Photos by JaesoD Pin
Jacqueline Price whispers to Annie Leach.
Family, friends celebrate
Miss Annie on 100th b-day
BY JAESON PITT
THE CHRONICLE
Annie Leach celebrated
making it to the century mark
Sunday during a festive party
with friends and family mem
bers.
The May 17 celebration
was held on the exact day that
she was born in 1908. The
multi-purpose room at the
Golden Lamb Rest Home,
where Leach lives, was outfit
ted for the event with balloons
and flowers.
Leach, has. only called
Winston-Salem home for a
short time. She moved here
from Asheville with her sister
in-law, Reba Patterson, five
years ago. Patterson, who is in
her 80s, was Leach's main
caregiver for a time. Other
family members have also sup
ported Leach and embraced
her as the matriarch that she is.
"(We) came to know her
well ... when she moved here,"
said Debbie Baskins, Leach's
great niece through Leach's
brother, Percy Morrison. "We
all kind of embraced her."
Leach was reared in Loray,
N.C., right outside of
Statesville. Baskins said the
family's tradition of unity,
strength and faith have been
passed from generation to gen
eration.
Like any 100-year-old,
Leach has her good and bad
days. She was relatively sub
dued during her party, but
Baskins says Leach still- often
doles out advice to her family
members, things like, "be
patient."
"She never lets things
stress her out and if it did you
never knew it. She would
always say 'Don't worry about
it, it's going to be alright. If
you're doing the best you can
don't let things overwhelm
you,"' Baskins said.
Beauncha Jeffries,
Baskins' sister, recalled simi
lar morsels of advice and wis
dom.
"They all raised us to save
for a rainy day, go to church,
participate in the community,
dress impeccably, and enjoy
life", said Jeffries, who came
from Atlanta for the party.
"We embraced her as ours
because she embraced us
growing up; when the commu
nity was a little bit different.
We helped to take care of his
sister to honor him (Morrison)
Great-nieces Debbie Baskins and Beauncha Jeffries.
as well, and now she has all of
these children."
Grape Presbyterian Church
Pastor Dr. Samuel Stevenson
and Alease Loggins, a member
of Stevenson's flock, were also
on hand. Stevenson and
Loggins met Leach through
her family members and have
come to love her like kin.
Church members often bring
the Word to Leach at Golden
Lamb.
"When we come, she par
ticipates, she sings, "She still
recites scripture. It's just
remarkable!" said Stevenson.
Other party highlights
included some of the youngest
members of Leach's family
reading proclamations in
honor of Leach, one was from
NBC Weatherman Willard
Scott. A birthday greeting from
First Lady Laura Bush was
also read.
There were also musical
tributes. Christine Price, of
Grace Presbyterian, sang and
played piano to honor Leach
and a Golden Lamb employee
sang a hymn dedicated to
Leach, just before Jacqueline
Price, Leach's primary care
giver at Golden Lamb spoke. ,
"She gives me good advice. .
She would tell me I could do it
when I was going to school to
become an Activity Director;
she was there for me. She is an
amazing lady and I, for one,
am so happy to have Ms.
Annie, and am so happy she
came into my life. You're a
wonderful person and I love
you," Price said with joy
gleaming through her spirit.
Warren Dental
Center
" Thank You For 20 Years of Community Service "
William R. Warren DDS.
2606 New Walkertown Rd.
Winston Salem, N.C. 27101
Mon-Thurs. 9-4 pm
Fri 9-lpm
724-5055
? General Dentistry
? Preventive Care
? C rowns/b ridges
? Dentures
? Teeth Whitening
? Cerec Crowns (in Only One Visit)
Major Credit Cards / Insurance Acopi.d ]
News
Clips
Foundation wins award for
annual report
The ?. Winston-Salem
Foundation has been named a
Silver Award winner for excel
lence in communications by the
2008 Wilmer Shields Rich
Awards Program. Sponsored
by the Council on Foundations,
the awards program recognizes
effective communications
efforts to increase public aware
ness of foundations and corpo
rate giving programs.
The Winston-Salem
Foundation received the award
for its annual report "2007
Report to the Community/2006
Annual Report" entitled
Integrity Moves. The award
was presented at Philanthropy's
Vision: A Leadership Summit
conference, in National Harbor,
Maryland, on May 5.
Entries to the awards pro
gram included annual or bienni
al reports, maga
zines/periodicals, special
reports, public information
campaigns and Web sites. This
year, 213 total entries were sub
mitted to the awards program.
Wilson-Oyelaran will give
Salem graduation message
Dr. Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran
will give the commencement
address Saturday at Salem
Academy and College, where
she once served as vice presi
dent. She has been president of
Kalamazoo College in
Michigan since 2005.
In 1988 when her family
left Nigeria for the United
States, Dr. Wilson-Oyelaran
became visiting scholar in edu
cation at North Carolina
Wesleyan College and then
associate professor and chair of
the department of education at
Winston-Salem State
University. In 1995, she
became Dean of the College at
Salem College, and rose to the
position of Vice President of
Salem Academy and College
and Dean
of the
College.
She also
served as
acting
president
of Salem
College
for a
brief
period.
The
Wilson-Oyelaran
c o m -
mencement will take place at
10 a.m. in May Dell
Amphitheater an the schpol's
campus, but is not open to the
public. Salem is the nation's
oldest continually operating
institution for women.
Aggie racers finish in Top 20
The North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical
State University racing team,
Aggie Racing, placed 19 out of
95 registered teams at the
Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE) Baja event on
May 1-3. The competition was
hosted by Tennessee Tech
University in Cooke ville, Tenn.
Daniel Acree, N.C. A&T
associate professor and director
of Aggie Racing, and his 14
member team participated in
both racing and technical
events.
Aggie Racing team mem
bers are: Jamel Banks, senior;
Brandon Blango, senior;
Edward Bushnell, senior;
Michael Coatney, senior; Ted
Andrew Craven, senior; Alvin
Davis, senior; Christian
Gustafsson, senior; Akeeno
Mitchell, senior; Gregory
Peterson, senior; Rafael
Tilghman, senior; Aniekan
Ukonne, senior; Michael
Warwick, senior;. Leon Carney,
sophomore; and, Daniel Cox,
junior. ^
The team completed all
i ?
events within time and finished
the first day's events a few
hours early. They also had the
opportunity to share their spirit
ed Aggie Pride and spent sever
al hours assisting other teams
with passing tech inspection
Team members are working
past exams to make improve
ments to their car and hope to
finish in the top 10 in Illinois
later this month.
WSSL' to offer music
business program
If you are interested in
becoming the next major music
producer or in working in the
Recording industry, a new
degree program being offered
at Winston-Salem State
University this fall entitled
"The Bachelor of Science in
Music Business with Emphasis
in Sound Recording
Technology" may be just for
you.
This degree emphasis is
offered through the Department
of Fine Arts in the College of
Arts and Sciences. The track
will provide students with an
opportunity to learn advanced
recording techniques in
WSSU's recently renovated
recording studio. The emphasis
will expose students to the math
and science principles that have
driven innovation in the record
ing industry for the last 10()
years with studies in physics
and fundamental circuit design.
In addition, students will
strengthen their musical back
grounds by studying in a vocal
or instrumental area. Graduates
of the program will have a deep
knowledge and understanding
of the methods and theories of
modern recording and be ready
to make an impact in the
recording industry, or further
their studies on the graduate
level in recording or electrical
engineering.
For information about the
new degree emphasis and new
course offerings, call Dr.
Anthony Artimisi at 336-750
2528 or e-mail him at
artimisit@ wssu .edu .
o ..... _
You prepared for this day
for the last 22 years. And so did we.
A Coverdell Education Savings Account (CESA) from Piedmont Federal Savings Bank
will help ensure your kids can afford to go to college.
Or preschool for that matter, because a CESA grows
tax-free and can be put toward any level of education.
It basically works like an IRA, but for learning. We'll help you with the when and
how to set one up, and the know-how to take full advantage of it.
In other words, we'll give you an education on education.
FEDERAL
SAVINGS BANK
MORTGAGES I SAVINGS I SOLUTIONS
Piedmont
? PIEDMONTFEDERAL.COM ? 336.770.1000 ? M.mb?r fdic tqwai Hou.in9 wn*? (*>
?