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A2 March 14, 2019 The Chronicle Celebrating Women’s History Month: trailblazers and history makers. Paulette Moore celebrates 25 years at The Chronicle BY JUDIE HOLCOMB-PACK THE CHRONICLE The newspaper indus try has seen dramatic changes over the past 25 years and Paulette Moore, a long-time Chronicle employee, has first-hand experience in how it has changed. But one thing that hasn’t changed - how she greets everyone who walks in the front door with a warm smile and friendly “hello.” And like the televi sion show, “Cheers,” where “everybody knows your name,” once Mrs. Moore meets you, she treats you like family. Few people walk in the door that she doesn’t greet by name, often with a hug. She is kidded that she knows everyone in town. Mrs. Moore started her career with the Chronicle in 1993 when the office was located on Liberty Street. At that time it had a pressroom in the basement where the paper was print ed each week. She worked Wednesday nights inserting preprints into the paper and putting mailing labels on the paper to get it ready to go to the post office. In today’s automated industry, it is hard to imagine that this was once done manual ly, one paper at a time. “Then,” she relates, “Mr. Pitt (Ernie Pitt, the Chronicle’s founder and first publisher) found out that I could type.” He offered her a position help ing in the newsroom, typ ing up press releases and community news that was handwritten and delivered to the front desk. Again, imagine a time before com puters and email! She became Mr. Pitt’s secretary, assisting the newsroom and the front office staff. During those years, a large Donna Montgomery: Defying the odds and making history BY TEVIN STINSON THE CHRONICLE In celebration of Women’s History Month, throughout the month of March The Chronicle will be highlighting women in our community who are blazing trails and making history every day. This week we highlight pro moter and event planner Donna Montgomery. Since the late 90s, Montgomery has been known for booking some of the best artists and per formers right here in the Triad. After a few years under her belt as a pro moter here in the Triad area, in 2003 Montgomery was faced with her biggest challenge yet, booking Tyler Perry at the Lawrence Joel Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum. Montgomery said when she first started planning the event, she had a lot of people tell her that it couldn’t be done. At the time Perry’s stage play, “Madea’s Class Reunion,” was very popular across the coun try. The production made stops in a lot of big name cities including Atlanta, Charlotte and several oth ers in the south. Because the play was so popular, Montgomery said naysay ers who doubted her said she would never even be able to contact Perry. And the doubts from skeptics didn’t stop there. When she reached out to the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, she was told she wouldn’t be able to meet the $5,000 deposit, Photo by Judie Holcomb-Pack Paulette Moore has been the welcoming face of the Chronicle for over 25 years. staff was needed - reporters, editors, circula tion manager and paper- boys, advertising sales peo ple, graphic designers, pressmen - all working to put out the weekly paper. Over 25 years later, Mrs. Moore has become the face of The Chronicle. As administrative assistant, she greets visitors, answers the phone, manages sub scriptions, and many other duties in the front office. She has been with the paper the longest of any employee. She laughed as she remembered how she had to “pound the keys on the manual typewriter” before electric typewriters came into being. Now she uses a computer, email and the Internet in her job. Mrs. Moore is often asked if she did radio or TV or if her speaking voice was an answering machine. Those questions speak to how her friendly and pro fessional demeanor comes across to those on the other Donna Montgomery meet the requirements for the advertising campaign, or fill the venue, which holds about 5,000. “The people in place started asking questions like, who is Tyler Perry? Then they said I would be doing good if I sell 1,000 tickets and they asked me if I realized that they never had an African- American show to sell that many tickets,” said Montgomery. “History has shown that African- American shows typically do better in Greensboro; they did not expect for it to sell in Winston-Salem at all. “I’m the type of per son that believes you can’t tell me what I can and cannot do.” On the day of the end of the phone. After the death of her first husband, Mrs. Moore married Reggie Moore, who worked in the press- room for the Winston- Salem Journal and is now retired. She related that they went from elementary school to high school together, but it was when his older brother stopped by the Chronicle one day and she asked how Reggie was doing that they recon nected. They have been happily married since 2007. Mrs. Moore has two daughters and is a proud grandmother to a grandson and granddaughter. She attends Mt. Olive Baptist Church where her grand mother was a member. She sings in the Mass, Gospel and Young Adult choirs, is a greeter (of course!), is in the Senior Dance Ministry, and a pastor’s aide. In her spare time, she likes to cook, take walks and enjoy music. Mrs. Moore recently event, Montgomery proved the naysayers wrong when she became the first African- American woman promot er to book and sell out the LJVM Coliseum two con secutive nights. Montgomery said people traveled from across the state and from South Carolina to see the on stage production. In 2004 Montgomery and her team started the North Carolina Battle of the Bands. Montgomery said the idea came after she talked to a parent who said their child was inter ested in joining the band, but couldn’t because they couldn’t afford to buy the instrument. “Any time a child is expressing that they want See History on A4 reminisced about past times at The Chronicle, how large a staff it used to have, and how technology has changed the way the newspaper is now pro duced. She remembers the events the Chronicle host ed, such as Family Day at Rupert Bell Park, where everyone enjoyed the food and music and just being together as one big neigh borhood family. When she thinks about the future of The Chronicle, she said she hopes it will continue to grow, both in size and in subscriptions. She would like to see more young peo ple read the paper. She is glad to have the opportuni ty to do work that she loves with people she enjoys working with, but she added, “It’s time for the WE BUY HOUSES Pay Cash—As IS—Close Fast Are you behind on payments?Bad Tentants? Relocation? Job Transfer? Facing Foreclosure? Is your property vacant? Divorce? Need to settle an Estate? Tax Liens? Damage? CALL: 336-914-1678 CONGRATULATIONS! GAP WAS RECENTLY NAMED 2018'S “PRACTICE OF THE YEAR” BY THE NORTH CAROLINA MEDICAL GROUP MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. THIS AWARD RECOGNIZES A MEDICAL GROUP PRACTICE THAT MADE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THEIR COMMUNITY, PATIENTS AND STAFF THROUGH VOLUNTEER WORK, FUNDRAISERS, STAFF WELLNESS PROGRAMS, COMMUNITY SCREENINGS AND EDUCATION, ETC. EMAIL: 2Buyhousesl8@gmail.com SERVING THE GREATER TRIAD AREA WITH LOCATIONS IN WINSTON-SALEM, KERNERSVILLE AND CLEMMONS. (336) 448-2427 UIUIUI.6flP6l.C0m DOES YOUR FAMILY KNOW YOUR HISTORY? MARCH IS COLON CANCER AWARENESS MONTH - BUT IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT CANCERI IT CAN BE JUST AS LIFE-SAVING FOR YOUR FAMILY TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE A HISTORY OF POLYPS (GROWTHS ON THE COLON LINING SHOWN IN PAST COLONOSCOPIES] OR LYNCH SYNDROME, AS THESE CAN POSE A HIGHER RISK OF DEVELOPING COLON CANCER LATER IN LIFE. NOT SURE IF IT MAKERS? IT PROBABLY OOES! WHETHER YOU HAVE A HISTORY OF ABNORMAL COLONOSCOPIES OR NOT -- ANYTHING CAN HELP DOCTORS DETERMINE THE RIGHT TIME FOR YOUR IY MEMBERS TO START SCREENING. WHAT ABOUT THAT TEST? WITH MORE TESTING OPTIONS THAN THERE USED TO BE, SCREENING IS NOW EASIER THAN EVER. THE DEDICATED PROVIDERS AND STAFF AT GAP CAN HELP DETERMINE WHICH TEST BEST FITS THE PERSON'S LEVEL OF RISK DUE TO FAMILY HISTORY, AGE, AND SYMPTOMS. younger ones to lead the way.” “Mrs. Paulette contin ues to honorably serve our community through her work at the Chronicle,” said James Taylor, publish er of The Chronicle. “She is certainly a living legend that has made a positive impact on the lives of many. I count it a privilege to be able to glean from her wisdom of the industry and her knowledge of our cul ture.” Mrs. Moore has learned and grown over her 25 years at The Chronicle. But what she does best is what she has always done: make every person, whether staff or visitor, feel important. Her friendly spirit, bright smile and positive attitude set the mood at The Chronicle every day. CONTACTING THE CHRONICLE www.wschronicle.com To send news items: email news@wschronicle.com 1300 E. Fifth St., Winston Salem, N.C. 27101 Main Phone Number: 336-722-8624 To send a Letter to the Editor (350 words or less) or column (550 words or less): email letters@wschronicle.com Advertising: Ext. 113 Circulation/Subscriptions: Ext. 100 Editor: Ext. 108 For advertising: email adv@wschronicle.com For subscriptions: email plewis@wschronicle.com Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/WSChron icle Follow us on Twitter: WS„Chronicle The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published every Thursday by Chronicle Media Group, LLC, 1300 E. Fifth St., Winston Salem, N.C. 27101. Periodicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual subscrip tion price is $30.72. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636 Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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March 14, 2019, edition 1
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