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contents
on the cover...Merdith and Vera
photography by MARK GILCHRIST
954 Finds
10_ locally made 12_ the thrill of the hunt
Arts&Culture
16_ a life in pursuit of music 18_ delco resident creating comics 20_ natural-born artist is living her dream
64
Health&Beauty
24_ standing up for better health 32_ in the face of adversity, dr. gerald thrived 52_ have yourself a healthy holiday season 54_ hiit cardio workouts for home and the classroom
Wine&Food
56_ bon appĂŠtit!
Home&Garden 64_ timeless
Sport&Leisure
20
72_ legion stadium
Entertaining&Events
82-85_ brady-kendall reception families first fashion show 2013 social services adoption gala live after five yam festival auction reuben brown fundraiser
Special Features
82 #954mag @954_Magazine 6 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
27_ big idea builds tiny campers 36_ coming home to stay 40_ a difficult and lovely life 50_ 12,000 seeds produced a farmer’s dream 58_ siouan sisters know what’s good for their ailments 62_ jack miller pleased his listeners
editor’s note by LES HIGH
Today marks the second edition of 954, the twice-yearly magazine published by The News Reporter. Response to the first 954, published in April, was tremendous. The inaugural copy had 68 pages; this issue has 92. The formula for the first 954 worked well, so you’ll see only a few changes in this one. The main goal of 954 is to produce a high-quality magazine that accentuates the positives of Columbus County. Another goal is to feature as many areas of the county as possible (the name 954 comes from the number of square miles in Columbus County). Stories in this issue feature people or businesses from Old Dock, Tabor City, Riegelwood, Cerro Gordo, Lake Waccamaw, Buckhead, Whiteville, and one from Whiteville by way of Cambodia. There are historical perspectives on SCC, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014, and Legion Stadium. A lot of work went into a feature about decorating at Thanksgiving, and then there are the regular features, such as “954 Finds,” health, nutrition and fitness. Ten thousand copies of 954 will be distributed to readers of The News Reporter or placed in local offices and stores where people can enjoy them until the next edition. We’ve already got a number of story ideas for the next issue, and readers are free to call or email me at leshigh@whiteville.com with suggestions. 954 will be available for digital viewing through our website 954mag.com.
Fall/Winter 2013 Volume I Number II The News Reporter Company, Inc. 910.642.4104 954mag.com EDITOR Les High CREATIVE DIRECTOR Abigail Spach ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dean Lewis ADVERTISING Amelia Sasser . TJ Enzor . Hanne Richards CONTRIBUTING EDITORIAL Dan Biser . Briana Cahn . Clara Cartrette . Nicole Cartrette Cynthia Hansen . Bob High . Stuart High . Gary Kramer . Fuller Royal Wallyce Todd . Jefferson Weaver . Ray Wyche CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Nicole Cartrette, TJ Enzor, Mark Gilchrist, Fuller Royal
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 7
8 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 9
finds
954
Locally Made
a
b
c
e all these quality products are
d 10 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
individually made in columbus county
a Dana Gore - Dana’s Nantucket Baskets, Nantucket Basket prices range from $300 to $1400, http:// www.danasnantucketbaskets.com/ index.html; b Council Tool monogramed Bad Axe Boy’s Axe, $154.95, 910.646.3011, www.counciltool.com; c Kenneth White, cherry bench $79 and oak bench $129, 910.640.1350; d Sheron Roberts - Red Hawk Studio, Teapot and cup set, $45, 910.625.9416; e Pickett Council Ellis - ForgingArt.net, ForgingArt is all about recycling, repurposing and reusing steel scrap shavings & tailings into one-ofa-kind art pieces, Glass Block is $24.95, 910.264.6292
f
g
Lisa Richey - Cheap Therapy, Handcrafted paper art that celebrates life, Retail prices range from $2.50 - $35, www.cheaptherapy.net; g Linda Whitehead LindaLu Designs White baroque cultured freshwater pearl necklace with a sterling silver flower pendant and sterling silver clasp, $168, 720.530.3888
f
Lumber River Visitors Center
The Lumber River Visitors Center, opened January 3, 2011 as a place where locals as well as visitors can get information about Fair Bluff and the Lumber River. Information and brochures are found in the Visitors Center telling about great places to visit in Fair Bluff, like our River Walk and our Depot Museum. Established through a grant from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Commission, operated under the Guidelines of the N.C. Department of Transportation, aided by the Town of Fair Bluff and the Greater Fair Bluff Chamber of Commerce, the Visitors Center is located at 1140 Main Street, right in the middle of town. Two main Highways pass by the Center making up Fair Bluff's Main Street, N.C. 904 and US Hwy 76. The Visitors Center is set up for meetings and special events. Tours of the River Walk are featured and history of the City and the Lumber River. Please stop and visit us as you come through our beautiful town at 1140 Main St., Fair Bluff, N.C. Call us at 910-649-7202, or email us at visitfairbluff@tds.net . Join us on Facebook at Facebook/Fair Bluff N.C.
Visit Beautiful Fair Bluff Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 11
finds
954
THE THRILL b
c
a
e
d
f a Columbia Ptarmigan II Vest This PHG vest has the pockets you need to carry the essentials on the hunt. Available at J.S. Mann’s $120, 910.642.5029; b Carhartt Youngstown Flannel Shirt Jacket Battles the wet and is more than a match for the cold. Available at Tractor Supply $72, Whiteville 910.641.0500; c Columbia Upland Jean II These reinforced, heavyweight cotton-canvas jeans offer heavy-duty protection, with advanced repellency technology to shield you from foul weather, grit, and grime. Available at J.S. Mann’s $49.99, 910.642.5029; d Carhartt 8” Famo Work-Flex Waterproof Insulated Boot Comfortable. Flexible. Insulated. Waterproof. Protective. Available Soon on Carhartt.com; e Silver Stag SLAB SERIES Elk Skinner 12 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
OF THEHunt g h
k j
i
(ES4000) handmade knife Available at Waccamaw Outdoors $115, Lake Waccamaw 910.646.4700; f Browning A5 Hunter Available at Gun Exchange, Whiteville 910.642.5840; g O’Neill Lifestyle O’Riginals Jacket Oneill.com; h Browning High Noon Spotlight Available at Country Boy Outfitters $94, 910.640.1986; i O’Neill Mendian Beanie, Oneill.com; j Columbia Benton Springs Vest A plush layering piece designed to keep your core warm, this toasty fleece vest is as durable as it is soft. Available at J.S. Mann’s $30.00, 910.642.5029; k Carhartt Women’s Original Fit Jasper Jean Cut for any job. Cut to fit you comfortably. Work-Flex® Available Soon on Carhartt. com; l Browning Rope Dog Lead 4’ and 6’ lengths Available at Browning.com, Starting at $26.
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Arts& Culture
Hear Fisher's music online at youtube.com
A life in pursuit xmusic by NICOLE CARTRETTE
a big Growing up with brother
through music,” Dylan said. He is not limited to a certain who loved generation of music. Although the guitar, it was only natural for he grew up listening to bands like Dylan Fisher to become a musi- ACDC and Van Halen in his early cian, too. years, his influence evolved to in“I thought it was cool,” said the clude musicians like James Taylor, Whiteville native who picked up Jason Mraz and Bill Withers. his brother’s guitar when he was His jazz influences include 10 years old. Bobby Broom, Martin Taylor and Now, 20-year-old Dylan sees Wes Montgomery. music as an inseparable part of his “If it sounds good, it is good,” life and his big brother is taking Dylan said. tips from him. For Dylan, reading your audiThis year his original jazz com- ence is important. It comes with position “Carlness” took first place the reward of people coming up in an undergraduate symposium to tell him that they appreciated at UNC Pembroke where Dylan what he played. is a business music major. Dylan That’s not to say he hasn’t describes it as having a median wowed thousands. tempo, “not harsh and really easy In 2012, he entered a worldto listen to.” wide Matisyahu Sunshine Cover The Whiteville High School Contest. He took second place graduate who got his first gigs at with more than 37,860 hits on his the former Mae’s Coffee shop and YouTube video entry but had the Corner Bistro as a high school honor of meeting the artist backfreshman and student of W.C. stage when he came to WilmingButler, is rather humble about his ton. talents. “That was pretty cool,” Dylan He has a lot of respect for his said. fellow music majors’ talents. Dylan said his mom, Carla You won’t find a ton of recent Fisher is without a doubt his bigYou Tube video uploads from the gest fan. accomplished guitarist and rising He admits that for some time jazz composer but for Dylan less all she hears “24-7” is a guitar. “It’s is more. all I do,” he joked. “She tries to be That goes for audiences, too. there for everything,” he added. “I’ve never really wanted to play Dylan said he enjoyed golfing at any big place,” Dylan said. He is with this dad Craig, watching content with intimate settings and football and reading. small crowds for his soft, relaxing He even enjoys writing somesound. thing in addition to music. “I like to see faces and interact “I like to write stories and right with the people,” Dylan said. now I am writing a comic book,” For him music is also about self Dylan said. expression. As for the future, Dylan hopes “I find it easy to express myself to stick with what he loves. 16 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
“I hope to continue what I’m doing. I’m happy with what I do,” he said. “I got started early enough that I’ve been able to make money at what I love,” said Dylan who plays at various venues, private parties, and weddings, among others. His advice to other musicians is
simple. “If it is something you love to do just do it,” Dylan said. “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.” These days, you can catch him on Saturday mornings from 10 a.m.-1 p.m at the Dixie Grill in Wilmington as he entertains brunch patrons. a
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Arts& Culture
Delco resident creating comics by FULLER ROYAL
In fact, the 28-year-old Delco Brandon Blanks loves comic books. native loves them so much he cre-
ates his own. “I have always been drawing, since I was little,” Blanks said, His mother, Brenda Blanks, would create drawings during her breaks at International Paper and bring them home for her son to color when he was younger. “I would color them at ages 3, 4 and 5,” he said. “It was ‘busy work’ but I never left it. Drawing 18 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
has been my thing.” “I have pretty much stuck with drawing and anything that works with lead and shading,” he said. His first formal art class was at Acme-Delco Middle School. At East Columbus High School, art instructor Tim Dowless led him through every art class the school offered. “I took all the basics,” he said. “Art I, Art II, Art III and Art IV. For my senior year, they created an Art V just for me. I also took a sculpting class.” Dowless taught him about perspective, foregrounds and backgrounds. “Once you learn that, that’s a big part of it,” said Blanks, who graduated from ECHS in 2002. He went on to earn a degree in graphic design with a minor in painting from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. “I have always read comic books,” he said. “The first were ‘Star Trek’ comics that I got from the old Wilson’s grocery store. I just liked being able to tell a story with pictures, from one panel to the next.” He also admired how the artists kept the art consistent with all of the characters looking the same throughout the piece. “I also enjoy reading so I can look at pretty pictures and read at the same time,” he said of comic books. “Before, I got into the realistic drawing, I enjoyed animated cartoon work such as ‘Looney Tunes,’ he said. “When he began reading comic books created by Tom McFarland (“Spider Man” and “Spawn”), he knew the direction he wanted to take with his art. “I was mesmerized by his style and detail and I wanted to absorb it,” he said. He has created a lot of work just for himself. “A lot of the stuff I created during the past 10 years will never see the light of day,” he said. “They are rough drafts and abandoned projects.” His first series was not what he had planned to start with, but the timing was right because the zombie movies were coming out left and right. He said he felt inspired to create “Brain Matter,” a four-issue series. “It took me three or four months to do just the penciling,” he said of the project. “The longest part of the process is the inking and toning. The drawing is by hand and the inking is by hand. The toning is done in Photoshop. It’s a lifesaver.” Blanks uses a Wacom Cintiq tablet that allows him to draw directly onto the image. To pay the bills, he works at the Time-Warner Cable warehouse facility in Wilmington. But comics are his passion. “Brain Matter” was originally going to be one big book. His friends at a Wilmington comic book store kept pushing him to publish. He decided to release it in four parts. The final issue will be the largest. He has almost completed the final issue. Blanks has been to the annual Heroes convention in Charlotte, a smaller, East Coast version of San Diego’s Comic Con. He’s met some of his comic artists heroes there. “It is a tough racket to break into,” he said. “It was probably easier in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s
“I have always been drawing, since I was little” gotten harder.” He said a lot of people have gravitated toward the graphic novels. He doesn’t collect them except for “The Walking Dead,” on which the current popular AMC television series is based.’ And, he has some fans. “I have got quite a little bit of a following in Wilmington,” he said. He frequents a comic book store there and is friends with its owner, who carries Blanks’ series. “I have had two signings at the store,” he said. “That helps me sell my books and get followers.” Besides zombies, he wants to do other things. “I don’t stop creating,” he said, adding that sometimes he wishes he could at least turn it off at night when trying to sleep. His next three projects are already planned. “Vampires will be next,” he said. “It will be more ‘in-your-face’ and is my anti-‘Twilight.’ That one will be a one-shot, 40 page deal.” “After that, I want an all-age-friendly book,” he said. “Actually, it’s a science fiction story that I wanted to do first, but I wanted to be comfortable producing such a massive project first.” He said a dream job would be working in the film industry creating storyboards for production teams. Blanks said one of the best pieces of advice he took from his high school art classes was to use less detail. “I love detail,” he said. “Mr. Dowless told me to dial back the detail. I would ‘over detail’ too much. Inking takes a long time so I have discovered that less detail is better.” a
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Arts& Culture
Karen Gore
Natural-Born Artist is Living Her Dream by CLARA CARTRETTE
20 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
is a late-blooming artist who has stretched the boundaries of visual arts, music and other creative activities. She paints portraits, wildlife, landscapes, and more. John James Audubon, who became famous for his paintings of American birds, had nothing on Karen’s bird paintings. They’re so realistic one expects them to start tweeting any minute. Karen plays in two local bands, and pinch-hits for the bass player in another. She sews, she makes dolls, aprons and other creations, and she uses her art to make notecards and refrigerator magnets. She’s just a creative person with whatever she touches. “I feel I was born loving art,” she says casually. “I can remember at an early age, before I was 10, sitting in front of the full length mirror on the back of my bedroom door and drawing portraits of myself in pencil. I would sit there for hours and felt that if I got the eyes right, the rest didn’t matter.” Karen started painting beach scenes on sand dollars found when her family visited Bird Island. She bought her art supplies from W.F. Cox Co., a Tabor City hardware store that sold everything from lumber to toys to a few art supplies. When she couldn’t find brushes small enough to please her, she made her own from dog hair, toothpicks and Scotch tape. “Play Dough was great to make sculptures but when it dried, it cracked,” she said. She began ordering clay through the mail and once made a bust for her brother Kelly. Before giving it to him she showed him the book she copied it from and asked which one he liked best. From about 300 pages, he chose the exact one she had made and was pleased when he got his Christmas present. Karen said she had always wanted to be an artist but never pursued instruction. Years passed, and when she turned 40, she decided she had to paint or get over it. Award winner “I decided to just try and put everything I had into whatever talent I had and see the extent of it,” she explained. “I thought my
Monarch talent might have been lost by not using it. I painted, and I entered a local Arts Council show. I was so shy I put my paintings in a bag and turned them upside down when I entered them. I won two awards in that show and realized the talent was still there, so I pledged to dig in. I made it my goal to paint two paintings a month.” One of those awards was the People’s Choice by vote of people attending the opening reception. That painting of a bird, The Nuthatch, was used for the Arts Council’s annual print for Arts Council members. The next week, she entered the N.C. Yam Festival art competition and won Best in Show in the professional division and also a first place award. Since then, she has won numerous awards, many of them Best in Show, and had a lot of shows at venues such as the Columbus County Arts Center, Southeastern Community College, Reuben Brown House, Lake Waccamaw Depot Museum, Tabor City Visitors Center and more. She has sold a lot of large paintings and her works have hung in several venues. Although it is one of her ear-
Keeper of The Flag liest, one of her most popular paintings is “Keeper of the Flag.” It features a young boy folding an American Flag. She clipped a photo from a magazine to practice painting children, and later contacted the magazine to inquire about copyright rules. A friend found the family the article was about. Karen talked to the little boy and his mother, and emailed a picture of the painting. The magazine said that after a year the copyright went to the freelance photographer so Karen contacted her and was told to use the photo as she wanted to. “A few weeks later I decided to have prints made,” Karen said. “I was talking with Bill Thompson, who was president of Boys and Girls Home at the time and he said he thought they could use it because it brings together so much of what the home is all about — traditional values.” Long story short, 1,000 prints were made and they were advertised through the B&GH in the Collector’s Issue of Our State magazine in June 2003, with B&GH receiving benefits from the sale. Karen sent prints to the photographer, the little boy and
the Rose Island Lighthouse in Rhode Island where the photograph was taken. It hangs in the captain’s room. Another of her most recognized paintings is “Wherever the Wind Blows,” featuring her niece Cody at age 9, and Karen’s dog Jess, a stray she loved. Upon seeing it the first time, a friend said: “It took my breath away; it’s the best thing you’ve ever painted.” That same friend had approached Karen about giving a book club program, and was told: “I can’t do that; I’m no speaker.” The friend insisted, even fibbing that her name was already on the schedule and both would be embarrassed if she didn’t show up. Karen heeded the call, even admitting that she once went into the cornfield to practice her presentation. Sometime later, “Wherever the Wind Blows” was one of around 100 pieces of art chosen from more than 800 submissions for a prestigious exhibit at Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington. Karen was the first artist asked by the museum director to make a gallery talk about her paintings, and thanks to the practice in the
cornfield, she felt comfortable accepting that prestigious invitation. That painting also won Best in Show in the Brunswick Arts Council’s show at Ingram Planetarium at Sunset Beach. She prefers acrylics “I’ve painted many commissioned portraits over the years and a series of wildlife paintings from photographs of professional wildlife photographers,” she said. “Most of my paintings are in acrylic. I’ve tried oil, watercolor and gouache but acrylics seem to work best for me.” Karen has been advised by at least two other artists to “not give your art away,” but she didn’t heed their advice. “I enjoy donating when I get a chance,” she said. “I’ve had many shows over the years and with many of them, I’ve used the opportunity to donate proceeds to good causes.” She’s donated proceeds from shows to a cousin with heart problems, the Arts Council, the art department at Southeastern Community College. She’s used framed prints to help raise money
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 21
for churches and several nonprofits. “I feel that our talents are Godgiven and should be used to help others,” she said. “That’s why we are here.” Several shows, awards Karen has won her share of awards, her work standing up to that of much more seasoned artists. She has also had several shows and her paintings now hang in many homes and offices in this area and beyond. Locally, Karen’s art, including the sewing and other items, can be seen and purchased at Byrdville Restaurant in downtown Whiteville. It is also on display at Silver Coast Winery’s Southport location, Lisa’s Framing in Fayetteville, and seven of her paintings were purchased and are hanging in the Health Pavilion Hoke that opened on a 60-acre campus in Raeford in March.
Music is important Richard built Karen an art studio several years ago, which doubles as a place for the bands to practice and play. Although she took about seven years of piano lessons from the accomplished teacher Marty Bruton of Tabor City, Karen didn’t classify herself a musician. But then, Karen is known for her modesty. Music is a very important part of Karen’s and Richard’s life. In their 19 years of marriage, there has been music in their home every day, she said. Now that Richard has retired, there will probably be more music. “It’s really a fun thing that Richard and I do together,” she said of their musical interests. “He
Fewer paintings, more music The multi-talented Karen gradually transitioned from less painting to more music, spending more hours playing music with her husband Richard Gore, who recently retired as Columbus County’s tax Preening administrator. The two were married in 1994. They’re in two bands together plays like Chet Atkins and picks — Half & Half with Darryl and up the guitar every day. We both Wanda Diefes, and W.B. and the wake up thinking of a song and Dockers with Woodrow Noble sometimes I’ll ask him what song and Preston Gore. Richard also is on his mind. I can’t imagine life plays with The Waymen, with without art and music, and now Gene Wayman and Forest Riggs, that he is retired I know we’ll be and Karen substitutes as bass playing and enjoying music more.” player. “Richard said they needed a Latest project bass player and he was going to Karen’s latest pursuit is sewteach me how,” she said. “I decided ing. She is the daughter of Wayne to keep my mouth shut and see if I Leggett and the late Lillian Lane could do it.” Leggett of Atlanta. Before her Her playing apparently passed mother’s death a few months ago, muster with the group, as she is she sent Karen money and told her summoned to play when Riggs’ to buy herself a sewing machine. job takes him out of town and the Karen began sewing skirts, aprons band has a performance. and other items, “burning it up,” “It’s a lot of fun,” Karen said of she said. She has made numerous playing in the bands. “It’s nice to aprons and little tooth fairy dolls, be with my husband.” which will most likely get sold for All three of the bands are well a needy cause. She crafted a skirt known, and are often called on out of curtain material (Scarlet to perform for various functions. O’Hara?) that Frank Stanley gave Early on, the Gores played with her from fabrics his late wife had. a group called the Flat Stanley Donna Stanley, a friend of Karen’s, Band, with Karen playing violin. made custom made curtains for 22 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
people at the beach. “Mama was artsy,” Karen said, “and very supportive of anything I did. She drew the design for Tabor City’s Town Gate.” Church work Karen is the Sunday school teacher for all kids at Old Dock United Methodist Church, except the nursery kids. Her students range from second grade through college. Dividing them into two classes, she splits the hour before worship service between the two groups. “I’ve been teaching since 1999 and I love it,” she says with a smile. “I’ve found that teaching makes me study. I’ve become passionate about teaching and try to cram as much as I can in the time I have the kids. We have one hour for Sunday school so each group has a lesson with me. Then they have a 30-minute review of the lesson with another teacher using trivia games, and they love it. “The more they know, the better their armor will be in this wicked world,” she added.” Karen’s also active in Vacation Bible School, involving kids in community projects such as packing backpacks and diaper bags with school supplies and baby needs fore needy families. Her more creative activities include making musical instruments from a can on a stick with one string and a peg, or making rainmakers from bamboo reeds, which she vows she will never attempt again. “We had to knock out all those reed joints, cram chicken wire inside and the kids put beads in there (to make a noise),” she said. Half & Half What do you get when you take a tax collector, an artist, a dentist and a former English teacher and divide them into two couples connected by the love of music? “A four-member band called Half & Half,” says Karen, answering her own question as she explains how the band was organized. It started with a phone call to Darryl Diefes in May 2010. A friend wanted to know if Darryl and wife Wanda would like to get together for an informal music session with Richard and Karen Gore. The two couples were already acquainted. Darryl and
Richard had played together years earlier with Dale McPherson for the opening of the Lake Waccamaw State Park Visitors Center. The four did get together and that evening progressed to oncea-week practices, with Darryl and Richard playing acoustic guitars, Karen on electric bass, and Wanda taking the vocal lead. They found they enjoyed the same kinds of music and that Darryl’s and Richard’s styles, though different, complemented each other quite well. When opportunities and invitations to entertain locally began, a group name became necessary. Wanda’s idea seemed apropos: “We’re half Diefes, half Gore, half male, half female, and our music would suit a coffee-house atmosphere, so why not Half & Half ?” The group has played for charitable fundraisers, civic functions, Strawberry Encounters, and political meet and greets. They also perform regularly at the Vineland Emporium’s Friday night series. The two halves have become good friends as well as band-mates who enjoy making music together. Their styles range from Beatles tunes to songs by Karen Carpenter, Patsy Cline, Everly Brothers, Credence Clearwater Revival and others. Looking back “Looking back over this last decade of painting, I realize the great potential of taking whatever talent that has been given to you and using it to find special ways to help others,” Karen reflected. “My mother was my biggest fan and her encouragement pushed me through. She also was very talented in pen and ink and many other ways. She designed the Town Gate in Tabor City and did a pen and ink (drawing) of it for notecards. “I think we limit ourselves when we think we can’t do something we haven’t tried,” she continued. It’s been a learning process all the way and I’m so thankful for the experience. It took me several years to gain the courage to approach professional photographers to ask if I could work from their photographs and from them I have painted my best work.” View Karen’s artwork on karenlgoregallery.com
a
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Health& Beauty
Standing up for better health by FULLER ROYAL
When you Martin enter the offices of most folks, they will usually invite you to have a seat. When you enter the offices of Anthony Martin and Travis Russell, you may have to ask them to have a seat. Martin, the assistant superintendent of the Whiteville City Schools, and Russell, the minister of youth and children at First Baptist Church of W hite ville, have joined a growing number of professionals in the country who prefer standing while they work at their desks. Standing on the job is nothing new for postal workers, teachers, bank tellers, doctors, nurses, electric lineman, painters, flight attendants and farmers. Winston Churchill and Leonardo DaVinci preferred to stand when they worked. But some folks in offices are beginning to tire of sitting in a chair eight hours a day. “It started off as me trying to fix a back problem that I had,” Martin said. Last December, he developed sharp pains in his back. Over the week, it got better, but started going down hill again. “The more I sat the worse my back would get,” he said. “I discovered the more I stood the better I felt. He also discovered that walking eased the pain. “I had seen an article about someone with back problems and they had gotten a standup desk,” Martin said. “There are a lot of great commercial standup desks, all really expensive.” Martin found a company that made an attachable computer stand that could be raised and lowered as needed. He went a step further, raised his desk and added a treadmill. “I had heard of some executive who had a treadmill,” he said. “He stayed on that all day. Basically, he would walk all day,” he said. 24 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
Despite his efforts, the pain returned and last March, Martin underwent surgery on his back. He said his surgeon told him there was only one real physical therapy he needed – walking. “I discovered after surgery the more I walked the better I felt,” he said. “It’s not that sitting down is horrible, but it aggravates my back problem. “Now, I am used to standing up,” he said. “Some days, I can get three hours of treadmill. Some days, none. It depends on meetings.” Martin said he manages to walk a few miles at his desk each week. He bought a better pair of shoes and spends more time standing or walking than sitting. “I feel much better and have lost 30 pounds,” he said. He said the novelty of his office setup has worn off to his co-workers but occasional visitors are still intrigued. He bought a large exercise ball to sit on when fatigue would set in – sitting on the ball keeps your back straight. “I find that I can stand up all day and it doesn’t really bother me anymore,” Martin said. “Except for meetings, I am on my feet all day. Unfortunately, in our business, I could be in a meeting all day. “I prefer standing,” he said. “I prefer moving.” He has had his stand-up desk for nearly a year. “It’s kind of like when you buy a piece of fitness equipment and you hope you don’t stop using it,” he said. “I have found that, actually for me, it has turned into a habit and not a fad. It’s a change in lifestyle and it works.” The six-foot, four-inch Russell bought his stand-up desk because of tightness in his back and shoulder muscles, “I felt like I needed to stand up and have better posture,” Russell said. “Some of that pain would be taken care of by standing. I was constantly hunched over at my computer. This has allowed me to stand up and have some better posture and improved ergonomics.” Russell
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Big Idea
special
Builds Tiny Campers
by JEFFERSON WEAVER
interspersing homework with his Scotty Ketron grew up uncle’s Popular Mechanics maga-
zines in the 1960s. It was the height of the camper-trailer craze in America, and while America was vacationing in Airstream, To-Tel, and other “tin cans,” magazines were featuring plans and blueprints on how handymen could custom build their own. The trend started in the 1930s, went on hiatus during World War II, and grew in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Low-geared transmissions and powerful engines were the norm, and while not everyone could afford the early self-contained motor homes, everything from pop-up camper-tent hybrids to campers the size of modern small single-wide mobile homes were being hauled along American highways. Even as a boy and teenager creating his designs on homemade graph paper, Ketron knew he wanted something different. He liked the idea of smaller, basic campers. The idea is now a reality, filling much of a manufacturing plant in Tabor City. Toad Campers can sleep two to four people comfortably, and are designed to be pulled by vehicles equipped with modern fourcylinder engines. “We keep it very basic, and that keeps it affordable,” Ketron said recently during a tour of the busy plant. Tabor City seems an unlikely destination for a retired Methodist minister living his dream. It’s the latest stop on a road that began four generations ago in Tennessee, and went through the pulpits of Methodist churches throughout the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. What’s even more remarkable is that that wisecracking, cheerful owner of Toad Campers is completely deaf. A genetic disorder robbed him of his hearing as a child, but high-tech hearing aids give him the ability to have normal conversations. “People think I’m wearing two of those telephone things,” Ketron laughed, referring to Bluetooth ear buds. Idyllic time Ketron grew up during a time when America was still enjoying the post-war abundance. America was winning the space race, and family motor vacations were common. “Like a lot of boys, I wanted to be an astronaut,” Ketron said. “It didn’t work out that way. They expect you to be able to hear.” Family vacations were along Florida’s Space Coast, Ketron said, and while they were traveling, he was watching the camper trailers sharing the highways. “The whole camper lifestyle is a fascinating thing,” he said. “It was growing then, and a lot of it
954
was still new and fresh to people.” Although his dreams of space couldn’t come to fruition, Ketron never backed off of his “obsession” with camper trailers. Since he couldn’t hear teachers and later, college instructors, in most classrooms, Ketron found himself in his bedroom listening through earphones to lectures and classes via a tape recorder. Most of the time, he admits, he was drawing campers more than he was studying. Some were based on the plans in handyman and do-it-yourself magazines, but other times the plans were entirely original. The budding designer tried several different jobs before being called to the ministry, following in the footsteps of three generations in his family. “I wanted to be a cop,” Ketron said, “and back then, you could just apply to the police department and get on the job training. It was too much like work — I was handling Saturday night drunks at $3 an hour when I was making $3.75 at the Winn-Dixie cutting meat. I went back to the grocery store.” Later, Ketron got a new perspective on life in East Tennessee when he went into the ministry. “It was eye-opening,” he said. “Chickens around here live in better structures than what a lot of people call homes in western North Carolina and east Tennessee. Children really do go hungry.” Roofs were made from flattened oil cans and lard buckets. “A lot of these people had never known anything different,” he said. Scotty Ketron By this time, the young pastor was building camper trailers. Some were sold, some were used by him and his family, while others were given to people in need. His first shop was a funeral home tent set up beside one of his tiny churches on a mountainside in Boone. “I started doing the work there in the yard,” he said, “and some men dropped by to visit and help. Then the ladies started coming and cooking. Then a funeral home loaned us a tent. It was never organized or planned — it was just people doing what God led them to do, with what they had to give.” The camper trailers, made with donated materials or some bought from the pockets of Ketron and other church members, replaced homes that were made of plywood, tarpaper and cardboard. “You can’t understand how some of these folks live until you have been there,” he said.
The standard Toad Camper
A better mousetrap Although he was busy with a wife, two children and a full-time ministry, Ketron kept working on the design of his dream camper. “I kept trying to figure out ways to make it more efficient without sacrificing strength and quality,” he said. Ketron started building campers one at a time for those in need. As his and his wife Rhonda’s two sons grew up and left home, Ketron began spending more time planning for his second career. The couple began making plans to retire to the Carolina coast. The retirement didn’t last long. Ketron and Rhonda moved to Calabash, carrying everything in an early Toad Camper and hauling several more for sale. They were unloading the extras at a storage facility when people began asking about Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 27
the tiny campers. “I sold four in 15 minutes,” Ketron said. “I wondered if maybe we weren’t on to something.” Toad Campers moved into a 500 square-foot shell building in Myrtle Beach, S.C., but quickly outgrew it. The camper business, which also features restorations and remodeling of other manufacturer’s work, was in a cramped 3,500 square-foot facility in Calabash when Ketron met Johnny Edge of Nakina. Edge began telling Ketron about Columbus County, and about the advantages that could be his if he moved his business here. “I had talked to Jackson Gore of Gore Trailers about doing some frame work for us,” Ketron said, “but he said they weren’t interested in the work. At the same time, he stayed on the phone with me more than an hour trying to help me, offering advice and people I should meet, and sharing his experiences. “If someone’s willing to spend that much time with you, and not get any business out of it, I think that’s a place you need to pay attention to,” Ketron said. Gore later suggested to Edge that Edge visit Ketron, and talk to him about Columbus County. Edge and Ketron hit it off immediately. “When I saw what he was doing that day, I fell in love with his campers,” Edge said. Edge made arrangements for Ketron to meet Gary Lanier, the county’s economic development director, and wheels began turning quickly. Within three weeks of Ketron’s and Lanier’s introduction, Toad Campers was moving into Tabor City. “If you’ve thought something through, and planned it out right, there’s no reason to mess around,” Ketron said. “This was a place I felt like we could do well, and the community has really been good to us. We love Columbus County and Tabor City.” Simple man, simple plan “I like to keep things simple,” Ketron said. Toad Campers start at around $3,500, and come with very few extras. The frames are sturdy enough for “going deep into the woods” or towing long distances.
“Anybody can build a 30-foot camper in a factory,” Ketron said. “Ours are built largely by hand, and made to last.” Gathering the right materials was a challenge when Toad Campers were first being manufactured, Ketron said. Hefting a bar of steel used for trim work and construction, Ketron shook his head. “I used to have to save and scrimp to buy a little of this at a time,” he said. “It had to be shipped from the West Coast, and I paid more in shipping than I did for the metal. Now I buy it by the truckload. We could do it cheaper, but that wouldn’t be right.” Rather than using cardboard or pressboard framed on one-by-one inch strips, Ketron’s campers are built using heavy plywood, on two-by-two frames. The framing structure is actually studier than that used in the construction of some types of manufactured homes. “We have basic models that sleep two or four,” he said. “There’s a kitchen and sitting area. We don’t build fancy campers.” The campers are much roomier inside than they appear at first glance. Everything is easily reached in the tiny kitchenette, and the furnishings are designed to prevent damage during the normal bouncing that occurs when a trailer is pulled on a highway. The campers evoke memories of the classic single-family trailers of the 1950s and 1960s, although they are built to modern safety and construction standards, from the sturdy roof to the extra-heavy duty trailer tongue on the front. Each customer gets to make their choice from the few available options in a meeting with Toad staff members. A few changes have sprung from calls for custom campers, including two new popular choices — a camouflage model for an avid hunter, and a “tailgater” designed for sports fans to take to ball games. “I think both of those are going to be popular,” Ketron said. “We don’t offer a lot of customization, because I want a smooth, efficient operation. What you see is what you get — I’m a simple kind of man that way.” All about people Ketron sees his company as a ministry of sorts.
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“We always put God first,” he said. “He led me to start making campers, and has blessed us the whole time.” The entrepreneur also invests heavily in people. “I believe in giving people a chance,” he said. Ketron explained that he is more interested in a job applicant’s attitude than their resume. He has hired workers who were on probation and parole, as well as young people who were seeking their first full-time job. He also believes in making sure every person in the shop knows what goes into building Toad campers — and the business. “I have one young woman who worked on the floor in building for a while, then in taking and filling orders, and in sales. When she started working the front desk, she had a good understanding of what I expect, and what is needed to make this company work.” Ketron believes in training good people, and trusting their instincts. Several times during the visit, employees consulted him with questions of problems. After listening to each person’s ideas, he offered his own input or suggested a different course of action. “You have to believe in your workers, so they can believe in you,” Ketron said. “They know I’ll be straight up with them, and I expect the same. When you hire a good worker, you have to treat them right. You respect them, but they have to respect you, too, if you’re the boss. “I believe in listening,” Ketron said. “In the end, the responsibility is mine, but I’d be foolish not to listen to a well-thought out suggestion. It helps you keep perspective. I can defend my decisions with facts, as opposed to just because I’m the boss. I expect and encourage my workers to do the same. If someone has a better idea, or a more efficient way to do things, I’d be stupid not to look at it and use it. It works out better for all of us if we are willing to listen to other people’s ideas. We don’t have to use them but it’s better to listen when you can.” Although the plant is running full-steam every day, and making plans to expand, Ketron still has time to preach and hold Bible study for a senior citizen’s group. “A preacher never really retires,” Ketron laughed, “but I’ll be honest — my easiest day preaching was still harder than my hardest day here.” a
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Health& Beauty
In the face of adversity,
Dr. Gerald thrived by NICOLE CARTRETTE
Dr. Melvin Gerald left a sucDr. Melvin Gerald cessful medi-
cal practice he built from scratch with locations across Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia to come back home, but for the Cerro Gordo native, that was always the plan. “I had a huge practice with 15 doctors and 18,000 covered lives,” Gerald said. “I put all of the money back into the practice.” When he sold it in the early 1990s, his hard work had more than paid off. Today, Gerald operates G&G Healthcare with offices in Cerro Gordo, Council, Whiteville and Fair Bluff. “Cerro Gordo is home and that is where the headquarters are,” the doctor is quick to point out. For Gerald, the path to becoming a doctor started in a doctor’s office. He was the fourth child of six born to Paul and Mattie Gerald of Cerro Gordo, in 1942. Working his family’s 100-acre farm with his father and siblings was more than a chore. “I had to follow the mule and I didn’t want to,” Gerald said. He admits if it had not been for those mules and the young man’s frustration with segregation he might not have set his sights on a career in medicine. Gerald more than noticed as a young black boy that his mother was not treated like other patients. “I was maybe in the sixth grade at the time and segregation was the natural order at that 32 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
time,” Gerald said. At her medical appointments she was called “Matt,” then ushered to a backroom crowded with cleaning supplies, Gerald said. “They’d call white folks Miss or Mrs.,” he said. “At least that was my perception. Once she was in the exam room I have no idea.” “If these folks can be doctors, I can too,” he decided. Gerald meant it and set out to prove it. It did not occur to him that he might not make it. “There was no doubt in my mind when I was in high school,” said Gerald. Though his father had finished just the third grade and his mother the seventh, getting a good education and ‘doing the right thing” were paramount in the Gerald home. All of Dr. Gerald’s brothers and sisters have at least a master’s degree with the exception of one brother who retired as a naval officer. Gerald recalls that, though his father lacked a formal education, he taught him life’s most valuable lessons. “He said he could only go to school on rainy days as a child so he did not see the need in going,” Gerald said. “The one thing both of my parents stressed was education –doing the right thing and education.” A strong work ethic that his father instilled in his children would serve Gerald well later in life but he couldn’t see that as a young child. “We worked all the time but some of my cousins would get to go to town on Saturdays,” he recalled.
He would watch from a field as they passed by. At the time, Gerald thought it was cruel. “In retrospect, it gave us a work ethic,” Gerald said. “We never worked on Sundays.” While the task of growing peanuts, tobacco, cotton, oats and cucumbers, along with growing hogs, cows and chickens kept the family busy, they found time to fish. “My dad use to take us to creeks and ponds,” Gerald said. The road to medical school for a young black man during the civil rights era was far from easy. The Westside High School student found himself driving a bus to the black school in Chadbourn years after the landmark case Brown vs. the Board of Education. “I was looking for things to change earlier,” Gerald said. “Just like I thought after the American Cancer Society said cigarettes caused cancer that we would no longer grow tobacco,” he said. “At Westside we had some dedicated teachers. Some were very knowledgeable and it was an exciting place,” Gerald said. It was also the place where he met his wife, the late Lenora Graham. The Fair Bluff native stole his heart and despite work in New York and nursing school in Durham that would separate them by hundreds of miles, Gerald said he never let her get away. “We’d always write each other,” Gerald said. At Westside High school Gerald also found one of his greatest influences beyond his fu-
personal goals. “It is a sin to have no mark to meet,” Gerald said his professor insisted. “I have always had high aim and if I failed, I picked up and tried again.” After graduating from Morehouse with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, he applied to UNC Chapel Hill again –this time for medical school entry. He was rejected again. “Those were turbulent years of freedom riders and things of that nature,” Gerald said. Waitlisted at Michigan, Gerald had been accepted to Howard in Washington, D.C. An opportunity to work for UpJohn Pharmaceutical in a research and development lab was too attractive to pass up, his father told him. “It was a $6,400 a year job,” he said. “My dad said he had never made that much money.” So, Gerald took the job, worked and saved.
Paul Gerald ture wife, mother and father—a teacher named Ethel Juanita Johnson. Graduating at the top of his class, Gerald applied to UNC Chapel Hill in 1959 but was rejected for the 1960 entering class. “They said they had no room on campus for a person like me,” Gerald said. “I did not quit,” he said. Johnson advised her student to apply to Morehouse College in Atlanta. “At that time, very few schools required the SAT but I had to take the SAT. She rode with me to Raleigh to take the exam,” he said. Gerald was accepted but had some growing pains to endure. “I came off the farm. My dad had finished third grade and my mom seventh grade but here I was valedictorian in a class of 39 people,” Gerald said. “I thought I was something, but I was in college with students who were in the top of their classes of 300 and 400 people. Their parents were college professors, doctors and in various jobs.” Gerald was amazed at all of the resources available to him at college and he was introduced to a world he never knew. “There were all these books about black people and things I’d never been exposed to,” Gerald said. “It was different.” Determined not to fail, he knew he had to excel in science. A chemistry class of 126 ended up with just 26 students by the end of class. “I made a 96,” he said. “I did relatively well with the background from which I came.” He did not pity himself. “I never looked at my background,” he said, “I thought, what can this institution do for me?” A professor, Dr. Benjamin Eliza Mays, encouraged Gerald and other students to never take for granted the power of setting high
“if these folks can be doctors, i can too” Work abroad in Operation Crossroads Africa, the precursor to the Peace Corps, only solidified Gerald’s ambition to become a doctor. “In Africa, I carried the bag with medicines,” Gerald said. The 12 other students on that trip looked up to him as a kind of medic. He entered medical school at Howard University in Washington, D.C. when he returned to the U.S. He completed a residency in family medicine from Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, and later received a master’s degree with a concentration in public health from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. For Dr. Melvin Gerald, being a good physician has always been about being a good listener and treating people with the kind of respect he so longed for his mother to have all those years ago. “I like to deal with people,” Gerald said. “The most enjoyable thing I get to do is sit down in front of a patient.” He will go the extra mile to accomplish that, even if it means a house call. “I like to take care of people,” Gerald said. He saw family medicine in the early days of his career as a way to help people in many ways. “I thought about psychiatry, pediatrics and being an OB-GYN, but as a family physician I had an opportunity to do many of those things for the first 25 years,” Gerald said. The former president for the D.C. Academy of Family Physicians was no stranger to radio
Keith Gerald and television in the region and somewhat of a household name, but his ties to Columbus County and family would bring him back home after his children, Melvin Jr. and Sonja (also a doctor) were adults. “I’ve had a good life in medicine,” Gerald said, adding that he has a deep interest in policy and population health. It saddens him that his home county is considered the least healthy in the state. “I want to change the statistics in Columbus County and North Carolina. My emphasis is on wellness and early detection,” Gerald, 71, said. “I’ve been in medicine 40 years and now is the most interesting time. I can look at data I couldn’t before.” Healthcare reform is another factor that he said will change medicine and he thinks for the better. “If we are going to change outcomes we have to change inputs,” he said. He said he is supportive of the focus on primary care, wellness and early detection that he sees as benefits of the Affordable Care Act. He likens it to the postal service. “There is UPS and FedEx but everyone has access to the postal service,” he said. “The ACA provides some floor in healthcare where everybody can participate.” Gerald’s practice is very much something that has brought him closer with his family. His wife, Elinda Gerald, a registered nurse, works for G&G, along with his brothers Paul, a retired Social Security administrator and hospital financial manager, and Keith, a retired naval officer. “It has advantages and disadvantages,” Dr. Gerald said. “At the end of the day we are still going to be brothers.” Dr. Gerald and Elinda together have 10 grandchildren. They enjoy traveling abroad.
a
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 33
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Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 35
Coming home to stay 954
special
Boys and Girls Homes alums come back to give back
T
by JEFFERSON WEAVER
Tom Simmons ran away from home, and no one searched for him. Gary Faircloth was picked up for shoplifting before he could drive. They understand too well the pain felt by children who come to live at the Lake Waccamaw Boys and Girls Home. Faircloth is chief executive officer for the home, and Simmons is principal for the newly-formed charter school at the home. They are both alumni of the home, founded by Whiteville businessman A.D. Peacock in 1954. When they walked through the doors of the converted home on Flemington Drive, neither had any idea where they would be in 40 years—or even if they would graduate high school. “I think I can speak for both of us when I say our futures weren’t very bright,” Simmons said. 110 days absent Faircloth came to the home as a high school sophomore in 1964. He was absent from public school 110 days that year. His mother was poor and on welfare. They heated with coal in a woodburning stove, and Faircloth said he had already been arrested for shoplifting food and small items. “When you only have one pair of jeans and a pair of brogans, it’s hard on a kid,” he said. “The madras shirts were all the fashion, and I didn’t have one. It was just one of many things I didn’t have, and teenagers especially can be cruel to someone who doesn’t fit in. “I shoplifted food, clothing, shoes. If I needed something, and we didn’t have the money, that’s what we did.” Social workers saw no hope for Faircloth, who said he lacked the strong familial relationships needed to ensure a child has a solid upbringing. “Coming to the Boys and Girls Home is what made it for me,” he said. “They gave me the relationships, the foundation I needed. It was firm, but loving and supportive. That’s what we strive for now.” Faircloth repeated 10th grade while a resident of the home, then went to Southeastern Community College and eventually transferred to East Carolina. Today he is nationally recognized for his work with troubled children—and he gives the home all the credit. “Children need love and stability,” he said. “They don’t need to be showered with money and things—they need love, support and when necessary, discipline.” Coming from a life of poverty gave Faircloth a better perspective on values, he said. “When you’re in that desperate situation, trying just to survive, there’s little or no hope,” he said. “That’s one thing we see in all the children here—hope.” Market Street Hilton Tom Simmons is an avid Carolina Panthers fan, but even more enthusiastic about learning. He’s the first to admit he has come a long way. “I hated school,” he said. “I despised the teachers, the discipline, all that. That realization came to me a while back, and made me laugh. The schools said I was worthless, but now I’m a career educator. The home did that.” Long before he became a well-known teacher and high school principal, Tom Simmons called the Kenan Memorial Fountain in Wilmington the “Market Street Hilton.” “I can’t tell you how many times I slept there as a child,” he said.
36 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
Ian Callahan, Tom Simmons, and Gary Faircloth Simmons came to the Boys and Girls Home (“I still have a problem with the ‘and Girls’ part,” he laughed) in 1957. Growing up in a home where alcoholism and abuse were standard, he had become a “tough kid.” “All I ever was looking for was a way to keep from getting beaten on,” he said. “It was a good day for me when I didn’t get hit.” Simmons had an epiphany of sorts when he ran away from home— again—and no one searched for him. At the time, he was in the fifth grade. “I was gone for three or four months,” he said. “Months. And no one came looking for me. The only thing that was different is that I wasn’t there to beat on. I resented that for a long time. I was resentful about a lot of things.” When he was first brought to the home, Simmons said, he told home manager Rube McCray that they wouldn’t keep him long. “I told them they’d be happy to get rid of me,” Simmons said. “I was going to break every window in the place.” What followed was what many have described as a classic McCray moment. “He put his arm around me and said, “Son, you better get busy—we
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 37
have a lot of windows.” That was Simmons’ first experience with what the staff at the home call “TLC Therapy.” Faircloth and Simmons said it’s a major part of the Boys and Girls Home methodology. The gentle touch of an adult, as opposed to a raised fist or a backhanded slap, was at first confusing to the lost children; then it was reassuring. “Rube McCray never drew a line in the sand,” Simmons said. “You never had to worry about being beaten, or him being angry. If you’d done wrong, the worst words you could hear were, ‘I’m very disappointed in what you did,’ That cut to the bone, but it made you want to learn from your mistakes. That’s the philosophy I have now—if a child asks if I am angry, I tell them, truthfully, I am not—I’m disappointed.” Not having to fear discipline made success attainable for both men, Faircloth said. He, too, had to learn early on that McCray and the staff were there to help, not hurt. It took a few days for him to realize that he was safe. “It was one of the first times I could relax,” Faircloth said. “I didn’t have to be afraid.” “People weren’t hitting on me,” Simmons said. “I was determined I wasn’t going to be happy—I didn’t know about being happy. At the
School days Many of the children coming to the Boys and Girls Home have had problems in the public education system. The home bused its students to public schools for the first few years, then established an elementary and middle school. Eventually, the home established a high school just for residents. A number of home residents were standouts at the old Hallsboro High School. The home and school were strictly for boys until 1991, when girls were first allowed. “You have to treat the young ladies differently,” Simmons said. “You look in their eyes, and you can see a different kind of hurt.” When North Carolina eased regulation on charter schools, the board of directors for the home began discussing the possibility. Simmons—whose career was spent in public schools—was against the idea. “I was completely against it,” he said. “As a
end of the first week, though, I wouldn’t leave.” Simmons said he was working in the thenovergrown pecan orchard when his aunt, who had delivered him to the home, pulled up with McCray. McCray told him he could leave if he wanted. “I thought about it,” Simmons said, “and told them I thought I’d just stay awhile. After a while, it became home, the first I’d really known.” Simmons jangled his keychain and laughed. “This is a place where a child can have a second chance they deserve,” he said. “When I came here, I ran around at night looking for unlocked doors. Now I have keys to the whole place.
public school teacher and principal, I thought all the usual things. Charter schools take funding away from public schools. They don’t meet the same standards. All that. “Then when we opened, I realized we were already doing much of what they do in charter schools. A charter school is perfect for the Boys and Girls Home.” Learning difficulties go hand in hand with troubled homes, and Boys and Girls Home students have benefitted from special, one-on-one help with their schoolwork. The improvements in residents’ academic skills made the home’s Flemington Academy attractive to non-residents, as well.
38 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
“A social worker said I’d never graduate school, that I wasn’t any good,” he continued. “No graduate degree, no doctorate. Not even a diploma for me. If it weren’t for the Boys and Girls Home, that might have been the case.”
“There were some concerns about how the residents and non-residents might interact,” Faircloth said, “but we didn’t have to worry about it.” As a “no-fail” academy, students requiring additional instruction get it. Classes are held on the year-round schedule, with smaller classes where teachers are encouraged to think outside the box. “Students who don’t make it are retaught and retested,” Faircloth explained. “It’s not an easy road, but we don’t make it impossible, either. We have higher standards, but we also make a special effort to help our kids meet those standards.” Flemington Academy is certified in Common CORE, the new national education standard, and consistently has high test scores. Students are expected to give the teachers feedback about course material, and make suggestions about everything from studies to after-school activities. “Our kids are just like other kids at other schools,” Simmons said. “They’ve just faced a few more hurdles. They want the same things— Spanish, geometry and other courses that lead to college. They want the activities that build pride in their school.” The pride is shared by both resident and nonresident students, Simmons said. The school has its own Student Government Association (SGA), and students help plan events and set goals. It has one of the smallest enrollments in the county—only 59 students, resident and nonresident—but the students and staff have a pride that would do justice to a far larger school. The esprit d’corps of Flemington Academy really struck home during a recent basketball game between staff and residents, Simmons said. “The non-resident students were chanting, ‘Go, Residents,’ then they thought that wasn’t right. Then it became ‘Go Eagles!’ and that’s how it’s been since then. They accept each other.” “You might not expect to see school pride in a place like this,” Faircloth said, “but our students, resident and non-resident alike, love their school and each other.” Goal setting is a big part of motivating students at the school, Faircloth said. “We like to set what I call ‘gaudy goals’,” he said. “We set high standards. Somebody says, but what if you don’t meet that goal? I can point out that even if we don’t meet our goals, we’re still way ahead of the pack. There are no losers here—even if we don’t meet our own goals, the other schools still have to catch up to us. That’s not losing. That’s winning.” The high goals and morale at Flemington have led to a motto. While test scores might not seem to be the most competitive arena, Eagle pride even shows through in academics. “We have a slogan—we’re going to skin the Gators and bag the Tigers,” Simmons laughed, referring to other area high schools. “Our first
four-week test scores are in, and they’re pretty good. I am so proud of these kids I can’t describe it. We set high goals, and encourage them, and they’re reaching them.” Faircloth emphasized that the Columbus County Schools have “always been a great partner for the homes. “They have never given us a problem in any way,” he said. “They’ve always been a big help for us, from the very beginning.” Home address College transcripts, applications and other documents for Boys and Girls Home residents often don’t show where the child started. In the section asking for a home address, Faircloth said, it isn’t uncommon to see 400 Flemington Dr., Lake Waccamaw—the location of the home. “For a lot of the kids, this is the only home they have ever truly known,” Faircloth said. “A home is supposed to be a nurturing, safe place where you can learn and love. Through no fault of their own, a lot of the children coming through here don’t have the slightest idea what a true home-life is supposed to be about.” Ian Callahan’s home address was Flemington Drive when he went to Pembroke State University. He came in the fifth grade, in 1993, and graduated high school at the home before moving on to college. Callahan spent 14 years working for Walmart, and was a co-manager at the Shallotte store with a bright future when he came back to the home. “Ian is the most persistent young man I have ever met,” Faircloth said. “He took a $20,000 pay cut to come to work here, and he never stopped volunteering.” “They gave me a home,” Callahan said. Dropped off by a family member at the Boys and Girls Home, Ian’s tuition stopped being paid after a few months. The home never sent him away, though. Social Services supports many of the children at the home, Faircloth explained, and there are scholarships for those who, for whatever reason, don’t qualify. The help doesn’t stop when a boy or girl graduates, either. College is more of a reality for Boys and Girls Home children than many realize. When Faircloth graduated high school in 1966, he was a member of the largest class at that time, with 13 students. Seven went on to college, in a time when less than 25 percent of high school graduates nationally went on to a two- or fouryear school. “The home makes it possible for our residents to graduate college debt-free,” he said. “They don’t have the support system, the family, that they can call on like other students. It’s much harder to get that first car or first apartment when you’re saddled with debt and have no one at home to call on for help. We try to give everyone every advantage they would have if they had come from a conventional home environment.”
From the start, Callahan said, the Boys and Girls Home was a comfort and a stabilizing influence. “I was part of something,” he said. “We all want to be part of a group—it isn’t natural to be alone all the time. Human nature is to be part of a family. The home gave me that.” The love and care he experienced at the home brought him back as a volunteer, Callahan said, and he began pestering Faircloth and Simmons for a job. “At first, it was going to be a $30,000 pay cut,” he laughed, “but it turned out to be only $20,000. That made it a little easier, but it was worth it. I gained so much here that I want to give back—they gave me a home and a family.” Changing with the times When Faircloth came to the Boys and Girls Home, Social Services payments were around $84 per child. “That wasn’t much for a family to get by on,” he said. “That was rent, food, fuel, a car if you had one, clothes, medicines, coal for the heater—everything.” A.D. Peacock kick-started the homes in 1954 after seeing a group of children sleeping under feed bags. Peacock was setting up a funeral in the children’s home, and discovered there was no adult left to care for the seven children. A member of the Civitan Club, Peacock encouraged the club to adopt the needy children for a Christmas project. The Civitans began discussing the need to help children on a broader scale, and at the end of the evening, passed the hat, collecting $187. “If it weren’t for Mr. Peacock, there would be no home,” Faircloth said. In 1954, the Boys Home at Lake Waccamaw was chartered, and opened in a single building. Today the campus spreads across several city blocks within sight of the lake. The farm where students once helped grow their own food is home to a busy equestrian arena, and plans are underway to bring cattle production back to the farm. Students already have the opportunity to help grow gardens and work with a small herd of horses there, and the pecan orchard Simmons helped clear with a sling blade is a revenue producer for the facility. As of this year, Faircloth said, between 6,000 and 7,000 children have gone through the Boys and Girls Home. Many have been successful, he said, while a few haven’t. “When children come here,” Faircloth said, “they’re at a crossroads. We do everything we can to get them to make the right turn. Sometimes they do, and sometimes those that do, they come home to help others.” Simmons scoffs at the term “at risk” children. “We don’t have at risk kids here,” he said. “All our children are ‘At Promise’. Every single one of them holds promise and potential, and we have to give them the encouragement they need to fulfill that promise. ”
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Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 39
A Difficult & Lovely Life
special
954
Sokun at the temples of Siem Riep in Cambodia
Area chef succeeds in spite of tragedy and challenge
The trees cast their shadows
over the family on the run. The Cambodian jungle was where Saroeun and Kim-I (Taing) Nuon and three of their four children had been forced to flee. They had to leave the village near the border of Thailand that they’d called home for too short of a while. The father of four, Saroeun had left one sick son with his sister to care for, bid his aging parents goodbye, and taken his remaining family into the nearby forest. With a rice pot, some medicine and the clothes on their backs, they moved where concealing shadows and surrounding vegetation would hopefully provide them shelter and safety. One of the daughters who ran with Saroeun and his wife was Sokunvathany – known now as Chef Sokun in Whiteville. A beautiful woman who is immensely talented in the kitchen and beyond, Sokun cannot 40 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
by WALLYCE TODD speak long of those frightening childhood years without her eyes welling and her voice getting swallowed up in her grief. Had they not escaped, Sokun’s family would have likely met death in their home. Saroeun was known to be a teacher, and Kim-I was from a merchant family with Chinese heritage. These were professions and an (wealthier) ethnic connection that were deeply hated by the fear-delivering Khmer Rouge, who came into power and implemented the Cambodian Genocide between 1975-1979. While the Khmer Rouge was in power, even the tree shadows would not provide enough camouflage and protection for Sokun’s family. It was a devastating season in history, giving birth to the stark and horrifying reality known as “The Killing Fields” (2,000,000 killed). Sokun’s brother, just one year younger than
she, lived only a month and half in the jungle with his family. His parents had generously shared some of their medicine with others in need, and when he contracted dysentery, his little body was not able to survive on the amount of meds left in his parents’ possession. The family grieves his death to this day. Sokun sorrowfully shares: “The school where my dad taught before the war later became a prison where torture and awful things happened. The whole country became a grave. The image that is coming to me very often is one person cutting a dead person up because they needed meat; they were so hungry.” After her brother died, Sokun, her sisters and their parents were still trying to survive in the forest when they encountered a group of Khmer Rouge guerilla soldiers. Her dad knew if he claimed to be a teacher, he and his loved ones would likely meet their demise…
Sokun’s mother before she was married. This photo of Kim-I is the only picture Sokun’s family has from their life in Cambodia.
Sokun’s mother, Kim-I, and sister, Sopheap, who was born during the time of The Killing Fields. It was taken upon arrival to the Thailand dispatch camp.
so when asked what he could do, he told the soldiers he could cook for them. They answered: “O.k. if we like your cooking, we won’t kill you.” Thus began the years of Sokun’s family being forced to work for the Khmer Rouge regime. The family’s meager rations were sup-
plemented by the food Saroeun would steal to keep them nourished enough to stay alive. Because the Khmer Rouge moved around a lot, Saroeun, as a cook, had to travel with them. One additional daughter was born during this time, and the threat of malnourishment was always high. Toward the end of
Sokun, with the nameplate given to her for identification pictures at the Thailand dispatch camp, right after her family was finally able to flee Cambodia. Khmer Rouge regime, both he and his family were located back near the Thailand border. Sokun’s dad got a message to her mom, and the whole family stealthily made it across the border and into a refugee camp there. The dispatch camp became a bridge to a new life in Europe. For Sokun and her family,
Sokun reunited with her grandmother for the first time since her family fled Cambodia when she was a child. Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 41
“I, at a young age, knew what starvation was like. Now, I can’t take things for granted.”
- Chef Sokun
With Bou Meng, one of only seven survivors of the infamous prison, located in the complex where Sokun’s father formerly taught. Sokun and her sister, Sophie (for whom the Whiteville cafe is named), met this artist, who survived only because he could accurately draw the image of the totalitarian, Pol Pot. their new home was found in France, where they arrived on July 7, 1979. Sokun was 7 years old, and to this day she recalls very little of the years before her life in France…. her mind just refuses to remember. Her dad’s work ethic and desire to provide for his family motivated him to go from being a car factory worker to a security agent, to a controller and to a taxi driver, to an owner of a taxi business. He bought a house and added another daughter and another son to the family. Additionally, he strengthened his business for 20 years or so before selling his company and retiring. Like father, like daughter. Sokun has found success in working hard and cooking well. Her ability to make mouths water from her unique culinary creations began at young 42 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
age. When she was young, Sokun found her way into the family kitchen. She recalls: “I think it was one day when my mom was not at home, my dad came from work and he was tired and when my dad’s friend came, I decided to cook for them, so they would not starve,” she says with a grin that gives sparkle to her intelligent eyes. Continuing, “But when I brought in all these dishes, they ate the food and were quiet. The next day, they called my Mom for the recipe (because it was so good). From then on, I cooked every day. I helped my mom. In our family, we ate mostly Cambodian food, and I started doing more French food and then Italian food. Every chance I had, I was in the kitchen making some different dessert, and my mom complained that the kitchen
was always dirty.” Well-utilized kitchens paved the way to an ongoing love affair with food and its preparation and flavor. It was when she was ordering ice cream and coffee in a café on the Champs-Elysees in Paris that she first saw her future husband, Guillaume Slama, who was waiting for the sandwich he had ordered. Guillaume, himself, is the son of a mother who was a young Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied Netherlands. He recounts: “Sokun’s family and my family have a lot of parallels. My great-grandfather was Jewish and was killed in a work camp. My mom’s family were Jewish survivors, so they had nothing when WWII came to an end. My dad was born in Tunisia. Shortly after Tunisia became independent, he and his family came to France.
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At the temples of Siem Riep My family and Sokun’s family all came to France with nothing and had to start afresh.” Guillaume and Sokun have started afresh several times. First they began life in France as newly married couple. On New Year’s Eve 1997, they moved to America to live and work in Atlanta. In 2006, they purchased a mansion in historical Washington, Ga., and turned it into an award-winning bed and breakfast. They followed up in that area with the purchase and/or management of several other eating establishments. In 2009, they moved to Whiteville, where they now operate two businesses: The New Southern Kitchen (fine dining) and Sophie’s Café (a casual eclectic eatery). Life in America has not always been easy. “In 2008, the economy crashed,” Guillaume recalls. “Everything tanked and we lost everything. We lost the business and the home (in Georgia). We had 35 employees at the time. Our income dropped by 90 percent.” When an opportunity arose (initially via Jessie Fisher) to move to Whiteville and begin a restaurant in Columbus County, Guillaume and Sokun made another new beginning. Their investment in the area is earning them a reputation as respected restaurateurs, committed community members and educated entrepreneurs. Guillaume and Sokun agree: The people in Columbus County “have embraced us here and really, truly, genuinely want us to succeed, which (we) think is wonderful.” The dedicated chef delights in affirming, “I want to share my passion for food and wine with people.” Yet accompanying that passion is a reality check. Sokun states: “I, at a young age, knew what starvation was like. Now, I can’t take things for granted. We felt you must earn to get a job… earn the right to work. Earn a living. People – who have not suffered and
struggled – don’t understand that. They take things for granted.” In recent history, her family received a sweet blessing they’ll never take for granted. About five years ago, they reconnected with the brother who had been sick and had to stay with his aunt while the others fled to the forest. Sokun met him in Cambodia in 2012. The family discovered he was not only alive and well, but that he, too, was a professional chef. Cooking good food seems to be an inherited interest or a genetic gift. When asked, Sokun summarizes her childhood and the ensuing challenges in this way: “Life is hard, but it is beautiful. a
Home
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Sokun at New Southern Kitchen restaurant in Whiteville
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 43
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910.653.4141 www.taborcitync.org Join us in Tabor City & Discover a Different Time. Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 45
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Wound Care What is a Chronic or Non-healing Wound? A chronic or non-healing wound is a wound that does not heal or improve significantly over time. Typically, if a wound does not heal or improve in 30 days it is considered chronic or non-healing. Common chronic or non-healing wound types include: • Advanced age • Pressure from sitting in wheelchairs or lying in bed • Burns • Compromised immune system • Diabetes • Infection • Radiation treatments • Surgery • Trauma • Arterial disease • Venous disease
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Health Insurance Coverage Most healthcare plans include wound care treatment, but individual coverage depends on your specific plan. Please bring your insurance information with you Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 47 on your first visit.
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Historical
special
954 12,000 seeds produced a farmer’s dream
A
An eight-day effort to gather 12, 000 signatures in 1963 supporting establishment of a community college in Columbus County yielded unprecedented results in the 50year history of Southeastern Community College. The stacks of signed papers taken to Raleigh strengthened the idea – broached by the state’s Department of Education – that Columbus County was one of the areas of the state where such a two-year college was needed. In fact, Columbus County was ranked as No. 2 on the proposed sites – behind Burke County – for the college, and this county’s residents backed the idea by amassing 10, 000 names in just eight days in September 1963 as a vast committee canvassed the county from border to border. The additional 2,000 names were compiled as lists were added after the initial eight days. The 12,000 seeds planted that year produced a farmer’s dream – a yield of probably 500,000 persons who have benefited from the establishment of Southeastern. Those benefiting include thousands of students and hundreds of merchants who have hired graduates to work in jobs covering nearly the entire spectrum of individual effort.
Southeastern Community College marks its 50th birthday by ROBB CROSS + BOB HIGH Thousands of graduates have pursued and attained four-year degrees from colleges and universities all across this nation, and Southeastern has touched scores of residents in foreign lands through various programs, some of them beginning with a Columbus County idea. In the early days of 1963 Dr. C. Horace Hamilton, Reynolds professor of rural sociology at N.C. State University prepared a survey for Governor Terry Sanford’s Commission on Education Beyond the High School. The survey was called Community Colleges For North Carolina and addressed the needs and possible locations for potential community college service areas around the state. Fourteen primary locations were established, with Columbus County No. Two. Local businessman Jesse Fisher was finishing his doctoral work at UNC-Chapel Hill when he saw the results of the survey. He was looking to relocate to Whiteville and came as an informed transplant. In a recent interview with Sue Hawks, SCC Executive Dean of InstitutionalAdvance, Fisher related that once in Columbus County, he set about talking about the idea
Dr. Warren A. Land July 1964 - July 1966 50 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
E. Philip Comer July 1967 - June 1969
of the local institution of higher learning “to anyone who would listen.” By April 1963 a committee appointed by the county commissioners was having its first meeting. Besides Fisher, the committee consisted of Flora Singletary, Martin Schulken and Jesse M. Gudger, all of Whiteville; Sam G. Koonce and Martin Lowe of Chadbourn; Shay P. Smith of Tabor City, Cora Jane Ward of Clarendon, Jack Council of Lake Waccamaw and Tom Clayton of Fair Bluff. In May 1963 the Omnibus Higher Education Act became law and effectively created today’s community college system. The state’s junior colleges had purged industrial/vocational training, but those centers had begun offering remedial college courses and were working in a parallel direction. The Higher Education Act of 1963 brought them together into a more cohesive unit. On the local front, bills from both State Sen. Carl Meares and State Rep. Arthur Williamson for a $500,000 appropriation went to the General Assembly requesting the establishment of a two-year community college here. The Columbus County Community College Committee—chaired by Fisher—was present.
Dr. William T. Cottingham July 1969 - June 1973
The primary criterion for selection was the availability of land, at least 50 contiguous acres. The first site offered came from John and Howard Singletary, a tract near the old New Hope school some four miles south of Whiteville, in the family since 1837. Committee member Flora Singletary was wife of Howard. Seeking to create a curriculum before college construction was complete, the committee involved the county and Whiteville School systems in the discussion. The Nakina and New Hope schools were suggested as early class sites and the Singletary tract seemed promising. On Sept. 15, 1963 the committee launched what was called The Community College Crusade, an eightday effort to obtain 12, 000 county signatures of support—roughly 25 percent of the population—to take to Raleigh to assure Columbus County a spot on the final list. L.P. Ward Jr. of Clarendon was chair of the Crusade. Ward pointed out that endorsements from other counties were equally welcome. That same week Fisher announced that Rep. Williamson of Chadbourn had offered a 50acre tract between Whiteville and Chadbourn with frontage on both
Dr. W. Ronald McCarter Dec. 1973 - Feb. 1982
Old Chadbourn Road and U.S. 7476. Unlike the Singletary tract, the new offering had cleared land, as well as wooded acreage. In that recent interview Fisher related an almost Road-to-Damascus-type epiphany. He said as he was driving one day “the idea of a College Crusade came to my mind.” That crusade was successful and “we were among the first five new colleges!” By October 1963 the recommendation was made by the director of the state community college department of the N.C. Board of Education that a college be approved for Columbus County. Colleges for Moore and Rockingham counties had already been approved and further recommendations for either Morganton or Lenoir and Mt. Airy or North Wilkesboro were included with Columbus. Decisions were coming fast. Additionally, other sites were offered: 50 acres in Cerro Gordo Township by W.H. Shelley; a choice of 50 acres just north of Hallsboro or 30 acres near old New Hope school, from County Commissioner L.P. Ward and his son; and 43 acres in the Oakdale community north of Chadbourn from Roland Hinson. A 75-acre tract within the town limits of Lake Waccamaw—offered by Council Tool Company—would bring the total number of sites to 10. Chairman Fisher said: “We are deeply gratified for these expressions of support in the interest of better educational opportunities for the county and others whom the college may serve.” The local community college committee prepared a bound report for the State Board of Education containing all pertinent information, including the canvassing. Essentially, all that remained by the
Dr. Dan W. Moore Feb.1982 to April 1988
end of October 1963 was preparing the financial data. The county commission was working toward a bond referendum and the state was to cover nearly 65 percent of the cost. The Nov. 7 issue of The News Reporter reprinted the formal request to the State Board of Education in its entirety. It pointed out that the newly formed Columbus County Committee of 100 had been a close advisor to the college committee. The financial data showed that the building for the college would cost $1 million and that the state and county would split that outlay equally. Administrative and teachers salaries would come from the state, and maintenance costs from the county. The plan to have “every person in the county” form a cavalcade to Raleigh that day fell far short, with only 20 determined county folks attending. But the 67-page report was thorough, and the 12, 000 signatures conclusive enough that the public’s attendance was extra icing on the cake. It was a done deal, contingent on the passage of the $500, 000 bond referendum on Jan. 14, 1964. The final days of 1963 found the Community College Committee prosecuting a get-out-the-vote campaign, with the county blanketed with flyers and canvassers. The Jan. 6, 1964 issue of the The News Reporter featured a front-page editorial promoting the upcoming bond vote, citing the 12, 000-signature petition as answer to the question “Do We Want College?” More positive front-page editorials would appear in the two subsequent issues prior to the vote. The referendum passed with a 7 to 1 margin. Only Ransom Precinct, the Acme-Delco area, voted against it. The constitutional amendment and a 15-cent tax increase for col-
Dr. Stephen C. Scott August 1988 to August 1999
lege maintenance and operations passed with a 4 to 1 margin. The community college was a “done deal.” Much work still lay ahead. The State Board of Education was tasked with choosing a site; only seven of the 10 offered were “free” sites. Twelve trustees would be appointed, four named by the county board of commissioners, four by the combined Whiteville and county school boards, and four by the governor. Within a week the local appointments were done: the county commissioners named Jim Lattay of Lake Waccamaw, Henry Wyche of Hallsboro, Ross Williamson of Tabor City, and Sammy Koonce of Chadbourn. The local school boards named Bion Sears and Jesse Fisher of Whiteville, P.O. Gore of Pireway, and H.G. Dameron of Tabor City. By February, Gov. Terry Sanford completed the board of trustees with his appointments, all from outside Columbus County: H.P. Bell of Currie in Pender County, P.A. McRae of Proctorville in Robeson County, Jimmy Green of Clarkton in Bladen County, and Mrs. Henderson Rourk of Shallotte in Brunswick County. These selections made the new community college truly “Southeastern,” the name decided on unanimously in March. The charter for SCC had come on Feb. 6. The college board was launched with oaths taken Feb. 17, 1964. Murphy Bowman of Lumberton had come forward to offer a 50-acre site near the Arthur Williamson site between Whiteville and Chadbourn, in the area called the “Sweet Farm.” This and the Williamson site were the final two selected by the State Board of Education. The final decision was left to the SCC Board of Trustees.
Dr. Brantley Briley June 2000 to May 2004
The tract from Rep. Williamson grew to 100 acres, which the board of trustees had deemed the minimum size for selection. His brother, board member Dr. Ross Williamson, assured the trustees that Arthur would provide whatever land was necessary. Rep. Williamson also paid for the survey of the property. By mid-tear 1964 the first SCC President was hired: Dr. Warren A. Land. The 34-year-old Land came to SCC from his position as assistant professor of education at the University of Kansas. A month later the Wilmington architectural firm of Ballard, McKim and Sawyer was hired to design the five buildings of the new community college. A five-county survey was instituted to determine the curriculum to be established. President Land told a Civitan meeting: “We plan to offer a full college program in temporary quarters by next fall (1965).” Though 18 courses were established early in 1965, mostly noncredit courses like typing, speech and other commercial pursuits were offered in facilities at Whiteville, Central, Chadbourn and Tabor City high school campuses. Construction for Southeastern Community College began in February 1966. The temporary facilities were isolated to Chadbourn in September that year. Two hundred thirty-four full-time and 91 parttime students participated that first year. The newly completed school was occupied in August 1967. While it is obvious the establishment of Southeastern Community College was a team effort through the years, it has been the individual accomplishments and achievements by thousands of students through 50 years that have made SCC a success. a
Dr. Kathy Matlock Oct 2004 to current Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 51
Health& Beauty
The Good Apple was created by Briana Cahn, R.D., a registered dietitian based out of Whiteville. The weight loss center works with people to change the way they think about eating. Briana graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics. After rotating through all clinical and community areas of nutrition, she completed her dietetic internship at The College of Saint Elizabeth’s in Morristown, NJ . Along the way, Briana had developed a deeper understanding of how to work with different people’s needs and give them individualized plans for success. She maintains this passion and believes the key to a happier life and disease prevention starts with nutrition education, a healthy diet, and an active lifestyle.
Have Yourself a Healthy
Holiday Season
The holiday season is fast approaching. It is a time to celebrate with family and friends, not a time to overindulge and gain weight. Holiday weight gain can add up quickly. Here are a few tips to cheat your way through the holidays. by BRIANA CAHN
1.
Stay Hydrated. Drink water all day and aim for half of your body weight in ounces.
2.
Think about your holiday calorie budget the same as you would think of your holiday spending budget. Ask yourself, “Where do I really want to spend those calories?”
3.
Avoid skipping meals. Eating every three to four hours is the key to good health, high energy and proper brain function.
4.
Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. Try to get one at least one serving at each meal.
5.
Skip the sugary beverages. These are empty calories. It only takes 500 additional calories per day to gain a pound a week.
6.
Use a salad-size plate. This will help with your portion control.
7.
Don’t go to a holiday party hungry. Eat something small before you go.
8.
Keep a food log. Studies show that individuals who keep a daily food log are more apt to stick to their diets.
9.
Avoid socializing or sitting near the buffet table, candy dishes and cookie platters.
10. Keep gum and sugarless mints on hand to prevent mindless eating. 11.
Avoid fancy coffee drinks.
12. Plan activities in advance to avoid a stressful situation, which may lead to stress eating.
13. Prepare meals ahead of time and bring them with you to work. 14. Schedule a walk date instead of a lunch date with a friend. 15.
Pace yourself when you eat. It takes your brain and stomach 20 minutes to register a feeling of fullness. So, slow down and enjoy every bite! Enjoy the holidays. Exercise, eat healthy and sensibly. Your mind and body will thank you in the end!
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910-654-1100 Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 53
Health& Beauty
Exercise #1
Criss Cross Squat
Move feet in opposite directions forward and then backward in one quick movement, then hop down into a squat position thus completing one rep. Repeat for duration of interval timed.
HIIT Cardio Workouts for Home and the Classroom! by CYNTHIA HANSEN
One of my goals as a personal trainer is to make working out fun. You do not need to spend hours on the treadmill or walk hours and hours to burn calories and feel fit. You do not need to hate every minute of your workout… maybe just seconds…. Ha! This workout is designed for adults as a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) cardio workout or for the youth to do as a workout at home or at school. As a retired elementary school teacher, I know that classroom teachers need to challenge their students to get fit in a fun way. Games that we played as children… like Red Light Green Light… were a wonderful way to utilize interval training without even realizing it. Kids stand in a line prepared to run across a field or court when one child chosen to be the leader stands across the field with his/her back turned away calls out the commands to the players. When the leader yells “Green Light,” the players race towards the finish line but when “Red Light” is yelled out the players have to freeze or stop running as the leader quickly turns around to catch the players who are still moving. If you are caught you have to sit on the sidelines until the game is finished… but if not caught you continue playing until the winner makes it to the finish line first without being caught moving. Hey! The children are doing interval training! There are several ways to do this routine in the classroom and anyone can do this at home. Teachers, you might play this like Green Light Red Light by instructing the kids that for each exercise you will yell out the command and the kids will either stop the exercise or start the exercise. You determine the length of time (one minute or two minutes) you would like for them to do each exercise, depending upon the amount of time you have available. Another way at school or at home: use a timer and do intervals of 30 seconds or one minute for each exercise (your cell phone might have a timer on it)… and then move along to the next exercise. Another way is to 10 to 20 reps of each exercise. Repeat each round of exercises at least three times. You determine the rounds, depending upon your stamina and time available. Ten to 16 minutes is a perfect workout to burn calories and get fit in a short amount of time. Teachers, do this at least three times a week and change it up using all the exercises given or pick and choose. Also change it up with regular squats or touching the floor and jumping up, jumping sideways, etc. Use your imagination and make the most of your recess period maximizing your efforts in students’ fitness! Of course I am glad to assist you in any way… give me a call. 54 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
Exercise #2
Lateral Hop Jump
Exercise #3
Squat T
Hop laterally to the right side on right foot quickly then back to the middle planting both feet down then jump up into the air landing on both feet. Quickly hop to the left side on left foot then back to the middle again, jumping up into the air thus completing one rep.
Squat down with legs together, arms brought into the front, fist up in front of face, elbows touching thighs. Then jump up, moving arms out to make a T with your body, landing feet on toes and then quickly back into starting position, thus completing one rep.
Exercise #4
Standing Toe Crunch
Standing with shoulders back, raise left leg up in front of your body as you take the right arm and lean body forward in a standing crunch position, reaching left hand towards toes. Then repeat with right leg and left arm, thus completing one rep.
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Briana Cahn, R.D. Registered Dietitian
Exercise #5
Jumping Pulse Lunge
Jump quickly into a lunge position with right leg in front, bent and in a squat position, and left leg back with knee bent toward the floor, then pulse down on the left knee with two short pulses. Jump into next position with left leg in front and right leg back pulsing down on right knee, then return to starting position, thus completing one rep.
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910.642.3214 www.walterssurgicalassociates.com Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 55
Wine &Food
T
bon
appétit! by GARY KRAMER
There are many things to consider when ordering wine in a restaurant. Some of these things are individual taste of your dinner companions, the types of dishes being ordered, and the number of sequences of courses you will be having. The wine list may be unfamiliar to you as well. Bear in mind that the size of the wine list is not necessarily an indication of the quality of the wines, as many restaurants have a large wine list. In the more expensive restaurants, the wine list is a self-contained book. Less expensive restaurants often include their wine selection at the front or the back of the food menu. The wine list should include several selections from the world’s major wine-growing regions. There are several ways to organize a wine list. In the United States, the wines are usually organized by grape variety, while in Europe they are often grouped by region. Either way, the wines are usually listed by price, with the least expensive wines at the top. However, an increasingly popular alternative is to list the wines by weight, with the lighter wines at the top of the list. Wines should ideally be identified, not only by variety, but also by region, vintage and producer. This gives you enough information to make a satisfactory judgment on a price value basis. If you are unfamiliar with a wine on the list, ask the waiter for some help. In order to give the best advice, the waiter will need to have some idea of how much you would like to spend, what sort of food you will be ordering, and your preferred style of wine. When you are ready to order the wine, you may find that your dining companions have ordered different dishes that may not all match well with
a single wine. If you are limited to one bottle, order a versatile wine that suits a wide range of food such as Beaujolais, Sauvignon Blanc, or Riesling, or some other wine with good acidity and lively fruit. If you would like to order more than one bottle to drink during the course of the meal,
The brands that you want. Locally.
Womens · Mens · Kids Great Selection
703 South Madison Street · Whiteville · 910.642.5029 56 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
you can ask for the wines to be brought to the table with the appropriate course. Typically you would start with white wines to complement the first course, as they are usually lighter, which leads into the red wine to complement your main course. Increasingly popular today is to order wine by the glass, so each diner can drink a wine that complements his or her individual food choice. The waiter should present the wine bottle to you before opening it. Check the producer and the vintage on the label to be certain that the wine offer is the same as on the wine list. The wine capsule and cork should be in place, and the bottle should be opened at the table. Once the cork is removed, the waiter should offer the cork to you. Take a good look at the cork. Even if you are not familiar with the particular vintage or producer, a sniff of the cork may alert you that the wine is bad, or has some moldy or unpleasant odor. The next step is to taste the wine. If it meets your approval, nod to the waiter, who will then pour wine for your dining companions at the table. The business of tasting and approving wine is more than just a charming ritual. By examining the color of the wine, you should be able to detect if a white wine is oxidized, which means the wine could have a yellowish tint. If a red wine is past its prime, this means the wine can have an unattractive brown edge to it. If the wine is corked (tainted), sniffing should reveal the unmistakable smell of wet cardboard. Another sign of a corked wine is a flat dullness on the palate. At this point any question regarding the drinkability of the wine should be brought to the waiter’s attention. In a reputable restaurant, the bottle will be replaced. There is definitely an art to wine service, and some times it can be quite intimidating. My suggestion is to not to let this get in the way of enjoying wine in a restaurant. Wine enhances a meal and can mean the difference between a good meal and an extraordinary one. Bon Appétit!!
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VOTE in MAY 2014! Paid for By: Committee to Elect Ryan Smithwick Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 57
special
954
Siouan Sisters Know What’s Good For Their Ailments by CLARA CARTRETTE
Merdith (l) and Vera (r) in their garden
Merdith Patrick Freeman and Vera Mae Patrick Freeman
are sisters who married cousins who were both “pulpwooders,” logging and operating a sawmill for a living. Both husbands are now deceased but they raised their families in the Buckhead community of Columbus County as members of the Waccamaw Siouan Indian tribe. The Patrick sisters were born and grew up in the Buckhead community in Bladen County but moved into the Buckhead community in Columbus County after marriage. They come from, and married into, families who were and are leaders of their people. In 1942, Merdith married Rossie Freeman who was a pulpwooder from age 12 until he got into construction work, and he later became a brick mason. He was also a farmer, the son of Riley Timothy Freeman, called Rev. R.T. Freeman, the first chief of the Siouans. Merdith and Rossie had two daughters and two sons. James Nelson died in 1997 of kidney failure. Joseph McKinsley, the current Siouan chief and grandson of first chief Riley T. Freeman, lives “up the street” from his mother. Susie F. Woodle lives in Wilmington and Millie Freeman lives with her mother. Vera Mae, who will be 93 on Nov. 17 but 58 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
defies her years in looks and actions, married Clifton Freeman Sr. He was the second Siouan chief, the son of W.J. Freeman and nephew of first chief Riley. They had two sons and a daughter, Clifton Jr., Lacy Dean and Priscilla Jacobs. Priscilla was the third and only female Siouan chief and she has recently published a book. Vera and Clifton also adopted a son, Danny Ray, when he was five months old. All live in the Buckhead community. Home remedies It was the Native Americans who taught others in this country how to treat their ailments when doctors were scarce or non-existent in certain areas. A doctor usually had to travel a long way to see a patient, often times through stormy weather and muddy roads. It wasn’t so many years ago that people went to the doctor for only the most serious illnesses. Other times they called on a grandparent, aunt, uncle or other senior citizen to tell them how to cure their ailments, whatever they happened to be. Most of the time the cure came from a plant growing in the yard or on a nearby ditch bank. Merdith and Vera visit doctors, but still depend on some of their ancestors’ remedies for less serious ailments. They can rattle off what home remedy or old-fashioned patented
medicine will cure certain aches and pains. Although she’s from a younger generation, Millie Freeman also knows about the home remedies. She mentioned—but not too fondly—666, “a tonic that Mama kept for fevers and cold, and castor oil to get your system cleaned out,” she said. Some describe 666 tonic as “bitter as gall.” Going to her mother’s medicine cabinet, Millie returned with several small bottles labeled camphor, turpentine, Pappy’s sassafras, asafedity, Yager’s liniment, Crystal Rock Candy, lavender and others. In their yards the sisters grow mullein, heart leaves, catnip, sage, rosemary and other herbs. Merdith, who will be 89 years on Dec. 18, said in her earlier years there was no transportation “except oxen and mules, Pat and Charlie (feet), and then we got horses. Then came the Model T and Model A.” She feels strongly that we “need to take care of the earth and realize what God has given us,” she said. “The first three rows should go to the animals because they feed us — deer, rabbit, quail.” Referencing biblical teaching, she said, “Let your field rest every seven years, but people can’t afford to do that. My nephew said we don’t wait on the Lord, but we can’t hurry Him.”
Catnip is an ingredient the sisters use in many of their tonics Sought recognition Vera told how Riley Timothy Freeman tried to get the Waccamaw Siouan tribe recognized by the federal government. “It was the early 1940s and he was on a radio program with Ward Coleman,” she recalled. “After the program ended Riley Freeman told Coleman the tribe had been trying to get federal recognition but didn’t know anyone who could help. Coleman said he knew a man who might help, that he wasn’t from this area but married a girl who was, and he would get in touch with them.” The man was Jim Alexander, a lawyer, and the girl he married was the former Jewel Burckette from Whiteville, who was in California pursuing a movie career. She was called Sunny. “Mr. Coleman called Sunny’s mother and asked when they were coming home and she said they were here now,” Vera said. “The Alexanders and Coleman offered to help any way they could.” In order to get to know the Siouans and gather the necessary data to take to Washington, Sunny and Jim lived with Vera and her family for nine months while he worked on tribal recognition information. He made contacts in Congress and he and Sunny went to Washington with a Siouan delegation on April 26, 1950. A bill was eventually introduced for the tribe’s recognition, but unfortunately, there was nobody there to speak up for it and it was defeated. Millie, a 26-year military veteran and the youngest of Merdith’s children, has Waccamaw Indian history dating back to 1513. She and the Freeman sisters expressed appreciation for Jim and Sunny Alexander’s interest in helping the tribe win federal recognition, although it failed. Waccamaw Siouans are one of eight state-recognized Native American tribal nations in North Carolina. Formerly Siouan-speaking, they are located predominantly in the southeastern North Carolina counties of Bladen and Columbus. Their communities are St. James, Buckhead, and Council, and they adopted their tribal name in 1948.
Merdith and Vera stand together in the crops they harvest each year Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 59
The doors to the barn are painted in a quilt pattern.
Meredith and Vera with their plants.
According to the 2000 Census, the total Waccamaw Siouan population in Columbus and Bladen counties was 2,343 (1,697 and 646, respectively). This represents 2.7 percent of the total combined Native American population of North Carolina.
horse collar and hames, adding ambiance and preserving memories of times past. There are comfortable chairs there to “set a spell,” if the notion strikes. The yard has many interesting flowers, shrubs and herbs, many of them used to relieve aches, pains and other ailments. A rosemary bush is so big and tall it nearly hides the sisters as they stand behind it. Asked about the tattered scraps hanging from the chicken pen wire, they explained that it scares away the varmints that might show up to steal a hen or two. Inside the covered and fenced area is a large tree stump, adding an interesting decoration and a place for the chickens to jump up on. A setting hen, doing her duty in a small house inside another fenced area, had a companion. A rooster sat beside her as if waiting for the chicks to break through the eggshells. The Freemans are kind, interesting people who make a stranger feel right at home, and willing to share their life stories and memories. a
First Indian school Vera and Merdith were two of 10 children fathered by Alex Patrick, the first man who tried to get a school for Indians in Bladen and Columbus counties. “Our brother who was older than we were never got to go to school,” one said. “Daddy walked his shoes off walking to Elizabethtown to get materials to get a school built. Our brothers Lewis, Bill, Ocie and Roscoe pitched in with Daddy on a mule and wagon to haul materials from Council. The superintendent found an old school at Council and told Daddy if he’d tear it down they could have it and redo it. He told Daddy he would sign for him to get a school and promised to get a teacher. “The teacher was Wilton Lowery from Pembroke. He had come to teach and Daddy called him a little boy, but he was 18 and had finished college. Daddy couldn’t help the older children get an education but he was trying to help the others.” The sisters said every nail in the building was drawn out, straightened and put back into the school building, completed in 1919 and called the Wide Awake School. Schools were integrated after the Civil Rights Act signed and enforced. Welcome mat out Merdith’s home, yard and beyond contain a lot of interesting things. One can get an education on a tour of the place, even those of us who grew up in the country. Beside the house is a closed-in gazebo, lived in for a while after a fire damaged the home during a thunderstorm when no one was home. A beautiful old barn is decorated with a quilt pattern painting crafted by Mickey Patrick, a Siouan artist of note. There are old artifacts, such as a 60 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
photos courtesy of MARK GILCHRIST
Merdith and Vera share a laugh
Dried tobacco leaves a sweet smell in the barn.
Rows of herbs and produce line the backyard
herbs & home remedies
Catnip tea — The leaves
and whiTe flowering Tops are
boiled To make a Tea. iT has been used for cramps, indigesTion, To cause sweaTing, To induce
mensTruaTion, as a sedaTive, and To increase appeTiTe. The planT
has been used To TreaT diarrhea, colic, The common cold, and
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been used exTernally To reduce swelling. WormWood — This aboveThe-ground herb planT’s parTs and oil are used for digesTion problems such as loss of appe-
TiTe, digesTive disorders, upseT sTomach, gall bladder disease,
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sTimulaTe sweaTing. some people apply wormwood direcTly To The skin for healing wounds
and insecT biTes and as a counTer irriTanT To reduce pain. in
manufacTuring, wormwood oil is used as a fragrance componenT
in soaps, cosmeTics, and perfumes.
iT is also used as an insecTicide. wormwood is used in some alcoholic beverages. vermouTh
is a wine beverage flavored wiTh exTracTs of wormwood. ab-
sinThe is anoTher well-known
alcoholic beverage made wiTh wormwood.
mullein —The sTalk can grow six feeT Tall, and The velveTy leaves, which resemble Tobacco, can grow up To Two feeT across. iT is used for cough, whooping cough, Tuberculosis, bronchiTis, hoarseness, pneumonia, earaches, colds, chills, flu, fever, allergies, TonsilliTis, and sore ThroaT. oTher uses include asThma, diarrhea, colic, gasTroinTesTinal bleeding, migraines, joinT pain, and gouT. iT is also used as a sedaTive and as a diureTic.
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special
954 Jack Miller Pleased His Listeners by RAY WYCHE
callers who had frequent requests for the Swap Shop. One woman, whenever she called, addressed Miller as “son;” he in turn referred to her as “mama,” an example of the kind of close relationships Miller developed with his listeners. The show has done well for the station. Not only has its popularity been a plus for WTAB’s reputation but many advertisers, aware of the large audiences Swap Shop attracts, have requested that their messages be aired on Swap Shop. Miller has developed a comforting closeness for the station with his audiences. His listeners (“People in Columbus and Horry counties are the finest people in the United States.”) have no feelings of inferiority when listening to WTAB. And Miller has given back to the community. He is currently chairman of the Columbus County Department of Aging Advisory Council, and is active in Tabor City civic events. “I do what I can to help everyone,” he says. a “It’s been a good life.”
t
Jack Miller sees retirement in a different light. His life in retirement doesn’t consist of a rocking chair and fishing pole. After beginning work at Tabor City’s radio station WTAB—FM in 1975 and buying the station 1995, Miller recently sold the station and officially retired. “I’m retired but I still come in,” he says. He sits back of his spacious desk in the office he occupied when he was on the payroll, greets old friends and gives the new owners-operators advice if they ask for it. “I consult with them,” he says. The 77-year-old Miller is well equipped to advise and consult on how to run a radio station; he has been in the broadcasting business for 50 years. Born in Kentucky, the son of a coal miner, radio has been Miller’s working life. He says his father told him he did not want to see his son become a coal miner. So he turned to radio. “I worked at other stations in North Carolina, Louisiana and Tennessee,” he says, bringing years of experience in small market radio stations, most of which aimed their programming at rural listeners. In a station the size of the 5,000-WTAB, the owner-manager has to be able to do most of the jobs involved in operating the station. “I’ve done everything that can be done here except engineering. I’ve stayed away from that,” he says. “It takes a long time to learn everything. You’ve got to stick with it.” With such a background, he felt right at home when he landed in Tabor City. Despite his station’s proximity to the glitter and glamor of Myrtle Beach, Miller continued the aim of the station’s programming to the rural residents, the back road dwellers, in Columbus County and adjoining Horry County, S. C. “If it’s working, don’t fix it,” he says of his deci62 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
sion to keep the same program format. The programming of WTAB is country-gospel music, a style that he inherited from a previous owner and announcer, Troy McPherson. McPherson’s on-the-air persona was entertaining, widely known, and unique. A native of the Beaverdam community of Columbus County, his on- the-air enunciation was pure Columbus County, far different from the homogenized voices heard on many stations, especially those in bigger cities. McPherson’s humorous insights were always on target, and as a whole, his time on the air was very popular with his listeners since he was one of their kind. Miller wisely avoided trying to copy McPherson’s exact style, but the people McPherson reached are the same people Miller talks to. His style of at-ease talking obviously pleased his listeners. Surveys show his programming hits home with most people. Miller inaugurated one program that has proved to be the most popular of the station — the Swap Shop, a first for the station and one in which people could offer items for sale and offers to buy. Miller’s handling of peoples’ requests to buy and sell showed him at his on-the-air best — a down home friendliness and sincerity in his words, and an informality that recalls a kitchen table or country store conversation with old friends. “I started the Swap Shop as a half hour program,” he says, “but we soon went to two hours. I got the idea from a station in Lumberton.” The Swap Shop will broadcast any advertisement from individuals free of charge that offers to sell anything, and also broadcasts requests from listeners who wish to buy certain objects. “We’ve sold dogs, chickens, businesses, cars, houses, trucks, farm equipment — everything,” Miller says. “We’ve sold everything from A to Z” The actual sales transaction is between buyer and seller; WTAB merely gives the phone numbers of buyer and seller. He handled one request to sell, he says, that really surprised him. “This woman called and said her husband had recently died and she was trying to sell some of his personal things. She wanted the Swap Shop to let the listening public know that she had a set of false teeth for sale,” Miller recalls. He says he tried to delicately tell her that he doubted anyone would buy somebody else’s used dentures but the offer was now on the air. “She sold the false teeth,” Miller says. He became close on-the-air friends to some
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Home& Garden
Timeless by STUART HIGH
photos courtesy of FULLER ROYAL
recipes courtesy of THE CAROLYN T. HIGH GARDEN CLUB special thanks to MARGIE RABON, CYNTHIA LYTLE, LISA CLARK & BECKY HIGH
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Beautiful updates take your Thanksgiving table into the winter holidays Give your Thanksgiving table an update to take you through the holidays with these ideas created by members of the Carolyn T. High Garden Club in Whiteville. A traditional Thanksgiving setting can be transformed into an elegant holiday table with simple changes in china, glassware and floral centerpieces. The Garden Club members transformed the fall to winter tablescape with traditional decorating elements, familyfavorite recipes and arrangements using simple materials found locally such as cedar, white pumpkin, red roses and hydrangea. Elegant Cornish Hens 6 Cornish Hens (1-1.5 lb. each) ½ stick butter (room temperature) Salt Pepper
Thanksgiving
Directions: Wash hens and pat dry. Preheat oven 350°. Salt & pepper inside the hen. Tie legs and fold wing tips under wing and pin with a toothpick. Pat the soften butter over the entire hen. Salt and pepper outside of the hen. Then place hens in shallow baking pan on a grate and bake for 1 -1 ½ hours or until temperature inside of the hen reaches 180° with a temperature gauge and hens are golden brown. Remove from oven. Baste hen with jelly basting sauce and place back into oven until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before placing on a serving dish. Jelly Basting Sauce 1 – 1 ½ C. Grape Jelly ¼ Warm Water Mix jelly and water together until mixture becomes a liquid. Recipe by Sonya Peacock
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 65
Baked Cornucopia 3 (11 ounce) containers refrigerated soft bread stick dough 1 egg Directions: 1 tablespoon water Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Lightly spray a 17x14 inch (or larger) cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Tear off a 30x18 inch sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil. Fold it in half to 18x15 inch. Roll diagonally to form a hollow cone, about 18 inches long with a diameter of 5 inches at the widest end (Cornucopia opening). Fasten end with clear tape. Stuff cone with crumpled regular foil until form is rigid. Bend tail of cone up then down at end. Spray outside of cone with non-stick cooking spray. Place on cookie sheet. Beat the egg with the water to make a glaze. Open and unroll the first can of breadstick dough on work surface. Separate breadsticks. Begin by wrapping one breadstick around tip of cone. Brush end of next breadstick with Glaze and press to attach to end of first breadstick. Continue spiral-wrapping cone, slightly overlapping dough until there are 3 breadsticks left. Pinch one end of the 3 breadsticks together, then braid. Brush bread around opening of cornucopia with glaze. Gently press on braid. Brush entire cornucopia with glaze. Bake at 350° F (175° C) for 45 minutes or until bread is a rich brown. (If parts start to darken too much, cover them with pieces of foil.) Remove from oven and let cool completely on cookie sheet on a wire rack. Carefully remove foil when cool. (If freezing, leave foil in bread for support. Remove when thawed.) Submitted by Sonya King Peacock & Edna King Dowless PUMPKIN ROLL 3 eggs 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt ¾ cup all purpose flour 1 cup sugar ½ teaspoon cinnamon ½ can pumpkin recipe continued to page 69 fall table arrangement bittersweet natural white pumpkin
mini pumpkin-painted ivory
mini gourd nandina sprigs sweet olive leaf sprigs fall sideboard arrangement sugar maple cockscomb hydrangea
66 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
Holiday
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 67
holiday table arrangement miniature red spray roses white oriental lillies white fugi mums dusty miller pine leyland cypress various local cedar holiday sideboard arrangement
68 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
hydrangeas fugi mums pine cedar
Pumpkin Roll recipe continued from page 66 Directions: Combine all ingredients, mix and pour into jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with sides. Spray sheet with Pam. Bake at 350° for 15-20 mins. Roll while hot in a linen towel, and let cool while rolled up. Filling: Mix together 8 oz. cream cheese 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 tablespoon butter 1 cup powdered sugar ½ cup chopped pecans Unroll after cool, spread on filling and roll back up. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Refrigerate before cutting. Can be frozen. Submitted by Celia Lynch Holiday Cranberry Salad - Gluten Free 1 - 3 ounce package cherry flavored gelatin ¾ cup boiling water 1 - 16 ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce ½ cup canned mandarin oranges, drained ½ cup freshly diced apples 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 - 8 ounce can pineapple tidbits, drained ½ cup chopped pecans Directions: Combine gelatin and boiling water. Stir until gelatin dissolves. Add cranberry sauce, stirring until blended. Chill until the mixture resembles the thickness of egg white. While the mixture is chilling, dice apples. Toss diced apple pieces in lemon juice to reduce the risk of browning. Chop pecans. Drain oranges and pineapple tidbits. Once the mixture is has reached egg white consistency, fold in oranges, apples, pineapple and pecans. Chill until fully set. When ready to serve, stir congealed mixture making a coarse consistency. Serve chilled. Variations: Spoon fully combined mixture into 6 lightly oiled 2/3 cup cupcake molds or custard cups. Cover and refrigerate molds until firm. Unmold onto lettuce leaves. May be prepared in a 5 cup mold rather than individual molds. * Ensure all ingredients are gluten free by reading all labels. * Can Make A Day Ahead Submitted by Melinda Sikes Powell Peas with Mushrooms, Shallots, and Red Sweet Pepper (start to finish 30 minutes) 2 tablespoon butter 8 oz whole fresh button or cremini mushrooms, quartered ¾ c chopped red sweet pepper ¼ c coarsely chopped shallots or sweet onion 1 - 16 oz. package of frozen petite peas, thawed ¼ tsp salt ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon snippet fresh tarragon or mint 2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel Directions: In a large skillet melt the butter over med heat. Add the mushrooms, pepper, and shallots; cook about 5 minutes or until tender, but not brown stirring occasionaly. Stir in the peas, salt and pepper. Cook about 5 min or until peas are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in tarragon. Transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with lemon peel. Makes 8 servings. Submitted by Debbie Boyette
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Sport& Leisure
Legion
Stadium
by DAN BISER
The first sports event
I ever watched at Legion Stadium was back in mid-October 1974. The place was mostly referred to as Legion Field back then. The Whiteville High football team was playing host to Pembroke High that night in a Three Rivers 3A Conference game. What makes that Friday night game stand out so clearly is that a lighting malfunction left the west end of the field in the dark. After it was determined that the lighting problem could not be
remedied that evening, Whiteville High head coach Jerry Cartrette and Pembroke High head coach Gene Winfrey agreed to go ahead and play the game with only the lights at the east end of the field in operation. Despite the severe lack of lighting, it turned out to be a fairly normally played game. Whiteville claimed a 26-0 victory - it’s sixth win in a row. I vividly remember Wolfpack tight end Bill Peavey catching a pass from quarterback Jeff Roberts and disappearing into the darkness of the west end zone of the field. I
72 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
also remember a high punt by Greg Norris coming down from out at the darkness and falling dead at the 10yard line. But as I recall, there were no specific adverse effects caused by the lighting malfunction during the game. It was just darker than usual. In the following Monday issue of The News Reporter, veteran sports editor Jiggs Powers referred to that game as the “Twilight Zone Bowl.” Since that unforgettable game, I would hate to hazard a guess the number of athletic events I have covered at Legion Stadium.
It is one of the few venues left in North Carolina that still accommodates both high school baseball and football. The off-campus facility, between the Columbus County School Bus Garage and the local North Carolina Forestry headquarters on Chadbourn Highway, has a mystique of its own.It is filled with history, glory, nostalgia and a “oneof-a-kind” sense of pride and tradition. There’s a glow about the place, especially for those who competed in the stadium years ago and are now back watching their grandchildren or even great-grandchildren play on the same field. The original grandstand covering remains, as does the “hill” in left field near the foul pole on which many a routine fly ball has turned into key extra-base hits. Regular renovations and additions continue to keep it as one of Southeastern North Carolina’s most attractive athletic venues. For many, the stadium has remained Whiteville’s “Fountain of Youth.” Through the years, some of the North Carolina’s greatest athletes have played on the Legion turf, be it high school, American Legion or the glory days of semi-pro base-
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ball. People like the late Rudy Williams, David Hooks, Jim “Speed” Sessions, Harry Ward, Frank Walters, Joe Hooks, Yogi Hickman and many others have long filled me in on stories and legends of the early days of Legion Field, which opened in 1947. I’ve long heard about the German prisoner of war camp that stood on the Legion Field site during World War II and how the buildings of that facility were demolished after the war to make room for the construction of Legion Stadium. I had also heard about how the German POWs were used as workers on the Whiteville tobacco warehouse floors and what nice, friendly individuals the majority of them seemed to be. There is also the story of the small pauper cemetery that was first utilized prior to or during the days of the prison camp. The cemetery tract, located west of the home-side stands, is now neatly fenced in. Comets top Wake Forest The one baseball game that will forever be attached to Legion Sta-
dium occurred in May 1949. That was the year that Coach Clyde Williams’ Whiteville Red Comets semipro team played host to Wake Forest, which was unbeaten and the top ranked college team in the country. Whiteville baseball great Charlie Ripple pitched a complete game shutout and Red Comet catcher Buck Hardee drove an opposite field single to score Chesty Chestnutt for the game’s only run. Football Fever The 1965 Whiteville High football team by winning a Region II 2A championship. The regional champion was the only team that could advance in the playoffs at that time. Coach Buck Jolly’s Wolfpack lost its season opener to Lumberton, but then won nine straight games and the Whiteville Athletic Association championship. On back-to-back Friday nights at Legion Field, the Wolfpack defeated Wake Forest 207 and Burgaw 19-13. Scoring the game-winning WHS touchdown in the championship game with Burgaw was fullback Charlie Ripple Jr. … son of the Red Comet pitcher who shut out the Wake Forest Col-
74 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
lege batting order at Legion Field in 1949.
to the championship round and finished runner-up.
Dixie Belles World Series In August 1977, Legion Stadium played host to the Second Annual Dixie Belles Softball World Series. I coordinated the event’s media coverage and got to see a lot of exciting girls softball for ages 13-15 with Legion Stadium becoming a big center of activity. The field was scaled down to softball size, including a temporary outfield fence. Champions from eight states and the host Whiteville team competed in the week-long fast-pitch event. The newly-built Whiteville Armory, just a couple of blocks to the east of the stadium, was used as living quarters for the teams. Local attendance grew nightly at the event that was played in ideal weather the entire week. The Alabama champions from Birmingham won the World Series event with dominating play. However, the Whiteville entry, coached by Jimmie Dale Dew and Phyllis Miller, bounced back from an opening-round loss to advance all the way
Permanent Bleachers In 1981, the Whiteville High football team reeled off 13 straight wins and advanced to the state 2A championship game where it fell to Randleman at Legion Stadium. Prior to the 1982 season, Whiteville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Jerry Paschal led a vigorous fund-raising campaign to provide permanent seating on the home side of the football field. The “Whiteville Forever” campaign produced concrete stands that provided seating for up to 1,800. The bleachers were dedicated at the second home game of the season and Coach Frank Ciamilo’s Wolfpack helped celebrate with a 38-0 shutout of Fairmont. The 1982 WHS squad again won 13 straight games, but again fell to Randleman in state 2A title game at Randleman. Baseball Town, U.S.A. Legion Stadium served as the backdrop in 1986 when SPORT magazine and ABC Sports came to
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Whiteville to put national spotlights on the town and its unique association with baseball. In 1985, Whiteville High won the state 2A championship and Whiteville Post 137 won the state American Legion championship. In 1985, Whiteville High School senior pitching star Tommy Greene was the first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves, and in 1986 WHS infielder Patrick Lennon was the first-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners. David Whitford of SPORT spent several days in Whiteville interviewing Whiteville High and American Legion baseball coach Linwood Hedgpeth, along with several players, fans and others about the town’s baseball success. The story was part of a series that included other small American towns that had the same type in basketball, ice hockey and soccer. It was the SPORT story that declared Whiteville as “Baseball Town U.S.A.” The ABC story was produced to air on the July 4 sports segment of its evening news. Footage showed a Whiteville American Legion practice as well as a Whiteville Dixie Youth practice at Optimist Park, and featured interviews with coaches, players and supporters. The segment was narrated by veteran ABC sports caster Ray Gandolf. State Football Title After finishing state runner-up in 1981, 1982 and 1984, the elusive state 2A championship came to Whiteville in 1987 as the Wolfpack rallied from a 6-0 deficit with two fourth-quarter touchdowns and held off the vaunted Thomasville Bulldogs. The big victory was played before more than 6,000 fans at Legion Stadium. The win capped a 15-0 season for Coach Bill Hewett’s Wolfpack, and was paced by senior All-American Chester McGlockton, who went on to a standout career at Clemson University and 12 strong seasons in the NFL with Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets. McGlockton caught a touchdown pass from senior quarterback John Plasky and junior back Virgil Cokley broke a long run shortly after. Plasky kicked both extra points for a 14-12 lead. Thomasville went to its passing game and scored in the game’s final minute to cut the score to 146. The Bulldogs elected to go for two points with McGlockton making the stop on the Bulldog tailback on an off-tackle play to seal the win. McGlockton died unexpectedly of a heart ailment in 2011 in California where he was serving as an assistant coach for the Stanford University football team. Additions Over the past two decades, the Legion Stadium area has taken on new dimensions with the construction of a track in 1991 and the development of a soccer field inside the track area a few years later. Football practice fields have also been developed behind the home-side bleachers, and a fieldhouse is the most recent addition.
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Community events Through the years, there have been several major community events held at Legion Stadium, including the 1987 celebration of the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution and the 1992 observance of the 500th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America. (Columbus County is the only county in the United States that bears the name). There was also a 1995 program that observed the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II as hundreds of veterans from that war were guests of honor. In 2001, the stadium was the site of the county’s memorial to those who had lost their lives in the 9/11 tragedies. In recent years. Whiteville High School has returned to its tradition of holding graduation exercises at Legion Stadium. A great place to play Last spring when Hoggard High baseball coach Gerard “Jeep” St. Ledger brought his Vikings from Wilmington to play an early season game with Whiteville, he talked about how Legion Stadium had always been a special place for him during his more than 25 years as a high school and American Legion coach. “There’s something great about being in an old ball park that the community really cares for,” St. Ledger said. “I’ll come play here anytime.” a
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legion field timeline -1883County acquires land from Patience Brown to create County Home. Legion Field area is planted with farm crops.
-1945Legion Field area used to house 250 German prisoners of war to be repatriated in Wilmington.
-1947July 4th dedication of field with inaugural baseball between Columbus Legion boys and the Legion Juniors from Red Springs. High school bleachers moved in to accommodate 2000 fans, parking for 500 cars. Bob Burns, Jr. makes dedication address. Commander Herbert Phifer of Whiteville American Legion Post No. 137 threw out first ball. Father Frank J. Howard of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church offered a prayer of dedication to bless the field. Game resulted in 9 to 4 victory for Whiteville.
October Lights are installed and first night game in county held on February 13th 1982. Project launched to raise $100,000 to improve permanent seating to level of 1,980 fans. A $25,000 anonymous challenge pledge came right after planning, contingent on the committee raising at least $75,000. By the kick-off meeting March 2 $12,000 more in pledges had come in. Note: Part of the reason for the selection of the property was BECAUSE the German POW camp was here. It was seen as a metaphor for the American defeat over Fascism.
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 77
WHITEVILLE CITY SCHOOLS Everyone Committed to the Success of ALL Students
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Empowering all students to reach their maximum potential for lifelong learning and productive citizenship. www.whiteville.k12.nc.us 78 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
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Entertaining
Brady-Kendall Reception
Events
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1. Kim Jecius, Jenny Greco 2. Nan Leggett, Sandy Turner 3. Lori-Beth Russell, September Krueger, Curtis Krueger 4. Debbie Conway, Mary Alice Stanley 5. Debbie Viets, Donny Viets, Nan Leggett 6. Justin Smith, Henry Hawthorne 7. Sidney Gibson, Carlton Williamson 8. Kristy Johnson, Jesse Johnson, David Greco 9. Mary Louise Bannerman, Earlene Hawkins
photos courtesy of MARK GILCHRIST
to submit an entertainging feature for the next 954 magazine: Call 910.642.4104 82 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
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Families First Fashion Show 2013
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1. Josh Bower, Thomas McLam, Tom Stanley, Jess Hill, Matt McLean; 2. Emily Best, Wendy Malenfant, Laci Hardin; 3. Kaye M. Pope, Locke Byrd; 4. Bert Young, Tiffany Young, Lily Kate Young, Gwyneth Young, Ainsley Young; 5. Wendy Malenfant, Faye Suggs, Hanna Prince, Samantha Lane; 6. Maddie Dixon, Samantha Lane
photos courtesy of MARK GILCHRIST
Social Services Adoption Gala
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1. Uvonkca Gethers and Taneisha Epps; 2. Sandy Connor with husband Andy Connor and Ginger Bass with husband Eric Bass; 3. Left to right: Karen Thurman, Sheila Berkeley, Marcee Swindell, Jim Warlick, JaShawna Bellamy, and Melinda Lane; 4. Left to right: Taneisha Epps, Sharresa Kelly-Mason, Ginger Bass, Dwella Hall, DeOndra Cato, and Patches McQueen photos courtesy of NICOLE CARTRETTE
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Live After Five
1. Thomas Jones; 2. Coburn Powell & Larry Faison; 3. Steve Smith; 4. Black Water Band; 5. Charlie Duncan; 6. Sue Hawks photos courtesy of MARK GILCHRIST
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Calendar Of Events November November 7 Shuck N’ Shag Oyster Roast 2013 5:30 pm – 9:30 pm Vineland Station Oysters, Chili, Dancing, Raffle Tickets $35. Call the Greater Whiteville Chamber of Commerce 910.642.3171 or purchase at the door. November 8 1st Annual St. James Waccamaw Siouan Festival Golf Tournament at Land-o-Lakes. Stedman Graham will attend as celebrity golfer. To register, call Paula Jacobs 910-840-3964 November 9 16th Annual St James Waccamaw Siouan Festival at St James Volunteer Fire Department Parade at 11 am, car show, games, entertainment and Durk’s Fried Chicken and Saturday night dance. November 9 The Star-Spangled Sprint-5K Run/Walk & Children’s Fun Run SCC Campus at 10 am 84 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
November 10 Nakina Veteran’s Day Parade November 12 SCC’s Veteran’s Day Celebration featuring the US Army Ground Forces Band at Noon in the SCC Auditorium November 16, December 21, January 18, February 15 Acoustic Music Jam Lake Waccamaw Depot 9:30 am to Noon Musicians of all abilities are invited to come out and “pick” November 18 - December 13 SCC Art Gallery Exhibition Featuring Leslie Scalzo and Linda Witherspoon Leslie paints her vibrant images of sea creatures and birds at her home studio in Columbus County. Linda, a former art educator, is a multi-media artist in Myrtle Beach. Her painting has been an important part of recovery from brain injury suffered in 2007. November 23 Columbus Regional Healthcare Foundation
Gala Vineland Station Glitz & Glam theme honoring nurses with the “Golden Nurse Award Ceremony” Entertainment by Jim Quick and The Coastline Band Ticket $150 per couple For more details visit www.crhealthcare.org or call 641.8234 November 29 Black Friday, Shop Local, Shop a Chamber Member and Support the Businesses that Support this Community December December 6 Lake Waccamaw Lighting of the Town Christmas Tree at 5:30 pm. Meet at Town Hall on Flemmington Drive and carol to the corner for the lighting of the tree. Cookies and cocoa follow at The Depot. December 7 Tabor City Christmas Parade at 6pm at the town gate followed by Tree Lighting December 7 Chadbourn Christmas Parade
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photos courtesy of TJ ENZOR & CLARA CARTRETTE
1. Tabor City Yam Festival Queens, (left to right) Junior Miss Brittany Barnhill, Teen Miss Tara Ward, Young Miss Kirsten Norris, Queen Abigail Leonard, and Mrs. Erin Mincey pose with “Tiger Tater”; 2. Dianne Nobles Ward decorated for the sweet and savory Yam Auction reception 3. Leah Hooks poses during the festivities; 4. Jack Miller and Representative Kenneth Waddell
Reuben Brown Fundraiser
Supporters of the Reuben Brown House look over items donated to the silent auction
photos courtesy of MARK GILCHRIST
Calendar Of Events December 8 Whiteville Christmas Parade - 3pm December 14 Fair Bluff Christmas Parade – 11 am 8th Annual Lower Cape Fear Hospice Foundation Festival of Trees Events For ticket information visit www.hospicefestivaloftrees.org December 3 & 4 Festival of Trees 9 am – 5 pm Vineland Station $3 Field Trips $5 General Admission Trees, dessert café, wreaths, baked goods December 5 & 6 Festival of Trees Holiday Luncheon 11:30am to 1pm Vineland Station Tickets $35 per person Tables of eight $250 Luncheon speaker: Chad Porter December 7 Breakfast with Santa 9 am-11 am Vineland Station
$3 Children younger than 12 $5 Adults Breakfast, pictures with Santa, entertainment by Edgewood Elementary January January 7 5:30-6:30pm Women Leading Columbus: How to Network Location to be determined RSVP Whiteville Chamber 642.3171 January 9 SCC Library 11:00 am Dedication of the Williamson Library (honoring the late Arthur W. Williamson) January 13 - 14, 2014 SCC Art Gallery Exhibit Artist Kristin Gibson will be exhibiting her acrylic paintings and silk banners. January 20 Martin Luther King Day
February February 6 50th Anniversary Celebration of SCC’s Charter Chadbourn Elementary School/SCC Campus (time to be announced) February 23 Whiteville Junior Woman’s Club Charity Ball - Celebrating 75 years of Service Vineland Station 8pm to Midnight Featuring the Coastline Band Black-tie optional To sponsor, purchase tickets or for more information, contact any club member, email whitevillejwc@gmail.com, or call 840.9070. March March 1 Whiteville Optimist Friend of Youth Gala Honoring Mr John McNeill 7 pm – until Vineland Station Tickets contact: Brad Johnson 640.1224 Judy Harritan 642-6467
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 85
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220 S. Main Street Tabor City, NC 28463 (910) 653-4800 88 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013
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Medicine Mart 241 S. Main Street Tabor City, N.C. (910) 653 6802
8th ANNUAL
LOWER CAPE FE AR HOSPICE FOUNDATION
Mark your calendar! Dec. 3-8, 2013 Festival of Trees
Holiday Luncheons
Breakfast with Santa
9 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 3-4, 2013
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Dec. 5-6, 2013
9-11 a.m. Dec. 7, 2013
Vineland Station $3 Field trips $5 General admission
Vineland Station Tickets: $35 per person Tables of eight: $250
Vineland Station $3 Children younger than 12 $5 Adults
Guests will enjoy beautifully decorated trees, wreaths, baked goods, a dessert café and appearances by Santa Claus.
Enjoy lunch in Whiteville’s very own winter wonderland and prepare to be inspired (and not just by the trees!). This year’s featured speaker, Chad Porter, will uplift holiday spirits and share his story about beating the odds despite having his world turned upside down.
Sit down and enjoy breakfast with the man in the red suit – Jolly Saint Nick! Guests will also have the opportunity to snap photos with Santa and enjoy the holiday trees and entertainment by Edgewood Elementary School.
Proceeds benefit
To register and for more information, please visit www.hospicefestivaloftrees.org or call the event hotline at 910.796.8099 ext. 6. Every gift matters.
Fall/Winter 2013 | 954mag.com | 89
YOUR COLUMBUS COUNTY CONNECTION AT LUMBERTON FORD
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What Will You Do With Your Good Health? At Southeastern Health, we believe effective healthcare is a partnership. We will always be here to take care of you when you are sick. But more importantly, we are here to help you take control of your health— so you can do the things you love. From over 60 primary and specialty-care clinics throughout Robeson and surrounding counties, to the nationally recognized services of Southeastern Regional Medical Center, Southeastern Health is making quality care convenient and personal, all so you continue your path to a happier, more fulfilling life. We call it UCare; you’ll call it healthcare the way it should be.
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92 | 954mag.com | Fall/Winter 2013