After a beautiful, brief respite from summer heat, the bottom has dropped out and 100-degree-plus temperatures are in our future. Time to hunker down with a good book or a chance to catch up with the latest news on DavidsonNews.net. Gardens will need to be watered, air conditioners will need to be turned on and for those of us near water, it will be time to take the plunge into the deep end!
Today Around Davidson focuses on women. We celebrate a few birthdays, a celebration on the National Mall, a summer job all about safety and a powerful story of a powerlifter.
Keeping you out of trouble at The Swimming Hole are Nicole Ferren (left) and Holly Vilagos
SPLASHING SAFELY
Nice to catch up with Nicole Ferren and Holly Vilagos who are working this summer at The Swimming Hole making sure that rules are followed to keep swimmers safe. Nicole is in her second year of life guarding at the pool while Holly begins her first year at The Swimming Hole although she has life guarded elsewhere for four years. Nicole is a rising junior at W.A. Hough High School while Nicole is a student at UNC-Wilmington.
Hooray for Birthdays! Libby Appel is 98!
BIRTHDAY WISHES FOR LIBBY APPEL
Born on June 30 in 1914, Libby Appel has accomplished a lot. She served with the Red Cross in World War II, earned a PhD in French, married, raised two sons, wrote a book and came to The Pines from Florida in 1994. Playing the piano by ear, she has entertained at Pines’ events for the past 18 years. In addition, she is an enthusiastic supporter of DavidsonNews.net – checking it almost daily on her computer. Libby will celebrate being 98 years young this Saturday with visits from her family and many good wishes from Pines’ residents and friends in the community. Happy Birthday to you, Libby. (Meet her in our 2009 audio interview, “A few minutes with Libby Chitwood Appel.”)
PAULA KELTON CELEBRATES SATURDAY
Another person with a birthday this Saturday is Paula Kelton, a longtime Davidson resident and longtime reader of Around Davidson. Paula and her husband, John, moved to Davidson in 1959. They lived in their Lorimer Drive home, raising three children, until moving to The Pines in 2002. Paula taught preschool at Ada Jenkins, DCPC and public kindergarten at Davidson Elementary School until her retirement in 1987, which means that many, many youngsters in our town benefitted from her wit, wisdom and untold patience in the classroom. (Who can forget those wonderful kindergarten years when Paula teamed with Mary Frances Kerns in the classroom?)
Happy Birthday, Paula Kelton, who has read Around Davidson for over 45 years!
Paula will be a youthful 83 years old on June 30. She remembers reading Elizabeth Woods’ Around Davidson column from its beginning in the early 1960s until Elizabeth passed it on to Ethel Rhodes in the late 80s, then to Judy Schuh and Brenda Barger for a dozen years until it landed with DavidsonNews.net more than five years ago. Paula was good enough to share an excerpt from Elizabeth’s June 29, 1988, column regarding a special flower in the Kelton’s yard. The entry reads “A New Pastime”:
“These summer evenings at the Keltons one can see friends gathering about 8:30. Some bring chairs. What are they doing? Well, they are waiting for the opening of a certain flower which begins to open about that time. One can see the petals flutter open and soon the whole bud has turned into a flower. It is a kind of primrose and when all are open the bush is beautiful.”
Around Davidson keeps on and on – and our thanks to Paula for sticking with us all these years!
Happy Birthday, Paula, and also congratulations to you and John as you celebrated your 58th wedding anniversary two days ago on June 26. One last note about the Keltons we think will be of interest to many of our readers: Their daughter, Cissy Kelton Byrd and her husband, Rich, are tandem cycling around the United States. Rich retired from medicine at age 60 and the couple decided to bicycle around the country until, in their words, “they stopped having fun.” Leaving from their Spartanburg, S.C., home last Dec. 31, 2011, they have trekked south to Key West, and west to California. Now they are exploring the Northwest USA with hopes of pedaling east to a final destination in Bar Harbor, Maine. Staying in tents, homes, hostels or “cheap” hotels, the Byrds average 90 miles a day. They recommend maps provided by the Adventure Cycling Association. You can follow the Byrd’s adventure at trackmytour.com/tM281. According to Rich, “When the children move out and the dog dies, that is when life begins!” Indeed! What a great plan for retirement!
A POWERFUL STORY – JAN TEVEPAUGH
A champion powerlifter with the medals to prove it is Jan Tevepaugh.
She has the medals to prove it! Jan Tevepaugh is a champion powerlifter and we congratulate her. This Grey Road resident has always needed strength to lift feed sacks and hay bales on their farm property but powerlifting is a whole new regimen for Jan. Jan describes the journey in her own words:
“This has to be one of my craziest adventures yet! When you get to be my age, it’s is quite a shock to find out you have an unusual, undiscovered talent – and it’s powerlifting! Powerlifting is similar to weight lifting but there are no drugs, steroids, or enhancements of any sort. Powerlifting offers 2 divisions: ‘full power,’ which combines the lifter’s scores in the bench press, squat and dead lift; or bench press only. I chose bench press only. It all began in the fall of last year when Heidi Nyquist, a wonderful trainer at SNAP fitness, discovered that I was stronger than the average woman. With Heidi’s help and the help of all the terrific staff at SNAP fitness I began my powerlifting journey.
“Special thanks go not only to Heidi, but also to Kim Dolphin, as a superb motivator; Danielle Graveley an expert in strength conditioning; Dave Fairhall, whose incredible knowledge of human physiology kept my muscles healthy; and Amie Cennamo, the owner of SNAP. This ‘team’ guided me over the winter and spring with exercises to increase my strength. I also had some additional incentive because last fall Jane Cain, Director of Music at DCPC, was desperate for a bass bell ringer, but could find no one able to ring the large 10-12 pound bass bells. Despite my limited musical aptitude, my increasing strength became my most valuable asset to the hand bell choir. So with support from the gym, the bell choir and friends, I set out to see how much I could lift by the North Carolina State Powerlifting Championship held at Lincoln Charter School’s gym in Denver, NC on June 2nd.”
With a final lift of 132 lbs. or 60 kilograms, Jan set a women’s state record and won a gold medal in the Women’s Open Bench Press and silver in the Masters Women’s Bench Press. A wonderful cheering section was on hand in Denver to support Jan including her family, bell ringers and preschool staff members from DCPC (Jan teaches in the preschool program there) and staff from SNAP fitness. Kudos to you, Jan, and we are eager to hear of more successes as you compete in meets sanctioned by the USA powerlifting association.
Longtime girl scout leaders and good friends Binkie Gibson (l) and Pat Butt enjoyed their day on the Washington Mall
CELEBRATING WITH 250,000 GOOD FRIENDS – PAT BUTT
Who else but Pat Butt would leave her husband, Bob, to celebrate his birthday alone at The Pines while she journeyed to Washington, D.C. to gather with 250,000 other Girl scouts and scout leaders as they celebrated the 100th anniversary of their founding by Juliette Gordon Low. Girl Scouts from all over the world “Rocked The Mall” on June 9 in the nation’s capital. Pat was not a girl scout growing up but started in leadership while living in Purcellville, Va. She has taught classes, gone on more trips that you could count, supported girl scouting both in Virginia and continues in our North Mecklenburg area. This year marks Pat’s 45th year in scouting.
To join with others on June 9, Pat flew to Northern Virginia a few days before to visit with longtime friend and fellow scout leader, Sara Phillips of Round Hill, Va. On the day of “Rock the Mall,” Pat and Sara boarded a chartered bus at 7 a.m. for the trip to the Washington Mall. The day was full of interesting events but the weather was much hotter than expected. Pat was glad for the shade of the VIP tent where she and others with decades of dedication to girl scouting could find some relief from the heat until leaving the Mall at 4 p.m. Pat did, however, find plenty of time to walk all over the mall visiting with scouts and their leaders.
The next day, Sunday, Pat’s hostess had a gathering of friends who had served in the same Girl Scout Council in Northern Virginia. Those attending signed in with a total of 738 years spent working with scouting. The following day, Pat was able to visit Camp Potomac Woods which was the Nation’s Capital Council Camp for girl scouts in Northern Virginia. Finally on Tuesday, Pat returned to Davidson for a belated birthday party with her hubby.
Nice to know that you represented us well on the Mall, Pat. And as if girl scouting is not enough to keep her busy, Pat is teaching “tree” classes for families through the Davidson Lands Conservancy. Hard to find a time to interview this very busy and very active “young lady!”
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Have news for Around Davidson? Write to Brenda Barger at hbbarger@gmail.com.
