loss.”
“For the past three years, I have been a chaplain here in Johnston County for
Recently, when flood waters created a search and rescue situation for the
34 | JOHNSTON NOW
Johnston County Sheriff’s Department, he reached out to Sheriff Steve Bizzell to offer to help in a similar way. “That probably embodies what I do,” he said. “Just making sure that they understand that there’s people out there who are supporting them and backing them up in the middle of crises. Can you imagine being on a K9 unit and going through the basin, trying to find the bodies of two small children? It’s a difficult thing.” It can be tough, but helping people is a personal passion for Cornett. “At the end of the day, I love people,” he said. “I know a lot of people would say that, but I really feel that is a gift of mine. To be able to connect with people. To speak to people, to meet them wherever their need is at. What really drove
Exemplary Volunteer me into chaplaincy, was really several things. Number one, my best friend in high school, Jonathan Leonard, was a Kentucky statetrooper who was killed in the line of duty. Because of that, I wanted to back up law enforcement because I know what kind of sacrifice they make for our communities. Then, the other side of it for me is just imagining how hard is it to go as a trooper and say your son, your daughter or your wife of 21 years has just passed away? “It’s easy to be there for people during good times. It’s being there during bad times that really makes a difference.” It sounds simple, but Cornett believes in the power of serving others. “We need more people volunteering,” he
said. “I think what I would tell anybody is that the greatest reward you can ever receive is to give. Even the scripture says that. It’s more blessed to give than it is to receive. Emptying yourself allows more to fill up. When you don’t empty yourself, there’s no filling back up. It’s literally the most fulfilling thing you can do.” It’s a notion that he brought with him to Princeton Church when he arrived six years ago. “Every year in May, we have an event called R3 Sunday, which stands for Reach, Relate and Revive,” he said. “On a Sunday morning, we shut church down. Don’t get me wrong, when we first did that, there were people going, ‘Wait a second. That’s the Lord’s day.’
“Hear me when I say this, it’s really interesting. My goal is not to reach just Christians. There’s plenty of people that transfer from church A to church B, and you consider that church growth. I want to reach people who are looking for faith. And so, the question I asked my leadership was, ‘Who’s at home on a Sunday morning?’ People who don’t go to church. “We go out, we mow lawns in Princeton and Selma. We cut trees down, we go to nursing homes and do ministry, whether it’s singing to people or taking them cards. At Smithfield Manor, we have a center atrium that we fix up. ... Service is contagious. Getting out and loving on people is a contagious thing. I would advise people just to try it. There are tons of places to volunteer.”
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OCTOBER 2020 | 37
Johnston County’s Victors in the Pacific By Benjamin Sanderford
Air Liaison Capt. James Robert Barbour was already a veteran when he boarded a landing craft on July 21, 1944 off the coast of Guam, deep in the Pacific. The Benson native was awarded the Air Medal “for extraordinary achievement” during antisubmarine patrols in the Atlantic the previous year.
U.S. Marines and soldiers, however, were having a much more difficult time on land. The Japanese garrison contested every part of Saipan, killing and injuring many Americans. Marine Pfc. Edward P. Cunningham of Smithfield was among the wounded, shot below the hip, the bullet breaking his left leg.
He was then transferred to the Pacific, where he took part in the battle to evict Japanese forces from Eniwetok Atoll in February. The fight must have felt like a personal mission for him, considering that Japanese troops took his brother, Navy radioman Stewart Gordon Barbour, prisoner in China back in December 1941.
Nevertheless, the Japanese suffered heavier losses and it was clear by the first week of July that the island would fall. Consequently, Lt. Gen. Yoshitsugu Saitō ordered his surviving soldiers to make a final suicidal charge on July 7.
From Eniwetok, Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance moved his Fifth Fleet to the Mariana Islands, the capture of which would put Japan itself in range of American B-29 bombers. For that reason, the Japanese high command prepared for a showdown. U.S. forces made their first landing on Saipan on June 15. Four days later, hundreds of aircraft from the Japanese fleet attacked. The resulting Battle of the Philippine Sea was the largest fight between carrierborn planes in history. It was also the end of the Imperial Navy’s air arm. Worn down by attrition, most Japanese squadrons were filled with raw recruits, no match for their veteran opponents. So one-sided was the battle that American airmen dubbed it the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.” 38 | JOHNSTON NOW
After sending his men to their deaths, Saitō killed himself. Thousands of Japanese civilians on Saipan, deceived by the high command’s propaganda into believing that Americans were bloodthirsty brutes, also committed suicide. This set the pattern for the remainder of the war. Guam was the U.S. Navy’s next target. So it was that Capt. Barbour and the Marines for whom he was to arrange air support found themselves speeding into the teeth of enemy beach defenses two weeks after the conquest of Saipan. Their amphibious boat landed farther down than intended at the base of an incline. It started to climb, but then the driver saw a Japanese pill box directly in front. One blast from its gun killed most of the Marines. Barbour, badly wounded in the leg, somehow managed to crawl to a rock by
the water’s edge which he hid behind for three hours before receiving medical treatment. The last Japanese stronghold on Guam fell on Aug. 8. The Marianas were secure, but it was clear that every step towards Japan would come at great cost. While the fighting in the Central Pacific raged, Johnston County men faced an equally daunting challenge on the great island of New Guinea. Here Pvt. Marvin H. Capps of Smithfield and Pvt. Leroy Bailey of Four Oaks, along with their Australian allies, had to fight the elements as well as the Japanese. Cpl. Carl V. Creech, a ground crewman in the Army Air Corps, later described the campaign as “a long, slow process” to overcome the “jungle, mountains, tremendous heat and tropical fever.” Creech’s unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for “meritorious achievement in action,” but the Smithfield High School graduate was conscious of the price paid for victory. “I experienced many things in New Guinea, yet there were no experiences that I recall as pleasant,” he said. Then, referring to the friends killed there, he added, “I can’t forget them.” By the end of summer 1944, reeling from defeats at Biak, Noemfoor and Aitape, the Japanese forces in and around New Guinea were crippled.
For his contribution in these and seven other engagements, Coast Guard Seaman Herbert Aycock of Micro won a commendation from General Douglas MacArthur. Now, MacArthur believed, he could avenge the 1942 loss of the Philippines, the worst military defeat in American history. Fortunately, there were sound strategic reasons for reclaiming the islands. In particular, they sat next to the sea lanes from Japan to resource-rich occupied Southeast Asia. U.S. forces landed at Leyte Gulf on Oct. 20, 1944. Once again, the Japanese admirals reacted with a desperate attack. The Imperial Navy’s nearly empty remaining carriers would draw the U.S. ships out of position while two battleship groups converged on Leyte Gulf. Success would depend on closing with the Americans. The U.S. Navy lost several ships in the resulting battle, including the light carrier USS Princeton, fatally damaged on Oct. 24 by a land-based Japanese divebomber, forcing Oscar Bernice Grice of Selma to abandon ship. Grice, who had also survived the destruction of the USS Hornet in 1942, was cited for “meritorious conduct.” Nevertheless, 28 Japanese ships were destroyed, most notably the super battleship Musashi. The Imperial Navy, badly hit at the Philippine Sea, was now a spent force.
The Imperial Army, however, still had some fight left. It took until Feb. 3, 1945 for the Americans to reach the Philippine capital, Manila. Once there, they faced weeks of bitter street fighting. Much of the city was destroyed, and many civilians were slaughtered by the Japanese, but the battle was won by March 3. Army Pfc. Jesse B. Daughtry of Smithfield showed exceptional bravery when he and another soldier established communications between the platoons of their company by unrolling some wire across a street within sight of the enemy. Already a recipient of the Combat Infantryman Badge for his “exemplary conduct in combat” on the island of Bougainville in January 1944, Daughtry was given the Bronze Star for his gallantry at Manila. The Second Philippine Campaign would continue until the end of the war. Talmadge “Cole” Sanders would be killed when his ship, the USS Underhill, fell prey to an enemy torpedo in Manila Bay on July 24, 1945. But the damage to Japan’s position was done. While the Americans were overwhelming Japan’s island garrisons, the bulk of the Imperial Army was bogged down on the Asian mainland. They were opposed by Johnstonians there too. Flight Officer Alvin V. Boykin of Kenly was stationed with a transport unit tasked with ferrying equipment to the Chinese, who had lost millions of their citizens to Japanese atrocities. He also made flights to
Burma, where a BritishIndian army battled to push the invaders back. Meanwhile, American submarines prowled the sea, making it impossible for the Japanese to ship raw materials back to the home islands. As early as 1943, Ensign Ben Grimes reported while on leave to the Smithfield Kiwanis Club that “77 percent” of sinkings were due to submarines. Japan was being strangled. Simultaneously, U.S. bombers in the Marianas were pounding Japanese cities. The death toll was sobering, 100,000 civilians died during a March 10, 1945, raid on Tokyo alone. Sadly, this did not convince the Japanese government to surrender. U.S. leaders began preparations to invade the home islands.
by the Japanese military authorities. Afraid that an invasion of Japan itself would cost the U.S. unacceptable losses, President Harry S Truman gave the controversial order to drop two brand new atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9). They are still recovering today.
In reaction to this horrifying destruction and the Soviet Union’s declaration of war on his country, Emperor Hirohito called on his subjects to surrender on Aug. 15. Johnston County servicemen breathed a sigh of relief. The nightmare of world war was over. Benjamin Sanderford, a resident of Clayton, studied social science at UNC Greensboro. He can be reached at benwsanderford@gmail.com.
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Marines landed on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19 expecting to clear the island in three days. It took a full month instead, despite the Feb. 23 raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi, famously photographed by Joe Rosenthal. James Paul “Dick” Gardner of Smithfield was among 6,800 American fatalities. Nearly 18,500 of the 21,000 Japanese defenders also died. These figures paled beside the losses on Okinawa. The fighting there (April 1 – June 22) claimed 80,000 U.S. casualties, including Marine Private Roy Godwin of Benson, killed on April 15. Some 100,000 Japanese soldiers perished along with another 100,000 Okinawan civilians, many of whom were forced to kill themselves October 2020 | 39
DeVan Barbour represented North Carolina on the credentials committee and as a voting delegate on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Charlotte last month.
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Clayton American Legion Post 71, the Post Auxiliary and Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q recently hosted a lunch for 50 homeless veterans at Hull’s Landing. Following a prayer by the Post chaplain, members of the Post, the Auxiliary and the district commander served up the luncheon. Social distancing and mask requirements of COVID-19 were followed by the servers and recipients. The luncheon was organized by Missy Hatley at COSA, Post Commander Jerry Hill and Ngiare Hubbard from Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q in Clayton. Pictured are Post 71 members Troy Alcorn, Mac McCorkle, Sal Pilo, Al Cotham, Larry Tice, Paul Papineau, Jerry Hill, Vinny Czepiel, Mel Stanberry, Sharon Neville and Bull Durham.
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