Farewell to Laura, Welcome Carlo

Thank you, Laura, for 15+ years!

It’s with mixed emotions that we bid farewell to our long-term team member, Laura Reneer. Laura started working for PS Communications in 2008, first as our office manager and then for the last several years as our marketing manager. This past week she turned over the reins as she embraces a new chapter in life that will afford her more flexibility to travel, camp, garden, spend time with her husband, Dave, and embark on other life adventures.

Laura’s husband recently retired from corporate life and started his own small job/ home repair business. “Apparently I am his trusty sidekick!” Laura said. “We work well together and are looking forward to this new part-time, flexible-schedule adventure!”

In the 15+ years that Laura worked with us, I received nothing but positive feedback on her level of customer service, her attitude, and her willingness to help our readers and our advertisers in any way she could. She hails from the St. Louis area and has the calm level-headedness of a true mid-Westerner. She enjoys watching baseball and especially loves her St. Louis Cardinals, enjoys camping and riding motorcycles (in fact, after riding on the back of Dave’s Harley during many road trips, about five years ago, while representing our company at an event held in the local Harley-Davidson showroom, she spotted a beautiful red and white Harley on the showroom floor and later mentioned it to Dave. That Harley ended up being her birthday present and she rides it like a champ!).

We can’t thank Laura enough for the many ways she has contributed to our team. Selfishly, we would love for her to have stayed with us longer, but although we will miss her greatly, we’re happy for her as she heads down a new path. And, it’s at least a small consolation that we know she’ll continue to be a reader of our publications and one of our biggest cheerleaders!

Patti Stokes, PS Communications president

Welcome, Carlo Gagliardo

Carlo Gagliardo is a lifelong resident of northwest Guilford County and a long-time, avid reader of the Northwest Observer. He lives in Oak Ridge with his wife, Alex, and their two children, Will and Olivia.

“It is a privilege to serve our great community as PS Communications’ new marketing manager,” Carlo said. “I look forward to working with all of the incredible businesses and community members who make our area so special. If you see me at a local restaurant or event, please come say hello!”

P.S. Carlo expressed special thanks to Laura Reneer for her service and invaluable training during the transition period.

Summer�ieldDentist.com

FOUNDERS’ DAY ...continued from p. 1

Gore expressed her thanks to Greensboro Performing Arts for their help in organizing the many stage performances on Friday evening and Saturday, and said it will be exciting to see such a wide variety of theater, dance and music.

New this year on Saturday is a car show, with an anticipated 15 to 20 classic and muscle cars to be on display in the former Sport Auto parking lot, across from Summerfield’s post office.

And then, there’s the parade on Saturday morning, which starts at 10 a.m. in front of Summerfield Elementary School and winds down Summerfield Road. Expect to see a variety of big trucks, little cars, classic cars and trucks, a marching band, dancers, businesses, churches and other nonprofits and organizations with decorated floats, vehicles and some on foot. And parade participants aren’t just human –you’re sure to see some dogs, horses, and even donkeys and mini cows this year!

Prizes will be given for “Best Overall,” “Most Patriotic” and “Most Creative.”

Younger spectators will want to bring something to hold all the candy that parade participants will be tosssing out, which is always plentiful.

This year’s grand marshal will be David Layton, Summerfield Elementary PE teacher, who is retiring at the end of this school year. The Founders’ Day Committee unanimously selected Layton because of his “above and beyond” contributions to Summerfield children and the community over the last few decades.

“He

Town Council member Lynne Williams DeVaney serves on the Founders’ Day Committee and said committee members wanted to recognize someone “who is there for the kids, for the town, for the people. Mr. Layton has always made a difference in students’ lives, he encourages them to do their best, and tries to make everybody, with all different abilities, feel they can excel at all types of activities – not just football or basketball.

“For many years he organized an overnight campout where kids and parents spent the night,” DeVaney added. “It’s a sleepless night for the parents, but a miraculous thing for all the kids to get together, and many of them talk about it years later.”

Town Council member Reece Walker, 31, remembers having Layton as his PE teacher in elementary school.

“As a PE teacher, he has taught every kid at the school … he goes above and beyond for the school and also has a long history of contributing to the community. He is going to leave some huge shoes to fill,” Walker said.

Walker, whose grandfather was heavily involved in organizing the town’s earliest Founders’ Day parades and many parades afterward, also remembers being in the first or second Founders’ Day parade with his cousins; he’s volunteered with the parade ever since. Between taking college classes, working full-time as a firefighter, running a family farm, serving on the town council and spending time with his wife and two young children, his parade volunteer time has been much more limited this year and he thanked Mark Brown, a former town council member and mayor, for all the time he has given to organizing this year’s parade.

“Mark has done 90% of the parade stu this year,” Walker said. “ e parade probably wouldn’t happen if it weren’t for him.”

Another major contributor to Founders’ Day is the Summerfield Fire Department, which not only hosts the annual celebration on its Summerfield Road property, but helps set up and take down tents, equipment, etc., before and after the event, sets up its inflatable in front of the department for kids to enjoy, and has extra personnel on standby in case of medical or other emergencies that might arise during the event that draws thousands of people.

“There is so much that has to be done, and the fire department is very gracious to let us host it there and being willing to help however needed,” Walker added.

Coming together as a community is what Founders’ Day is all about, Gore noted.

“We know it’s been a challenging year and we want people to see the positive in Summerfield and to celebrate the community,” she said.

want to go?

Founders’ Day takes place this Friday, May 19, 6 to 10 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., beside Summerfield Fire Department on Summerfield Road; the parade on Saturday morning starts at 10 a.m. at Summerfield Elementary School and winds down Summerfield Road. For more info, see ad on p. 7 and visit www.summerfieldnc.gov (select the “About” tab at the top of the homepage, then “Events,” then “Founders’ Day 2023.”

BUSINESS/RE

Oak Ridge Bagels And Deli Opening Day

J. Olmsted, DDS MS

Ridge Commons Shopping Center

Kubis retiring after 30 years

After 30 years of teaching, most of which have been at Stokesdale Elementary School, Christy Kubis is retiring at the end of this school year. Friends and co-workers are asking that those whose lives have been impacted by Kubis take a few moments to share some comments and memories in writing and email them to: kubisretirement@gmail.com.

GCS announces new principals

GCS announced last week that Louis Galiotti, interim principal at Northern High, has been appointed principal at Northern High. Galiotti has been serving as Northern’s interim principal since January, and upon coming to the school he wrote on the school’s website that he had recently celebrated his 43rd birthday, has five children, and over winter break moved his oldest child to college.

“In my spare time I enjoy hanging out with my family, exercising, and listening/ reading various podcasts and books (mostly while I walk our dog),” he wrote.

The team at Oak Ridge Bagels and Deli pose for a photo on opening day, May 4; the restaurant is located behind the Quality Mart Shell station and convenience store at the corner of N.C. 150 and 68 in Oak Ridge. Earlier this week, owners Corey Crites (back row, far right) and his wife, Nicole (front row, center), wrote on the restaurant’s Facebook page: “Thank you so much for the support that you have shown our small business this past week! We have been shocked at all of the love we have been given.”

YOUR QUESTIONS ...continued from p. 18

(DRI), for an update on the project, but have not been able to get a response.

Last August, Collins told the Northwest Observer that DRI, which operates three imaging centers in Greensboro, plans to expand into the space formerly occupied by Southern States Cooperative store at N.C. 150 and Lake

Brandt Road. The building has been vacant since Southern States closed the unprofitable store in July 2020.

Collins said construction of the Summerfield-based imaging center was scheduled to start last November or December, with the center becoming operational about a year later.

Galiotti has worked as a wilderness youth counselor for at-risk youth and a wilderness resource teacher for at-risk youth at two Eckard Youth Alternative camps; was a middle school teacher; a part-time elementary resource teacher; a principal intern; assistant principal at a middle and high school; and principal at the Doris Henderson Newcomers school.

“When I interview people for jobs, I always ask, ‘What makes you want to be a teacher/work with students?’ he wrote in his introduction to the Northern Nighthawks community. “Here is my response: ‘I am not where I am today without my teachers/mentors believing in me and helping me see my potential. I am forever indebted to them and the only way I can repay them is by being that teacher/ mentor to the people around me.’”

Nicole Weeks will become principal at Northern Elementary. She has been interim principal there since earlier this school year and has been assistant principal since 2018. In that role, a GCS representative said she improved teacher evaluations and developed a staff website to streamline communication within the school. Weeks holds a bachelor’s degree in corporate communications from Elon University, a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and a master’s degree in school administration from UNCG.

Earlier this year, when Weeks assumed the role of interim principal, she wrote, “… I believe in being student-centered, working together, being accessible, and inclusive to all. It is my hope that this is visible through not only my words, but also my actions.”