Gaston Lifestyle

September/October 2014
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REGINA MOODY
Holy Angels neArs
six decades of care
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Contents
Cover photo Courtesy Holy Angels
September/October 2014
Holy Angels neArs
six decades of care
Belmont facility helps those with special needs
4. Cover Profile
Departments
2. Publisher’s Letter
12. Business Center
She’s the Woman in Pink
Regina Moody, executive director of Holy Angels in Belmont
10. Business Center
Mayor John Bridgeman
means business
Mayor John Bridgeman
16. Religion
What is the Sikh faith?
18. Gallery
20. Sports
Cheryl Littlejohn coaches
kids to success
22. Pet Corner
Feline urinary tract
problems
24. Health
Noted cardiac specialist
offers tips
26. Education
McElhoe is new at
Gaston College
28. People
30. Community Affairs
Gaston County Museum of
Art and History
32. Community Affairs
Gastonia’s first hospital
September/October 2014
1
PuBLiSHER’SLEttER
Volume 3 - issue 5
Welcome to autumn!
We at Gaston Lifestyles would like to welcome
you to autumn!
This has been one of the coolest and wettest
summers on local records, and we hope you have
enjoyed it. Before you know it, the holidays will
be upon us.
We hope you enjoy our heartwarming cover
story, beautifully written by Kathy Blake. Holy
Angels has made a real difference in the lives
of countless special-needs children and adults
Mo Ally
for nearly six decades. We congratulate Regina
Moody, Sr. Nancy Nance and all the staffers at
Holy Angels for the wonderful work they do. They are among the most brightly
shining jewels in Belmont and indeed all of Gaston County.
Mayor John Bridgman of Gastonia offers sound economic advice. A veteran
of the commercial real estate market, Mayor Bridgeman knows all about business
and how to attract it to our county and its surrounding region. We think you’ll
enjoy getting to know John better.
Also in this issue, cardiac specialist Dr. Ajay Bajwa of CaroMont Health
offers some tips on how to keep the old ticker ticking. Dr. Bajwa, a devout
Sikh and a native of India who grew up in New York, also talks about how his
fascinating religion guides his own heart. We think you’ll enjoy learning more
about this exotic and beautiful faith.
And our own local historical guide, Lucy Penegar, takes you on a trip back in
time, to Gaston County’s first hospital. More than 100 years ago, it was located
in a distinctive late-Victorian home in Gastonia. Today, CaroMont Regional
Medical Center is a massive facility and the flagship of a regional healthcare
powerhouse. It’s certainly come a long way.
Jeff Pruett also takes us on a trip way back, explaining the legacy of the
Gaston County Museum of Art and History. The building the museum is housed
in was once a great hotel, constructed before the War Between the States. Be sure
to stop in and see Jeff at his digs in Dallas.
As Gaston College celebrates its golden anniversary, it welcomes Dr. Dennis
McElhoe into its administrative halls. Dr. McElhoe is among the reasons Gaston
College continues to be an institution listed among the very best.
Dr. Mark Epstein of Total Bond Veterinary Hospitals explains what to do if
your cat is suffering from a urinary tract infection. Mark always offers sound
advice in a lively, humorous and accessible manner.
And breast cancer survivor Kim Beverly shares her inspiring story. Kim beat
this dread disease twice, and she wants to help you do the same. Be sure to check
out this courageous Woman in Pink.
Got a story idea about someone or something you’d like to see in our
magazine? Feel free to e-mail us, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Thanks for reading! ■
2
Gaston Lifestyles
Publisher
Mo Ally
305-479-2878 (office)
305-710-8640 (cell)
gastonlifestyles@aol.com
Editor
Thomas Lark
thomaslark@rocketmail.com
Office Manager
Hazel McQuitter
Art Director
Michele Warren
mwarren1@bellsouth.net
Distribution Manager
Richard McQuitter
Legal Counsel
Lisa B. Hogan, Esq.
Photographers
Larry Zeigler • Mo Ally
Cover Photographer Larry Zeigler
Contributing Writers
Kathy Blake • Mo Ally • Thomas Lark
Dr. Mark Epstein • Lucy Penegar
Jeff Pruett
Published By
American Cricketer Inc.
Mo Ally, President & CEO
P.O. Box 550666
Gastonia, NC 28055-0666
All contents of this magazine are copyrighted
by Pakaraima Publishing Inc., all rights
reserved. Reproduction or use, without
permission, of editorial or graphic content
in any manner is prohibited. Publisher
assumes no responsibility for return of
unsolicited materials.
Information and Advertising Rates:
P.O. Box 550666
Gastonia, NC 28055-0666
305-479-2878 (office)
September/October 2014
3
Cover Profile
Holy Angels neArs
six decades of care
Belmont facility helps those with special needs
By Kathy Blake
They’re words to live by.
They’re painted in bright colors on the wall across from the elevator doors,
upstairs in the specialized residential community building at Holy Angels
known as the Morrow Center, named for one of the facility’s most beloved
and unforgettable residents, the late Maria Morrow.
T
he words read:
“You are special just by being you;
Love yourself, and others will, too!”
In this building, the youngest full-time resident is
an 11-month-old girl. Children sleep in cheerful rooms
splashed with murals of happy things. They have a teacher
who brings school to them. They have music class, a
physical therapy suite, a dining hall and a magical place
called the Snoezelen Room, where a rainbow of bubble
lights floats in cylinders to the ceiling.
It’s all just a part of what makes Holy Angels such a
very special place, according to Sr. Nancy Nance, Holy
Angels’ vice president of community relations.
4
Gaston Lifestyles
“This is their home,” Nance said recently. “We want to
make it as homey as possible.”
She explained that Holy Angels opened as a non-profit
in 1955. It provides continuous care for 90 residents, the
oldest of whom is 76.
In the children’s area, a music therapist and her students
wave satiny ribbons attached to wooden wands, as a CD
plays “Good Morning, Baltimore.”
“The end result isn’t about the music,” said Nance. “It’s
about participation and movement.”
The classroom is filled with cause-and-effect devices
that operate by touch. Located around the campus are
spacious Jacuzzis—important components for these
children with intellectual developmental disabilities or
inhibiting medical conditions. ➥
Speech pathologist Debbie
Will joins Holy Angels
resident Campbell.
➥
➥
On the right, Holy Angels staffer
Ron Vaughn shares a laugh with
resident Brandon.
Staff member Teresa Friday talks with
Joseph, a Holy Angels resident.
➥
the left at Cherubs Café in downtown
➥ From
Belmont are Cherubs Job Coach Dee Martin and
supported employee Mary Ellen.
Photographs courtesy of Sr. Nancy Nance
July/August 2014
5
Cover Profile
“They work on range-of-motion in here,” said Nance. “And we
have water therapy for those who don’t have good muscle tone.
Water is the most healing thing we have.”
In a classroom called Area One, a special education teacher
conducts school.
“Just like regular school,” Nance added, “it’s approved by
the Department of Public Instruction.”
In the hallways, direct-support professionals take children
for walks. The children are assisted by physical therapy
equipment with wheels, straps or handlebars. Family members
visit.
The campus, with its many residential buildings and
outdoor recreation area with accessible swings, utilizes about
125 volunteers. Staffers and volunteers calmly tend to their
mission of providing compassionate, dependable care and
opportunities to the people they serve.
In all of it, one factor is prominently noticeable:
Not one person looks unhappy. Everybody smiles here.
Life in perspective
Regina Moody, 63, is the president and CEO of Holy Angels.
She has been in this line of work most of her life and was, in a
way, born into it---making a living by bettering the lives of those
around her. Her mother worked in a psychiatric hospital in New
York, and her father was a New York City firefighter.
“I always say that I get more than I
give and that the people who work
here are the everyday heroes.”
Moody has an extensive résumé that overflows with
achievement and awards. She works long hours and is in
constant demand. But she also takes time to stop and calmly
explain her purpose and what led her to the expansive firstfloor office in the Morrow Center.
“I always say that I get more than I give and that the people
who work here are the everyday heroes,” Moody said. “The
people we serve make the challenges we face seem small,
because they face challenges every day. It
puts life in perspective.”
Those who travel through Belmont
are familiar with the sculpted hedges on
Wilkinson Boulevard that spell out “Holy
Angels.” But they may not know everything
that happens at the top of that hill, beyond
the yard.
“We have a saying about ‘what goes on
behind the hedges,’ and great things are
happening,” Moody said. “It’s a work we’re
called to do. I think we’re all led here. We
want to be part of a mission that’s bigger
than us.”
Regina Moody gives this present, a wood carving of Holy Angels’ defining
word, “mercy,” to her Hungarian counterpart, Zsofia Gyori, executive director of
Immanuel House in Debrecen, Hungary.
— Photograph by Holy Angels
6
Gaston Lifestyles
A girl named Maria
Holy Angels was founded 59 years ago,
when a mother left her child, an infant named
Maria Morrow, in the care of the nearby
Sisters of Mercy. Morrow was paralyzed with
physical disabilities and spina bifida, her
head enlarged by hydrocephalus.
Holy Angels’ co-founders, Mother Mary
Benignus Hoban and Sr. Marie Patrice
Manley, took in other children who needed
their love as well. Morrow, not expected to live past childhood,
eventually worked as a receptionist for Holy Angels until her
death at the age of 54, several years ago.
In 1969, Moody left Long Island, N.Y., and moved to
Belmont in order to attend Sacred Heart College. She earned
a degree in social work, and she also has a master’s degree
in special education from Winthrop University in Rock Hill,
S.C. She began her career with the Gaston County Schools,
working as a special education teacher at the Mary Ellen
Nelson Center on the Dallas-Cherryville Highway. The center
later became the Webb Street School in Gastonia.
One of Moody’s students at the Nelson Center, a boy named
Darrell, had a brother, David, who moved with his family from
the western North Carolina community of Glenville. This was
done in order that Darrell, who has Down’s syndrome, could
attend school.
David stole Moody’s heart.
“He is my rock and my best friend and someone I rely on,”
Moody said.
They were married in 1978. The Moodys have a
son, Kevin, who works in Charlotte as a certified public
accountant.
Mrs. Moody taught for six years and was offered the
principal’s position at St. Michael’s Roman Catholic School
in Gastonia. She also developed a trusting relationship with
someone who would become her true friend and mentor, Sr.
Pauline Clifford.
“She said, ‘You know, you’d be very good as executive
director of Holy Angels,’” Moody recalled, “and I’ve been
here 32 years.”
She was hired in 1982 by the Sisters of Mercy and the
Holy Angels Board of Directors as the first lay executive
director. She became president/CEO in 1998.
“I think life is about making a difference,” she said, “and
I think that’s what my career has been: helping people who
need help---and who certainly deserve help.”
Change for the better
When Moody took over at Holy Angels, she saw two
aspects of a ministry: she saw a nursery, a care-giving home,
with a vital function in the community. And she saw the need
to develop it into something more.
“Holy Angels was a pioneer in its beginning in 1955,” she
said, “in that Sister Patrice was running a day-care for parents
who worked in the mills in the Belmont area. Back in the day,
these children that were born with severe disabilities were not
expected to live, so they said ‘yes’ to Maria, and then other
children came, too. For the first 25 years, it was a lot of love
and attention. Their basic needs were met. But no education
was going on. As the laws changed in the late 1970’s, there
were laws in place for children with disabilities, saying they
were entitled to a free and appropriate education.
“My job was to move it from the custodial to the
developmental model,” she continued, “which means we can
provide love and care but add what they need to achieve more
independence and a better quality of life.”
Moody sought funding for physical therapy and nursing
services for children and adults. The campus has grown from
one main building to 10 residential facilities. The Morrow
Center houses residents up to age 21 and provides round-theclock care. There are five intermediate care residential units,
two with 15 beds and three with six beds. There are also four
Regina Moody talks with resident Mary Adair at Holy Angels.
— Photograph by Holy Angels
July/August 2014
7
Cover Profile
community group homes.
Residents can attend Camp Hope on South Point Road
in Belmont, with its wheelchair-accessible nature trails and
floating docks. Cherubs Café and Cherubs Candy Bouquet
on Main Street in downtown Belmont provide vocational
training, with all the profits used to fund Holy Angels’
programs and services.
Moody oversees an $11 million budget for a 501(c)(3)
corporation accredited by the Commission for Accreditation
of Rehabilitation Facilities. Named one of the year’s top 25
local businesswomen by Charlotte Business Journal, she
also accepted the Circle of Caring Leadership Award for
Holy Angels.
Nance elaborated about Holy Angels’ involvement.
“We are committed to making a difference and helping to
make Gaston County a great place to live, work and play,” she
said. “We love having Gaston County third graders visit and
learn about Holy Angels and Gaston County through the Pride
in Gaston County tour. We continually receive much from the
community and are firm believers in being active participants
and leaders within our community. Ultimately, we believe
through our servant leadership in the community we are
raising the awareness of Holy Angels and advocating for the
individuals and families we serve and for all people who may
have disabilities.”
Holy Angels is a place of miracles, and in the end, it’s all
about its residents, as Moody observed.
“It’s all about learning to appreciate the little miracles that
happen at Holy Angels,” she said. “We celebrate what we call
‘mercy moments’–a resident smiling or taking their first step.
Some people achieve things they never thought they could
do. It’s all about our team having faith and believing in what
they’re doing. It’s been an honor to lead them.
“They are enjoying life,” she added of the residents. “I
think that God has a plan. It honestly is that we have people
who may not be able to walk or talk, but they make people’s
day. This is a place of joy, a place of happiness and a place
of success.” ■
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Gaston Lifestyles
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September/October 2014
9
BuSinESSCEntER
Mayor John Bridgeman
means business
Gastonia leader shares recipe for business success
M
ayor John Bridgeman is a man
who believes very much in
investing in the future.
A longtime veteran of the commercial
real estate business, Bridgeman is
someone who understands business in
its many and varied forms. The Gastonia
native spoke recently about the city he
serves and what it’s doing to maintain
and nurture current businesses and
attract new ones.
The mayor said he’d like to
encourage investment in the city, using
money from the private sector rather
than using taxpayer money to finance
growth and development.
“In order for this to happen,” said
Bridgeman, “we as a city need to be
competitive in enticing businesses to
locate here.”
He added that he’d also like to see
local governments dispense with some
practices that developers and investors
regard as red tape.
“I feel strongly that we as a city
need to be competitive in seeing
government try to aid investors in
meeting codes in a timely and helpful
Mayor John Bridgeman
manner,” said Bridgeman. “In my
business, I have heard too many times
from developers that they
will take their business
elsewhere in the future,
due to the numerous delays
and obstacles they have
had to overcome. Sadly,
these developers take their
money to other nearby
locations, such as Concord,
Mooresville, Tega Cay,
S.C., Rock Hill, S.C., and
so on.”
Seen here is downtown Gastonia. Mayor John Bridgeman says he’s encouraged by his city’s
economic outlook.
— Photograph by Ian Curcio
10 Gaston Lifestyles
Business in the blood
The mayor is the
son of John and Ruth
Bridgeman. The elder Mr.
Bridgeman was the general
foreman at Threads, Inc.
Mrs. Bridgeman was a
homemaker.
Mayor Bridgeman
recalled growing up in
western Gastonia with his
siblings: Joan B. Hedrick,
Shirley B. Laughter and
Ronnie Bridgeman.
The mayor married a local girl, Nan
Falls Bridgeman, who attended Wake
Forest University and taught history in
the local public school system. Avidly
interested in collecting antiques, Mrs.
Bridgeman turned her hobby into
a business, first selling antiques in
Charlotte and Blowing Rock. Five years
ago, she opened Blythe Gallery and
Interiors in a large and lovely home on
Main Street in downtown Belmont.
Mayor Bridgeman is the father of
four grown children. From the oldest to
the youngest, they are as follows:
Daughter Amy Guerette, RN and
husband Dr. Rob Guerette reside in
degree in appraising. His wife, the
former Brandi Jefferies of Gastonia,
has a master’s degree in education and
teaches at North Belmont Elementary.
They have two children, Macie and
Robbie.
William Alexander Bridgeman is a
graduate of N.C. State, where he earned
degrees in economics and accounting.
Before taking a position at Wells-Fargo
in Charlotte, he worked at PriceWaterhouse in Atlanta and at Verizon in
Dallas, Texas. With his wife, the former
Penelope Hovis, also a State grad, he
and their three preschool children,
William, Emerson and Campbell Grace,
reside in Charlotte.
using our tax money to build with
the thought that they will come. I am
delighted to see the start of art space,
done with private donations rather than
tax dollars.
“I am hopeful we can recruit a large
national company to purchase or lease
empty property in the downtown area,
if we make recruiting a top priority,”
Bridgeman continued, citing the Gastonia
City Council. “We as a government and
also as a council need to understand how
to make ourselves attractive for private
investors and not stand in their way, if
they have a good plan. We only need to
look at nearby Belmont to see how this
little town’s central area has flourished
“I feel we should try bringing people downtown as our first step, rather
than using our tax money to build with the thought that they will come.
I am delighted to see the start of art space, done with private donations
rather than tax dollars.”
Weston, Fla., where Mrs. Guerette is
associated with the Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Guerette is a professor at Florida
International University. They have one
son, Riley.
Daughter Dana Wilson is a graduate
of North Carolina State University. She
has worked in Charlotte at the Duke
Mansion and as an executive assistant
to the director of the McColl Center for
the Visual Arts. She is married to portrait
artist David Wilson, and she currently
works part time at the Blythe Gallery.
The Wilsons reside in Charlotte.
Robert Crawford Bridgeman of
Belmont is a graduate of the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he
earned a degree in economics. He is the
principal in R.C. Bridgeman Appraisals,
and he is currently pursuing a master’s
Mayor Bridgeman grew up at Linden
Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Church, where he served as a deacon.
He later joined the First Presbyterian
Church of Gastonia, where he met his
wife. He has been a member at First
Presbyterian for more than 30 years and
has served as chairman of personnel and
scholarships, as well as an elder.
Want to improve Gastonia? Look to
Belmont.
Returning to the topic of business, the
mayor discussed ways to make Gaston
County’s largest city better.
“Downtown Gastonia has had money
poured into it by our taxpayers, and
yet it is still not thriving,” he observed.
“I feel we should try bringing people
downtown as our first step, rather than
with a minimum of tax dollars but with
a strong plan in place. A little over a
decade ago, their city planner created a
plan involving minimum expenditures of
government. There are always some fears
and misgivings with some folks when
a change is proposed. But that council
backed their planner. The proof is in the
pudding, as Belmont’s property values
are the highest in our county, thanks to
a talented city planner and a council’s
willingness to stay the course.” ■
— By Thomas Lark
September/October 2014 11
BuSinESSCEntER
She’s the Woman in Pink
Kim Beverly helps women with cancer
K
im Beverly is a warrior.
This courageous Gastonia
woman battled back against breast
cancer, and she won. Beverly spoke
recently about her battle and how she’s
now taking the fight to cancer on behalf
of other women struggling with this
disease that comes in so many forms.
Her new business, the Woman in Pink,
will soon be offering women with cancer
some positive options to help them with
their self-image.
But first, you need to know Beverly’s
story.
“My first experience with breast
cancer was when my mom, Peggy Raby,
was diagnosed with breast cancer at the
age of 52,” she recalled. “The cancer
had spread to her lymph nodes, and the
doctors gave her little hope. But when
medicine or man has no answer, God
does. And I have witnessed that with my
mother, because she is still with us, 24
years later!”
Two of the best weapons in the fight
against cancer are vigilance and early
detection. And thinking of her mom,
Beverly erred on the side of caution.
“I began having mammograms
annually at the age of 30 because of my
family history,” she said. “At the age of
37, while performing a breast self-exam
(or BSE), I felt a lump in my left breast
that was not detected by a mammogram.
But it was confirmed by an ultrasound
that I had breast cancer.”
Kim and Shane Beverly are flanked by their sons, Gabe and Chase. Mrs. Beverly beat
breast cancer in her 30’s, and now she’s helping other women battle back against
cancer.
— Photograph by Davis Goodman and Forever and Three Days Photography
12 Gaston Lifestyles
Kim Beverly
She and husband Shane Beverly have
two sons, Chase and Gabe, who were
respectively 10 and 8 years old at the
time. Being married and the mother of
two small boys was a great concern for
Mrs. Beverly, as she recalled.
“My first thought was, Who is
going to take care of my family?” she
said. “But the fear quickly turned into
faith, and it was God and the prayers
and support of my family and friends
that got me through the surgeries and
chemotherapy that followed.”
the sketch pad
But then, 13 years later, in 2011,
Beverly was again performing a BSE
and found yet another lump in her
left breast.
“It was confirmed by a mammogram
and ultrasound that I had breast cancer
again after 13 years!” she said. “Also
during this time, the doctors discovered
that I had a parathyroid tumor. Again it
was my faith in God and the prayers of
my family and friends that gave me the
strength to get through all the surgeries
and chemotherapy that followed.
“At midnight on July 30, 2011, the
week before I was starting chemo, I was
wrestling with having to go through
treatments again and experiencing all the
side effects that come with it, especially
the hair loss,” she continued. “No matter
how much you prepare yourself for it,
no woman wants to lose her hair. I was
crying out to God: ‘I don’t want to go
through this again!’”
The room was quiet, and Beverly was
sitting on her couch. And that was when
she heard the words:
“Go get the sketch pad.”
“I was thinking, What? But again I
heard the words, ‘Go get the sketch pad.’
And so I went upstairs to grab a sketch
pad and colored pencils and headed
an hour before I was getting my hair
cut off, I got the sketch pad out again.
But this time, I drew the breast cancer
ribbon, and inside it, I wrote down all
the possible side effects that my chemo
drugs could cause and wrote the word
‘no’ in front of every one of them.”
Then God gave her a Scriptural
reference: the words of the Gospel of
St. Luke, Chapter 10, verse 19. In this
chapter, St. Luke tells us of the Words
of Christ to His Disciples before they
depart on one of their earliest missions:
“Behold, I give unto you the power to
tread upon serpents and scorpions and
over all the power of the Enemy. And
nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
And suddenly Beverly knew that no
harm would befall her.
and let them know they are beautiful
inside and out, despite the hair loss. We
want them to look in the mirror and see
themselves as God sees them ‘fearfully
and wonderfully made,’ as we read in
Psalm 139:13-14.”
Beverly continued that because of the
donations, time and talents of her family,
friends and community, the Woman in
Pink Wig Boutique is going to have its
grand opening celebration on Oct. 3, 11
a.m.-3 p.m.
“It will be a drop-in,” she said, “and
all are invited to come celebrate with
Paige, Deborah and me.”
Beverly added that the wig boutique
will be located at It’s a Girl Thing Salon
at 315 E 2nd Ave. in Gastonia’s 28054
ZIP code.
“We are so excited about finally being
able to carry out our mission!” she said.
“It was during this second battle with breast cancer that my sister, Paige
Golding, and my sister-in-law, Deborah Mull, and I formed a non-profit
organization called ‘the Woman in Pink.”
back downstairs and sat back down on
the couch,” she remembered. “Then the
Lord prompted me to write down the
word ‘hair’ on the bottom of the piece of
paper. Then God gave me the meaning
to this word. ‘Hair’ is: H-Having A-an
I-Intimate R-Relationship with Him--Christ. Then I began drawing a baldheaded woman for about two hours, and
after I was done, God said, ‘Kim, it’s not
about hair. It’s about having an intimate
relationship with Me!’”
She put the sketch pad down but
couldn’t sleep because she kept hearing
the words, “no side effects.”
“All night I kept hearing those
words, over and over again,” Beverly
revealed. “So that next morning, about
sHAIRing hope in the community
“It was during this second battle
with breast cancer that my sister,
Paige Golding, and my sister-in-law,
Deborah Mull, and I formed a nonprofit organization called ‘the Woman
in Pink,’” she informed. “For three
years now, we have been out in the
community, raising awareness and
selling T-shirts with the drawings I did
printed on them and selling other breast
cancer merchandise to raise money
to open a wig boutique where women
who have been affected by cancer can
come and receive a free wig or other
head covering, free of charge. It’s more
than just giving them a wig. We want
to encourage them and give them hope
The Woman in Pink is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit organization, and all
donations are tax deductible. If you
would like to make a donation, you can
write a check payable to the Woman in
Pink and mail it to:
The Woman in Pink
P.O. Box 550536-0536
Gastonia N.C. 28055.
Or you may also make a donation via
the Website at www.thewomaninpink.com.
“Together,” Beverly emphasized, “we
can make a difference!” ■
— By Thomas Lark
September/October 2014 13
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14 Gaston Lifestyles
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September/October 2014 15
RELiGion
What is the Sikh faith?
Young religion is an interesting one
t
he Sikh religion is a relatively
young one.
And it’s certainly an interesting
one as well. The word Sikh means
“disciple.” This fascinating faith goes
back not much further than 500 years,
and the numbers of its adherents are
especially concentrated in the Punjab
province of India. Unique among the
world’s major religions, it doesn’t
claim to have all the answers and very
tolerantly states that practitioners of
other faiths can also find salvation
through their own beliefs and by
practicing universal principles of truth.
Indeed, according to Sikh belief, the
only one who does indeed have all the
answers about God and His creation
is God Himself. And because of its
monotheistic approach and its universal
“do-unto-others” principles, it squares
up remarkably well with Christianity.
The Sikh faith is the fifth largest
religion on earth, with half a million
followers in America and some 5,000
in North Carolina. There are many
prominent Sikhs. South Carolina
Governor Nikki Haley is of Sikh
background. Sikhs are known for their
intellectualism and often go into law,
medicine and mathematics. Queen
Victoria was famous for having Sikh
guards close to her, and she loved to hear
their stories about India. In both world
wars combined, some 100,000 Sikh
soldiers died fighting alongside their
British counterparts.
One notable local Sikh is Dr.
Ajay Bajwa, a cardiac specialist with
CaroMont Health (see related article,
this edition). Bajwa recently explained
that a Sikh house of prayer is called a
gurdwara. A gurdwara is open to all who
come with reverence, regardless of their
caste, race, class, religious faith, gender
or national origin. In every gurdwara,
the Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh Holy
Scripture) is installed in the main hall
used for prayer and daily services.
As Bajwa explained, before entering
Sikh children are seen here at a gurdwara, a Sikh house of worship, reciting from their
book of holy scriptures, the Guru Granth Sahib.
— Photograph courtesy of Dr. Ajay Bajwa
16 Gaston Lifestyles
Dr. Ajay Bajwa, Cardiologist at CaroMont
the main hall, all the faithful are required
to cover their heads and remove their
shoes as a sign of respect. Upon entering
the hall, each person approaches the
Guru Granth Sahib and bows before it
in submission, asking for blessings and
wisdom. The members of the sangat
(or congregation) sit upon the floor to
promote humility and equality of all.
“The Sikh gurdwara has no ordained
clergy,” Bajwa informed. “Every Sikh,
man or woman, is expected to have high
moral standards equivalent to that of a
clergyman. Likewise, the daily services
can be conducted by any Sikh male or
female. The traditional daily services
consist of kirtan (the singing of hymns),
katha (lectures on Sikh principles and
history) and recitation of prayers.”
The institution of a langar (or free
kitchen) is an important component
of each gurdwara. The kitchen is open
to the community and supported by
contributions to the gurdwara.
“Here,” said Bajwa, “everyone sits
and eats together, signifying the equality
and brother/sisterhood of all mankind.”
the beginnings of the sikh faith
Known as Sikhi by its adherents, the
religion was founded by Guru Nanak
Sahib, who was born in 1469. A guru is
a kind of Indian spiritual teacher. In the
Sikh context, the word means “prophet.”
As Bajwa explained, Guru Nanak
established the principles of Sikhi and was
succeeded by nine additional such leaders.
They were gurus Angad Dev, Amar
Das, Ram Das, Arjun Dev, Har Gobind,
Har Krishan, Har Rai, Teg Bahadur
and Gobind Singh. Singh initiated the
Sikh amrit ceremony (or ceremony of
spiritual immortality) and established the
brotherhood of the Khalsa in 1699. Singh
also ordained that the Guru Granth Sahib
would be the ultimate spiritual authority
for the Sikhs, and the temporal authority
would vest in the Khalsa.
There is one God,
The Supreme Truth, the Creator,
Omnipresent,
Without Fear, Without Enmity,
A Timeless Reality, Beyond Birth or
Death,
Self-Existent,
Known by the Guru’s Grace.
In their beliefs, the goal of every
Sikh is to achieve the realization about
God. This can only be achieved by
becoming worthy of Waheguru’s grace.
Waheguru means “the wondrous light
that dispels darkness” in Punjabi, and
it is one of many Sikh names for God.
This worthiness of God is possible
by developing God-like qualities in
sikh appearance
In order to help discipline the mind
to free itself of lower forms of behavior
and attain a higher consciousness, the
Sikh gurus advocated a uniform that
one begins to wear as a first step. This
uniform calls for keeping the human
body intact to its maximum extent as
God created it. Therefore, the gurus
asked Sikhs to stop deforming the body
through unnecessary rituals such as
circumcision and cutting of hair. Sikh
men famously do not cut their hair but
keep it bound up in turbans.
Indeed, Sikhs who have undergone
the amrit ceremony are required to wear
the five articles of faith of Sikhi. These
articles are kesh (uncut hair, symbolizing
In their beliefs, the goal of every Sikh is to achieve the realization about God.
This can only be achieved by becoming worthy of Waheguru’s grace.
The Guru Granth Sahib is a
compilation of the writings of the Sikh
gurus and various saints whose writings
were consistent with Sikh philosophy.
It is 1,430 pages long and written
entirely in verse. There are no stories
or biographies within the scripture. The
content focuses on the praise of God and
the teaching of principles that will allow
one to overcome wordly problems. The
Guru Granth Sahib was compiled by the
Sikh gurus and remains in its original
and unaltered form.
Principles of the sikh faith
Unlike Hinduism, another major
religion native to India, renowned for its
complex polytheistic approach, the Sikh
faith is purely monotheistic. As Bajwa
explained, the fundamental concept of
God is described in the opening stanza
of the Guru Granth Sahib. It translates
as follows:
oneself by living a moral lifestyle that
is full of truth, love for humanity and
justice. In addition, a moral life (as
advocated by the Sikh gurus) is free
from lust, uncontrollable anger, unruly
greed, arrogance and undue love of
worldly things.
The three basic commandments of
Sikhi are naam japo (remember God’s
virtues), kirat karo (earn a living through
honest means) and wand chhako (share
with others). In addition, Sikhs sincerely
believe in the equality of all humans,
irrespective of gender, race, color,
religion, national origin, etc., as Bajwa
emphasized.
Sikhs recognize the right to freedom
of religion for all and therefore do not
proselytize or attempt to convert others
through force or deceit. The right to
self-defense is also recognized, and the
Sikhs have a long history of defending
the oppressed.
acceptance of God’s Will), kangha (a
small comb, symbolizing cleanliness),
kachhaira (a pair of undershorts,
symbolizing chastity), kirpan (a sword,
symbolizing the right to self-defense and
the responsibility to uphold justice) and
karhaa (a steel bracelet, symbolizing the
bond with God).
Who is a sikh?
A Sikh is any woman or man who has
faith in:
• one timeless God or Waheguru;
• the 10 Gurus, beginning with Guru
Nanak Sahib;
• the words and teachings of the Guru
Granth Sahib, the 10 Gurus and the
amrit of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib;
• and does not believe in any other
religion. ■
— By Thomas Lark
September/October 2014 17
W
PHotoGALLERy
ix celebrates 75 years of business.
— Photographs courtesy GLM
Keith Wilson
Dave McCauley and the Wix executive team
luncheon at Wix
Rick Houser
18 Gaston Lifestyles
Dick Ford, Wix’s former
CEO, joins Keith Wilson
Tracy Philbeck
Wix made a substantial contribution to the Gaston County Schools
Mayor John Bridgeman & Tracy Philbeck
Rick Houser, Mayor John Bridgeman, Tracy Philbeck & Keith Wilson
luncheon at Wix
Regina Moody
Richard Petty’s race car
September/October 2014 19
SPoRtS
Cheryl Littlejohn coaches
kids to success
“Passion has met purpose!”
t
hat declaration is crucial to Cheryl
Littlejohn’s success. Littlejohn,
a Gastonia native, is changing
the lives of many local young people
through her Stanley-based business,
Executive Coaching.
Many local sports fans will remember
Littlejohn’s prowess on the basketball
courts of Gaston County and beyond.
She earned a degree in political science
at the University of Tennessee, and
she played for the legendary women’s
basketball coach, Pat Summitt.
Littlejohn was on the Lady Volunteers’
first national championship team.
What words best sum up Cheryl
Littlejohn? “Determined,” “passionate,”
“enthusiastic,” “inspiring,” “motivating”
and “resilient” all describe her very well.
And after graduation from Tennessee,
she put those qualities to work.
20 Gaston Lifestyles
She entered the Federal Bureau of
Investigation Academy at Quantico,
Va., in order to pursue a career in
federal law enforcement. Littlejohn
had a distinguished career as an
investigator with the Drug Enforcement
Administration (or DEA) in Los Angeles
and Washington, D.C.
And she also enjoyed a brilliant
career as a women’s basketball coach.
For 13 years, her coaching work
took her around the world, from
North Carolina State University, the
universities of Alabama and Minnesota
and Chicago State University to
Denmark, Sweden, Israel and South
America. Several players Littlejohn
coached are now in the Women’s
National Basketball Association (or
WNBA). Over the course of 17 years
of playing and coaching in Division I
basketball, Littlejohn saw many years
of both successes and losses. Her
resilience enabled her to move on,
bounce back, rebound and recover
like a champion.
And now today, she is showing
teachers, executives, parents,
community leaders and children how
to be champions, too. She specializes
in getting results---the right way--rebounding from setbacks in order to
make a comeback.
“Rebounding was the key to
winning a championship 20 years
ago,” as Littlejohn recently said,
“and it is also the key now to
winning in life! Although I am not
on the court, I am still in the game!”
She added that Executive Coaching
is a personal investment, and she knows
how to motivate her clients.
“Get in the game,” the coach urged.
“And stay in the game. Be a champion!”
Through motivational speaking,
staff development, leadership training,
diversity training, youth forums, parent
workshops, pep rallies during the endof-grade testing period and graduation
celebrations, Littlejohn and Executive
Coaching have helped countless clients.
They include the FBI, the DEA and
the United States Air Force Academy;
the public school systems of Gaston,
Mecklenburg and Forysth counties and
the Memphis, Baltimore, Montgomery,
Chicago and Huntsville, Ala. public
schools; Special Olympics; Gaston
County Human Relations; Educate, Inc.;
Learn-It Systems; and the Coca-Cola
Community Festival.
Did you know?
Women’s basketball dates back to 1892.
According to WNBA sportswriter
Sally Jenkins, women began playing
the sport less than a year after Canadian
gym teacher James Naismith invented
the men’s game. At Smith College,
women’s gym coach Senda Berenson
came up with the female version of
the hoops game. By 1895, women’s
basketball was being played at many
women’s colleges, such as Vassar, Bryn
Mawr and Wellesley.
And to make it easier to play without
tripping over the hems of the long
ladies’ dresses of the day, women’s
basketball bloomers were invented in
1896, the work of Clara Gregory Baer at
Newcomb College in New Orleans. Baer
would go on to publish a set of rules for
what was then called “basquette.”
Speaking of dresses, Dr. Edward
Morton Schaeffer wrote a scathing
condemnation of women’s corsets. He
railed against the corset as “a figure
and health-wrecking contrivance.”
Jenkins writes that Schaeffer urged
active, modern women to “burst all
confining fetters and curtail necessary
impediments of costume,” and to adopt
a divided skirt to ease their exercising.
Within a few decades, the uniform of
team at Smith College, she adapted
Naismith’s rules to stress co-operation.
There were three zones and six girls
on each team. By 1901, some women’s
teams were adhering to rules Baer
created, whilst others stuck to rules that
Today, women’s basketball is a multimillion-dollar
professional sport, generating much interest and
fans across America.
women’s basketball would come to more
or less resemble the shirt and shorts we
see today.
According to women’s history expert
Joan Johnson Lewis, when Berenson
organized her first women’s basketball
Berenson co-invented with the Spalding
Company, the famous basketball
manufacturer.
Fast-forward a few more decades. By
1972 and the landmark Title IX decision
that revolutionized the treatment of and
opportunities for girls’ and women’s
sports in schools and universities,
women’s basketball had truly come into
its own. Now schools were federally
required to fairly fund female sports,
and this included teams, scholarships,
recruitment and sports media coverage.
The Association for Intercollegiate
Athletics for Women (or AIAW)
held the first national intercollegiate
women’s basketball championship.
Immaculata beat West Chester. Soon,
basketball championship tournaments
were established for girls below college
age as well.
Today, women’s basketball is a
multimillion-dollar professional sport,
generating much interest and fans across
America. ■
— By Thomas Lark
September/October 2014 21
PEtCoRnER
Feline urinary tract problems
Helping your cat through a painful episode
L
et’s be nice and say the cat has “urinated
inappropriately.”
Instead of the less charitable “That %$@! cat just
^%$#ed all over my %$#@! Shoes!”
This is a corollary to the worried “That’s the fifth time she’s
gone to the litter box in 10 minutes,” or “Stop licking there!”
Or going bug-eyed at the otherworldly sound coming from
your cat while she’s in there trying to pee.
All of these scenarios fall into a common domain of feline
trouble called broadly but imperfectly, “feline lower urinary
tract disease” or FLUTD. It’s an umbrella name for a whole
host of clinical signs that can all look depressingly similar:
house-soiling, going outside the box, straining to urinate,
multiple attempts to urinate, discomfort while urinating, blood
in the urine–and in the extreme for some male cats when they
can’t urinate at all, it’s a life-threatening problem.
Let’s compare this to dogs–and humans, for that matter.
The first and most usual suspect with those signs would be in
most cases from bacteria growing in the bladder, with all the
inflammation that goes with an infection: “bacterial cystitis” or
“urinary tract infection.”
22 Gaston Lifestyles
Simple! Analyze the urine; see the
bacteria; culture it to characterize the
bug; and start antibiotics. Et voilà!
Problem solved! At least in most cases.
But in the cat, not so simple! In fact,
in young cats, say, those under five
years old, very few with inappropriate
urination have a genuine urinary tract infection or UTI—as
few as one per cent. So what is going here? These cats have
either a social/behavioral problem and/or a different type of
damage to the bladder lining: it is sterile, with no bacteria to
be found, yet the inflammation is very real, and clinical signs
“That’s the fifth time she’s gone to the
litter box in 10 minutes.”
are just as dramatic, if sometimes even more so.
One thing well established about this syndrome is its
main risk factor for occurrence: stress. Yes, kitty stress! As
if they really have anything to worry about! But from their
perspective, they do. Sometimes the stress comes suddenly: a
recent illness; a new animal in the house; recent travel (you or
the cat). Maybe you looked at your cat wrong or came down
the wrong side of the stairs! Sometimes, we do not know. But
dissecting out recent events in the household usually does
reveal an aggravating (to the cat) incident or circumstance.
Flare-ups of IFLUTD/FIC usually wax and wane on their
own in about a week, even if no treatment is undertaken.
However, we do treat them, in order to make the kitty
as comfortable as we can during this time period. Most
veterinarians agree that pain medications are one of the first
things we should reach for. In the immediate-term, we might
also give fluids under the skin (to dilute the urine and stretch
the bladder, which seems to help relieve pain).
Note that giving antibiotics probably will not be helpful,
since bacteria are usually not involved. However, sometimes
they are given out of an abundance of caution, especially if
the cat is a bit older. But the paradox to remember is that in
youngsters, for a cat that got better after getting antibiotics
it does not mean she had a UTI. With IFLUTD/FIC, she
probably would have “gotten better,” whether or not the
antibiotics were administered or prescribed.
Almost more important than treating the problem in realtime is minimizing the likelihood or at least the frequency
of recurrences. The most well-established strategies include
eating canned food, promoting water intake and decreasing
stress. This includes having one litter box per cat, plus one
more box; cleaning them at least daily; and maintaining a
realistic number of cats in the home.
Diagnostic challenges
It can be challenging to differentiate the cat with IFLUTD/
FIC and the cat that is simply displacing its stress, anxiety and
general feline angst by urinating where he or she shouldn’t.
These cats have no discernible pathology; are not necessarily
in pain or making multiple trips to the litter box; and the urine
tests and X-rays are normal.
An important note regarding toms: these guys–because
amongst other reasons, they have a long urethra that gets very
narrow–can form a plug of mucous, inflammatory débris and
crystals within the penis. These cats are obstructed and cannot
urinate! It is excruciatingly painful and life-threateningly
dangerous. If you suspect your male cat is bloc — distressed,
multiple attempts to urinate with no urine to show for it or
perhaps just a few drops of blood-tinged urine; licking the
penis constantly and maybe seeing it everted and purplish;
eventually becoming lethargic, even vomiting–then it means a
call to your veterinarian right away, and if after hours for your
regular veterinarian, a trip to the Veterinary Emergency Clinic
at 728 Franklin Blvd. in Gastonia (704-866-7918).
If there is a piece of good news it is that cats that
experience IFLUTD/FIC do tend to grow out of the tendency.
By 10 years of age or older, if a cat has the exact same clinical
signs that we have been talking about, then our attention turns
to other, more customary causes: a full three-quarters of these
cats will have UTI, bladder stones or both. So for older cats, it
becomes very important to culture the urine for bacteria and to
take X-rays to look for bladder stones.
In the final analysis, if you are seeing “inappropriate
urination” with your cat, it can be frustrating and distressing
indeed! But just think about how your cat feels; it is no picnic
for her, either. If that is the bad news, then the good news
is this: With patience and following the guidance of your
veterinarian, there is often a way to manage this to everyone’s
satisfactio—and most of all, to the relief of your cat. ■
— By Dr. Dr. Mark Epstein,
Total Bond Veterinary Hospitals
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HEALtH
Noted cardiac specialist at
CaroMont Heart offers tips
Physician’s faith guides his heart
F
or Dr. Ajay Bajwa, you might say
that life is about getting to the heart
of the matter.
He is a well-known cardiologist
at CaroMont Heart and CaroMont
Regional Medical Center in Gastonia.
Bajwa, 42, was born in the city of
Patiala in the state of Punjab in India.
He lived there until he was 10, along
with his father and mother, respectively
Joginder Singh Bajwa and Kanwaljit
Kaur Bajwa, and two older siblings,
Gursimrat Kaur Bajwa and Mehtab
Singh Bajwa.
Then in May of 1982, the family,
except for the elder Mr. Bajwa, left India
for America and settled in Long Island,
N.Y. Dr. Bajwa’s dad took an early
retirement from the Indian Army and
was able to rejoin his family in 1984.
Dr. Bajwa completed elementary,
middle and high school in Long Island.
He then went on to college and medical
school at the City College of New York
and then New York Medical College
24 Gaston Lifestyles
from 1989 to 1996. A member of the
school’s class of ’96, he then trained in
internal medicine and cardiovascular
disease for the next six years.
He resided in Gaston County from
2002 to 2011. He now lives in Charlotte
with wife Harpreet Kaur Bajwa and kids
Anokhi Kaur Bajwa and Azadpartap
Singh Bajwa.
The Bajwas are devout Sikhs (see
related article in this edition of Gaston
Lifestyles). A Sikh house of prayer
is called a gurdwara. There is one in
Charlotte. Check out the Website at
www.charlottegurdwara.org.
For Dr. Bajwa, a typical day starts
early before sunrise with exercise,
reflecting on the Almighty and reading
the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy
scriptures, written between 545 and 300
years ago. For Sikhs, these profound and
beautiful scriptures serve as a guide to
all of life.
“My work as a cardiologist usually
starts at 7a.m. and often consists of
10-12-hour workdays,” said Bajwa.
“Work includes seeing patients at
my office at CaroMont Heart and at
CaroMont Regional Medical Center. It
also includes performing elective and
emergency diagnostic and therapeutic
cardiovascular procedures.
“Evenings are spent with my family,”
he added. “Day ends with prayer and
reciting from the Guru Granth Sahib.”
Heart health
Bajwa also talked about the
importance of maintaining a healthy
heart.
“Heart health is within reach for all
of us,” he said. “Know that heart disease
is mostly self-inflicted. Here are some
simple heart health tips.”
• Eat to live, not live to eat.
• Learn to cook and eat healthily;
everyone can eat healthy foods,
regardless of one’s budget, as long as
one is motivated. Avoid eating out.
• Know your numbers, such as blood
pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar,
BMI (or body mass index), waistline,
etc.; and set goals.
• Attain and maintain an ideal body
weight through lifestyle changes.
• A heart-healthy diet includes whole
grains, fruits and vegetables, fish high
in omega-three fatty acids, low-fat
dairy products and nuts.
“Enjoy the learning experience and explore a variety of subjects. Work hard
and work together. Gather the opinions of those who are engaged in the
active practice of medicine to get a realistic view of life as a physician.”
• Reduce portion size and dietary salt,
and avoid sugary drinks.
• Stay physically active and enjoy an
active lifestyle; exercise comes in all
forms.
• Reduce stress; a healthy mind will
lead to a healthy body.
• Build a strong support system: make
friends and laugh together.
• Quit tobacco, and avoid intoxication.
• Get enough sleep.
• Avoid over-medication. Talk to your
physician, and take only essential
medications.
• Help others.
• And never give up.
Bajwa also offered some good advice
for medical students.
“Enjoy and take maximal advantage
of the opportunity,” he said. “Enjoy
the learning experience and explore a
variety of subjects. Work hard and work
together. Gather the opinions of those
who are engaged in the active practice of
medicine to get a realistic view of life as
a physician.”
And drawing from his deep faith,
Bajwa quoted the words of Guru Nanak
(1469-1539), the first Sikh guru or
spiritual teacher. These, he observed, are
words to live by:
“‘Truth is high; higher yet is truthful
living.’” ■
— By Thomas Lark
September/October 2014 25
EDuCAtion
McElhoe is new at
Gaston College
And since those beginnings in the
1960’s, Gaston College has grown
exponentially, with multiple campuses
between Dallas and Lincolnton. As it
looks back on its proud history at the
Hoosier is veep for econ and work force development
half-century mark, one of the brightest
feathers in its collective cap is Dr.
McElhoe. He spoke recently about his
ey, Gaston College, Hoosier new guy?
new job as the college’s vice president
You’re quite right; he’s a Hoosier indeed. His name is
for economic and work force development and his work with
Dr. Dennis McElhoe, and he’s from Lafayette, Ind. The college president Dr. Pat Skinner.
Hoosier State native is the college’s newest addition. McElhoe
“My position serves on the president’s senior leadership
and wife Debra moved from Indiana to the Charlotte area in
executive council and is responsible for providing senior
2008. They currently live in Fort Mill, S.C.
leadership for the college’s economic and work force
This year, Gaston College is celebrating its 50th birthday.
development, continuing education, public safety and the
It was in 1964 that it and countless other community colleges
North Carolina Community College System Bio-Ed Network
across North Carolina got their start, thanks to the efforts
functions,” McElhoe explained.
of then-governor Terry Sanford. Today, Sanford’s statewide
So what’s a typical day like for Dennis McElhoe?
community college system has changed untold numbers of
“There really aren’t typical workdays for my position,” he
Tarheel lives.
observed, adding that “each and every day is never boring,
but filled with new opportunities. If I’m not meeting with
chambers of commerce, work force development boards or
area employers, I’ll arrive on campus by 7:30 a.m. and begin
my day by responding to e-mails and participating in or
leading discussions, all of which have as their objectives the
continual improvement of instructional, training and work
force development services to those individuals, organizations
and companies within the region served by Gaston College.”
He is the son of Forest G. and Jean J. McElhoe. Dr. and
Mrs. McElhoe have four children: Kelly, Brian, Colleen and
Rebecca; and five grandchildren: Grace, Sofia, Luca, Norah
and Damon.
Dr. McElhoe earned an associate of science degree in
fire science technology at Indiana University; a bachelor of
science degree in business administration at Indiana Wesleyan
University; and a master of science degree in education
(higher education administration) and a Ph.D. in curriculum
and instruction (community and work programs), both at
Purdue University.
Dr. and Mrs. McElhoe are members of St. Phillip Neri
Roman Catholic Church in Fort Mill. Dr. McElhoe is a
member of the Knights of Columbus and the Ancient Order of
Hibernians.
During Gaston College’s golden anniversary, as many local
folks are looking back on the last 50 years, Dr. McElhoe is
looking ahead to the future.
In the years to come, he said, he hopes to “assist the college
Dr. Dennis McElhoe says no two business days are ever alike at
in
whatever
way possible in continuing its mission as a preGaston College.
— Photograph courtesy of Dr. Dennis McElhoe eminent provider of educational and training services and
H
26 Gaston Lifestyles
“Always strive to improve yourself
personally and professionally."
as a significant and active partner with other organizations
in the continual efforts of the region to expand work force
and economic development opportunities within Gaston and
Lincoln Counties.”
To the young professionals just now coming up in the world
of college administration, McElhoe offered sound advice.
“Always strive to improve yourself personally and
professionally,” he said. “Remember those individuals who
assisted you as you progressed in your career, emulating the
best qualities of each and using those lesser qualities as an
example of how not to conduct business or treat others. Never
be hesitant to be innovative. Never be afraid to make a mistake
and learn from them. Always be respectful of the opinions of
others, even those opinions with which you disagree. Always
treat others with dignity and respect, regardless of their station
in life or the situation. Understand that those individuals who
may report to you aren’t your employees but are employees
of the organization to which you are responsible and that
you have a duty to encourage and support their continual
development. Finally, the best administrators accept full
responsibility for any errors made by their department or
the division for which they are responsible, while sharing
successes. Never forget where you came from. Remember than
no individual is better than another, and always strive to do
your best in whatever endeavor you may undertake.
“It’s a real pleasure to be at Gaston College,” he added,
“and I look forward to working with my colleagues here
at the college and with those organizations and individuals
within Lincoln and Gaston counties in expanding work force
development and learning opportunities for the citizens of this
region.”. ■
— By Thomas Lark
Miller’s Automotive Service
511 E. Second Ave., • P.O. Box 2081
Gastonia, N.C. 28053
704-865-8827 • Fax: 704-865-7173
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Our Technicians:
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• Replace engine oil & filter
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• Check & advise condition of all
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• Top off washer fulid
• Check wiper blades & light bulbs
• Remove harmful engine deposits
with BG CPR
• Install BG CF5 Carbon Fighter
• Preform uulti-point inspections
• Replace engine oil & filter
(up to 5 quarts)
• Add BG MOA egine oil conditioer
• Check & advise condition of all
vital fluids
• Top off washer fulid
• Check wiper blades & light bulbs
• Install BG CF5 Carbon Fighter
• Preform uulti-point inspections
• Replace engine oil & filter
(up to 5 quarts)
• Add BG MOA egine oil conditioer
• Check & advise condition of all
vital fluids
• Top off washer fulid
• Check wiper blades & light bulbs
• Preform uulti-point inspections
September/October 2014 27
PEoPLE on the Move
Bob Clay
…is a partner with Coldwell Banker Commercial MECA. Clay was recently named chairman of a new notfor-profit organization, the Greater Gaston Development Corporation, a countywide initiative, by which
business leaders will help expand and recruit local capital investment and jobs. “It is critical,” he said, “to
rally the business community to the complex and competitive process of attracting the growth of jobs and
private investment here!”
Lucy Talley
…is the Halifax Media Group Companies’ north region publisher for North and South Carolina. Talley was
promoted to this position in May, and her responsibilities as a publisher include The Gaston Gazette and The
Shelby Star. Talley is a 35-year veteran of the newspaper business, which she joined right after graduation
from Marshall University. Her wide-ranging career includes high-level work for such media companies as
The Salisbury Post and The New York Times.
Rafi Lakhany
…is the president and owner of Cougar, Inc. in Gastonia. Lakhany has more than 36 years of experience
in the apparel industry, managing the international manufacture and distribution of men’s, women’s and
children’s clothing. Also locally, he owns a bed sheet-manufacturing operation in Mount Holly, as well as a
real estate investment company.
Capt. Mark Hunter
…is the leader of the Salvation Army of Gastonia, which serves both Gaston and Lincoln counties. He
oversees and manages the organization’s homeless shelter, soup kitchen and emergency assistance program.
A Gaston County native who grew up in Belmont and Mount Holly, Hunter’s leadership posts in the
Salvation Army have included such cities as Columbia, S.C. Hunter is also a pastor at a Salvation Army
church on Union Road in Gastonia.
Bill Ingram
…has been named the Gaston County market president for Wells Fargo Bank. In this role, he is responsible
for business and community development. Ingram is a 15-year banking veteran. He is a graduate of the
University of Kentucky and earned his MBA from Thomas More College. He and wife Lara have two
children, Caroline and Grant.
Kathy Bell
…is the senior service adviser at Miller’s Automotive Service in Gastonia. A veteran of nearly two years with
the company, Bell has spent more than two decades in the automotive industry, including in customer service
and as a store manager. She and husband Bob have five sons, from 9 to 22 years of age, and their oldest
serves in the U.S. Army Airborne.
28 Gaston Lifestyles
Ring Torrence Stafford
…recently retired from Torrence Stationery and Gifts, a high-end stationery boutique, family-owned
and operated since 1956. The Gastonia native is a graduate of Mary Baldwin College and the Instituto
Internacional in Madrid. Stafford left New York City and returned to her hometown in 1991. Today she is
the president of the Rotary Club of Gastonia.
Sue Gentry
…is a veterinary nurse for Gastonia-based Total Bond Veterinary Hospitals and a member of the Royal
College of Veterinary Surgeons. She’s joined here by her own dog, Bug the pug. Born in the former West
Germany, Gentry grew up in Birmingham, England, and she’s proud of her Anglo-Caribbean heritage. She
loves living in the States.
Doug Luckett
…is the president and chief executive officer of CaroMont Health. His career also includes serving as the
chief administrative officer for the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. A U.S. Army Infantry
veteran, Luckett earned a bachelor’s degree in allied health administration at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham and a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Memphis. He and wife
Yvonne have three daughters together.
UNITED WAY PRESENTS
SATURDAY SEPT.20 2014
Main Ave, Downtown Gastonia
1:00pm - 6:00pm
FESTIVAL ADMISSION IS FREE
TASTING TICKET BOOK $20
MORE THAN 50 RESTAURANTS AND VENDORS
For ticket information call 704-864-4554 or visit http://unitedwaygaston.org/taste-of-gaston
PROCEEDS USED TO COMBAT HOMELESSNESS IN GASTON COUNTY
September/October 2014 29
CoMMunityAffAiRS
Gaston County Museum of Art
and History
A blast from the past
e
ver want to take a trip back in time?
Well, at the Gaston County Museum of Art and
History, you can do just that. According to museum
programs director Jeff Pruett, the building itself is something of
a time capsule.
The museum, located at 131 W. Main St. in downtown
Dallas, across from the old courthouse, was once the Hoffman
Hotel. It was built by Daniel Hoffman in 1852, not long after
Gaston County was carved out of what was then a much larger
version of Lincoln County. With 44 rooms, the hotel was the
largest and best known of several such buildings in which
politicians, lawyers, judges, businessmen and farmers stayed
while attending county court. Bricks were made on-site, as
were the square-headed nails used in the construction of the
hotel. The building featured a basement, an attic, three floors of
hotel rooms, a dining room and family quarters.
Pruett explained that the hotel was
built in the Greek Revival style, which
was very fashionable at the time of its
construction. This popular style was
inspired by America’s renewed interest
in ancient Greek architecture. The Greek
Civil War was raging in the 1820’s,
and the American imagination was
influenced by then-popular drawings of
Greek temples and public buildings.
“While we are probably most familiar with Greek Revivalstyle plantation houses, with their impressive entrance ways
adorned with their handsome columns and wide porticos, it
was an architectural style that was also widely used on public
buildings,” as Pruett informed. “The Hoffman Hotel, which
currently has a two-storey porch, supported by six slender
columns and a gabled roof that was added after the original
construction of the hotel, is typical of Greek Revival-style
buildings.”
He continued that Hoffman’s family had been in what
would become Gaston County since the Revolutionary War.
His grandfather, Jakob Hoffmann, Sr., came to America
from Germany in 1768 and gradually migrated south from
Pennsylvania (where countless Germans had already settled).
Hoffmann made his way to Virginia and finally, in 1776, to
what was then Tryon County, located Down East
in North Carolina. As teenagers, his sons, Jakob, Jr.
and Johann Hoffmann (later Anglicized as Jacob
and John Hoffman), both served in the local Patriot
militia and fought against the British in the Battle
of Kings Mountain. John Hoffman (Daniel’s father)
was wounded at the battle and for the rest of his life
would proudly display the scar from his war wound.
In 1852, six years after Gaston County was
formed, Daniel built the 44-room Hoffman Hotel.
After the courthouse moved to Gastonia in 1911, the
hotel suffered a loss of business. In 1934, during the
Great Depression, the hotel was foreclosed upon for
non-payment of taxes, as Pruett revealed. The hotel
then passed on to private owners and was used for a
variety of endeavors, including a private residence,
a teacherage dormitory and a rooming house.
“The Ann Biggers Furr Learning Station, formerly an old train depot, is
situated near the Gaston County Museum of Art and History.”
— Photograph by Jeff Pruett
30 Gaston Lifestyles
the museum in modern times
Back in the 1970’s, as Pruett noted, the
approach of the bicentennial of American
independence reawakened pride in the country’s
past. To promote an understanding of that heritage,
two community leaders, Jeanne G. Rauch and Lucy
Pruett added that on Aug. 12, 1982, there was a slight
reshuffling of the name. The museum’s official name was
changed from the Gaston County Art and History Museum, Inc.
to the Gaston County Museum of Art and History, Inc. On May
26, 1984, the first floor of the Hoffman Hotel and adjoining
store building were opened to the public.
Some four years earlier, Stowe had located a group of
magnificently restored horse-drawn vehicles that belonged to
a local collector. He purchased 12 sleighs and carriages and
donated them to the museum for its first permanent collection.
A carriage gallery opened in the store building annex as the
Wheels and Runners exhibit in 1984. The Stowe Carriage
House opened on Oct. 3, 1991, after a formal dedication
ceremony, as Pruett revealed.
He encouraged folks to check out the Website, www.
gastoncountymuseum.org, to learn further details about
exhibits, kids’ camps and more. And be sure to see the
museum’s Facebook page.
“We look forward to seeing you at the museum soon,” said
Pruett. “Come see us!” ■
— By Jeff Pruett
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Penegar, along with other members of the county’s bicentennial
commission, requested seed money and assistance in the
form of manpower and personnel from the Gaston County
Board of Commissioners. This was soon supplemented by
additional financial support from the Town of Dallas, the N.C.
Bicentennial Commission, the Gastonia Junior Service League,
the Ralph S. Robinson Family Foundation and Rauch herself.
And so it was that on Oct. 15, 1975, the Gaston County
Art and History Museum was formed as a cultural project of
the Gaston County Bicentennial Commission, with support
from the Gaston County Historical Society. Then on March 23,
1976, the museum received its tax-exempt status and became
a legal entity supported by Gaston County and governed by an
independent board of trustees.
And on that bicentennial Independence Day of 1976, the
museum opened its doors to the public on the second floor of
the old courthouse. The County hired Alan Waufle as the first
museum director in late 1976.
Pruett said that early in 1977, Dallas’s original turn-of-thecentury Carolina and Northwestern Railroad Depot, which was
slated to be destroyed, was given to the museum and moved
to a vacant lot beside the Dallas Public Library. It became the
museum’s Ann Biggers Furr Learning Station, as well as also
serving for a time as the exhibit design shop. Not long after the
depot was donated, the Southern Railway donated a railroad
caboose, which provided much-needed museum space, and it
was relocated beside the restored depot.
In the period of 1977-78, because of the limited exhibit
space and restrictive access, the trustees began looking for
an alternative to the old courthouse site. Trustees, including
Penegar, museum board president Robert Ragan and Dr.
Simeon Adams, initiated talks with Kathryn Shuford
McKeithen, who owned the former Hoffman Hotel building.
In 1979, the Gaston County Museum of Art and History,
Inc., which was at the time still housed on the second storey of
the old courthouse, purchased the hotel property and restored
it for use as a museum. On April 22, 1979, Dallas native Dr.
William C. Friday, president of the Consolidated University of
North Carolina, kicked off the first museum membership drive
from the steps of the old courthouse.
Ragan visited with textile executives Daniel J. Stowe and J.
Harold Lineberger of Belmont and Caldwell Ragan of Gastonia
in October and November of 1979, in order to secure support
for a permanent museum home. Realization of a permanent
home for the museum occurred on Dec. 28, 1979, when the
Gaston County Museum of Art and History purchased the
former Hoffman Hotel. A ceremony was held on the steps of
the Hoffman Hotel in Dallas at 1:30 p.m., Monday, Dec. 31,
1979, for the purpose of dedicating the new museum property.
September/October 2014 31
CoMMunityAffAiRS
Way back when
a large campus on the east
side of Gastonia. It is now
called CaroMont.
Gastonia’s first hospital
In 1910, the second
hospital in Gastonia was
started in a house on West
Long Avenue by Dr. D.A.
id you know that Gastonia’s first hospital was in a 10Garrison. In 1917, he was
room boarding house on West Airline Avenue, across
joined by drs. H.F. Glenn
from the railroad station?
and L.N. Patrick, and the
It began with five doctors. Our local Dr. Charlie Adams
three incorporated the
was joined in the late 1800’s by drs. James Marshall Sloan
Lucy Penegar
hospital as the Gaston
and Robert McDowell Reid from Mecklenburg County, Dr.
County Sanatorium, Inc. By
Frank G. Wilson from the medical school of the University
1923, architect Hugh E. White was commissioned to design
of Maryland and Dr. Lucius N. Glenn of the Crowders Creek
a four-storey brick clinic with 60 beds. It was built on South
section of Gaston County. According to Robert Ragan’s
York Street, between Franklin and Second Avenue.
History of Gaston County, these doctors officially organized
In 1935, the name was changed to Garrison General
City Hospital in 1908.
Hospital. It was closed and demolished in the 1960’s. The
By 1911, the five doctors were leasing two and a half
proceeds from the sale of the property went to the founding
floors of the Realty Building on the south side of West Main
of the Garrison Community Foundation, now called the
Avenue. By 1923, a fine, new brick facility was built on North
Community Foundation of Gaston County.
Highland Street. It was purchased by the County in 1946 and
The North Carolina Orthopaedic Hospital was opened in
renamed Gaston Memorial Hospital. It was greatly enlarged in
1921, following 12 years of lobbying the state legislature for
the 1950’s. In 1973, the latest hospital was built and opened on
financial endorsement. Telephone executive
Robert Babington led the group during
the first local polio epidemic. According
to Ragan, the facility became “one of
the largest and most respected crippled
children’s hospitals and teaching centers
in the South.” After Salk’s vaccine was
invented, the need declined for this type of
hospital. It finally closed in 1979. It is leased
by the County now as a human services
center.
Hospital accommodation efforts for the
county’s black population were organized by
Dr. Erwin in a house on North Falls Street in
Gastonia’s Highland community. In 1937, a
new brick hospital, also designed by White,
was built on North Marietta Street. With
integration, it was closed in 1966, and now it
serves as Rosewood Rest Home.
If you want to know more about the
history of our hospitals, you can visit the
Gaston County Museum in Dallas. This
special exhibit is running from Sept. 23 to
March 7. And I hope to see you there! ■
The first hospital in Gastonia, housed in a local two-storey home more than a
D
century ago.
— Photograph provided by Lucy Penegar
32 Gaston Lifestyles
P
a
e
s
is
p
H
fa
w
— By Lucy Penegar
K
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531 Cotton Blossom Circle
Gastonia NC 28054-5245
704-874-5000 • 800-331-1843
Fax: 704-874-5175
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arkdale was chartered in 1916 by a group of investors in Gastonia, NC. Operation began in 1918, producing 425
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