Christmas Spirit Parades Through Town Staff Report Same Route As the 4Th of Places.” to Donate If Possible

A1 Falcons tip-off Health Department to conference action host flu clinic Page 8 Page 3 75 cents VOL.119, NO. 48 12 pages December 1, 2011 THURSDAY YADKINVILLE, NC PHONE: (336) 679-2341 FAX: (336) 679-2340 Christmas spirit parades through town Staff report same route as the 4th of places.” to donate if possible. further information, call Yadkinville Christmas July Parade. Line up for the parade “Please help us by do- 336-679-8691 between 8 Tree lighting ceremony The spirit of Christmas “This year, we will be will be on Progress Lane nating so we can give back a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday at Yadkinville Town Hall. will parade through Yadk- collecting can food to do- and Shacktown Road, and to those who need food through Friday. Light refreshments will be inville this weekend dur- nate to the Yadkin County line up will begin at 8 a.m. during the holiday sea- Other Holiday Events provided along with holi- ing the annual Christmas Christian Ministries at Visit http://www.yvfd.org son,” he said. Friday, Dec. 2 day music. Parade. each intersection of the for parade applications. Southard said the rain •7 p.m.—New Hori- Saturday, Dec. 3 The parade, hosted this parade,” Southard said. Southard said all applica- date for the parade will zons Adult Day Services •11 a.m.-2 p.m. — The year by the Yadkinville “Fire department mem- tions must be turned in by be Sunday, Dec. 4, with presents “The Christmas 2nd Annual Christmas Volunteer Fire Depart- bers will also be coming today, Thursday, Dec. 1. the parade beginning at Story: The Greatest Story in the Plaza will be held ment, will begin at 10 a.m. through approximately 10 “Please make sure to 3 p.m. Line up will begin Ever Told” at Yadkinville right after the Christmas Saturday, Dec. 3. minutes prior to the pa- read all rules for the pa- at 1 p.m. if the parade is United Methodist Church. Parade. Bring the kids Bryan Southard, chief rade start time to pick up rade,” Southard said. He changed to Dec. 4 due to For more information, call for a holiday afternoon of the department, said any food that has not been also asked for those in at- rain. 677-1385. at YCAC. Activities will the parade will follow the turned into designated tendance to bring can food For any questions or for •5:30 p.m.—Annual See SPIRIT, page 3 Yadkinville town clerk retires after 46 years NathaN DiBagNo ministrative employee in General ManaGer/editor the office. The only other [email protected] town employees were in public works or ran the gar- When Nancy Hollar bage truck, she says. Today, first started working for she’s one of seven adminis- the Town of Yadkinville 46 trative employees. years ago, she was the only Ong, the town manager, administrative employee on described Hollar as a “gra- staff. cious lady” who always RIPPLE/Courtesy of C. Gilbert Lowery “In 1965, Nancy did it conducts herself with pro- all,” said town Manager fessionalism. The USS General A. E. Anderson TAP 111 heads for Japan with approximately 4,000 troops and Christopher Ong. “There “Speaking on behalf of dependents. Lowery provided hundreds of boxes of Dramamine on the first day of the trip to those was no town manager, no everyone past and present, experiencing seasickness. tax collector, no billing it has been a pleasure to be clerk - only Nancy.” associated with her,” Ong After almost half of a said. century of employment at The town has begun The Untold Experiences… is just the town of Yadkinville, looking for a new town Hollar is ready to retire. Her clerk, but Ong says it’s go- last day with the town of ing to be hard to truly re- Yadkinville will be Dec. 31. place Hollar. “It will be (bittersweet),” “You can never really she said. “This is home.” what the doctor ordered replace 46 years of knowl- KristiN Zachary During her tenure at the edge,” he said. “I go to her Lowery tends to get the reader town of Yadkinville, she Staff Writer laughing before dropping a bomb, 10 or 11 times a day. She [email protected] worked for 10 mayors and fills me in on what I need to allowing the reader to jump on the 41 commissioners. know and knows where ev- same roller coaster of emotions ex- “I have worked for some erything is.” C. Gilbert Lowery is sharing se- perienced by those on the missions. really good board mem- Yadkinville Mayor Hu- crets after being visited once a year During one of the missions, the bers,” she said. bert Gregory says, “She’s for 10 years by two CIA agents, re- Marine reconnaissance patrol team is Hollar recalls when she always been a pleasure to minding the Elkin High School grad- surprised by a North Korean soldier first began working at the be around.” uate and former commissioner and who was returning to his camp after town of Yadkinville, when Gregory said Hollar is mayor of Jonesville to keep quiet. visiting his home. the office was across town extremely attentive to detail The visits stopped in 1969, and “I swung my carbine around and on Jackson Street. and “above reproach.” now, through The Untold Experi- started firing from about 30 feet “There’s really no com- Hollar says she looks ences of a Navy Corpsman, Lowery away before he was able to get his parison,” she said. “Every- forward to be able to re- reveals details of five 1950s covert rifle from his shoulder,” Lowery says thing I did when I started lax and spend time reading Korean missions he took part in as in The Untold Experiences... “I kept here I did with pen and pa- novels or biographies, but a corpsman, or medic, with a U.S. pulling the trigger until he hit the per. We had no computers. she also plans to stop by and Marine Corps reconnaissance patrol ground.” I had an old manual type- visit her colleagues after re- team. “Corporal Johnson patted me on writer.” tiring. During the cordial but serious vis- the shoulder and said, ‘I think you She was also one of six “I will miss them,” she its, Lowery, who was assigned the got him, Doc. Do you want me to employees and the only ad- says. name of Lawrence “Larry” Gentry check his pulse?’ To which Gunny by the Marine reconnaissance patrol added, ‘I’m glad he didn’t have a team and assumes this name in the 500-round drum on that thing or we book, was debriefed, or reminded, would have been here all night.’” that he signed an oath of secrecy fol- After the humorous statements, lowing each of the five missions. Lowery stepped over to the soldier. “That was and still is in the back “He was lying on his back on top of my mind,” he said. “Sometimes of his rifle, dead for sure, and then they came by my workplace, and at I noticed something halfway out of RIPPLE/Courtesy of C. Gilbert Lowery other times, visited me at my home. I his jacket. When I bent over, I could Seaman C. G. Lowery’s boot assured them — and I assure you — I see his face. He didn’t look to be 16 never once divulged any information years of age. There was a packet of camp photo concerning that part of my life dur- pictures in his jacket, and all I could Lowery at the U.S. Naval Hospital in ing that time.” see was the face of a young woman Yokosuka, Japan. Now, however,”Doc Gentry” holding a baby.” “The door knob must have ex- shares his experiences by placing Although somber moments such ploded,” Lowery said. pen to paper, prescribing the reader as this expectedly fill the book, hu- The “door knob” that exploded several heart-pounding moments mor is surprisingly abundant in The was actually a mortar shrapnel that with their dose of history in The Untold Experiences…, from side- hit Lowery, leaving him with severe Untold Experiences…, and it is just splitting comments from the Marines wounds and medical issues. TRIBUNE/Photo courtesy of the town of Yadkinville what the “doctor” ordered. to Lowery’s claims his injuries were Lowery spent nearly a year in re- The Untold Experiences…, al- caused by an exploding door knob. covery after being injured and was Nancy Hollar has worked with the town of Yadkin- though brief at 167 pages, is packed “If I didn’t know better, I’d say awarded two Purple Heart medals, ville since 1965. “Everything I did when I started full of laughs, adrenaline, triumph you were hit by a grenade or mortar here I did with pen and paper,” she said. “We had and heartache. shrapnel,” said a corpsman caring for See UNTOLD, page 3 no computers. I had an old manual typewriter.” YCAC board president appointed to the N.C. Arts Council board of directors Staff report Willingham, president serve as a home for the arts My hope is that this will the arts. ative industry employs of Indera Mills, moved his in the County. Construction translate into more aware- The NC Arts Council is a nearly 300,000 North Car- Gov. Beverly Perdue has four-generation old com- on phase II of the Center, ness of the great things division of the NC Depart- olinians and contributes appointed John W. Will- pany from Winston-Salem the performing arts theater, that we are doing in Yad- ment of Cultural Resources, more than $41 billion to the ingham, board president of to Yadkinville in 1998.

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