Tag Archive for: #wizsnews

TownTalk: Remembering Dr. Marion Lark

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Colleagues and community members are remembering their beloved friend and pastor, Dr. Marion D. Lark, who died late Saturday, Aug. 19. Lark came to The First Baptist Church in Henderson in 1973 and was minister there for 29 years.

“It’s a sad day for First Baptist Church and for our community,” remarked Senior Minister Ron Cava as Sunday’s worship service began. “Our beloved senior minister emeritus …entered his rest last evening.”

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church Henderson, Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at 3 P.M. by Dr. Ron Cava, Dr. Glenn Phillips and Dr. Phil Young.  A private interment will be held for the family.  

“He will be sorely missed,” Cava told the congregation Sunday morning. “His impact in this congregation, in this community…cannot be quantified.”

Dr. Phil Young, First Baptist’s longtime minister of music, remembered his friend fondly. “We remained close friends after our retirement,” Young said Monday on TownTalk. “I will miss him terribly…how often I have thanked God that we were able to work together and what a blessing he has been on my life. He was a great preacher and a great pastor and we will miss him.”

Mark Hopper, FBC’s minister of music until 2022, expressed sadness and disbelief. “He has been such a constant North Star in my life for 22 years,” Hopper wrote in a statement to WIZS News.

“Marion Lark was integrity personified,” he said. “He was first and foremost a pastor in the way of Jesus: feeding the hungry, caring for the sick. He was completely devoted to his wife Jean in good times and bad.  He loved his congregation like his own family, and he saw First Baptist’s role in making Henderson a place where Christ was shown and not just talked about.  He commanded respect through humility and through modeled action and servant leadership. He was a fine musician, was unbelievably well-read, and was the definition of wisdom.  The loss to First Baptist, to Henderson, and to the Christian community is immense.”

The Rev. Dr. Paul Baxley remembers his time learning from and alongside Lark. Baxley, now executive coordinator for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, was 23 years old when he was selected to be associate minister at First Baptist. “He offered trust, encouragement, patience, grace and support to me in really definitive years of my ministerial life,” Baxley said of his fellow pastor and friend.

“Dr. Lark created an environment at The First Baptist Church in which the colleagues who were called to serve with him could use their gifts, grow in ministry and thrive. I was by no means the only person who benefitted richly from the freedom he provided and the trust he extended,” Baxley said in a statement Monday to WIZS News.

One of those individuals was Amy Russell. When she came on staff at First Baptist, Lark was retired and simply a member of the congregation. But Russell, now associate pastor of children and families at First Baptist Greensboro, said he supported her growth and development as a minister.

“After each sermon he would give feedback,” she said in a statement to WIZS News, “from ‘that one really made me think’ to ‘I struggled with that text, too’” Russell said.

“He was unafraid to share the truth of the gospel and it was always a privilege to get to hear him preach. He built a legacy at First Baptist Church of Henderson that shaped the congregation and the community. But he didn’t build a legacy for himself. He built a legacy as an outgrowth of his deep love for the church and for Henderson and Vance County.”

Henderson City Council member Garry Daeke shared a memory that he said resounds with him to this day. There was some discussion about downtown development – not a heated debate, but the topic had everybody involved and working hard to find a compromise and move forward.

It was Lark’s advice that Daeke tries to keep in mind with every decision he makes: “‘If we are to err, let’s err on the side of grace.’”

Daeke called Lark a “consummate gentleman who loved his community.” Lark always had time to discuss issues in the community, he added. “He would always thank me for my service.”

“Dr. Lark simultaneously embodied what it meant to be a deeply committed pastor to a congregation while also working actively for the well-being of a much larger community. He gave his life and his gifts for almost 50 years to Henderson/Vance County and to The First Baptist Church. In these ways, he was an embodiment of what it means for a pastor to be a community leader,” Baxley said.

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Cooperative Extension With Wayne Rowland: Timber Sale Agreements

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Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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Vance County High School

SportsTalk: Vance County High School Kicks Off Season Friday Night

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LISTEN TO THE RADIO ON YOUR COMPUTER, PHONE OR CONNECTED DEVICE/SPEAKER – https://player.listenlive.co/53101 OR BY CLICKING ON LISTEN LIVE AT WIZS.COM OR TELL ALEXA TO “LISTEN TO WIZS.COM ON TUNE IN.”

Coach Aaron Elliott is excited.  And why shouldn’t he be?  The Vance County Vipers kick off their season Friday night against a solid Warren County Eagles team, and it should be an exciting start to the season for both schools.  “Practice has been great,” Elliott said on Thursday’s SportsTalk.

Tuesday’s weather kept them for practicing, but Elliott kept his team focused with plenty of board work, and as the rain moved out, the Vipers moved back on the field to prepare for Warren County’s triple option.  “Our guys will do a good job against it.  We have practiced against it,”  Elliott added.  He expects Warren County to be more run focused Friday night than in years past, with about a 50/50 split between run and pass.

This season the Vipers have put a big emphasis on winning the mental aspect of the game which he thought was a bit of a problem last year.  He knows it will be tough to keep the kids focused Friday night. “It’s a rivalry game and the first game of the season,” Elliott said.

Join Bill Harris and Doc Ayscue for live play by play of the game beginning around 6:50 p.m. immediately following the Joy Christian Center broadcast here on WIZS.

 

SportsTalk: Elam Goes To The Dogs

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Jim Elam has been fortunate to have two long careers.  The Warren County native spent over 20 years as an educator and coach.  He started in Johnston County at Princeton High School, and after getting married, decided he wanted to be closer to home.  His desire to return to Warren County would land Elam the head football coaching position at Halifax Academy and then in Roanoke Rapids where he coached the middle school football team.  It was while he was there that he became interested in training dogs.

“I learned from my father,” Elam said on Thursday’s SportsTalk.  He read books to add to his knowledge not knowing he would be able to turn his interest into a new, second career.  He sees a lot of similarities between coaching young people and training dogs.  “Some are more difficult and some are easier,” Elam says.

Elam says training for puppies begins at six weeks of age and at seven weeks he explains it is important to socialize them.  “The sit command is the place to start,” says Elam.  At seven months the formal training begins.

If you are interested in learning more about training retrievers, contact Jim at Lake Country Retrievers at 252-432-2245, on Facebook or at www.lakecountryretrievers.com.

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville: ‘Angel Of Mercy’ Aunt Abby House

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During the Civil War, Clara Barton was a nurse who tended to wounded soldiers in hospitals. But Franklin County lays claim to another “angel of mercy” who, during that same time, tended to soldiers on the battlefield.

Abby House, known around Old Granville as Aunt Abby House, was born around 1796, and local historian Mark Pace shared some interesting stories about her on Thursday’s tri-weekly TownTalk history segment. House died in 1881 and is buried in her native Franklin County.

House may not be as famous as Barton, who is best known for being the founder of the American Red Cross, but Pace said she’s a good example of a local version.

“She never got married and she was poor, but she made a difference,” Pace told WIZS co-host Bill Harris.

She had no formal education, he said, but she provided what she could to those who needed help, whether it was bringing a dipper of water to a thirsty soldier or blankets from family back home to keep troops warm. Her heart for serving soldiers could have come about because of a personal experience.

During the War of 1812, House learned that her beau, who’d been called into service, was ill in Norfolk. House, who was a teenager at the time, set off to go see him.

“As no other transportation was available, she set off on foot,” Pace said. It’s 180 miles from Franklin County to Norfolk.

Upon her arrival, she learned that not only had he died, but he had been buried the day before. “She turned around and came back,” Pace said.

This sad chapter of House’s life helped chart the course for her future.

By the time the Civil War was underway, a much older House took it upon herself to help, sometimes by “bringing food and supplies and gifts from home to individual soldiers from their families,” Pace said.

Her stern, no-nonsense demeanor, a “feisty” attitude and walking cane combined to “convince” train conductors to allow her to travel at no cost; “they let her go and come as she pleased,” Pace noted.

One of the places she traveled to was Petersburg, reportedly to look after her nephews, two of whom died in the war and five of whom survived.

She was basically destitute by the end of the war, but her good deeds during wartime paid off. A group of former Confederate soldiers, along with other high-ranking political figures in the state, took up a collection and arranged to set her up in a small home on the outskirts of Raleigh near the former fairgrounds.

Gov. Zebulon Vance was one of those politicians. He visited her often, and Pace said there’s a story that goes something like this: In 1872, during Gov. Vance’s second term, he stopped by to visit House. According to his carriage driver, Vance went inside and shortly thereafter, was seen around back, hauling buckets of water into the house.

“She pretty much put him to work,” Pace mused – he may have been governor, but House had a job for him to do and, by golly, he did as she instructed.

In 1876, House attended the state Democratic convention in Raleigh. “She was somewhat involved in politics, which was unheard of at the time,” Pace said.

Paul Cameron, the owner of Stagville Plantation – which made him the largest landowner and largest slaveholder in the state – bid her come sit with him in the crowded space. Among the business that took place during that convention was to nominate Vance as the Democrats’ favorite for a third term as governor.

There was nobody from Clay County, located in the western part of the state, in attendance, and it was decided that House be allowed to cast that county’s vote.

“That is the first recorded incident of a woman casting a vote in North Carolina,” Pace said.

 

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Charla Duncan Appointed To State Economic Development Advisory Council

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Charla Duncan, director of Warren County Community and Economic Development, was recently appointed to represent the North Central Prosperity Zone on the North Carolina EDPNC Economic Development Advisory Council. This council provides advisory direction and support to the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC).

Duncan was appointed to fill the seat of Harry Mills, recently retired economic development director of Granville County. She will join Michael Haley, executive director of Wake County Economic Development, in representing the North Central zone on the 16-member council.

Haley is executive director of the Wake County Economic Development Office.

The state has eight prosperity zones, determined by the N.C. Department of Commerce, which subdivide the state geographically to provide localized support for economic development projects.

The North Central prosperity zone includes Vance, Granville, Warren, Franklin, as well as Person, Alamance, Orange, Durham, Wake, Nash, Edgecombe, Chatham, Wilson, Lee, Harnett  and Johnston counties.

“It’s an honor to represent the needs of this region to the state’s economic development arm,” stated Duncan. “I’m pleased that leadership has been intentional about selecting representation from both rural and urban communities, and I look forward to working with a really stellar group of development professionals across the state.”

For more information about EDPNC, visit their website at https://edpnc.com/. For information about Warren County Community and Economic Development, visit www.warrencountync.org.

Cooperative Extension with Paul McKenzie: What Works in the Garden

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Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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Rep. Sossamon Selected For Hunt Institute Elevate NC 2023 Cohort

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Rep. Frank Sossamon is among a group of individuals that form the Hunt Institute Elevate NC 2023 Cohort, a group that brings together leaders work on making positive impacts on education across the state.

In a press statement, Sossamon said it was an honor to be selected. “Education is the cornerstone of our society, and I am committed to exploring innovative solutions that will empower our students to reach their full potential. By collaborating with like-minded individuals, I am confident that we can create meaningful change that will positively impact our educational system,” he stated.

The Elevate NC program provides a platform for Sossamon and the others in the cohort “to engage in constructive dialogue, share insights, and collaborate with a diverse group of individuals who are equally passionate about the future of education,” the statement read.  The cohort will have interactive sessions, workshops and discussions to address pressing educational challenges, allowing the members to work together to identify actionable strategies that can be implemented at the state and local levels

Learn more at : https://hunt-institute.org/news/the-hunt-institute-announces-third-cohort-of-elevatenc/