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(ED. NOTE - Mary Adams of Kings Mountain
has been named greens superintendent at
Willow Creek Country Club near Boone. The
following story by Tom McAuliffe appeared in
last week's edition of the Mountain Times.)
By TOM McAULIFFE
Don’t tell Mary Adams it’s a man’s world. At 23
years of age, Willow Creek’s Country Club’s greens
superintendent is cutting her own path ‘down an
unlikely road and looking ghead | to bigger and better
things.
A Kings Mountain native, Adams grew up
around the golf game and before coming to Willow
Creek in 1981, she manned crews at Kings Moun-
tain and Grandfather Mountain Country Club. At
the par-3 Willow Creek course, dubbed down
owners as the “little green monster”, Adams began
as a pro shop attendant, but it wasn’t long before
she was back on the course.
“I liked the outdoors too much to work inside,”
she explained. “My mother raised me on the golf
course, so I thought why not make a career out of
something you love.”
In spite of her lack of forman turf management
education, Adams’ hard work and interest in green-
skeeping caught the attention of owner/developer
Howard Bloom. In March of this year, Adams was
named superintendent.
“She cares about her work, and you can tell she
has an interest in it,” Bloom reasoned. “She was do-
ing most of hte work on the crew anyway.”
“This is a very challenging course,” Adams said
of her Willow Creek charge. “I haven’t seen or
heard of a par 3 that compares.”
Adams and her crew of five men not only main-
tain the Willow Creek layout, but care for the sur-
rounding properties and the Smoketree Lodge five
miles to the south. In the winter, she cuts wood for
the 14 cabins of Frontier Village adjacent to Willow
Creek and performs maintenance duties on the
equipment.
“It was an experience this winter learning about
the gears and maintenance work,” Adams
remembers. “I like getting greasy. I don’t mind get-
ting dirty under my fingernails. I just go home and
give myself a manicure.’
Adams has a quick answer for those who ques-
tion her ability in light of her formal education in
turf management.<Y ou learn to recognize diseases
and indications of insects in the field,” she said. “It’s
something that comes with time. It’s hard to learn
reading from a book in class. Y ou have to see it hap-
pening to recognize a problem. This is my fifth year
in course maintenance and I think field work is bet-
ter than class work.”
Adams has overcome her most significant
drawback-the lack of pesticide applicator’s license—
with the help of longtime turf professional John
Testor of Hounds Ears.
“If there’s a problem I can’t handle, I call John,”
Adams explained. In her spare time she is preparing
for the pesticide applicator’s license, administered in
Raleigh. She plans to take the test in the fall. In the
meantime, her training is on the job, and Adams
thinks that’s the best education going.
“I think I know as much about it as a lot of peo-
ple in the business,” she said matter-of-factly. “But
knowledge is important. You could kill these bent
grass greens just like that if you’re not careful.”
Degree or no degree, Adams runs the show in the
Willow Creek maintenance department and things
have been made easier thanks to a hard working
staff.
“They’re all motivated,” Adams said of her five
man crew. “People ask if I have any problem with
Woman Manages ‘‘Green Monster’
them, but they respect me as a boss and a lady.
Sometimes they won't let me do things they don’t
think I should do, but I'm stronger than most
women.” She knows the demands of golf course
maintenance and when the play gets heavy through
the warm weather months of July and August, the
task gets even tougher. But Adams is ready for her
first summer at the Willow Creek helm.
“Come July there’ll be more players and more
work,” she predicts,” and with our Penn-Cross bent
grass greens you have more work. You have to care
for them like a baby.”
Maybe it’s the maternal instincts that makes the
woman a natural for caring for the golf course. For
Adams, only lack of experience and the desire to
take time off to raise a family pose obstacles to a top
job at Pinehurst or Ponte Vedra Beach — a goal she
of yi a .
believes is within reach.
“Sometimes women do a better job,” she said.
“They put their heart in their work. I look at
Willow Creek as my course and hope I'm bringing
people into play by keeping it in good shape.”
This fall Adams is looking forward to adding to
the foundation of the Willow Creek landscape.
“There are things to do here,” she concluded. “I
want to redesign some trees, plant some more
flowers and shrubs, and make this a prettier place.
“Greenskeeping is fun. You're outside enjoying
the environment and you’re around good people.
Everyone should try it.”
Developer Bloom is glad he took a chance on the
young lady from Kings Mountain.
“She’s unbelievable, ” Bloom said. “She’s a tough
little operator.”
MARY ADAMS
Fashion Show Features
Gowns, Past To Present
A Walk Down Nostalgia Lane was the appropriate title for Thurs-
day’s luncheon and program of the Shelby Christian Women’s Club.
Since June is the season of brides and weddings, the program was a
fashion show of bridal gowns from past and present. The tables were
also decorated in the bridal theme with bride dolls in lace and satin
centering the table. Bridal books of pictures of Shelby and area wed-
dings decorated the head table along with portraits of brides in their
satin and lace wedding gowns.
Linda (Mrs. Allan) Dixon, of Kings Mountain, sang “People,” ac-
companied by her daughter, Kim Dixon, at the piano, and Mrs. Dixon
and young daughter, Christy, sang a duet, “Thank You For Loving
Me ”»
Eleanor Lewis of Atlanta, Georgia, a Fotis cheerleader with the
Pittsburgh Steelers and vivacious talk show hostess, was the i inspira-’
tional speaker.
A number of Kings Mountain area people attended the luncheon,
including Mrs. John L. McGill, Mrs. Jimmy Harris, Mrs. George
Blalock, Mrs. Frank McIntyre, Mrs. Leroy McGill, Mrs. W. Eugene
McCarter, Miss Elizabeth Stewart, Mrs. J.C. Bridges and her
daughter, Jo McRae, visiting from Hickory, Mrs. Bill Moss, Mrs.
Willie Howell, Mrs. Jane Falls, Mrs. Joyce Bolin.
The next meeting of the group will be a “Fun In The Sun” luncheon
on July 19th at 12 noon at Shelby Elks Lodge. Joy Cooper, of
Costner’s Patio Shoppe, will present ideas for outdoor enjoyment and
inspirational speaker will be Phyllis Scheuneman of Knoxville, Ten-
‘nessee, who is a member of the Knoxville Choral Society and studied
voice at the Detroit Conservatory of Music.
Reservations should be made by noon Monday of the meeting Weel
with Virginia Bylund, 487-0857 or Bonnie Price, 434-6443. A free
nursery will be provided for children of members attending the lun-
cheon.
BRIDAL PARTY SCENE - A bridal attendant’s dress, bridal
gown and a junior attendant’s gown were modeled during the
fashion show of bridal gowns from the past and present at last
Thursday's luncheon of the Shelby Christian Woman's Club.
Social
Notes
By
Lib Stewart .
Page 1B-KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday. June 28, 1984
Section J
Mrs. W. Lawrence Logan
entertained Friday evening at
Holiday Inn at an elegant and
beautifully appointed after-
rehearsal dinner honoring her
son, Lane Logan, and his bride-
to-be, Donna Caveny.
Fifty .guests, including
‘members of the wedding party,
two families and out-oftown
guests enjoyed a buffet dinner in
the Magnolia room. The buffet
table was centered with a huge
arrangement of magnolias and
white glads, silver trays and ap-
pointments held an assortment
of fruits and party pickups in-
cluding chicken drummettes and
Swiss meatballs.
The hostess welcomed the
guests and Rev. J.C. Goare,
pastor of Kings Mountain Bap-
tist Church, gave the invocation.
Various members of the wedding
party offered champagne toasts
to the bride and bridegroom.
Dinner tables were arranged
cabaret fashion around the room
and were covered with cream
Donna Caveny, Lane Logan
Honored At Buffet Dinner
colored cloths and arranged with
magnolias.
Miss Caveny wore a pink.
dress and a pink corsage of:
sweetheart roses, gift of the
hostess. ;
Out-oftown guests included
Larry Logan of Washington,
“B.C. brother of the bridegroom
elect; Mark Pandick of New
York and Washington, D.C.,
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Bell of Colum-
bia, S.C., Mr. and Mrs. Patrick
Carpenter of Anderson, S.C.,
Mrs. Nicholas Bowden of
Keenansville, N.C., Mrs.
Virginia Logan Sams of Winston
Salem, Mrs. Elmer Logan of
Kannapolis and Mrs. Dollie Cor-
nwell Whitener of Asheville.
TO CHAPEL HILL
Six-year-old James Steven
Richardson, son of James W.
and Phyllis Richardson of Kings
Mountain, is a patient in Chapel
Hill Memorial Hospital where he
is undergoing surgery to rebuild
his eardrum.
KATHY DARLEEN BRANCH
spring wedding is planned.
ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCED - Mr. and Mrs. George Overcash
of Range Road Kings Mountain, announce the engagement of their
daughter, Kathy Darlene Branch, to Michael Jeffrey Falls of Kings
Mountain, son of Mr. and Mrs. Doytt E. Falls of Kings Mountain. A
MRS. TIMOTHY EDWARD WRIGHT
(Sherry Chaney)
Wrights Wed Saturday
At Second Baptist
Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Ed-
ward Wright, who were wed
Saturday, are on a wedding trip
to Myrtle Beach, S.C. and after-
wards will be at home at Battle
Forest Apartments in Kings
Mountain.
Miss Sherry Kay Chaney
became Mr. Wright’s bride in a
candlelight wedding in Kings
Mountain’s Second Baptist
Church.
Rev. Eugene Land, minister of
the church, heard the couple ex-
change vows of the impressive
double ring ceremony.
Evelyn Bridges was pianist
and Richard Hicks of Atlanta,
Ga. and Rev. Dick Whitener of
Bessemer City were vocalists for
the program of traditional music.
The bride was given in mar-
riage by her father. Best man for
the bridegroom was his father.
Miss Terry Chaney of Kings
Mountain attended her sister as
maid of honor and bridesmaids
were Jackie Johnson of Kings
Mountain, sister of the bride,
Cindy Goforth of Bessemer City,
sister of the bridegroom, Kim
Peeler, Elizabeth Sneed and
Nancy Rickard, all of Kings
Mountain. The bride’s niece,
Marlisha Chaney, was flower.
girl and Mark Sizemore was
ringbearer.
Groomsmen were Royce
Peeler, Ricky Greene, Bill
Johnson, all of Kings Mountain,
Keith Goforth and Charlie Nor-
man of Bessemer City.
After the ceremony the bride’s
parents entertained at a
beautifully appointed wedding
reception in the church
fellowship hall.
The bride is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Jack D. Chaney of
Kings Mountain. She. is a
graduate of Kings Mountain
Senior High School and is
employed by Cinderella Knit.
The bridegroom, son of Mr.
and Mrs. James W. Wright of
Bessemer City, is a graduate of
Bessemer City High School and
is employed by Dixie Yeast of
Gastonia. He is the grandson of
Mrs. Ethel Owens Johnson and
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Yates
Wright.
More Weddings
On Page 1-C