The Chron _
Vol. XXXVI No. 35 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, April 29, 2010
Star b-ball
player
signs
with WSSU
?See fane BS
Group
exhibits
model
behavior
-See Pane A2
Students
learning
at the
grocer
-See Huge B1
IfllOO
MISS
Independent
Young-at-heart centenarian shows
age is just a number
BY l.AYLA FARMER
THE CHRONICLE
On April 23. 1410 - just seven years after brothers
Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully guided the world's
first aircraft into the skies about Wrightsville Beach, and two
years before the sinking of The Titanic - Winston-Salem res
ident Brooksie McCuJlough was born the third child of a
brick mason and a homemaker in rural Union County, South
Carolina.
Her father owned a farm, which McCullough and her 1 1
siblings tended as they grew, taking turns milking the eight
cows to make
buttermilk to be
sold at the mar
ket or harvest
ing the cotton,
potatoes and
other crops the
family grew to
sustain them
selves.
"We had
everything that
you need on a
f a r m ,
McCullough
recalled. "We
had a big farm;
my daddy had
three mules and
a horse . We
rode in a buggy
- it wasn't no
cars then."
There was
no running
water and no
electricity
either.
n , ,,....1,?, Met u l lough
Hrooksie XtcCullough at her home on ar,d her siblings
Tuesday afternoon. attended school
in a one-room
schoolhouse
near the home where she grew up MeCuilough made it to
the ninth grade before setting her sights on other things.
She married a young man whose family lived nearby and
moved with him to Winston-Salem in 1934. where she took
a job at the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company for a salary of
$0.25 an hour. Her husband was killed in a car accident
shortly thereafter, but MeCuilough stayed on in the Twin
City and eventually remarried, though she never had children
of her own.
MeCuilough retired from RJR 35 years ago. after four
decades of ser\ ice and since then has lived a quiet life in the
East Fifth Street house she had built nearly 60 years ago.
Despite her age. MeCuilough is still staunchly independ
ent. She spends much of her time in the spring and summer
tending the vegetable garden she plants each year or baking
some of her signature "All Famous Sweet Potato Pies."
"I've been had one long as I've been in Winston." she
said of her garden. "I used to have a big one. but I grew so
Sec MeCuilough on A9
Photos by Todd Luck.
Mayor Allen Joines reads a proclamation last week as Volt partners Antonio Francis, Gilbert Campbell and Dr. David
Branch look on.
Downtown's first solar energy panels sit atop Dr. Branch's office.
Black-owned business cashing in
on solar power
BY TODD LL'CK
THJ CHRONICLE
A burgeoning African- American-owned compa
ny has made history in downtown Winston-Salem
Volt Energy installed solar panels on the roof of
the Town Run Lane office of Dr David Branch, a
well-known ophthalmologist, making the building
downtown's first official solar energy project.
Branch started Volt energy with Antonio Francis
and Gilbert Campbell. Branch, who opened his
downtown ophthalmology office in 1977. is excited
about his most recent business venture.
"This is 21st century technology, and this is
See "Volt on \5
Sigmas put
focus on service
BY T KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONIC LE
Joann Loveless walks, talks, lives and breathes Sigma
Gamma Rho Sorority.
"If you cut my arm. the blood will run blue and gold (the
sorority's signature colors)." Loveless said with a big smile
Sunday.
Her myriad duties as the sorority's 22nd International Grand
Basileus brought Loveless and hundreds of other Sigmas to
Winston-Salem over the weekend for the sorority's Northeast
Region Conference. For two-and-half days, sorors from as far
away as Connecticut and New York pow wowed at the Tw in City
Sec , Sigma". on All
Pkinto Kevin Walker
Sigma International Grand Basileus Joann Loveless.
Ti,h h"H,0rtes "'ft lo r'Kht> Carmen Russell Ronham. \an Holbnwk
Carmen Carulh Robinson. Wanda Merschel. Angela ( armon, RaVonda Dalton-Rann . Sylvia Oberle and
City s best and
brighest women
honored for work
BY TODD Ll'CK
THfc CHRONICLE
Female movers and shak
ers were honored with 2010
Outstanding Women Leaders
Awards last Thursday at the
Historic Brookstown Inn,
It was the eighth year that
the event has recognized
women who have proven to
he outstanding in their cho
sen fields. Mayor Pro
Tempore Vivian Burke is one
of the founders of the
awards, which arc sponsored
by the City of Winston
Sec Women .m
DD Adams speaks.
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