The Sensational Tones Of Joy Perform At Century Care Center
June 26, 2008
The Sensational Tones of Joy brought a little joy to the residents of Century Care Center Wednesday morning.
The group, comprised of area men that work shift work and get together whenever they can, perform every chance they get at Century Care.
Pictured above are front (L-R): Group Manager Marvin “Gator” Johnson, Mikyle Dees and Johnny Dees. Back (L-R) Norris Grooms, Melvin Johnson Jr., Willie Holmes, Johnathan Hall and Melvin Johnson, Sr. Pictured below: More scenes from the Sensational Tones of Joy at the Century Care Center on Wednesday. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com.
North Escambia Woman Gets Complete Makeover On NBC’S Today Show
June 23, 2008
A girls’ week in New York City ended with a North Escambia woman getting a surprise complete makeover on national television Friday morning.
Cheryl Golson of Davisville was selected from the crowd at Rockefeller Plaza in New York for a “Plaza Ambush Makeover” from NBC’s Today Show. Cheryl received a complete makeover…hair, makeup and new designer dress.
Cheryl, an ESE teacher at Bratt Elementary School was in New York with her daughter Shelby Bryan, Bratt guidance counselor Sheila Bryan, and Sheila’s daugther Jill Laborde, all from Bratt. The entire trip was to celebrate Shelby and Jill’s graduation from the University of West Florida.
On Friday, their last day in New York City, they decided to try to be in the audience on NBC’s today show. Today show producers picked two ladies from the audience for complete makeovers in a segment of the show called “Plaza Ambush Makeovers” that airs in the program’s fourth hour every Friday.
“We got lucky and got to be along the barricades,” Cheryl told NorthEscambia.com. “I didn’t know about the makeovers. Jill and Shelby were yelling ‘pick us, pick us’, but they were told that they were too pretty. Then they started yelling ‘do our mothers’.”
“They picked me and took me back to their wardrobe area,” she said. “Everybody else got to go to the Green Room.” The Green Room is where people appearing on the Today Show wait before going on the air. In the Green Room, Shelby, Sheila and Jill got to meet host Meredith Vieira and Grammy-winning pop sensation Rihanna before her Summer Concert Series performance.
Cheryl said the whole makeover process took about two hours with US Weekly contributor and fashion expert Jill Martin and hairstylist Louis Licari. Her hair was colored twice, and she tried on about six dresses, she said.
“I’d never even had my nails done before,” Cheryl said.
In the end, Cheryl ended up on national television with her new look. Her hair went from light ash brown to a reddish auburn color, and a complete makeup change. She was dressed in a Lafayette 148 silk dress and shoes from Nine West.
“The red just made her come alive,” Licari said. “Remember, redheads work as long as they are believable and this is a believable auburn color.”
“She’s a school teacher, and she has nothing like this in her wardrobe,” Martin said. “She’s going to find some place to go.”
When asked on the Today show how she felt, Cheryl said, “Wonderful! This is not my normal Friday at all.”
“She looks beautiful; I love it,” Shelby (pictured left with her mom) said on the show.
“She is the best mom in the world; she deserves it. She’s always put so much effort into her kids and then she’s never really spent as much time on herself,” Shelby said in an on-air interview prior to seeing mom’s new look. “Dad’s going to think she looks hot.”
“I was proud for her,” Cheryl’s husband and Shelby’s dad Ricky Golson told NorthEscambia.com. “She looked very nice. I was thrilled for her.”
“My daughter had called about 6:30 Friday morning and said mom had been selected,” Ricky said. “I was not sure what she meant. When I got in from work Friday afternoon, I googled it and found a link to the video.”
“I think she looks so good,” Shelby told NorthEscambia.com. “She always cared for us and has been a great mother. She just needed a new ‘do’.”
As for where Cheryl plans to wear her new designer dress, she’s not sure yet.
“I don’t know where I am going to wear it,” she said from her home Saturday. “I don’t think it will be Sunday School.”
The dress, which retails for $498 (click here to order) was accented by a shawl purchased by the Today show staff from a street vendor.
To see the complete video clip from the Today Show, click here. The clip begins with another lady that also received a complete makeover Friday morning. Cheryl’s segment begins about four minutes into the video. A DSL, cable or other high speed connection is needed to watch the video.
Pictured top: Cheryl Golson before and after her “Plaza Ambush Makeover” on NBC’s Today Show Friday morning. Photo courtesy NBC. Pictured below (L-R): US Weekly contributor and fashion expert Jill Martin, Sheila Bryan, Jill Laborde, an NBC makup artist, Cheryl Golson, hairstylist Louis Licari and Shelby Bryan. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com.
Ernest Ward High School Class of 1967 Holds Reunion
June 22, 2008
The Ernest Ward High School class of 1967 held their 41st reunion Saturday at the old Davisville School.
When the class was in seventh grade, 19 students from Davisville joined the class of 35 students. In tenth grade, another 26 students were transferred into the class from Bratt School for a total of 80 students. By the time the class reached its senior year at Ernest Ward, only 44 students remained in the graduating class.
Twenty of those were present at the Saturday reunion, some from places like Colorado, South Dakota, the Carolinas and Michigan. Members of the class include a Pensacola pastor, a Miami area judge, firefighters, homemakers and more.
Pictured below, front row (L-R): Sylvia Barlow Elkins, Katie Norris Darby, Kay Beasley Mooney, June Dortch Valenzuela, Brenda Priest Ekstrom, Suzanne Milstead Rigby, Melba Hollingsworth Cook, Gloria Beasley Gilman, Betty Smith Singleton and Marjorie Gillman Criswell. Back row (L-R): Roy Ward, Terry Harris, Floyd Mooney, John Stacey, Duane Dortch, Leroy Smith, Harold McGhee, Robert Stewart, Thomas A Gibbs and Tony Andress. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Pictured bottom of page: Class member Robert Stewart (right) and his wife Diann enjoy the reunion. Pictured above: Members of the Ernest Ward Class of 67 reminisce while looking at old yearbook photos. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
End Of Era At Cooper’s Store In Bratt As Gas Pumps Are Removed
June 20, 2008
It was the end of an era Thursday at Cooper’s Store in Bratt as the store’s gas pumps and tanks were removed.
When Lawrence Cooper purchased the store 52 years ago, gas was selling for 10 cents per gallon, his son Marion Cooper told NorthEscambia.com Thursday. Now, even though gas in selling for around $4 a gallon, the profit per gallon for the store was still only about 10 cents per gallon.
He said the state mandated that the aging underground storage tanks had to be dug up. He said replacing the tanks would have cost about $30,000 to $40,000…more than the store would profit by selling gas.
Cooper said the store was recently averaging about 500 to 600 gallons of gas sold per week. “We just don’t sell enough to justify replacing the tanks,” he said.
He predicted that more and more small stores like Cooper’s would be getting out of the gas business in the coming years due to the expense of meeting strict state regulations. He said that regulations are tough and expensive on small stores, pointing out that a state inspector was outside the store supervising the tank removal.
“The independents will be gone in a few years, and the big companies will control the gas market,” Cooper said.
Pictured above: The gas tanks and pumps have been removed at Cooper’s Store in Bratt. Pictured below: A state inspector outside the store tracks the progress of the tank removal project Thursday afternoon on his laptop. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
June 18, 2008
The Pensacola Little Theatre presented “A Short History of Nearly Everything” Tuesday at the Century Branch Library.
In the play, characters Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin presented a short history of (like the title says)…nearly everything.
The program was the second installement in the library’s summer reading program.
Next Tuesday at noon, magician Sammy Smith will amaze at the Century Branch Library’s Summer Reading Program. The program is free for children of all ages.
For more information on the Summer Reading Program at the Century Branch Library, call 256-6217.
For more photos from the event, click here.
Pictured above: Characters Isaac Newton, Marie Curie and Charles Darwin from “A Short History of Nearly Everything” at the Century Branch Library. Pictured below: Children enjoy the program. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
One Room Log Walnut Hill School House Wins Major Historic Preservation Award
June 16, 2008
The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation recently honored the restoration project of the old Walnut Hill School House.
During the Trust’s 2008 Preservation Awards ceremony, the Walnut Hill School House project was awarded Outstanding Achievement in the Restoration/Rehabilitation Awards category. The award was accepted by Escambia County and the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club.
The log school, believed to have been built sometime around or just before 1880, was flattened by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. It was restored under the leadership of Quina Grundhoefer Architects in Pensacola with funding from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The restoration used mostly the original logs, reassembling them like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Each year, the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation recognizes significant contributions to the preservation of Florida’s historic resources through the annual Preservation Awards.
According to information posted inside the one room schoolhouse, the exact construction date of the building is unknown because school district records prior to 1880 could not be located. Financial records for the Escambia County School District indicate that William “Uncle Bud” Williams received $40 in April 1880 for “building a new school” and the school received a new heater at the cost of $10 in 1881.
A small shed had been constructed along the railroad about 10 miles north in Alabama several years prior for Williams. The settlement was named Williams Station in honor of Williams in 1866. That community was later renamed Atmore.
The school was originally located near the corner of the present day intersection of Arthur Brown Road and Highway 97. It was moved to its current location on Highway 97 after the construction of the Walnut Hill Community Center, also known as the Walnut Hill Ruritan Building, in the late 1990’s.
When the building was restored, a wheelchair ramp was added in accordance with law. A glassed in area just inside the door will allow visiting school children to view the interior of the building.
The Ruritan Club has placed a period wood burning heater in the building and a single student desk. The club plans to fully restore the interior of the building as a history museum, complete with a teacher’s desk and students desks. There is currently one student desk in the building. The Ruritan Club is in search of more desks like the one pictured at the bottom of the page to complete their collection. If you know where to locate desks like these, email us here at news@northescambia.com and we will put you in touch with the right people.
Pictured above: The exterior of the restored Walnut Hill School House. Pictured below: The interior of the log school house and a period desk. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Aztec Dancer Visits Library
June 11, 2008
Aztec dancer John Jaramillo kicked off the Century Branch Library’s summer reading program Tuesday afternoon. He performed traditional Aztec dances from Mexico.
Jaramillo has performed regionally, nationally and internationally since 1983. His Pueblo Indian Native American heritage inspired his concept for Old Man Kokopeli – a masked theatre and puppetry production that was featured as part of the famed NYC International Fringe Festival in 1997.
Jaramillo has performed at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian in New York City, Popejoy Center for the Arts at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, The Circle (theatre) at the American Indian Community House in New York City, Historic Christ Church in Philadelphia, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque and the Institute of American Indian Art Museum in Santa Fe.
For a complete photo gallery, click here.
Nursing Home Throws Birthday Party
June 4, 2008
Century Care Center recently held a birthday party for all their residents recently.
Residents enjoyed a birthday party complete with cake, gifts and songs from the Gospel Lighthouse Academy. Several residents and volunteers were also recognized for their contributions at Century Care Center.
The “Sew ‘N So” club (pictured below) was honored for its contributions to the residents. They hand make activity pillows for the the residents to encourage tactile stimulation. They also make bags for the wheelchairs and walkers.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Ernest Ward Middle School Names New Cheerleading Squad
May 28, 2008
Ernest Ward Middle School has named their 2008-2009 cheerleading squad.
The cheerleaders for the next school year are, pictured above:
Front Row, left to right: Raven Weaver, Ariel Holland, Madison Arrington, Mariah Albritton, Regan Bell, Katelyn Calloway, Jessica Lowery and Cheyenne Godwin.
Back Row, left to Right: Angel Mitchell, Ali Martin, Morgan Ward, Hannah Gibson, Lana Clayton, Paeton Hadley and Ashley Mooney.
Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
NWE Crowns Brianna Parker Queen
May 27, 2008
Brianna Parker was crowned the 2008 Baseball Queen at Bradberry Park Monday afternooon. The girls sold votes for a penny each, with a portion of the proceeds to sponsor the park and a portion to the Drew’s Field project.
First place went to Erica Wiggins.
The girls worked very hard to raise money, and the event was quite a success. The girls range in age from five to 11.
Participating were (pictured below, L-R): Erica Wiggins, Memory Peebles, Liberty Peebles Gabrielle Peebles, Queen Brianna Parker, McKenzie Moorer, Ansleigh Maholovich and Jalyn Bodiford.
For more photos from the event, click here.
Photos by Ramona Preston for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
