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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Volume 128 • Issue 51
kmherald.com • 704-739-7496
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KM plans a Giving Christmas ELIZABETH STEWART lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Photographer Ellen Devenny used a zoom effect to capture this downtown Fantasy light. The spectacular downtown light show to music continues on Railroad Avenue nightly from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. through Jan. 1. Crowds are coming to the city to view this extravaganza of lights. Photo by ELLEN DEVENNY
Jeff’s home for Christmas First Lt. Jeffrey (Jeff) Michael Gregory is the fifth member of his family to serve in the United FIRST LT. S t a t e s JEFFREY GREGORY Military as an officer and First Lieutenant in the United States Army. Gregory was picked up at the Charlotte International Airport this week by
his family and he is home for 21 days before returning to Fort Hood, Texas. The family is delighted to have him home for Christmas. “We are so proud of Jeff,’’ says his father, Jeff Gregory, who served in the USAF and before that young Gregory’s grandfathers Gene Gregory served in the Army in Korea and Brooks McAbee served in the Army during World War II. Great grandpa Ross Gregory also served in the Army World War I. See JEFF, Page 7A
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS -First Lt. Jeffrey (Jeff) Michael Gregory is home for Christmas and is pictured at left, front row, with his family, his mother, Sonya Gregory, his sister, Stephanie Gregory and his father, Jeff Gregory. This photograph was taken on a recent Sunday at Second Baptist Church in Kings Mountain.
Kings Mountain’s tradition of giving to the needy reaches its peak in the Christmas season as churches, organizations, individuals, and groups band together to help the less fortunate. Christmas 2016 is no exception. Santa Claus came early Monday morning for a disabled veteran and his family thanks to Lennox, headquartered in Concord, and Dilling Heating of Kings Mountain. John Misuraca, Charlotte Territory Manager for Lennox, said it’s customary for Lennox to provide Christmas cheer and this year the company joined with Dilling Heating in helping a veteran who has fallen on hard times while trying to care for a family in Kings Mountain which included the veteran’s father who died in October. The veteran came home from the service with PTSD, sleeps very little, and he and his family had been living in a cold house for days. So, on Monday Lennox provided a new propane gas heating and air-conditioning system and Dilling Heating installed it to the surprise and delight of
Ben Watkins, Cody Alexander, Bobby Hughes and Chris O’Brien, left to right, install a new heating and air-conditioning system at a disabled veteran’s home in Kings Mountain. It’s an early Christmas present from Lennox with the Dilling Heating Company crew doing the installation. that family,’’ said Misuraca. Misuraca added, “We are glad to be able to provide this gift and as we reflect on the past year business has been good and we are in a position and want to give back to others as we count our blessings.”. The Christmas gift is worth about $6,000 but worth much more to the veteran who could hardly believe his eyes when Dilling employees came to his house to do the installation work.
“It makes Christmas for us to have a hand in this gift,’’ said Ed Kijewski, who is partner with Michael Gulledge, at Dilling Heating which they bought from David Dilling 18 months ago. Dilling Heating has been a Kings Mountain business for 62 years. This week volunteers are ringing bells in front of businesses for Kings Mountain Crisis Ministry and the Salvation Army, both yearround agencies that help the needy.
Projects are underway in some form at every church, whether it’s a local project or a mission project, to help the less fortunate. Kings Mountain Lions Club traditionally presents food baskets to the blind. Members of Kings Mountain Unit 155 American Legion Auxiliary presented gifts to 10 veterans at White Oak Manor and took “warm gifts” from a warm tree they put up at the American L egion to Kings See GIVING, Page 5B
Lights, luminaries, church services The Christian celebration of Christmas will feature Christmas Eve services at some churches and abbreviated services at some churches on Christmas Day. Good Hope Presbyterian Church will hold 11 p.m. candlelight communion service Saturday night. Mayor Scott Neisler will lead the service. Dixon Presbyterian Church will hold candlelight communion Saturday at 5 p.m. The Christmas Day service will be at 11 a.m. and will feature a Christmas cantata by the choirs of the church. Boyce Memorial ARP Church will hold a Christmas Eve candlelight service of lessons and carols at 7 p.m. Saturday and Christmas Day service at 10 a.m. Central United Methodist Church will hold a 7 p.m. Christmas Eve service and 10 a.m. Sunday morning service. First Baptist Church will hold Christmas Day service at 10 a.m. Advent Lutheran Church will hold a 7 p.m. Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day service at 10 a.m. St. Matthew’s Lutheran
NATIVITY – The Nativity scene is pictured at Advent Lutheran Church, 230 Oak Grove Road, which will be featured tonight, Wednesday, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the church Stables with walk-through every 15 minutes. This is an interactive Nativity which will feature the simplistic, yet wonderful, telling of the Christmas Story. There will be a candlelight procession to the Nativity. Church Pastor Josh Morgan said the telling of the Christmas Story will be in a way you will never forget. Church will hold a 7 p.m. Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day service. First Presbyterian Church will hold a 9 p.m. Christmas Eve service and worship on Christmas Day at 11 a.m. Bethlehem Baptist Church will hold a Christmas Eve service at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday service at 10 a.m. Chrismon trees and poin-
settias decorate the church sanctuaries throughout the community. Mountain Rest Cemetery will be aglow with 4,000 luminaries from 5:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. nightly beginning Thursday night and continue Christmas Day, according to Cemetery Supt. Rickey Putnam. City workers will be putting milk jugs filled with sand and lights on the
graves Thursday morning and the battery-operated candles will burn through Dec. 25 to give citizens the opportunity to pay respect to loved ones. Visitors entering the cemetery should use the King St./Dilling Street gate and follow the signs to the exit on Deal Street. From any point inside Mountain Rest Cemetery See LIGHTS, Page 5B
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