YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1978 w w w. j a m e s t o w n n e w s . c o m
weekly edition
January 17-23, 2024 Vol 46 No 3 | 1 Section | 6 Pages
Gonzalez named GCS Employee of the Month compiled By NORMA B. DENNIS FREELANCE WRITER ndworddesign@gmail.com
For the entire 28 years of his career in education, Gary Gonzalez has called Jamestown Middle School home. During that time he moved from the classroom to become a designated student success coordinator, a position that allows him to impact even more of Jamestown Middle’s nearly 1,000 students. Although his primary role is to work with students who may be having discipline issues, it is not a traditional in-school suspension. Block lettering on the wall of his classroom reads, “Discipline
of others isn’t punishment. You discipline to help, improve, to correct and prevent.” That’s the philosophy behind his role at JMS. His dedication to his position at JMS has earned Gonzalez the distinction of Guilford County Schools Teacher of the Month for January. School counselor Brittany Wells nominated Gonzalez for the recognition. She wrote: “Gary Gonzalez is an educator whose work transcends far beyond the walls of the school because the achievements of his students, their families and our school is at the heart of his priorities. Mr. Gonzalez is committed to ensuring students are disciplined through social-
emotional skill building, relational achievements and restorative practices and that justice is always teachable. He believes punitive punishment irreparably serves to humiliate, shame, and retaliate. Every student is valued in the highest regard and seen as an opportunity to change our world. With his work, our school is on track to achieving a five percent decrease in lost days due to OSS (out of school suspension).” Gonzalez received a $50 gift card courtesy of the Greensboro Jaycees. His photo will be displayed at the district’s central offices, at Jamestown Middle Photo submitted School and in the Greensboro His caring attitude that sees value in all students was one qualJaycees office during the month ity that helped gain Gary Gonzalez the title of Guilford County of January. Schools Teacher of the Month for January.
A Moment In Time Memory Café receives grant By NORMA B. DENNIS FREELANCE WRITER ndworddesign@gmail.com In 2019, Jamestown United Methodist Church added another program to its already established Caregivers Support Group, which had been created in 2014 for caregivers of those with dementia. Instead of dividing them into separate groups, a Memory Café was formed to provide fun activities that could be enjoyed by caregivers and their loved ones together. “People with dementia tend to isolate themselves,” said Laura Gulledge when the group first began. “That brings on depression and loneliness which in turn progresses the disease due to a lack of stimulation.” Unlike the support group that provides caregivers with encouragement and information about resources to help them better care for loved ones as they progress through the various stages of dementia, the monthly Memory Café meetings offered an opportunity to relax, play games, and enjoy music, crafts, snacks and conversation in a friendly atmosphere. The new group later added the name A Moment in Time to show the importance of taking time to focus on the present instead of
Photo by Norma B. Dennis
Laura Gulledge, right, co-ordinater of the A Moment In Time Memory Café, is show with Mark Hensley, president of the Triad Retirement Living Association, left, and Shelby Kline, an advisor to A Moment In Time and grant writer. dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. On Jan. 9, A Moment in Time Memory Café was one of 18 organizations to receive a grant from the Triad Retirement Living Association (TRLA) during its January membership meeting at Evergreens Lifestyle Center in Greensboro. A representative of each organization gave a brief synopsis of what it did and how it planned to use the grant. Shelby Kline of HealthTeam Advantage applied for the grant on behalf of A Moment In Time Memory Café. “Shelby is our advisor who encourages us, mentors us
and has helped us to be better throughout the year,” Gulledge said. “She is also a TRLA board member.” TRLA was founded for the public good and operates specifically to support and educate senior citizens and their families. It also provides networking, as well as educational and marketing opportunities to members working within the senior services industry. “We are the ‘Chamber of Commerce’ of the senior industry,” noted membership co-chair Fran McMeekin. “Our members are a vibrant group who care deeply for the population they serve.”
Compiled By Carol Brooks
The grant from TRLA will help A Moment In Time Memory Café fund its monthly meetings, covering costs for food, craft supplies, entertainment and prizes. “The Dementia Outreach team at JUMC is so thankful to TRLA for this grant,” Gulledge said. “Our challenge is to use these funds wisely, to the best advantage of our participants. Communication is one of our biggest challenges and another area we can use these funds. Getting the word out into the community to those that would benefit from the Café is always a challenge. “Attending the TRLA meeting was also a wonderful networking opportunity to meet and learn about other organizations that can further benefit our participants. We hope to leverage this grant and these new contacts to continue to improve the care we provide to those living with dementia.” For more information about A Moment In Time Memory Café, contact Laura Gulledge at 336-906-0430 or at lauragulledge@gmail.com. Highlights of A Moment In Time meetings may be found at https://www.facebook.com/ jumcmemorycafe.
Road closure A section of Deep River Road near Hickswood Road as well as part of Hickswood Road will be blocked to all traffic from Jan. 16 to July 14 so the N.C. Department of Transportation can construct a new bridge on Deep River Road near the intersection. The detour for Deep River Road is Deep River to Eastchester Drive, then Wendover Avenue east to Penny Road. Follow Penny Road to West Main Street in Jamestown, then west to Jamestown Parkway back to Deep River Road. The detour for Hickswood Road is Hickswood to Willard Road, then to Deep River Road back to Hickswood. Hunting Lodge exhibit extended The High Point Museum has extended the “Fields & Feathers, Hunting at Deep River Lodge 1895-1935” exhibit through Feb. 10. The exhibit features the Clarence Mackay Estate, which is now Cedarwood, and the Deep River Kennels across Guilford Road on the former Johnson property, both in or near Jamestown. The museum is located at 1859 E. Lexington Ave. in High Point. Have an event that you think needs to be included in About Town? Email Norma B. Dennis at ndworddesign@gmail.com or Carol Brooks at cab1hp@gmail.com
Mendenhalls led the area in education The Mendenhall family of Jamestown were connected with Guilford College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, High Point University (indirectly) and numerous Jamestown schools in the 1800s. No fewer than 12 direct Mendenhall family members – male and female – were involved in education, most as teachers, but some as promoters and organizers. These Mendenhalls were associated with at least nine schools in the area. Many schools were short-lived but a new school usually sprung up immediately when one closed. Richard Mendenhall (1778-1851), who built the 213-year-old home on West Main Street, taught a night school in his house for 16 years. His granddaughter Mary Mendenhall Hobbs mentions the corner stairway in writings about the school, indicating it was in the original parlor of the house. We don’t know the exact dates for his school, only that it was a free school and he provided the books. Although a tanner by trade, Richard, like the good Quaker he was, believed that everyone was entitled to an education, even slaves, and all ages were welcome at his school. Judith Mendenhall (1789-1865), Richard’s sister, opened a boarding school, the
Judith J. Mendenhall 1831-1896
George C. Mendenhall 1798-1860
Seminary of LearnGeorge C. MenPhotos courtesy of Mendenhall Homeplace and ing (or Jamestown denhall (1798the Friends Historial Collection at Guilford College Female Seminary) 1860), brother to Judith Mendenhall’s school ad in 1815, after studyRichard and Judith, appeared in The Raleigh Register ing for a year in may have been the Dec. 1, 1815. Pennsylvania. An most prominent man ad she placed in The in this part of North Raleigh Register on Dec. 1, 1815, offered Carolina from 1820-1830 He was a lawyer, instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, farmer, wealthy slave-owner, and teacher. English grammar, geography, the use of the He trained the blacks who lived on his farm globes, needle-work and painting. in carpentry, harnessmaking, shoemaking, Judith taught music, deportment (conduct tailoring, cooking and agriculture. and behavior) and china painting as well as George C. opened the Tellmont Law the classical subjects. School about 1835 across Deep River from Her brick schoolhouse was probably the family homeplace. That homeplace, built located across the street in what is now City by his grandfather James Mendenhall, is Lake Park, about halfway between Main now under the City Lake, just to the east Street and the old meeting house. It may of the Penny Road bridge. Across the river have been the first such seminary in the state. would make the school on a hill that’s now on the Piedmont Environmental CenThe school lasted four years.
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ter property. Some foundations were found when PEC was being developed that may have been Tellmont. Like Judith’s seminary, Tellmont could have been the first school of that type in the state. George C. was also instrumental in bringing the Jamestown Female College to town and, as a state senator, was responsible for the charter from the General Assembly to establish New Garden Boarding School. In 1855 Methodist Protestant Church conference wanted to start a female school in High Point but George C. went to the annual session and suggested Jamestown as the location. He offered land and funding pledges already collected for the college. The school opened in Jamestown July 14, 1859, to prepare young ladies for entrance to finishing school. Girls were taught music, “polite” literature, embroidery, wax and hair flower-making, Grecian and Oriental painting, Latin, French and the rules of etiquette. The four-story brick building boarding school was on the west side of Scientific Street, in the first block off Main Steet, probably about where Foster Grove Baptist Church is today. Fire destroyed the building in 1861. George C. had died in 1860 so there was no backing for rebuilding and the school eventually reorganized in High Point. see mendenhall, page 2
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By CAROL BROOKS freelance writer cab1hp@gmail.com