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The mission of the Weldon City School District is to create and maintain a highly effective educational system in which every student receives the highest quality education. School employees and parents work together to prepare students to become caring, competent, and responsible citizens who value education as a lifelong process.

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The mission of the Weldon City School District is to create and maintain a highly effective educational system in which

highest quality educationand parents work together to prepare students to become caring, competent, and responsible citizens who value education as a lifelong process.

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916 Roanoke Ave.Roanoke Rapids NC 27870P.O. Box 520, Roanoke Rapids NC 27870

PUBLISHER Titus L. Workmanpublisher@rrdailyherald.com 252-410-7065

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Baretta Taylorbtaylor@rrdailyherald.com 252-410-7042

MANAGING EDITOR Matt Lindbergmlindberg@rrdailyherald.com 252-410-7054

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AD EXECUTIVES Linda Foster, Martha Neville, Rhonda Irby,

Toni Meeks, Gay Parrish, Jasmine Gore

Contributing writersJenny Gray, Khai Hoang,

Tia Bedwell, Sarah Bloom

Contributing photographersJenny Gray, Khai Hoang,Tia Bedwell,

Sarah Bloom, Bryan Clark

Graphic ArtistHope Callahan

Copyright 2016 ProfileNo portion of Profile magazine may be reprinted in any form or posted on the Internet without

the permission of the publisher.

On the coverSixteen interesting people you should know in 2016. Inside you will learn about some of your Roanoke Valley neighbors and their contributions to the area.

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ART WATSON

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The people’s manDriven Conway native enjoys

working, conversing with others

Whatever general contractor Art Watson puts his skills to, there is one common denomina-tor: People.

“I enjoy dealing with people,” he said. “If people are happy when I’m building a home, and they’re satisfied when I’m done, I’m happy.”

Using his years of experi-ence, Watson said he studies projects from all angles, then he makes recommendations to the client based on current and future needs. Watson said he has an eye for special touches that might help cli-ents avoid potential problems down the road.

One suggestion Watson said he makes: 36-inch door-ways.

“I don’t try to talk anybody into anything, but just show them the knowledge of my past experiences,” Watson said. “You don’t have to be 75 years old to be in a wheel-chair. You could break a leg at 45. So I try to give sug-gestions to them.”

Born, raised and still living in Conway, the 59-year-old Watson grew up the young-est of three siblings.

“My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and my dad was a manager of Davis and Co. (auto parts store) in Conway,” he said. “I had a very good mom and dad. They guided us well in a good direction.”

Watson said his sister, Beverly, is a retired educator, and his brother, Jay, is the building inspector in Northampton County. In their separate roles, Watson said the two broth-ers often do business together.

“He says that’s the one time when I have to listen to him,” Watson said, laughing.

He added he was the pesky little brother.

“I’m the baby,” he said with a grin. “There was so much age difference between us I was always in the way.”

From a young age, Watson had an urge to work.“I drove a school bus in high school, during my junior and

senior year. It was one of those little buses,” he said. “Then, when I was done driving for the day, I worked at a fertil-izer plant. I always worked two, three jobs at a time.”

Watson was 17 when he grad-uated from high school. He stuck around less than 24 hours.

“I graduated on June 8 and by June 9, I was in San Antonio, Texas, for basic training,” he said.

That was when he began a 23-year military career, with 22 years in the U.S. Air Force and one in the Army.

“I enjoyed it immensely, trav-eling and meeting people,” he said.

His military travels took him to Europe and Asia, including Hong Kong. He said he loves to travel.

“I want to go back to Europe; I want to go to Italy,” he said. “I love World War II history, so I want to go back to Germany.”

Watson’s first postings were a shock for which he wasn’t pre-pared. Maine can be pretty — and pretty darn cold.

He wasn’t wearing the right clothes on the plane ride north to Presque Isle, either.

“It was 1975, and I was wearing those bell-bottomed polyester pants,” he said. “I thought I looked pretty good.”

But he soon found out polyester of that era had no redeeming qualities when it came to retaining body warmth. And then there was the snow.

“The snow was piled up even with the wings of my plane,” Watson recalled. “I just as soon could have been

STORY & PHOTOS BY JENNY GRAY

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buck naked. But there were a lot of friendly people, and I enjoyed it.”

Watson said he worked in communications.“It started like World War II communications and

ended up with satellites,” he said of the changing technology. “I loved the military camaraderie. You ended up developing a skill of talking to people and finding out what makes them happy.”

Out of the service, Watson decided to put his tal-ent for building things to good use.

“I just basically learned by doing, and I took some classes,” he said of his preparation.

Watson Builders opened in 1997 and serves north-eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia with custom residential and commercial construction. Concerned with energy efficient construction, Watson is designated a “Certified Green Professional” by the National Association of Home builders.

His company has large and small equipment, includ-ing aerial lifts and front-end loaders.

“There are 37 people, 36 families who work with us,” Watson said of his gaggle of subcontractors. “That helps the economy.”

Watson said he used his head to weather the last decade’s poor economy and nationwide construction slow down.

“We kept alive by diversifying,” he said. “We do everything from A to Z, and we do four or five proj-ects at a time. The idea is to keep everybody work-ing, from plumbers to sheet rockers to painters. We’ve always ridden through a recession.”

Watson keeps all his workers happy, too.“We have lunches at the office, birthday parties,

those kinds of things,” he said. “And we have trust. My guys always look out for each other.”

And they don’t work in silence; they chat.“If you work with me, you’re going to talk,” he

said, laughing.Watson said his son, Ben, is a licensed general con-

tractor and they work together. The family has a large piece of land where Watson’s other son, John, raises chickens.

Last year, Watson finished a large restoration proj-ect for Patterson Wilson, The Hen and the Hog res-taurant in Halifax. He’s worked on and is working on more projects in that historic town.

“She had an idea to save the town,” Watson said of Wilson’s projects. “I feel like you’re saving some-thing, like in this case, (The Hen and the Hog), this was just going down.”

Bringing old buildings back to functionality is satis-fying, Watson added.

“Mother Nature wanted it, but we were able to put it back together for a few more years,” he said.

When he’s not banging nails, Watson enjoys going west to hunt.

“We go out to Alder, Montana, about 80 miles northwest of Yellowstone,” he said. “We pull camp-ers and hunt on public land. It’s beautiful country.”

There’s something about construction that’s good for the soul, Watson agreed.

“You’re building someone else’s dream,” he said. “You take a piece of land and make them a home.”

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Lanayjha Ashe got her first basketball when she was just 3 years old, and she hasn’t put it down since.

“I just bounced the ball around, everywhere,” she remembered. “I’ve just been having the drive ever

since.“I used to watch TV with my daddy all the time,

watching basketball games. And then seeing my brothers play made me want to play.”

When the Northwest Halifax High senior steps onto the hardwood, she said all that’s on her mind is victo-ry.

“With so much adrenaline, I just think ‘win,’” she said.

Ashe has played at every level and outlet she could have been involved with, from recreation leagues to AAU teams.

“I always stood out everywhere I went,” she said.

And she stands out to this day. Ashe led the state of North Carolina in high school basketball scoring, this year averaging 28 points per game. Although most ath-letes strive to reach a 1,000-point scoring mark, Ashe celebrated her 2,000th point in January.

Ashe cred-ited her suc-cess to a nev-er-ending supply of support from fam-ily members to coaches, and espe-cially her mother.

Supporting her daughter throughout her lifelong career in the sport, Tamika Ashe said she has done and will do whatever it takes to help her daughter prog-ress.

After noticing the love of the game she had, Tamika

said she started her daughter in recreation basketball leagues, and the rest was history.

“She has a God-given talent,” Tamika said. “Some kids, they pick up and ball, and you have to teach them this or teach them that, but with her it was just like she was blessed with

the talent.”Ashe said she doesn’t take for granted what her mother

has done.“She puts a lot of time and effort in. She’ll take off work

a week if I have to go on a basketball trip,” Ashe said. “She just puts all of her time and effort into me, mak-

ing sure that my dream comes true.”A leader on her high school team, the Northwest Halifax Lady Vikings didn’t have a winning season this year, but that didn’t stop Ashe from playing with a fierce drive.

“We started playing as a team,” Ashe said of her teammates. “It’s better than it was. Everybody stepped up. I can honestly say that. I have a lot of help on the court.”

Ashe said it was an all-around team effort for Northwest Halifax. She added she could

“always count on” teammates Shamya Robinson and Asya Gunter.

Area teams in the Valley are “good and competitive,” she said, noting she enjoyed playing local rivals like Weldon.

No matter the score, Ashe said she plays from the beginning to the end.

“I just make up for it in the next game,” she said about a bad game. “I think of what I could have been done differently.”

Basketball is a full-time gig for her, playing the regular season in high school and further training in the offseason in Wake Forest, plus playing AAU year-round.

But the constant work she puts into the game, 365 days a year, isn’t that draining, she

said.“It’s something I love to

do, so it really doesn’t (impact) me. It comes with the experience,

too,” Ashe said, adding she has traveled to

Hoop dreamsTeen works hard on the hardwood in hopes of pro career

STORY & PHOTOS BY SARAH BLOOM

Lanayjha Ashe

places like Tennessee and Georgia. Ashe gets to travel around with

her AAU team, the Carolina All-Stars, to better help with exposure, playing in front of scouts. The team is based out of Durham.

“Around here, she was good, but once we got up around the Raleigh area, she saw she needed to step her game up,” Tamika said.

There’s always room for improve-ment. Ashe said she is working on communication on the court and catching more contact when she drives to the hole.

“I want to give myself a chance to end the game on a good note,” she said

Despite the success she’s had, she remains humble about it all. It’s only when it comes to playing the game that she unleashes her per-sonality in the sport.

“One thing about my daughter … when she’s out on the court, she’s a wild, go-getter. Just off the chain. But when it comes to talking to people, she’s really laid back,” Tamika said. “When she’s on the court, that’s when she expresses herself.”

Basketball may be Ashe’s priority in her life, but she said she puts God above everything.

“Put him first in everything, and everything will work out,” she said.

If she’s not out on a court, she’s watching her two favorite teams: Duke and UConn. She enjoys volley-ball, and also loves to drive around and hang out with her friends. Another obsession: Shoes — Air Jordans, to be exact.

Ashe has also spent time helping others, volunteering at Hannah’s Place, a place of refuge to those subject to domestic violence or other abuse. The experience, she said, has given her more apprecia-tion for her own life.

Her basketball career won’t end at the high school level. She said she doesn’t plan on giving up the sport any time soon as she hopes to play at a collegiate level and go even fur-ther.

“I want to play at a four-year col-lege, and after there play in the WNBA or overseas,” she said.

Ashe said she hopes to pursue a degree in sports management or an equivalent.

“I always want to be involved (in basketball),” she added.

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Roanoke Rapids man

If Tony Hall had a dinner party and could invite anyone from the past, it would be his former third-grade teacher who was so bad she inspired him to go be a better teacher.

“Miss Jenkins,” he said. “She was so mean a little boy in our class jumped from a window to get away from her and broke a bone. When she died, I went to the funeral home — I was a grown person — because I wanted to make sure that evil woman was dead.”

Eventually the evil teacher went away and a new, kinder teacher, replaced her. Hall, however, never forgot the horrible teacher and he went to college to become a teacher.

“Because, I wanted to make sure no other children were treated like that,” he said. “Do you remember the ‘special pie’ from ‘The Help?’ I’d probably make her one of those pies.”

Hall grew up in a tight-knit family in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, near Stuart.

“We had a farm right out from Mabry Mill called Rock Creek Plantation,” Hall said. “It was purchased in 1777 and we’ve had it since then.”

After the Civil War, the property was divided among 12 sib-lings, and if a portion was sold, it was sold only within the fam-ily.

“The manor house is no longer there since Sherman’s March; it was looted and burned,” he said.

Growing up surrounded by relatives taught Hall a life lesson.“Don’t ever talk about anything to anyone, because some-

how, we’re all related,” he said, laughing. “We’ve never had any neighbors — and our neighbors never had any neighbors — who weren’t family.”

On the farm were sweet potatoes, tobacco, corn and soy-beans, plus pigs, cows and horses.

“I love chickens,” Hall said. “My uncle had a chicken farm.”He said he was about 8 when he started working for pennies

for his uncle, collecting and washing eggs and preparing them for sale.

His grandmother, Ernestine Maxie, was one of his childhood heroes.

“My grandmother lived to 104; I would love to get to 100 as long as I can be like her,” he said. “She was the first woman to drive a car in Patrick County. She wore pants, which was racy for the times. ... She overcame the fact she grew up in the Depression, and was pretty well traveled and never met a stranger. Her philosophy was ‘I have two potatoes, so I can share one with somebody.’”

STORY BY JENNY GRAY & PHOTOS BY BRYAN CLARK

Life of

adventure

Tony Hall

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Hall, who is involved with Littleton’s Lakeland Theatre Company, got an early start on stage.

“I was the dog in ‘Chicken Little,’” Hall said of his kindergar-ten year. “I was a good dog. I lay there on the floor and I barked three times. Just being still was the challenge.”

Hall ran track, and was into acting and choir while attending Bassett High School.

“I was a good student,” he said. “I was afraid my daddy would kill me if I didn’t do well. He ruled with an iron fist.”

After high school, Hall went to Bluefield College in Virginia, and then went to Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. He continued to act and sing in college productions, including play-ing Lumière, the candlestick character in “Beauty and the Beast.”

“The costume was restrictive and I had to carry a big battery pack on my back,” he said, adding the batteries lit up his arms like candles. “I was supposed to pop out through the curtains, but somebody in the maintenance department decided to wax the floor.”

One could just see the rest of the story coming.“So I hop out there and I fall completely backward,” Hall said.

“I’m laying there with a restrictive costume and hands for torches, and I can’t get up. They sent two people out there to stand me back up, and I got a standing ovation. Lots of my college friends always say, ‘Do you remember that?’”

After college, Hall said he became a nationally certified teacher.

“I studied early education and psychology,” he said. “I went

into teaching and started out teaching third grade in Martinsville, Va. I loved, loved, loved that.”

When No Child Left Behind came along, Hall became a sixth-grade science and chemistry teacher, and then took an early retirement, eventually moving to Lake Gaston, then Roanoke Rapids.

“I had some friends here, and I met a very special friend,” he said. “I lived up at Lake Gaston and then I bought an old house on Roanoke Avenue.”

Hall sold the house at the lake and bought another at Virginia Beach, Va., where he spends much of his time.

“I have a lot of family and friends there,” he said. “It feels very homey to go there.”

Hall used to snow ski, but gave it up after an accident in 2000.

“There were many broken bones,” he said. “A snow boarder and I sort of crossed paths and it didn’t end well for me.”

Hall said he adores cooking and entertaining, and he loves to watch old black and white movies, though one favorite movie is “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase.

He has a collection of 3,000 Santas. One is 7 feet tall.“I found him in an old store in downtown Richmond,” he said.

“They were going out of business, and he was in the window.”He made an offer and brought Santa home.Sometimes Santa stays in the dining room, or the living

room, or in the front hallway for the holidays. Once, Santa was loaned out when a symphony orchestra came to town to play. After the holidays, he goes back in his “coffin,” a large storage

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box where he waits for the next Christmas.

Hall also said he loves to grow vegetables and travel. As a young teenager, he went on a mission trip to Tanzania, where he learned to communicate with people, not through language, but through a shared, instinctive humanity.

“I still remember being at a little worship service,” he said. “I under-stood what they were saying, and what was being said. I still get goose bumps.”

His bucket list is interesting.“I want to do a glacier,” he said

of an adventurous climb. “I want to jump out of an airplane.”

Hall has visited 27 states, add-ing he wants to hit all of them. He said he also wants to travel to Ireland and find traces of his ancestors.

“And I’d love to drive a race car,” he said. “I love to drive fast.”

People may be surprised to know that Hall, who grew up a Baptist, became an ordained min-ister about 30 years ago, and has performed a few weddings and funerals.

“My mother thinks it’s a big deal — bigger than I do,” he said, laughing.

His other secret: He loves to watch professional wrestling. Once, he had dinner with President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn. He’s also rubbed elbows with the Clinton and Bush clans.

Several things help him live his day-to-day life, Hall said.

“You have to laugh every day. You have to eat chocolate every day. You have to do something unexpected for someone else every day,” he said. “I think life is too short to not make it count for good. ... I still believe in the good in everybody.”

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Full circle

Davis fulfilling lifelong dreams, looking forward

STORY & PHOTOS BY JENNY GRAY

The pairing of Tare “T” Davis and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol may have been inevitable.

“My lifelong dream was to be a trooper,” he said. “If anybody can say they achieved that dream, it would be me.”

Troopers were a constant in the young boy’s life as he grew up across the road from the SHP post in Roanoke Rapids. He may have been playing outside, but he was constantly on the lookout.

“I used to watch them as they went by — I never took my eyes off them until they disappeared from sight,” he said of the troopers and their shiny patrol cars. “There was just some-thing about those black and silver cars that just struck me. There was something about their professionalism and outlook.”

Davis joined the force in January 2000, patrolling the high-ways of Warren County, where he now lives. Just the thought of his job makes his eyes glow.

“It was a lifetime of accomplishment,” he said. “To have this ambition, to be this one thing in life and accomplish it — it was amazing for me.”

Davis said he is the first member of his family to serve in law

enforcement. His father worked for CSX railroad, and his moth-er was a seamstress. He graduated from Weldon High School in 1992 and joined the U.S. Army National Guard at just 17 years old.

“And I did 12 years of service with them,” he added. “I got into law enforcement 21 years ago, and I’ve been a trooper now (more than) 16 years.”

His college education started at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown. When his first daughter was born, he had to get full-time work.

“I worked two jobs and completed BLET (basic law enforce-ment training),” he said.

When Davis graduated from BLET school, he still faced an obstacle to his chosen profession.

“I had to wait two months to get certified (as a law-enforce-ment officer) because I wasn’t old enough,” Davis said, adding he needed to be 21 to be certified.

But it happened. Davis got an on-campus police-officer job, then joined the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office.

“Sheriff (Jeff) Frazier hired me to become a narcotics officer

Tare Davis

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in 1997,” he said. “I worked there three years.”Davis said the drug problem in the Roanoke Valley concerns

him. “Narcotics have been part of our culture for a long, long

time. It’s our ongoing war,” he said. “Just as soon as you think you’ve got a hold of something, there’s a new drug. Everybody’s willpower is different — that’s true of everybody. We need more narcotics officers.”

When Davis’ daughter, Tiare, was a college student at UNC-Greensboro, Davis decided it was time to go back to school. In 2013, he got a bachelor’s degree at Kaplan University, and now he attends North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, working toward a Bachelor of Business Administration.

He married his wife, Monica Davis, nine years ago, and they have two chil-dren together. Davis said he has two other children from a previous marriage, and he is also the owner of Bounce n Bounce Party Zone in Becker Village Mall.

Happy and settled, Davis had yet to ful-fill another role, that of politician. He said he was inspired by Eva Clayton, who first served as an elected member and chairwoman of the Warren County Board of Commissioners and then represented North Carolina’s 1st District in the U.S. House of Representatives (1992-2003).

“We were neigh-bors,” Davis said of Clayton. “She’s always been an encouragement for young people to get into politics.”

Davis also recalled words of his mother that inspired him.“Mom told me I would either be a preacher or a politician,”

he said, laughing. “I never thought, though, I would be a coun-ty commissioner. But I wanted to impact society.”

He started considering the idea in 2008, but didn’t run until 2014.

“This time, I kind of felt like I was in a position in my life where I could make a difference in society,” he said.

He ran for a seat on the Warren County Board of Commissioners, District 2, that represents residents in the northeastern quadrant of the county, and won with 62 per-cent of the votes.

“The most beneficial thing that I didn’t antici-pate was the many peo-ple whom I met who ended up being good friends,” Davis said. “I just went out to differ-ent communities and dif-ferent churches, and to different activities, and met people I never would have met otherwise.”

He said he loves repre-senting the people of his district.

“It’s been very reward-ing,” Davis added. “Of course, there’s many stressful times and many prayerful times. But it’s all about service. I take that heartfelt. Any issue that a citizen has is an issue of mine, whether it’s large or small.”

And he just applies his philosophy of life.

“If you give more than you take, this world will be a better place,” he said.

Davis said he’s enjoy-ing his life, but doesn’t rule out a run for a high-er political office some-day.

“If it’s rewarding, I might do it,” he said. “I don’t know what the Lord has in store for me, for my future ... there’s much work for me to do in my community right now.”

For fun, Davis said he likes to fly remote-con-trol airplanes and hang out with his children. Between his job as a trooper, his role as a

county commissioner, his family and faith, and college endeav-ors, Davis has come a long way since he was a little boy play-ing in a yard while watching State Highway Patrol troopers drive by. He’s a content man.

“I’m comfortable where I am,” Davis said. “I love where I live, and the people that I serve. I don’t want to change that.”

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The journey To a new life

Roanoke Rapids doctor loves practicing medicine, danceSTORY & PHOTO BY TIA BEDWELL

Dr. Diana Pesteanu has a love of dance, but her love for medicine and her patients goes even deeper.

The fight to practice medicine was not an easy one. Pesteanu was an ophthalmologist and surgeon in

Romania for seven years before leaving her country.“I had everything I wanted to have except for freedom,” she

said. “I was fearing for my daughter for what was going to be with her if I don’t do anything about this.”

So Pesteanu defected (which means to abandon one’s coun-try or cause in favor of an opposing one). She said she went for a “trip/vacation” to Turkey, stopped in Greece and applied for political asylum. She was approved by the United Nations.

“Then I went through three years of refugee camps … the best I could so I wasn’t killed,” she said. “Because that’s what they were doing. The security was following you everywhere. I didn’t even stay in the hotel where they put the refugees. Privately I worked for a hospital for two years … but at least I got away alive.”

She said she did not take the interview with the American Embassy, admitting today that was a mistake.

“People are very socialists in Greece and they were against the United States,” she said. “That’s all I knew — what they told me, so I went to Canada. As soon as I arrived I found out I cannot be a doctor again, no way if I’m not coming from a Commonwealth country. They do not allow licenses for foreign doctors. I was stuck there without a passport for four years. I had to wait to become a Canadian citizen to be able to only get out of there.”

Pesteanu couldn’t go back to Romania and her daughter was still there because her father would not allow her to come.

She said her ex-husband would not go with the plan they had.

“He played the good commoner and abducted my daughter from my parents,” she said. “He let her go when I officially asked for her after getting Canadian sponsorship.”

Pesteanu got her daughter to Canada after four years. Her

Dr. Diana Pesteanu

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daughter was 7 when Pesteanu had to leave her, and 11 when she finally got her back.

“Four years I lost my profession. I lost my daughter for I didn’t know how long. I was a Portugal refugee from there so I couldn’t go back. If I went back they would jail me,” she said. “I did not know how long it was going to be so, I had to do my best. I survived in Canada. I worked three jobs at the same time … I waited the time to become a citizen to get out of there. I still did not give up on my eye doctorship.”

She said that was what she liked to do and what she wanted to do as a profession. She waited until she became a citizen so she could get a passport.

“I had everything. I had welfare. I had nice apartment … money for food. They would have kept me in any school except medical school. They said I’m overqualified. Yet I can not get license. There were tons of doctors. I never knew one that succeeded while I was there.”

She heard about the New England College of Ophthalmology, which was the only one offering an accelerated class for PhD in Visual Sciences. She finished in two years and became a doctor of ophthalmology.

She applied to Mid-Atlantic and moved to North Carolina in 1993. She worked there for about four years and satisfied her non-competing clause in Raleigh. She then worked for two years at Glenwood Avenue Walmart Independent Ophthalmology, eventually moving to Roanoke Rapids. She pur-chased a lot and opened at 12 Anna Louise Lane.

“I’m here since year 2000 in my own business,” she said. Her daughter, Loretta, moved with her, and was valedictori-

an for Halifax Academy. She has since become a veterinarian, now practicing in Brooklyn, N.Y.

SECOND LOVEHer second love and hobby is dancing.“It’s interesting, I started to dance six years ago,” she said.

“First time I took lessons I was 60 years old. Ballroom — I always liked the music and I would dance to anything. The music is just getting into my head and my body and it just makes me move. Any kind of music.”

She first took lessons locally from Kem Overby, and he took her to competitions.

“I didn’t have a dress for the first time,” she said. “Then I

started to win for the beginners. Then I won every time I went basically. I won the bronze a few times after two years, almost three.”

She said she then wanted to go silver and knew she needed to learn international dance teaching.

“Because I speak several languages, one of them being Hungarian, I met this instructor (Gabor Seves) from Richmond (Va.),” she said. “He won the champion of Hungary twice and is the 14th in the world. I was so lucky that God had me to meet him. I’m his student now for life.”

She now travels on her only weekday off, Monday, to dance with him at his studio and prepare for competitions, some-times dancing for three hours. She also tries to dance in the mornings at a local studio.

“I have an arrangement with Chelsea, with Progressions Studio and I have rented for about three years. I go when I can and when she’s not there. I go before 9 o’clock in the morn-ing, and nobody wants to go then. I go Sundays and I go Saturdays … as much of the time I can make in the mornings. There’s so much to work on …”

She practices her partnering work by herself as much as possible. Then on Mondays, when she dances with Seves, he tells her what she needs to work on.

“It’s a never-ending experience,” she said.The furthest she has ever traveled is Puerto Rico, where she

said she won the competition. “On the second competition, I was signed up to compete in

54 dances. I dance in four categories and 20-some dances. It’s a lot to remember. It’s 45 degrees — not 44, not 46, but 45. That’s how you have to hold yourself. It is wonderful, but it is work, not just fun. But it is beautiful to fly with it. The music is there. The competition is there. It’s just flying.”

She said when she is preparing for a competition, she just dances more.

“I go and do two or three hours on Sunday. I watch a lot. He (Seves) is a professional dancer and he has a professional dancer. And I have tapes with them and tapes of old interna-tional competitions. Not only tapes, I can also watch YouTube.

“I watch the way they do, how it should be done. How is she doing, how is she keeping her hands.”

She loves “Dancing with the Stars,” noting she watches the performances closely.

Profile | 19

“I keep my mouth open — ‘oh my God, why did she do that?’ That’s not right. That’s not part of the dance … what is that?’ I find myself criticizing,” she said with a laugh.

She said her favorite part of compet-ing is just the dancing.

“When I get there and I start with the music, the music is good, if it is bad … for the Vietnamese Waltz I want the Vietnamese Waltz,” she said.

Competitors do not get to choose the music for their dances, she said.

“The more modern you go (with music) and the more American-style you go, the less classical it becomes. There are waltzes where it’s just the guitar … I have those two dances I practice on because I have to be prepared. But I love the good music. They give me good music, too. When it’s Vietnamese, I just close my eyes and I go.”

She said if someone would like to pur-sue dancing, it takes commitment.

“You need passion for it, dedication, perseverance and the joy of dancing,” she said

HER PATIENTSPesteanu said even though she loves

dancing, her profession will always be first.

“I always cry when I say that. I just love so much of what I’m doing here. That’s why I stuck so much with it through losing it. Instead of doing any-thing else in Canada that would have paid me, to go to school and get license in something else, I just couldn’t lose this. I would never, never risk anything to take away from what I’m doing here. Anything — including dancing that I’m so crazy for,” Pesteanu said, adding she has come to work on Saturdays and Sundays because she doesn’t believe it’s a sacri-fice.

“I see them (patients) when it’s need-ed. The medical profession is a calling, it’s not just a job,” she said. I don’t see anything special in coming Sundays. People call and say, ‘You are open?’ I say, no I am not open, but I come for you. If there’s something that needs to be seen, I better come and see so I won’t worry about it.”

She said when it comes to her life, she’s an open book, but she’s “a dream-er. I follow my dreams and I never give up.”

20 | Profile

Leading by example

Valley teacher/coach aims to mentor youth in life

In his sixth year at KIPP Pride High, Brett Noble said his school is like a second family in the Valley.

“Teaching is my passion, and I don’t see myself leaving the classroom,” said Noble, who teaches 11th grade English

or American literature.He’s done quite the job so far.In August 2015, Noble received high honors from the KIPP

network. He was one of 12 recipients nationwide to earn the 2015 Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award. Educators are selected for the award based on track records of student achievement, leadership in and out of the classroom and their commitment to their students’ goals of pursuing an education at the next level.

“It was really cool to represent our region,” Noble said of the award, which he received in Anaheim, Calif.

Extending his reach and awareness beyond KIPP’s campus, Noble is one of 12 who play an active role on the state gover-nor’s teacher adviser committee.

“We meet quarterly to discuss improving the quality of teach-ing in our state … doing what’s best for kids and keeping and retaining excellent teachers in the classroom,” Noble said.

He also serves as an instructional coach.“I really enjoy working and doing professional development

with our teachers,” Noble said. In addition, he has acting chair roles in the English department

and at a grade-level.“I’m totally bought into our school’s mission. That is to

empower our students to have the knowledge and character to succeed at the college of their choice, to fight for social justice and to strengthen their community,” Noble said. “I think that’s

STORY & PHOTOS BY SARAH BLOOM

Brett Noble

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what makes KIPP special. Beyond being a school, we’re singularly driven by our mission.”

Noble credited everyone part of the KIPP community, including the school’s executive director, Tammi Sutton.

“The culture that she’s built here at KIPP, I feel encouraged, I feel supported, and I think that trickles all the way down to how the kids feel,” he said. “The fact that this past year was our sev-enth graduating class and every year, 100 percent go to the col-lege of their choice, I think she’s proving what’s possible in rural education.”

Noble said he wants to keep playing a role in the school’s goal for education excellence.

“The family atmosphere, the supportive atmosphere, is really awesome to be a part of,” he said. “It’s also the high expectations and really the opportunity, whether it’s in the classroom or through sports, to teach character to our kids. I think that’s our No. 1 goal. Not only do they have the skills for college, but they have the character and the work habits that are going to keep them there and be successful.”

It’s special to be a part of the process, he said.Outside of the classroom, Noble is head coach for the KIPP Pride

Panthers boys varsity basketball team, and served as the JV coach in 2010-2011.

“Given the students we serve, a lot of them will be first-genera-tion college students. Just recognizing the odds in our community, I want to say 8 percent of black males have a college degree,” Noble said. “Recognizing that we have to do better in our area and in our country for our black boys … I think that sports is a tremendous way to teach that character.

“Kids are more likely to stay in school and do well if they have something they are passionate and excited about, and that’s not always class.”

When Noble puts on his coaching hat, he said he aims for his players to achieve more than simply winning a game.

“The most important thing is that they feel empowered to lead

a life of choice. I play a very small part in that in supporting and encouraging them,” he said. “I’m not there to light any fires. I think the fires are already in them.

“It’s being on their team and letting them know how much we love them and care about them. They have it all. I think it’s the job as a teacher to not give you anything but encourage you to use all of the talents and character you already have within you.”

For Noble, teaching and coaching is far from a 9-5 job. Still, he said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I don’t think of it as stress,” he said. “I definitely carry my work home with me, emotionally, but I love it. I don’t think I would ever do anything else.”

And Noble said he doesn’t “do” much else, which is OK with him. He lives with his fiance, Emily Ringler, and dog, Chaka.“We don’t really go out much. She loves to cook and we kind of

just hang out at the house, nothing too crazy,” he said. “I moved around a lot as a kid so the idea of having stability and living in the same place … I’m enjoying that.”

One of the most exciting things that has happened to him was when a former student recently came back to the area to teach.

“It’s just such an awesome experience to work alongside her now and see her coming back to strengthen her community,” he said of Nya Robinson.

Noble said he wants all of his students to “lead a life of choice.”“The stability for me is really nice, but I also think it’s good for

the kids when folks stay around,” he said. At the end of the day, Noble has no intentions of leaving the

area. “Everybody knows everybody, and I just really enjoy being a part

of that, trying to do my part and recognizing that other people also contribute so much,” Noble said, crediting mentors of his own like Donnell Handsome of Weldon and the late Diego Hasty.

“I’ve learned so much from people in the community. I’m really grateful for the community and the support I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

For the love of Halifax

Small town serves as source of pride for Valley woman

Frankie King enjoys the deep, rich history surrounding her hometown of Halifax so much that she takes an active role in promoting it.

Whether it’s through the annual Halifax Day, which celebrates the signing of the Halifax Resolves in the town that preceded the Declaration of Independence, or through the county’s historical play “First for Freedom,” King is there.

“I have been an advocate and proponent for the town of Halifax in our county for, like, ever,” King said, smiling.

She added people should be appreciative of residing in Halifax.

“We live in one of the most historic places in the country,” she added, citing the Halifax Resolves.

Although she was born in France because her father served overseas in the military, she moved to Halifax when she was 2.

Halifax wasn’t new to her family, either.“Well, I wasn’t born in Halifax because I’m a military brat,

but my family is originally from here, and my mother’s side of the family are from Halifax,” King said. “I live in the house

that my great-grandfather began building and my grandfather completed.”

Her love of historical Halifax started when she was young. At an early age, she joined her mother and father each year in Halifax Day.

That didn’t stop as she grew older. As a school girl, she dressed in colonial attire when the event came around.

“At that time, everybody did,” she said. “Everybody in Halifax dressed for Halifax Day. It was a state holiday. We got out of school early and we wore our little costumes to school.”

She said taking part in that historical day created a love.Cathey Ralph, who has known King for about 15 years, reaf-

firmed her friend’s passion of Halifax.“It’s just her heart,” Ralph said. “She just loves it. It’s her

home, and she doesn’t want to leave.”Besides the historical side of the town, King also aims to

showcase the new, Ralph noted. Whenever there’s a new res-taurant in town or a new event, King is spreading the word.

“If anything new is going to happen here, she’s ready to

STORY & PHOTOS BY KHAI HOANG

Frankie King

Profile | 23

24 | Profile

jump in and help,” she said. “She loves ‘First for Freedom’ to keep Halifax going and (is) real excited about that and doing new things.”

Ralph also playfully mimicked what King would say if someone asked for help.

“She says ‘I can do that! I can do this!” Ralph added, laughing.Lisa Peacock said she’s known King for about 20 years.

Peacock, along with King and Ralph, attend the same church in Halifax. That’s also how Peacock and King met. She recalled her daughter attended Bible study school at the church, and King was teaching.

“She’s always thrilled to do activities with the children at that point in time,” Peacock recalled. “She just had a real bubbly per-sonality, and the children truly enjoyed being with her.”

In addition, Peacock said King puts her heart and soul into all the various activities and events around Halifax, which range from church service and holiday events. She succinctly described her friend in three words: Exuberant, energetic and enthusiastic.

“She’s the kind of friend that you can call anytime for any rea-son and she’d be there,” Peacock said.

King geared up early March to direct this year’s “First for Freedom” performance. She said she even volunteers her time around the various historical buildings in Halifax, when her work hours permit.

King couldn’t place her finger on the amount of time she’s donated to her love of Halifax.

“You can’t put hours to it,” she said. “What you’ve been doing for a year, you can’t say it’s just a few hours.”

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Jacqueline Grant went hungry as a child, but now she makes sure people don’t go without food thanks to her efforts at Rich

Square’s King’s Kitchen.“My mom was on social service, and

I’m the oldest of four children, and so I had to take care of my sisters and broth-ers while my mom worked two jobs to take care of us,” Grant recalled of her childhood. “So I know how it is to sacrifice and not to have everything that you want.”

King’s Kitchen opened May 16, 2015, at 210 Roberts Road, and it has already served thousands of meals. Grant, who serves as director of the soup kitchen, is one of many who volunteers hours on Tuesday and Thursday evenings to cook and serve food.

“Our motto is ‘We Want to Stamp Out Hunger in Northeastern North Carolina,’” she said proudly.

Grant recalled there were times she didn’t know how she was going to pay her bills or how she was going to feed her own children. But, she stressed, God created a path for her every single time.

“And so I’ve learned to trust him,” she said. “And even though you don’t have everything you want, you survive because you have the things you need.”

Grant said her time given to people and King’s Kitchen is what God would have her do. She said any ordinary person would reach out to those who may feel hopeless or as if they’re at the end of their rope without a way out.

“That’s it. We’re supposed to love one another,” she said. “The Bible is so serious about love that it

STORY & PHOTOS BY KHAI HOANG

Rich Square woman utilizes cooking skills to help others

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Jacqueline Grant

26 | Profile

says we should even love our enemy.”She has seen people from as far as Potecasi and

Woodland come by King’s Kitchen, as well as those from Roanoke Rapids and Scotland Neck.

Grant noted she gets her own reward in helping those less fortunate. Her pleasure in King’s Kitchen stems from meeting those who come in for a meal, whether they’re young, old, homeless or employed.

“I enjoy interacting with the people, because it makes you feel good when you know that you’re help-ing somebody,” she said. “When you know that you’re making a difference in somebody’s life.”

One person she recalled meeting was a young home-less man, who visits King’s Kitchen from time to time. Grant said she’s learned he goes around aiding seniors with chores.

Profile | 27 Profile | 27

Grant has also met families who eat together at King’s Kitchen. She noted one goal is to have peo-ple spending time at the tables together because a single parent who works often doesn’t have that opportunity.

“And that’s what we see happening now,” Grant said.

But Grant didn’t attribute the pork chops, chick-en, steak and more served to her alone. With her are fellow members of Second Baptist Creeksville, who have collectively contributed thousands of hours into King’s Kitchen.

Ollie Pierce said she’s known Grant for more than five years and described the director as a wonderful person people need to get to know. Grant is an inspiration to others, Pierce added, and shows great love to others.

“She’s a big help,” she said. “I don’t know another word. She’s just a big help to the commu-nity.”

Anthony Rawlings, pastor of Second Baptist Creeksville and CEO of Creek Development Corporation, which owns King’s Kitchen, said Grant has commitment and faithfulness to the project.

Rawlings, who came up with King’s Kitchen about six months prior to its opening, said the time Grant and others have given is priceless. Eventually, he said he would like to see King’s Kitchen expand to all of Northampton County, but not without Grant.

“She’s a person we have in place that’s the drive behind this whole operation as far as King’s Kitchen is concerned,” he said. “She eases a lot of stress off of me.”

Rawlings noted his organization has served more than 7,000 meals and the volunteers have given more than 3,000 hours. He noted this is especially important for Rich Square, which he described as impoverished.

“We’ve got a lot of children going to school hun-gry; got a lot of families, you know, that are struggling to make ends meet,” he said. “So we’re trying to lift that burden some by coming up and cooking hot meals so they can come here and get a free meal.”

Instead of struggling to find money for meals, people can instead go to King’s Kitchen, he noted. He added that money saved can then be used for other essentials, such as clothing.

“Hunger is a battle,” Rawlings added, noting people need to be fed. “The kids think better, they respond in school better, their behavior is better. The adults’ self-esteem is much healthier.”

Grant encouraged anyone to come for a meal at King’s Kitchen.

“We are to serve anyone who comes through here that’s hungry,” Grant said “So it doesn’t mat-ter, you know, if you have a job. It doesn’t matter. As long as you’re hungry.”

28 | Profile

Longtime Valley educator Dwight Berry’s passion for teaching may stem back to his early days sit-ting by the piano with his mother.

“I began piano lessons when I was 5 years old in a small studio in All Saints’ Episcopal Parish House,” Berry recalled. “Mother used to love to tell the story that she started taking piano lessons when I started so that she could help me. When I started helping her, she quit.”

Berry comes from generations of family in Roanoke Rapids. His mother and grandmother were born and reared here and he is living on property that has been in his fami-

ly since the late 1800s.Berry’s first major in college was music — piano, organ

and composition. Now retired, he taught in the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District his entire 34-year career.

“I often tell people that I have a very boring resume —one line,” Berry said.

He began his teaching career in 1974 at Chaloner Middle School where he taught music appreciation to sixth and seventh graders. In 1983, he volunteered to teach gram-mar and writing to eighth graders since he knew the state was introducing a writing test the next year.

Roanoke Rapids man teaches, plays music, saves lives

Native son

STORY BY TIA BEDWELL & PHOTOS BY BRYAN CLARK

Dwight Berry

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He moved to the high school in 1988 and taught all the English levels except English 12. In 1989, he was asked to teach a humanities class in addition to his English classes. From 1989 until he retired the first time in 2004, he taught English 9, Advanced Grammar, Humanities I and Humanities II.

In 2008, Roanoke Rapids High School switched to the block schedule: Four classes — 1 1/2 hours each — per semester. That resulted in Berry heading back to class.

“I was asked to come out of retirement and teach two classes of Humanities I daily, which I did until 2011,” he said.

Berry said he enjoys traveling. He lived in Germany for three years, two while serving in the U.S. Army and one teaching for the Army. He said he has been to 31 different countries.

For many years, he took select humanities students on a 16-day trip to Europe in the sum-mer.

“My very favorite trip was the 14-day trip I took to Israel and Egypt (1993),” he said.

Berry is also in his 43rd year as organ-ist-choirmaster of Rosemary United Methodist Church. His first Sunday was on Nov. 12, 1972.

“Several years ago, one of our former bishops was partici-pating in a homecoming celebration,” he said. “After prais-ing the choir and me, he remarked, ‘Ministers come and go, but Dwight is a fixture.’ I thought to myself, ‘Oh, you mean like a com-mode?’ I not only enjoy my music min-istry but also all the extras: Seasonal dec-orating, trimming all the shrubs in the church landscape, being the church history committee chairman, and many other extra-musical functions that I perform.”

Each of the church services has a theme. The minister gives Berry the service themes and the scriptures that will be used in each service a month in advance.

“I have a wide-margin Bible into which I have placed hymn numbers that, after 45-plus years of studying the scriptures and doing further research, I have determined go with selected scriptures,” he said. “I have the choral library indexed in my computer, making it easier to select anthems that will go with the service themes and scriptures. Planning the music for our

services is so much easier now after all my research.” Berry also posts daily on his Facebook profile his “Pithy Points

of English Grammar,” and has many friends and followers.“Many years ago, a former student of mine, who is now a very

successful dentist, introduced me to Facebook,” he said. “Almost instantaneously I had hundreds of friend requests from more former students. My students have always enjoyed my stories, my Pithy Points of English Grammar, and what they term my ‘Berryisms.’ They clamored for more. Their favorable response has encouraged me to continue. I have Facebook

friends in many other countries as well.”While teaching at RRHS, Berry also began participating in theater at the school and at Lakeland Theatre Company

in Littleton.“I first became

interested in theater when I was in high school here,” he said. “My interest in acting and directing contin-ued into college. I encouraged Ray Newlin, a good friend and the choral direc-tor at RRHS during the 1980s and 1990s, to partner with me in

producing musicals at the high

school. I designed

the sets, and he built

them. He taught

the choral numbers, and I

stage directed.”He said they per-

formed such hit musi-cals as “The Sound of Music,” “Mame,” “Once Upon a Mattress,” “Oklahoma,” “Brigadoon,” “South Pacific,” “Guys and Dolls,” “The Music Man” and “Bye Bye Birdie.”

“We won’t even get into my 30-plus years

as musical director at Lakeland,” he said. “Such wonderful memories!”He said he prefers those shows that have tunes that, from

the first time he heard them, became permanently etched in his brain.

“Bar none, ‘South Pacific’ is my favorite show,” he said. “Anything written by Rodgers and Hammerstein is like anything written by Tchaikovsky — perfect.”

Now that he is retired, in the spare time he has after planning music for his church, he loves gardening.

“I have grown vegetables, canned, frozen and pickled for

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many, many years,” he said. “I give away over 80 percent of what I produce. That’s half the fun! No one comes to my house without leaving with a jar of something. Friends love my salsa, which I preserve in jars, and the three kinds of pickles that I make. A mortal sin is not returning empty jars and rings!”

He also does at least two hours of research on his Today in History book. He started Today in the Humanities when he began teaching humanities. Since retiring, he has expanded it to Today in History.

“I don’t know what I will eventually do with this massive research, but it’s all neatly organized and typed out and growing daily,” he said. “It helps to feed my need to be a life-long learn-er. Want to know what happened on your birthday? Give me a call.”

One little known fact most in the Roanoke Valley don’t know about Berry is at least two people in this world can call him their hero.

In 1974, in his first year of teaching, he saved the life of one of his students by performing the Heimlich maneuver, a life-sav-ing procedure he had learned the previous evening while watch-ing Walter Cronkite on the evening news. And while in Rome on a two-car tram returning with one of his students to their hotel, he once again used the Heimlich maneuver to save the life of an older woman.

“Both instances involved choking on a cough drop.” he said. “To this day, I never use cough drops for a sore throat.”

34 | Profile

STORY & PHOTOS BY SARAH BLOOM

Marie Fields

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Summer is the time of year when Marie Fields comes out of her “hibernation” and heads to the water. She and her husband, Lewis, have been involved in water skiing for more than 40 years.

“Every summer, I tell the folks at church, when it comes time for June…‘see ya in September,’” she said.

It was the summer after her junior year of college at Campbell University when Fields was introduced to two things that changed her life: Lewis and water skiing.

“His mother told me, when we started dating, she said ‘if you’re going to be around Lewis Fields, you’re going to have to learn to water ski and love it. Because he loves it.’ I liked the guy, so I guess I learned to love water skiing,” Fields joked.

It all started from there.“We skied every afternoon of that summer. We had friends

across the lake that skied with us. We played hard that summer and I learned how to drive the boat,” Fields said.

Not too long after, Lewis and their good friend Charlie Brown decided on a fate for Fields. Brown, who was a senior driver with USA Water Ski, knew what it took to be a driver.

“They decided that I should become a tournament driver,” Fields said. “We went to a tournament and Charlie Brown was a chief driver. He put me in and I stayed on that boat all day long. I said, ‘Charlie, you’re either going to try to kill me or make me a boat driver.’ And I just started driving boats after that.”

Fields’ driving abilities developed from there. “People liked the way I drove, so I kept driving,” Fields said.But it wasn’t too often that you saw a female boat driver. Even

in today’s waterski world, women drivers are few and far between.

“I was an oddity,” Fields recalled. “Although a lot of men were being driven by their girlfriends and wives in practice, there weren’t women drivers in the tournaments.”

Fields said she continued to work through the levels and achieved higher ratings until she became a senior driver in 1982. She was only the second woman to be a senior driver for three events in USA Water Ski.

“And so, I kept driving,” Fields said. “I was persistent, and evi-dently people liked it enough that I stayed in.”

The industry in itself has gone through many changes, she said. There are five regions in traditional, three-event water skiing.

Lake Gaston woman passionate about driving boats for

competitive water skiers

36 | Profile

Each region selects drivers to drive in nationals, Fields said. And in 1986 and 1987, the eastern region decided Fields should be one of the drivers for nationals.

Fields went on a bit of a hiatus until 2009, when she was asked to be the chief driver in nationals – the high-est honor in the event. She was the first woman to be a chief driver at nationals.

“There had been senior women drivers, but not to that point or just being selected for that,” Fields said. “There’s a lot of pressure to the job.”

And it’s not only that she’s a female in a male’s world, but also because a driver needs to keep up to par with the skier they are pulling.

“I believe if you’re going to practice all day long, day after day, and try to be a good water skier, then you deserve good people that have practiced the same way to pull you,” Fields said. “I’ve always tried to being very active and drive in as many tournaments with as many boats at different locations.”

Fields said there is an enormous disparity between driv-ing a boat and driving a boat with a water skier in a com-petition.

Fields has driving down to an art, and she’s had it long before cruise control was an option on a boat. Factors range from maintaining a speed, keeping on a certain path and handling your skier just right.

“Over the years, my time has been good, my path has been good and I feel like I have a good rapport with the skiers. They are very accepting of me. They’d say ‘don’t get out of that boat. I want you to drive me.’ And so, I felt real good about the reception of that over the years,” Fields said at her home on Lake Gaston.

It’s the thrill of it all and the passion for the sport that Fields said has kept her young at heart.

She still has a lot to do, too. The 64-year-old woman doesn’t plan on quitting the sport any time soon. Despite two knee replacements last year, Fields said she is still very much a part of it.

“A lot of wrinkles came from sun and from a little bit of pressure and all, but I think so. Some people come up to Lewis and say ‘you still doing that skiing?’ And he shut one guy up and said ‘You still doing that golfing?’ Like why not?”

The Fields spend most of their time in the summer up at Lake Holly in Sparta, Va. It’s not just something that the married couple shares, but it’s a part of their family.

Son Adam Fields has also made a lifestyle of water sports. He branched out to wakeboarding and made a name for himself on the professional circuit. The pro also owns a school, AF Wake.

Fields, a retired teacher from Roanoke Rapids, is very active out of the water, too.

She said she and her husband are very active in Littleton Methodist Church, where she is the financial secretary. She belongs to a teacher sorority where she is a treasurer and past president.

“It seems like I am very busy, all of the time,” she said.Fields said that her husband told her of a woman who

skied up until a year before she passed at age 95. Sounds obtainable and is pretty much on course with how her life has gone so far.

“I think in the future, we’ll still be participating as long as we’re physically able and mentally able… there’s always that possibility,” she joked.

Not only is Curtis Wynn a CEO for a local huge company, he’s also big on volunteering. Wynn, 52, originally from Granville, Fla., moved to Roanoke Rapids and became the CEO of Roanoke Electric Cooperative in October 1997.

Even though he said he has his hands full running such a big company, he spends a significant amount of time serving the community through volunteerism. He’s currently a board member for Natural Capital Investment Fund, the Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce and Halifax County Economic Development Commission. He also serves as board chairman of KIPP/Gaston College Preparatory, is an executive committee member/treasurer of the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center Inc., and is an assistant scout master for Boy Scouts of American Troop 411, among others things.

Although Wynn serves in many roles, he said he volunteers for these various organiza-tions because he thinks he can aid.

“I enjoy helping others and I think I can contribute,” he said. “I also believe that using your ‘talents’ to improve the lives of others is what God requires of us; whether it is children, adults looking for work to support their families or senior citizens.”

Wynn said he decided to get involved with KIPP because his sons attended school there.

“Their mission aligns with my core values. KIPP is committed to empowering all of its students with skills, knowledge and character to succeed in college, strengthen their community and fight for social justice,” he said. “I enjoy contributing my time and resources to help the hundreds of children and families in this region that KIPP serves. It is better and smarter to help educate children than to allow them to become incarcerated or dependent on the government. Too much of that is happening in our region and across our country.”

He got involved with other boards to try to promote business in the area.

“I serve on the Halifax Horizons Board of Directors because it is heavily involved with bringing more jobs and opportunities to the county and region,” he said. “Our community needs more good paying jobs and I want to help put more people to work. I’ve been blessed with a lot of experience in economic development and it is my way of contributing.”

Outside of work and being a volunteer, he enjoys exercising, golf, listen-ing to music and traveling with family, which includes wife Selene Wynn and three children: Jasman, Justin and Ryan.

He enjoys listening to jazz and R&B the most, but said he doesn’t get to golf as much as he did in the past.

“Not nearly enough.” he said. “ I’m beginning to play more. My goal is to play at least twice a week.”

Wynn said his passion in life is “to please God by treating everyone with dignity and respect, starting with my family … because the world would be a much better place if we all did that.”

Wynn said he continues to be the person he is — a volunteer and leader — because he wants to help others.

“I’m motivated by helping others to succeed, especially those who have been written off by everyone else,” he said. “I like to bring out the best in people.”

Profile | 37

Helping handsRoanoke Rapids man passionate about community

STORY BY TIA BEDWELL & PHOTO BY BRYAN CLARK

Curtis Wynn

38 | Profile

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A school-age boy or girl shouldn’t have to worry about guns, drugs or violence. But unfortu-nately, it is all too familiar to them in the Roanoke Valley.

Spare time for kids can open windows of dangerous opportunities, but Weldon native Tameka Davis wants to counteract that.

She said without nurturing environments or positive outlets, sometimes those kids make bad decisions.

“I think it’s a major problem because sometimes kids will just hang out, join gangs and do stupid stuff,” she said. “That’s what kids do when they have a lot of time on their hands.”

Davis said sometimes adults have the same issue, not-ing it becomes a cycle — a cycle she said she hopes to break.

Davis said she knows firsthand that too often area youth go through troubled times by themselves.

“A lot of times people go through things at home that we would never know about. It damages that child, and I understand that,” she said.

They’re not alone, and the #ICanRelate movement, which she started in March of 2015, is in place to let kids know that.

“It’s been some rough patches, but it’s the smiles and

Weldon woman looks to break the cycle with efforts

STORY & PHOTOS BY SARAH BLOOM

Tameka Davis

Profile | 39

the kids’ faces and knowing that they have been progressing in school with the tutorials that we have … we just know that we’re helping them for the better,” she said.

Davis isn’t a one-woman band. Others helping out in the cause are Chester Williams, Ty Brown, Evette Arrington, Erin Carson, Shaniqua Hockaday, Barbara Balmer and Yolanda Davis.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, from 4-5 p.m., Davis and com-pany have tutoring sessions for area youth at the Roanoke Regional Housing Authority building in Weldon. It’s a place where kids can work on their homework, have snacks and most of all, be in a safe environment. Davis said they’ve been holding the bi-weekly sessions since November.

“We have gotten paperwork from the schools to see what everyone is going through so we can be teaching them some-thing different,” Davis said about tailoring to each individuals’ needs.

The group feeds the kids by means out of their own pock-ets. While they get some donations here and there from com-munity members and organizations, it only scratches the sur-face. Davis and her crew don’t hesitate to put in money out of their own pockets – whatever it takes.

“We just want to find them things to do where they’ll have fun, but we also have to watch where we spend and how we spend money,” Davis said.

Davis said she sees the same faces come in and out of the doors. She said anywhere from 15-30 kids will be there during

the tutoring sessions. The dedication to the movement pays off when Davis sees

letters from the teachers and report cards from school. Davis said the group is starting a community garden at the

housing authority’s office.“We got the OK from the housing authority and they’re

going to be in on it with us,” Davis said.The garden will stress healthy eating and help kids to learn

to be reliant on themselves.“You want to teach the kids to be self-sufficient so that

when they grow up and they are alone, they know what to do and how to do it,” Davis said.

Other things coming up for the group include a county-wide poster contest in which winners will have their hand-drawn works of art in an upcoming calendar.

“We have a lot of stuff coming up for the kids,” Davis said.With summer quickly approaching, Davis said the group plans

to work with the kids during what would be regular school hours. She is hoping to start a pantry for the group.

Sacrifices made include money and time, but for Davis, it’s all worth it, adding that there were people that helped her out when she was growing up.

“The problem is people aren’t going to take the time to do (this). They always say ‘well you’re not getting paid for that,’ but on the same token, when I was those kids, there were people that helped me,” Davis said.

40 | Profile

She had mentors like Grady Williams, Jimmy Harris, Jackie McGee and the late Emanuel Boone and Valerie Whitaker.

“The stuff that I’m doing, people did for me. I grew up in a messed up background. What I didn’t have, people supplemented. They were there to help me out,” she said.

Davis hopes to help more and more kids. But there is only so much you can do if someone doesn’t reach out for help.

“You can’t fix anybody that doesn’t want to be fixed. For those that do want help, you have to reach out to them,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what you did or what you do. I’ve never been the judgmental type. I don’t care what you do. Just do it with respect. Do it with class.”

Davis said the biggest concern is that the issues aren’t being addressed by anyone. The biggest issue is the people in the community.

“They know about the problem and they’re not trying to figure that problem,” Davis said.

This summer Davis said she will be in the pro-cess of making the group a 501-C3. There’s funding out there, she said, but it’s a matter of stressing the importance of the ICanRelate move-ment.

“I want to get grants. My goal is to have some-thing right, smack dab in the middle of Weldon so that everyone is within walking distance,” Davis said. “I have a lot of stuff I want to do. But it’s about who is going to help out.”

The movement has come a long way with its first year in the books. And there’s so much more to be done.

Last year Davis held an event “put down the guns and pick up the bikes.”

“I had over 700 ATVs, bikes and motorcycles out here.”

But it wasn’t the turnout that was the biggest eye-opener for Davis. The event happened short-ly after a shooting in the community. Parents of both opposing parties involved put aside their issues and stood on the same side.

“They were out here with no problems. To me, that’s important,” Davis said

Davis said she thinks the program has influ-enced other outlets to help with kids. It’s not competition for the movement, and if anything, she said she is thrilled more people are doing all they can to help.

“Yes. Jump on the bandwagon,” she said. ”It’s a blessing. I think we opened doors for other people to see what was needed in the communi-ty.”

The bottom line Davis stressed is that people don’t have to be the product of their environ-

ment. There’s no excuse to be a victim. “Things and situations always change. Nothing stays the same. But

its all about what you make it. You can let bad things in life make you or break you, and I just chose not to let it break me,” she said.

For more information about the program or to find out how you can help, contact Davis at 252-532-1687.

Profile | 41

Carl Qualls was born and raised in Hollister, which he said created his desire and want of American-made goods.

Today, he, along with his brother, Patrick Qualls, and another busi-ness partner, own Enfield business AmeriCap. It’s the last remaining

baseball cap producer in North Carolina.But items made in the United States are more than just a tag reading

“Made in the USA.” The production of these items means jobs for those in the country.

Qualls said he’s seen people who need jobs, and American-made items are what supports these people.

“It feels good. (It) feels good to help supply jobs for peo-ple,” he said.

According to Patrick Qualls, who is also a Halifax County commissioner, he and his brother’s business has created nearly 15 million caps since its creation.

He recalled the two of them even helped make hats, as well.

When Patrick Qualls still attended college at N.C. State University and before he became one of the owners of AmeriCap, his brother stayed with him in Raleigh for a hat order. It was one of the first hat orders AmeriCap had.

From about 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., the brothers stayed awake putting patches together on hats.

Patrick Qualls described his brother as “very smart, a very good thinker and a really hard work-er.”

“He preferred to be in the shadows,” he said of Carl Qualls. “He doesn’t like being out front in the limelight.”

The words “American-made” can be heard increas-ingly around the United States, Carl Qualls noted, and his business is providing that supply.

He said he’s heard more and more people wanting goods made in America. Qualls said he buys American-made products whenever possible.

“We see a trend in the last three or four years where people definitely want to buy American,” he said. “It’s an

American-madeValley native prides himself

on patriotic businessSTORY & PHOTOS BY KHAI HOANG

Carl Qualls

42 | Profile

indisputable trend, and we like it, and we try to buy as many American goods as we can.”

People have also discovered his business through the Internet because people are searching for American-made items, he noted.

He’s been in business since 1989. As their busi-ness’ name implies, they produce American-made baseball caps.

It broke ground in Sanford before it moved to Enfield in 1995.

“I know when we started this business, we were the fifth in the state of North Carolina that were actually making the caps, and we’re the only one left,” he said. “It makes me feel good. A lot of the cap companies try to go and start importing instead of making them, and I feel once you do that, you’re just selling the commodity. You’re not unique in any way.”

Some clients they’ve served were large brands. Those include MillerCoors, the Veteran of Foreign

Profile | 43

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Wars and the U.S. Coast Guard.Patrick Qualls said AmeriCap has even made hats for the

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White House Easter Egg Roll event at the White House.Carl Qualls said he strives for good quality. He added

making baseball caps is labor intensive, but he and the other owners want to provide the people of the area work.

“Because it provides jobs here, which helps the tax base. It gives people something to do, to go, to work and earn a living,” he said. “And like I say, we see more and more people wanting to buy American, no doubt about it.”

44 | Profile

Born for artHaliwa Saponi member relishes her creativity

Many artists take classes to hone their skills, but for Senora Lynch, her talent came naturally.

Lynch, a American Indian artist, was born in Pennsylvania, but moved to Hollister after her

father died in a car accident soon after she was born. She now lives in Warrenton, and is a diverse artist in pottery, basketry and bead work. Growing up in her Native American community, she had the opportunity to learn about her cul-ture.

“I learned from many people, and they all have told me that I have a natural ability,” she said. “They would say, ‘you are a natural at this stuff, you got this. I do not have to show you anything.’ ”

She said when she was a young girl she would sit with her grandfather, and he started to teach her to weave with

white oak splints, and split cane to make chair bottoms. “He would look at me and say, ‘you are really good at

this.’ Pa Pa would look at me and say, ‘you can hold it real strong.’ ”

When It comes to pottery, she would sit with many of the grandmothers of her Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe. She said her Tribe was reviving the pottery tradition in the 1970s. Lynch was there as a helper, and given the oppor-tunity to make a few pieces of pottery, which all broke.

“As life moved along being a young girl, I also learned how to make bead work, leather work and tribal clothing for our pow wows,” she said.

Lynch said the spirit of clay has always inspired her. She calls her pottery “Living Traditions.”

“Working in clay takes me back to my childhood days of

STORY BY TIA BEDWELL

Senora Lynch

Profile | 45

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playing in mud, a free spirit,” she said.Lynch became interested in making pottery at 14, when

she assisted her Tribe’s elders with pottery classes. Twenty years later, she met a tribal potter who agreed to teach her hand coiling, which renewed her interest, creating her own style of hand-carved pottery (her trademark).

Lynch creates her pottery at home using this method, an exacting process. First, she pounds red clay and rolls it into long ropes. Next, she coils the ropes and stacks them to form the desired vessels shape, pressing them together. She then smoothes the clay with her fingers and scrapes it with a tool to make the coils stick together. She continues to smooth and stretch the coils with her fingers, finally polishing the vessel with a rock to make it smoother and shinier.

To make a design, she places white clay on top of the red clay and etches patterns in it with a fine tool. Then the ves-sel goes into a kiln. This process results in exquisite pottery.

Superstitions, sayings and stories from the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe inspire her unique designs, as does the natural environ-ment. She uses the dogwood flower as a sign of spring, its appearance signaling the time to plant the corn has arrived. Tobacco, the spirit of life, and corn the staff of life, are sacred plants to the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe and appear in her designs.

“Sometimes I enjoy just the idea of what I could make,

imagining theses pieces before they are made can be exciting and fun,” she said. “Some pieces I have made in my mind and they have not yet come out.”

Lynch said she enjoys making all types of pottery, from large to small bowls to sculptured animals.

“I guess I especially enjoy making pieces that come to me in dreams,” she said. “Sometimes when I have made pieces and I have gotten ahead of myself, they start to dry before I am ready to work on them. That is not particularly fun to do. I can’t revive them at times, and I have to start all over. I enjoy the creative process, just thinking of what it could be.”

Lynch’s work has been exhibited all over, including at the North Carolina Museum of History, The National Museum of the American Indian and the National Women Museum of the Arts.

She was the youngest ever to receive the N.C. Folk Heritage Award in 2007 for her work in promoting and pre-serving the culture of the Haliwa-Saponi people. Her designs have also made it on to the walkway of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus at the Frank Porter Student Union.

In addition, she’s been subject of a book, “The Contemporary Southeastern Pottery of Haliwa-Saponi Artist Senora Lynch,” by Christopher Everette.

Her work is in the permanent collection of The

Profile | 47

Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., The N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh, Wesleyan College Mims Gallery in Rocky Mount, Hanging Rock State Park in Danbury, and The Piscataway Indian Museum in Brandywine, Md., and among many private collections.

“I am proud to share it. I was proud when a professor told me that he had studied art all around the world, and that he had not seen any pottery like mine,” she said. “I am proud when children that I work with look at me and say, ‘look Ms. Senora at what I made.’ I am proud when my mom looks at me and says that your grandfather would be so proud of you. I am proud when my daughter sits with me and learns.”

She said she feels her greatest accomplishment is she has recorded Haliwa-Saponi tradition and stories through her design.

Her pottery is available for pur-chase, selling it at pow wows, gift shops and craft shows. She is married to Dalton Lynch and has one daughter, Elizabeth Qua Lynch.

For more information or to pur-chase pottery, call Lynch at 252-257-5771.

48 | Profile

Brenda Mills

Profile | 49

Bookworm and beyond

Scotland Neck woman aims to help youth, community with library

Affectionately known as the “library lady,” Brenda Mills said she wants to save one child at a time through the Scotland Neck Memorial Library.

Mills took up the position of senior branch man-ager about five years ago. Since then, she’s helped create numerous programs for the youth and community, such as one for anti-bullying methods and another for early children reading.

These initiatives are part of the change she wants to see for Scotland Neck and the library.

“When I first started here, and that was a question that was asked in my interview was, ‘what one thing I would like to see happening in this library that was not happening at the time?’ And that one thing that I said was children and young adult programs because they’re our future,” she recalled. “They’re going to be the ones that end up in the situations, in the positions in this town to save it, and what better place to have them grow up and feel a part of and feel safe than in a library?”

So her main goal is to create these programs to attract youth to the library.

“I don’t care how we get them here, once we get them here, we can put books in their hands, we can give them ideas, we can give them a sense of security and belonging-ness,” she said.

She said her passion and drive for kids stems from her upbringing. Mills’ mother, an avid reader, had her read con-stantly and encouraged her to pass on that passion to oth-ers.

“She was in charge of the church’s nursery, and it was my job to read to the children every Sunday, and that’s just the way I grew up was around reading,” Mills said. “I got my mom’s heart and my dad’s drive and determination, and I think between the two of them, I came to be the way I am now.”

Now with three children of her own, she said she treats them the same as the other youth in her community. Each

STORY & PHOTOS BY KHAI HOANG

50 | Profile

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day, she makes it a point to tell her children how impor-tant they are, what they mean to her and how proud she is of them.

Mills also aims to empower children of Scotland Neck area. Although she said she isn’t trying to save the world, she can reach children and save them one by one.

Two people who’ve enjoyed their time with Mills were Scotland neck residents Jessica Sumpter and Robin Barnes, daughter and mother, respectively.

Sumpter, 20, said she moved to the area with her mother 15 years ago. At that time, she joined the library.

Although she didn’t participate in any of Mills’ pro-grams, she did note Mills’ helpfulness.

“She’s a great a librarian. Anytime you need something you can find it, or if you need it, she’ll tell you where it is in the library,” Sumpter said. “Even if you need help on the computers, she’ll try her best or as much as she can.”

She also encouraged area young people to take advan-tage of what Mills and the library provide.

“Knowledge is power and that you should, you know, take every opportunity to learn something new, and I think that if they come talk to Ms. Mills, she would help them broaden their horizons,” Sumpter added.

Barnes said she’s known Mills since she started as the senior branch manager. Although her daughter was too old for the programs, Barnes did bring her nephew to the library’s Dr. Seuss birthday celebration.

She applauded Mills’ efforts in getting children involved. For example, the anti-bullying program, which meets once a month, was created with kids’ input.

“I would describe her as one of the best librarians that we have in the Halifax County library system, she said.

The library was still a good one before Mills entered the scene, Barnes added, but the librarian raised it to another level. The library was made to accommodate different age groups of children, as well as adults. Mills has even helped adults with their resumes.

“The teens feel very comfortable talking to her and coming into the library to find different resources,” Barnes said. “It’s a wonderful thing. It was something that was needed, and it was great that she was able to do it. She really gives them a different outlook on what a library is.”

Mills recalled she was invited to a school to read a Dr. Seuss Book as part of the national initiative Read Across America. One girl took special note of what Mills did for the school.

“And this little girl, evidently when we read to her, it was important enough, and we invited them to come to the library and come to Dr. Seuss’ birthday party. That was on a Friday,” Mills said. “That Monday, she walked into the library with her mom and her sister with ‘The Cat in the Hat,’ and she said ‘You came and read to me at my school. I want you to have this for your library.’ That told me that we touched that child in some way, and all she was concerned about was sharing something that was really important to her with us because we had come out and shared it with her. And when I see children in the community, and they call me the ‘library lady.’ That’s how they connect me with the community.”

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Matt Ransom Johnston

Profile | 53

Matt Ransom Johnston’s roots in the Roanoke Valley are deeper than deep.

One ancestor, Matt Whitaker Ransom, was a United States senator, the state’s

attorney general, and a minister to Mexico. He was present at the Surrender at Appomattox, one of the last battles of the American Civil War.

Ransom was a grandnephew of Warren County’s Nathaniel Macon, a Revolutionary War soldier who served in the U.S. House of Representatives. The family still has land near Occoneechee Neck, pieced together when other farms failed. His grandfather worked there, commuting by train from Littleton daily.

Like many other families, names have been recy-cled for generations, and there’s no telling how many have also carried “Ransom” as a middle name, Johnston said.

Johnston lives in a graceful yellow brick house in Littleton that his grandmother built. Her original home is across the street.

“An awareness of your family makes a differ-ence,” Johnston said. “Some people don’t know where their people were 25 years ago.”

Johnston is known for his love of history, his con-genial nature and ability to host and be hosted at happy gatherings. He is Southern through and through, and describes clearly that state of being.

“Being Southern is having an appreciation of peo-ple and manners and civility,” he said. “I don’t want to sound pompous, but it’s hospitality and an awareness and appreciation of good food and drink.”

Johnston was born in Roanoke Rapids, but came home to Littleton to the same yellow brick house

his grandmother built. Generations of family and neighborhood cats have played on the wide, cov-ered front porch.

His parents were William Willis Johnston and Martha Exum Ransom. Johnston grew up with an older brother, William Ransom, and a younger sister, Nettie Elizabeth, when Littleton was a different place.

“There was more of everything,” Johnston said. “There were more children, and more stores down-town.”

There were schools, too, which kept families grounded. Johnston attended Littleton High School until the 11th grade.

“Then I went two years to Virginia Episcopal, a prep school in Lynchburg, Va., and that’s where I graduated,” he said.

His childhood, Johnston supposed, could be com-pared to that of Scout and Jem, the children of the famed novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

“…There was always a connection,” he said. “People had been here a long time.”

Now it’s different.“I was thinking, where would I go to borrow a cup

of sugar, or have a drink with someone on this street?” he said. “It’s all changed.”

Johnston went to kindergarten at a house down the street.

“There were two teachers with children, and they decided to have a kindergarten,” he said. “My first-grade teacher also lived on this street, and I would go over and read with her.”

The neighborhood was full of children who played games, rode ponies and grew up having adventures.

“We played them all,” he said of childhood games.

Littleton man proud of family’s historySTORY & PHOTOS BY JENNY GRAY

ootedin the Valley

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“Hide and seek was one.”They skated on a sidewalk in front of a home now owned by

Jim and Heidi Hogan.“The walkway was wide and smooth concrete,” he said. “Even

the sidewalk was wider, so it was better.”One time the children took the pony shed and repurposed it as

a tree house. They had a driving pony named Flicka, who liked to lay down in the traces, and a gaited horse named Bob who was smooth as silk.

They built a cave out of a ditch.“We played in the swamp,” Johnston said. “I don’t know why

the snakes didn’t get us, but they didn’t.”One time, while Johnston was in the midst of reading a book

about President Abe Lincoln, he got a fever.“I dreamed that Lincoln was chasing me,” he said. In the eighth grade, a bunch of kids took a trip to Raleigh to

tour the big city attractions.

“We were taken to see the gas chamber — maybe it was an electric chair, I don’t remember — and the insane asylum and the School for the Blind, and the capitol. We ate lunch at the Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel,” he said.

He said he remembers when there were three television sets in Littleton.

“There were two on this street, and one on Mosby Avenue. When Queen Elizabeth was inaugurated in 1953, we went all the way to Norfolk, Va to watch it on television,” he said. “It was kind of fuzzy.”

After Johnston finished up his schooling in Virginia, he went to Duke University and got a bachelor’s degree in history.

“Then I went to Carolina for a little while,” Johnston said. “I went to law school. I only went a semester.”

In the late 1950s, Johnston met President John F. Kennedy and got his autograph, which since has gone missing. He was in the audience when President Richard Nixon welcomed the Shah

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[web address]

Northampton County Schools (NCS) is a rural school system located in northeastern North Carolina. The current student population is around 2,000. The school system’s previous year’s low socio economic status was 87.17%. Northampton County’s geography is dominated by rolling farm and forestland that provides opportunities for hunting, fishing, water recreation, and a quiet, peaceful lifestyle. It is positioned approximately 100 miles equidistant from the metropolitan areas of Tidewater and Richmond, Virginia and Research Triangle Park, NC, providing time for weekend and holiday excursions to whet teaching candidates’ urban appetites.

NCS capitalizes on its rural opportunities and lifestyles that support a broader progressive plan for district curriculum and structural transformation attracting national attention. Through partnerships with community and business representatives, our teachers and students are able to engage in problem-based learning and field experiences that relate and connect to Northampton County. NCS has renewed its commitment to positive student outcomes and has placed its focus on the impacts that high quality teaching has upon learning for all students.

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of Iran to Washington, D.C.In 1966, Johnston went to work for the Department of Social

Services in Warren County.“I really did it all,” he said. “When we started, there wasn’t all

this separation. You did all the programs, the children and the adults.’”

Johnston was an eligibility supervisor, and eventually special-ized in adult services. He worked for the department 37 years.

“I enjoyed people,” he said. “I guess I had compassion.”Johnston likes traveling with friends, and has been twice to

Europe, and also to Belize and the Bahamas. Venice was one of his favorite cities. He remembered an “obnoxious” group that flew to Europe on the same airplane, and then ran into them again days later.

Johnston retired in 2003, and keeps busy with community involvements. He serves on the board for Cherry Hill, a Warren County home which has stayed in the same musically inclined family since it was constructed in the 1850s. Its last owner, Edgar Thorne, was known for his hospitality and chamber music concerts. He left the property to the Cherry Hill Historical Foundation to continue the musical legacy.

“I knew Mr. Edgar Thorne that started it, and his mother was a great friend of ours,” Johnston said.

The old house kept its original draperies until just a few years ago, when they finally bit the dust.

“They lasted until this concert when the violin bows were hit-ting them and they were exploding,” he said. “I thought we should keep them as long as possible.”

Thorne had two cousins, Miss Tempe and Miss Annie, who lived in Johnston’s Littleton neighborhood.

“When we were little, they were the source of our cats,” he

said. “And they had good cookies and they were happy to have kids over.”

One sister, Tempe, was short and the other, Annie, was tall. “I remember (Miss Tempe) walking downtown every day; she

had a funny little walk,” Johnston said. “And they were good Presbyterians. When I was little, they had a johnny house. It was pretty nice — it was a two seater.”

Johnston also served on a board instrumental in restoring a unique log corncrib at the estate of Nathaniel Macon, and he’s also worked to restore the 1803 Hope Plantation home in Bertie County.

“It is a remarkable house,” Johnston said. “It was the home of Gov. David Stone. He was a very enlightened man, the Thomas Jefferson of North Carolina. He was a very enlightened man and had a room devoted to his books.”

Keeping that property going is an ongoing chore.“It is a money pit and keeping a roof on it is impossible,”

Johnston said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to it.”Once, Johnston rescued an old building from an 1800s

Northampton County plantation — Silver Heels, near Jackson — and brought it to his back yard. Although he’s tried for years to figure out the building’s original intention, he hasn’t been able to make a determination.

Next to this building, in front of the area where the pony Flicka once cropped grass, is the impressive garden where Johnston grows corn, beans and lots more.

Johnston’s dining room table is covered in books and papers.“I’m one that still writes letters,” he said.He’s never married, but there’s a woman he’s close to.“Southern women — some have such a presence,” he said.

“They know who they are.”

Profile | 57

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