What’s Going On? Celebrating Carroll County’s past,...

What’s Going On? Celebrating Carroll County’spast, present and future

A 2010 Supplement to The Carroll News

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2 WHAT’S GOING ON? MARCH 31, 2010

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BusinessTwin County Chamber of Commerce Page 4

Fancy Gap Dress Shop Page 6

Hillcrest Flowers & Bridal Shop Page 7

Meadow Creek Dairy Page 8

Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Page 9

Yoder’s Farm Market Page 10

Health & WellnessTwin County Regional Healthcare Page 12

Free Clinic of the Twin Counties Page 15

Tri-Area Health Clinic Page 17

Heritage & TourismHillsville Diner Page 19

The Heritage Shoppe 0

Ron Leonard Page 23

The Front Porch Gallery Page 24

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MARCH 31, 2010 WHAT’S GOING ON? 3


A 2010 Supplement to The Carroll NewsA 2010 Supplement to The ent to The

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By Thomas Lester Editor

[email protected]

With businesses struggling nation-wide, a helping hand can go a long way.

Locally, some of that help is comingfrom the Twin County Chamber of Com-merce, which serves businesses in Car-roll County, Grayson County and theCity of Galax. Chamber Executive Di-rector Judy Brannock said keeping smallbusinesses in the Twin Counties is an in-tegral part of what the Chamber does.

“I think our mission right now withthe economic climate we’re in, is tryingto retain small businesses,” Brannocksaid. “Being able to work with them is avery important factor. I don’t thinkthere’s anyone that will deny small re-tailers, the Mom and Pop store; theydon’t have the large franchises behindthem and right now I think providingthem any direction or any help we canfind is prominent.”

Brannock said networking is huge inhelping area businesses find other areabusinesses that might be in need of theirservices.

“We have the business-to-businessevents,” she said. “The big event we try

to do one time a year where businessescome and meet businesses. Perhaps aGalax business didn’t know there was abusiness they needed in Laurel Fork, orthe upper end of Grayson. They ex-change cards and get to introduce them-selves. That is great in and of itself.”

Plus, the Chamber’s Web site is auser-friendly one that promotes areabusinesses and reaches far beyond theTwin Counties’ borders.

And when people from outside of thearea visit the Twin Counties, Brannocksaid she tries to steer them toward localsmall businesses.

“We keep a directory here and I put itin their hands and they use it as a pointof origin. That is one of the biggest,” shesaid.

Another member benefit is the Cham-ber Plus program, in which smallerChamber members’ employees can re-ceive free life insurance, and Chambermembers can qualify for free shippingon office supplies.

“The very small businesses, two orthree employees up to 90-some, they’recertainly getting on board for this freelife insurance,” Brannock said. “That isgood as long as you’re a member of agroup policy.”

In addition, Brannock said the Cham-ber takes an active role in educationthrough Wytheville Community Collegethrough board member Dr. StacyThomas, and in agriculture throughboard member Keith Andrews.

One of the Chamber’s main educa-tion projects is the “Pack the SchoolBus” campaign with Walmart. Busesfrom each of the area school divisionsare parked in front of the Galax Walmartand shoppers can donate school suppliesthere to help area students in need.

“People that come in will pick up aprotractor or a pack of paper and handthem to us,” Brannock said.

The Chamber is active in other areas,as well. It helps bring Smoke on theMountain, the Virginia State Barbecuecompetition to Galax each July, with thewinning team earning a spot in Memphisin May.

“That is the Chamber’s big fundraiserevent to help us supplement keeping our


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doors open,” Brannock said. “In 2010, this year, the President of

the Memphis Barbecue Association willbe visiting Galax to see this barbecue.The rooms we fill up, the lodging andthe dining is across the board. We try tofill up every member we have’s roomswe can. That’s a trickle-down effect. Weuse that to supplement leadership devel-opment programs through WCC. Theyoffer five scholarships for local students.We market this area all across the easternseaboard. A great deal is money is raisedfor marketing. We have the traditionaljam sessions in front of Barr’s FiddleShop. At night, Galax doesn’t typicallyhave beach music, and they come enjoyit. We had visitors from 15 or 16 statesvisiting here and they said with the $10gate fee, they drove their Volkswagenhere and bought their ticket and ate outand said it cost them less if they hadgone around the block and gone to theconvention center.”

The Saturday of the Galax Fiddler’sConvention has become known for theannual Poor Man’s Dinner, which hasbecome something of a must-attendevent for politicians. Last year was noexception, as the races for governor,lieutenant governor and attorney generalwere up for grabs, and each candidatemade it a point to come to the TwinCounties.

“The Poor Man’s Dinner has escalat-ed to where there are 300 or more peopleattending,” Brannock said. “It has be-

come the place to be on the Saturdayevening of the Fiddler’s Convention.(Last year) was an election year for threeof the top state seats. We were one oftwo places in the Commonwealth of Vir-ginia that all of the candidates in thesame location at the same time, and itwent well. Everybody was great and itwas wonderful for them all to be here.”

At these events, Brannock said it’simportant to showcase the area for visi-tors so they’ll want to visit again.

“At the same time, when we get thesevisitors in here and show them greatSouthern hospitality and theyenjoy themselves, they will come backfor more than one event,” Brannocksaid.

In December, Randy Kegley helpedthe Twin County Chamber become anassociate member of the North CarolinaMotor Coach Association, and Brannockhopes that helps steer tour buses full oftravelers to the area.

She said once they’re here, they’rebound to find plenty to see and to do. “

We’re trying to let them know CarrollCounty, the City of Galax, GraysonCounty, we do have a lot to offer,” Bran-nock said.

"We try to say you can start in Canaand go through all of Carroll County indays, you can do the same in Galax, thenthere’s the Music Center and then wecan take you to the highest peak in theCommonwealth of Virginia, Mt. Rogers,and show you a beautiful state park withother attributes.”


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Continued from page 4

Chamber: Plays large role with community functions

The Twin County Regional Chamber of Commerce is located at 405N. Main Street in downtown Galax.

Governor Bob McDonnell (right) was among the seekers of publicoffice who attended the 2009 Poor Man’s Dinner in Galax.

By Allen WorrellNews Writer

[email protected]

A family atmosphere and a specialbond with its customers are just some ofthe reasons Fancy Gap Dress Shop hasbeen a staple of the small communitynear the Blue Ridge Parkway for 40years.

Known for featuring over 10,000dresses, Fancy Gap Dress Shop has ex-panded through the years to also includeladies’ suits, lingerie, men’s and chil-dren’s clothing, nurses uniforms andsportswear and pocketbooks, pant suits,jewelry and accessories, and men’s golfshirts. Aside from a large selection ofitems cheaper than you can find in de-partment stores, the local business hasbuilt a loyal customer base because of itsfamiliarity with its customers.

“I think it is more informal. I havehad some customers, especially fromNorth Carolina, say that they like it be-cause they can talk to us, they know weare going to be here everytime and theydon’t get that in a department store,” saidBonnie Hiatt, who owns and operates thestore along with her husband, Dennis.“We kind of learn what people are look-ing for and call them if we get somethingin they are interested in. You try to makecustomer service a priority.”

Of course, getting to know the cus-tomers has not been much of an issue forthe employees of Fancy Gap Dress Shop,especially considering they have wellover 100 years of combined experiencein the store. Hiatt, whose father Ken Irol-er bought the business from Worth Uttfour decades ago, has worked at the busi-ness for most of those 40 years.

“When I was 11 my dad bought it andhe made me work on weekends and thesummer, which I thought was terrible,but I’m glad now that he did,” she said.

Aside from the Hiatts, family mem-bers Freeda Beamer (36 years) and AltaBeamer (32 years) have combined towork at Fancy Gap Dress Shop for 32years, while Ester Rigney has workedthere for about 22 years. Dennis’ mother,Imogene Dawson, has also been em-ployed by the business for 10 years.

“We are all pretty much family exceptone employee, Ester Rigney, so we areall related one way or the other,” Bonniesaid. “And even when my mom and dadhad it, my grandmother worked here, soit was always family.”

Hiatt said when her father boughtFancy Gap Dress Shop from Worth Uttback in 1970, he knew “absolutely zilch”about operating an apparel store. Shesaid Utt helped him in the beginning, go-ing to factories to look for clothes backwhen everything was still made in theUnited States. Of course, Hiatt explainseverything is made overseas now, so she

and her husband have clothes shipped tothe shop. They also go to a clothing mar-ket twice a year in Las Vegas, Nevada tobuy as much as they can at off prices.

Other than that, probably the biggestchange at Fancy Gap Dress Shop overthe years has been the building itself.The original white Fancy Gap DressShop building was destroyed by arson ina fire on January 2, 1995. The new build-ing was opened on May 1 on that sameyear. But the fire couldn’t stop one of theFancy Gap Dress Shop’s biggest trade-marks — its wooden bins at the register.Hiatt explained that the old store startedas a produce house, owned by JeffMelton, who rented it to Worth Utt, andlater the Hiatts.

“When it burned the customers re-quested that we did at least build thoseback because we don’t have grocerycarts. When they get a lot of things theywill say this is my bin and lay (theirclothes) right here while they continue toshop,” Hiatt said. “I guess it’s our littletrademark. I have never seen them any-where else.”

And while Fancy Gap Dress Shop hasalways been noted for carrying over10,000 dresses, the local outlet has con-tinued to offer many new items and ap-peal to a wider base of customers.

“We try to have something for every-body. It started out just a dress shop andwe don’t want to change the name be-cause so many people just call us thedress shop, but we do offer men’s andchildren’s clothing, and nurses uniformsand we sell a lot of jewelry and acces-sories and try to keep the price down be-cause we are not in a big city,” Hiattsaid. “We have to give them a reason todrive out here and we don’t have theoverhead that the larger stores have. A

lot of people have been coming sincethey were children.”

Some of the more popular items thesedays include men’s golf shirts and a vari-ety of Virginia Tech apparel at verycheap prices. As far as dresses, FancyGap Dress Shop tries to carry a little bitof everything, including a lot of namebrands such as Studio One, Danny &Nicole, and Karin Stevens. If you can’tfind the dress you are looking for, theHiatts will do their best to special orderit for you.

“We have one lady in New York thathelps us. We try to special order things— we can’t always get it, but we try,”Hiatt said. “And we do sell a lot of namebrand stuff that the big department storessell at not even close to the price thatthey are selling it.”

Located at 7734 Fancy Gap Highwaynear the Blue Ridge Parkway, Fancy GapDress Shop is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.Monday through Saturday. The shopdoes make a couple of exceptions

throughout the year, however, to betteraccommodate its customers.

“We don’t stay open at night, but twoor three times a year we do try to stayopen until about 9 p.m. for the ladies thatwork during the day like the teachers andthe people that work at the bank,” Hiattsaid. “They asked us to do that when weget our new spring goods in before East-er, so we usually try to stay open andhold a little open house, give them re-freshments.”

And customers of the Fancy GapDress Shop may even spot a celebritywhile shopping in the store — BettyLynn.

“We do have one movie star that at-tends the Dress Shop — Thelma Loufrom The Andy Griffith Show,” DennisHiatt said. “She lives in Mount Airy(North Carolina), but she likes to comedown here. She is 83 and she is a lot offun.”

In fact, the dress shop draws many ofits customers from the Tar Heel State.

“What’s funny is we get a whole lotof people out of North Carolina. Theylove to come to the mountains,” Bonniesaid. “For them it is a treat just to comeup here, where people up here love to goto the mall. They like to shop somewheredifferent.”


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Fancy Gap Dress Shop a community staple

Known for featuring over 10,000 dresses, Fancy Gap Dress Shophas expanded through the years to also include ladies’ suits, lin-gerie, men’s and children’s clothing, nurses uniforms and sports-wear and pocketbooks, pant suits, jewelry and accessories, andmen’s golf shirts.

Owners Bonnie & Dennis Hiatt



[email protected]

No matter what occasion you arelooking to commemorate, HillcrestFlowers and Bridal Shop has you cov-ered from the cradle to the grave.

Owned and operated by Mabel Tate,Hillcrest Flowers and Bridal Shop hasbeen serving Carroll County’s flower,wedding, prom, funeral and holidayneeds for close to 30 years. Tate, whobought the business from Shirley Hill 18years ago this July, provides a large se-lection of flowers and arrangements forevery circumstance.

“We do fresh flowers for all occa-sions. That includes everyday, all theholidays, and funerals. We do lots ofsympathy work,” Tate said. “We do arti-ficial and silk flowers for the decorationdays that the county is very popular for.Then of course we do the everyday stuffand the popular holidays.”

Like most any florist, the busiest dayof the year for Hillcrest is Valentine’sDay, and the biggest week comes beforeMothers’ Day and the prom. Roses, car-nations, daisies, lilies, fuji mums, foot-ball mums and snaps are just some of themany different flowers available at Hill-crest. Special orders can be made as wellif you are looking for something a littledifferent for your sweetheart such as pur-ple roses or the new popular trend ofgreen flowers.

“We’ve got a walk-in cooler and webasically keep it pretty-well stocked.Sometimes you have to wait, but wehave a truck that comes in where I canget those kinds of things every day of theweek,” Tate said. “Most of the time wecan get your needs in if you call me aday ahead.”

Hillcrest Flowers and Bridal Shopgoes the extra mile for its customers byoffering free delivery in the Town ofHillsville. It also delivers to most of Car-roll County and parts of Wythe and Pu-laski counties. Charges depend on thelength of the delivery.

“With gas like it is, we do charge forout-of-town deliveries, but people are sounderstanding,” Tate said. “They knowwhat it is to come to work, that this isour job and that is how we have to do it.”

Hillcrest also keeps seasonal plants instock. Easter Lilies will soon be arriving,while Tate said she would soon have allthe pretty spring blooms as well. Manycustomers look forward to hanging bas-kets and blooming plants around Moth-er’s Day, while fall mums can be foundin the shop during the autumn. Poinset-tias are the featured item during theChristmas season. Other items such asgreen plants, house plants and dish gar-dens are always available.

And while funeral arrangements are

one of Hillcrest’s staples, Tate said manypeople aren’t aware of the services thebusiness offers for cremations.

“Cremation has got to be very popularhere and a lot of our people don’t realizethat there are memorial tables that wecan do that honor the deceased the sameas we do the blankets that go on the cas-kets,” Tate said. “The memorial tablesare a little different than what peoplenormally think of but they are very pret-ty. There are different shapes of thingswe do with a memorial table with thepicture and with the urn and that typething.”

Of course, nobody enjoys sendingflowers for a funeral, simply because itmeans a loved one has been lost. Butanytime is a good time to send flowers tosomeone special, Tate said.

“We have happy flowers all the time.So many people think all you do is sadflowers. No we do happy flowers,” Tatesaid. “Flowers are always happy regard-less of the occasion or why you are send-ing them.”

Prom flowers and wedding arrange-ments are available year-round. Becauseboth are so wildly popular, Tate keeps upand all the latest trends and styles tomake sure customers have plenty tochoose from.

“We try to stay up on the new trendseach year because the wedding trendschange year to year, just as the promtrends change year to year,” Tate said.“If you are not real careful with theprom, though, it’s so expensive for theparents and it is such an expensive dayanyway.”

One thing that has changed in recentyears at Hillcrest is its offering of wed-ding and prom apparel. The local busi-ness no longer rents or sells tuxedos or

dresses, although it still offers most otherthings associated with weddings such asflowers and candelabras.

“We do all that and we do all theflowers for a wedding, but I don’t do theapparel anymore. I get a lot of calls forit, but I send them down the street toLauren Chitwood (at Country Formals &Gifts) because she is the one in town,”Tate said. “Being a business person, I be-lieve we ought to buy in town if we’vegot it in town, so we are sending a lotover there with it being prom time.”

Another thing that has made life easi-er for Hillcrest Flowers and Bridal Shop,as well as customers, has been its mem-bership in the Teleflora network. By go-ing to www.teleflora.com, customers canchoose a specific flower or design, andTate can pull it up to suit the arrange-ment exactly to the customers’ liking.

“You can go into Telefora and seetheir whole book. We’ve got the bookand you tell me the number that you arelooking at and I can look at the samething. That tells the designer what thecustomer sees, therefore we are on thesame page,” Tate said. “We’ll do it asclosely as possible. Every florist realizeswe don’t always carry what is advertisedonline — it’s almost impossible to dothat — but we do it as close as we can towhat the customer sees on the other end.And that is the good thing of being into awire service like Teleflora. Everybodythat is in the service has the same book,so we just bring up the numbers and goby that same page. It is a worldwide net-work.”

Hillcrest Flowers and Bridal Shopeven offers customers the ability to col-lect Western Union money transfers. Ifyou send money and want it in minutes,you can pick up or make payments

through Western Union’s quick collectsystem.

“If somebody is at a Western Unionstation they can send money. You’ve gotto come in and identify — we neverknow what is in the system if you don’tcome in and ask for it,” Tate said. “Youcome in and identify and we pull it up onthe screen. If it is there, we print a checkand the Bank of Floyd here in town willhonor those checks and cash them.”

Tate operates Hillcrest Flowers andBridal Shop six days a week along withher husband, Bill. With their services at ahigh demand, Tate said a local ladycomes in and helps with the flowers anddesigns. Hillcrest is open from 9 a.m. to4:30 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays, withthe exception of Wednesdays and Satur-days, when Tate tries to close by noon orshortly after. Hillcrest Flowers andBridal Shop is closed on Sundays, butTate will make exceptions for her cus-tomers during trying times.

“I will work a Sunday for anybodythat needs me for a funeral. I don’t workon Sundays for holidays. We’ve got sixother days and I can take of you in thosesix days,” Tate said. “But if it’s a funeral,my heart goes out to those people be-cause one day it could be me that hasthat need. We don’t advertise that wework on Sunday, but all our customersknow if they call us we will be here forthem.”

Hillcrest Flowers and Bridal Shop islocated at 704 North Main Street inHillsville.

Hillcrest has something for every occasion

Beautiful wedding arrangementssuch as these and other floraldesigns are a staple of HillcrestFlowers and Bridal Shop.

Hillcrest Flowers and Bridal Shop has been serving Carroll County’sflower, wedding, prom, funeral and holiday needs for close to 30years. No matter what occasion you’re looking to celebrate, the lo-cal business has many ways it can make the event a little brighter.

By Thomas Lester Editor

[email protected]

When Rick and Helen Feete bought adairy farm just south of Galax in 1988,there was a clear vision in mind.

Today, that vision has produced threeunique cheeses — two of which areaward winners — that are shipped na-tionwide from Meadow Creek Dairy.

After acquiring the farm, the Feetesspent a few years preparing for cheesewhile making a living in the commoditymilk market.

“We ran it for 10 years to get the dairystable,” Helen Feete said. “I wanted tomake cheese from the beginning but wehad to get the business stable before westarted the second one. We got the milk-ing pretty stable and learned to makehigh quality milk before making cheese.It can be hard to learn both businesses atonce.”

As they learned the cheese craft, theproportion of commodity milk to cheesebegan evening out. Now, close to 60 to70 percent of the milk produced on thefarm goes into cheese making.

“It was a very slow growth at first,which is what we wanted,” Feete said.“We sold commercial milk predominant-ly. Probably just in the past two or threeyears have we switched to where morethan half of the milk goes into cheese.”

Two of Meadow Creek’s cheeses —Appalachian and Grayson — are consid-ered raw milk cheese, meaning thecheese is aged a minimum of 60 days.The third, Mountaineer, is more of anAlpine style cheese.

Feete said making raw milk cheesehas included a lot of trying and waiting.

“Making aged, raw milk cheese hasquite the learning curve to it because youhave such a long time before you knowwhat you’ve done,” she said. “Withcheese, you’re going to know somethingbefore 60 days, but it’s going to be awhile. Any time you make a change, youhave to wait a while to see if that changewas a good change, and if it was thewrong thing, then you’ve done thewrong thing for 30 or 40 days.”

But as the Feetes fine-tuned theirtechniques for each cheese, the awardshave come in. Meadow Creek’s Ap-palachian, a semi-soft, tomme stylecow’s milk cheese, took third place inthe Farmstead Cheese category in theAmerican Cheese Society Competition.

The Grayson, a semi-soft, washedrind cow’s milk cheese, took third in theFarmstead competition in 2007, first inFarmstead and second best in show in2008, and second place in the WashedRind Cheese competition in the Ameri-can Cheese Society’s 2009 competition.

The awards come as a result of sever-al factors. The cattle at Meadow Creekare unique to the farm — Jersey cattle

mixed with several European breeds tocreate a one-of-a-kind cheese profile.

“Rick, over the 21 years, has devel-oped a herd with unique genetics,” saidsales manager Linda Kay. “He’s bred ina couple of French breeds with the Jer-seys, just to get the milk profile forcheeses.”

The Feetes’ philosophy of makingcheese only when the cattle are out topasture and can feed on fresh grass alsoplays into the product’s unique taste.

“We’re unique that we’re seasonal,”Kay said. “We only make cheese whenthe cows are getting almost all their nu-trition from the pasture. In the winter,they’re eating hay, but we’re not milkingthem and we’re not making cheese atthat point.”

The idea of only producing cheesewhen cattle are feeding on grass givesthe market a window, but Feete said thecheese is so well-received that peoplewill let it come to them when it does.

“Consumers are not used to a product,like cheese, that will come in and out ofavailability,” she said. “They’ve had tolearn that and we’ve had to work hard atthat. It’s a keystone of our business to beseasonal. We’re not going to changethat.”

Another major factor in the flavorprofile of the cheese is the land itself.Kay and Feete likened the elevation(2,800 feet) of the area to parts of Franceand Italy in the Alps. The Feetes studiedcheesemaking in those areas, learningwhat makes them different and how theycan apply those techniques here.

“This is a good place to makecheese,” Feete said. “More peopleshould do it. I’ve studied a lot of cheesesin the Alps in France where they’re milk-

ing at this altitude in the summer and it’ssummer. It’s very similar and some ofmy cheeses are a reflection of that, andalso in Valdosta in Italy. You’re right upagainst the Alps.”

Feete said she believes the area couldbecome a big cheese-producing region,but they face an uphill battle, becauseshe said there are around six cheese-pro-ducing dairy farms in Virginia.

But that’s not to say cheese makersaren’t drawn to Virginia. The Feetes’children, Jim and Kat have returnedhome to help in the family business.

“It’s become a family affair, too.Their kids, both who went off to look atthe world and study in other places, havecome home in the last few years,” Kaysaid. “Kat, their daughter, is also acheese maker with Helen. It’s a greatsource of pride for them that their kidshave chosen to come back and work withtheir parents at this. Jim, their son, workson the farm with Rick.”

Interns from international universitieshave also made Meadow Creek a desti-nation in their studies.

“A lot of these kids want to come tothe States, get their English better, takehome skills,” Feete said. “We can feelgood about educating them and usuallyget good, dedicated help. They want tolearn and take stuff back to their coun-try.”

With more than 75,000 pounds ofcheese produced last year, MeadowCreek’s product is national and soldwholesale from their Web site atwww.meadowcreekdairy.com — there isno retail store on the farm. However,their cheeses can be purchased locally atPurple Feet in Galax and Harvest Moonin Floyd, among others.


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The Feete family, from left, Jim, Kat, Helen and Rick, own and oper-ate Meadow Creek Dairy, making three kinds of cheeses.

Meadow Creek Dairy makes Ap-palachian, Grayson and Moun-taineer cheeses. Appalachianand Grayson are raw milkcheeses that age a minimum of60 days.



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Much has changed since Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Chapel opened inHillsville more than 58 years ago. Butone thing that hasn’t wavered since 1952is the funeral home’s caring staff of pro-fessionals ready and willing to servefamilies in their time of greatest need.

“We see people most of time in theworst part of their life, so we try to makethings as easy for them as we can,” saidfuneral director Tony Mullins. “We try tobe compassionate.”

Losing a loved one is one of thetoughest things anybody can go through.But with more than 140 years of com-bined experience on staff, Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Chapel helps familiesthrough the process with a special typeof care that can only come through yearsof knowledge and know-how.

“We take care of all the details, thegraves and the cemetery, obituaries, get-ting announcements on the radio and inthe newspaper, notifying people thatthey don’t know how to get in touch withlike ministers,” said Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady manager Don Yonce. “Ofcourse, a lot of the people we serve havebeen here before, but we do have somethat this will be their first time. We try toguide them and ask them if they haveanything in mind (for coffins as an ex-ample) and just guide them throughmaking their selections.”

Yonce (42 years) and Mullins (24years) have 66 years of combined expe-rience alone at Vaughan-Guynn-Mc-Grady. The tradition of care and compas-sion has not been lost over the years asYonce is still just the second manager inthe funeral home’s 58 years. Yonce hasheld the title since December of 1994,when he took over for Dawes McGrady,who served as Vaughan-Guynn-Mc-Grady’s only manager from its openingin 1952 until his retirement.

Funeral service providers Tim Sawyerand Shawn Morris have also teamedwith funeral service staff members Ju-nior Light, Dale Shockley, PaulWilliams, Gene Bunn and Royce Easter,as well as officer manager MarshaCaudill, to provide the community withnearly a century-and-a-half of experi-ence.

“We’ve seen a few things in life. Thefuneral business is a calling to reallyhelp people in their worst time of life,”Mullins said. “The most rewarding thingto me is when somebody comes up toyou and just says thank you. That meansa lot. Carroll County has really goodpeople.”

The history of Vaughan-Guynn-Mc-Grady Chapel goes back to 1913 when J.Crockett Guynn began stocking coffinsand caskets at his country store. In 1919,

Guynn joined with C.L. Smith, the un-dertaker for Galax, to purchase a horse-drawn hearse that was used in bothGrayson and Carroll Counties until thebuilding of hard-surface roads.

In 1923, realizing the need for updat-ed funeral services, Guynn sent his old-est son, Gilman Guynn, to a school to betrained as a licensed embalmer and fu-neral director. When hard-surface roadsmade its use practical in 1928, theGuynn’s purchased the county’s firstmotor hearse. Vaughan-Guynn FuneralHome in Galax was established in 1936when Gilman Guynn, Glendi Guynn,Garnett Guynn and Wayne Vaughanbought out the funeral business of C. L.Smith. The Guynn’s later added a mod-ern funeral home in Hillsville to betterserve Carroll County in 1952.

Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Chapel of-fers a variety of services that cater toevery person’s wishes while still abidingby the standards established by J. Crock-ett Guynn in 1902, where fairness andservice to the community are the mainpriority.

Currently, Vaughan-Guynn-McGradyoffers a chapel and two large viewingrooms at the funeral home, located at1035 North Main Street in Hillsville.Two televisions in the chapel and anoth-er in one of the viewing rooms allowfamilies to bring in DVDs for slideshowpresentations.

“A lot of families enjoy those. Theybring back many wonderful memoriesfor people,” Yonce said. “We had onefamily a couple of weeks ago and theycame for the private viewing and we hadit fixed for them. They stayed an hourand a half watching it over and over.”

Another new addition is a downstairscasket selection room, which was ex-pected to be complete in early April.Yonce said the new room should makethings easier on families.

“We are getting more and more elder-ly people that can’t go up steps. We’vegot an elevator we take them up on, butit’s tough on them and us, too,” Yoncesaid. “This will allow us to have every-thing on one level.”

Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Chapel

also works hand-in-hand with the GroverKing VFW Post 1115 in Hillsville asmilitary rites are a big part of many fu-nerals locally.

“We received a certificate the otherday from the Virginia Army NationalGuard program for the outstanding jobwe do for veterans and everything we dofor those people that honorably serve ourcountry,” Mullins said. “If the familywants military rites, we make a phonecall to the VFW.”

The local funeral home also offerscremations and transfer of remains toother locations, even getting remainsfrom several other countries. Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady also is certified to dofunerals in North Carolina and West Vir-ginia.

“There are so many things like thatpeople don’t understand that we do. I al-ways describe it as a 24/7 job,” Mullinssaid. “It gets tiring sometimes and it ishard on your personal families, but I lovethe funeral business. It’s rewarding to beable to help people.”

Between Vaughan-Guynn-McGradyChapel and Vaughan-Guynn FuneralHome in Galax, the two have seven li-censed directors and about 30 employ-ees. The partnership is great for both,Yonce said, as he’ll call Galax for help ifthings get busy, and vice-versa.

“The Guynns have always providedus with suits. We all wear the same suiton the same day, that way if we have tointerchange employees with Galax,everybody is dressed alike,” Mullinssaid. “We are dressed alike and peoplecan pick you out in a crowd.”

Another service offered at Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady is pre-planning, whichoffers peace of mind, personal choice,and lower costs. Many who have under-gone the emotional strain of arranging afuneral within hours of losing a lovedone have made the choice to pre-plantheir own funeral. Doing so lifts the bur-den from their loved ones by relievingdecision-making pressure at a time ofgrief and emotional stress. The servicealso allows folks to lock in to today’s fu-neral costs, relieving survivors of an un-expected expense.

Mullins is quick to point out the localchapel’s service doesn’t stop after a fu-neral. Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady offersdifferent program to help with insurance,obtaining death certificates and other as-sorted needs.

“We always like to tell families wehave continuing service. I feel some ofthe larger funeral homes stop at thecemetery, but we get calls all the timewanting to know what to do about this orthat type of thing and we are glad to helpthem. If we don’t the know the answer,we know people that do,” Mullins said.“We’re here to serve Carroll County andthe surrounding area to the best of ourability.”

Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady there in times of need

Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Chapel’s has more than 140 years ofcombined experience on its staff, which consists of front row, fromleft: Shawn Morris, Dale Shockley and Junior Light. Back row: TimSawyer, Marsha Turman, Tony Mullins, Don Yonce.

By Allen Worrell

News Writer

[email protected]

Generous portions and tasty home-made products have made Yoder’s FarmMarket one of Carroll County’s mostpopular destinations since its opening inWoodlawn in October of 2003.

Specializing in gourmet baked goodssuch as sourdough bread, pound cakesand mountain fried pies, Yoder’s goesthe extra mile to make sure it offers ahigh quality product.

“We make everything from wholefood. We try to use real butter and thereal product to make our stuff,” said Stu-art Yoder, who owns and operates thebusiness along with his wife, Orpha.“We don’t try to fudge ingredients,which makes a difference in taste.”

The recipes used to make those prod-ucts are tried and tested as well, as manyof them have been passed down throughOrpha’s family.

“Our recipes were generated fromway back when my wife was a little girland her family had a bakery in UnionGrove, North Carolina. A lot of theirrecipes are what we are using today,”Yoder said. “They go way back and havea lot of tradition. I credit all of that endto Orpha.”

Yoder’s deli is also a local favoritebecause of its sandwiches such as BLTs,chicken salad, roast beef, turkey club,and others. Aside from developing a rep-utation for the quality of their sandwich-es, Yoder’s doesn’t skimp on size, either.

“Our deli is very popular because ofthe sandwiches. I used to run the road alot for about 12 years and I would getlunches at different places. Some places,you’d get down the road and realize youdidn’t get anything really,” Yoder said.“So that is kind of my motto since Istarted this, that people will have a fullportion of whatever they order. And a lotof people think my stuff is too much, butI would rather have it that way than notenough.”

Yoder’s also offers a wide variety ofsoups, ranging from old staples such asBrunswick stew, chicken noodle veg-etable soup and country potato soup. Ahearty hamburger vegetable soup is alsooffered as well as hobo soup and tacosoup. Soup selections vary depending onthe week and time of the year, but Yo-der’s also will do special orders for soupcustomers.

“During the winter we try to keep dif-ferent soups every day. In the summerwe narrow it down to about one or twosoups a week,” Yoder said. “We do spe-cial order soups, such as Brunswickstew, hamburger vegetable, chicken noo-

dle. We do a taco soup and it’s a lot ofdifferent soups we make on a bi-weeklybasis. A lot of times we will post thoseon our Facebook page (search for Yo-der’s Farm Market on facebook.com).”

Yoder’s also offers chef, garden andtaco salads. Another thing that makes thebusiness unique is that it makes all of itssalad dressings.

“We make our own dressings for sal-ads and that makes it a little better thanwhat you can buy anywhere else,” Yodersaid. “We do a full line of barbecue andwe do specials. We have a Facebook sitewhere we post our specials, like todaywe have baked potatoes, broccoli andcheddar or cheddar and chives.”

Yoder said the market gets all of itsmeats and cheeses directly from wherethey are made in Ohio and Georgia, al-lowing it to keep them as fresh as possi-ble. Fried pies and cakes can be specialordered from Yoder’s, such as a St.Patrick’s Day cake with green icing andpistachios on top, for example. Asidefrom the winter, Yoder’s also patronizesproducts from local farmers so it can of-fer fresh produce.

“I buy from the local producers.When it is in season I do buy it and I tryto stay as local as I can,” Yoder said.“Unfortunately in the winter, nothinggrows around here so we’ve got to makethose concessions. For instance, bananasdon’t grow here, but that is an effort thatI do try to buy for my customers that pa-tronize me. I think it is important forpeople in this area to pool together. Wealso sell bulk foods and carry spices fora lot less than you can buy in the super-stores.”

Yoder’s also offers a wide range ofunique specialty snack mixes that arehard to find. All the bread items arebaked daily to keep items fresh. Yoderhopes offerings such as those will helpkeep customers coming back as theyhave over the past six years.

“I appreciate all the customers thathave made this possible for me. If it was-n’t for my customers, I couldn’t haveever made it to this point,” Yoder said.“When I started I didn’t hardly have any-thing and it was those customers thatkept us going and they made it possiblefor me to get to this point. And my goalis to just be a special store that they canfind the things they like and enjoy.”

Yoder’s Farm Market is open Mondaythrough Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,except on Wednesdays when it is openfrom 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The business is lo-cated at 3232 Carrollton Pike in Wood-lawn.


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Big portions, fresh food make Yoder’s popular

You won’t find fresher bread in Carroll County than at Yoder’s FarmMarket, where sourdough and other bread items and baked freshdaily. The local business is owned and operated by Stuart Yoder(pictured) and his wife Orpha.

Aside fromgourmet bakedgoods and pop-ular sandwichand deli items,Yoder’s FarmMarket also of-fers a widerange of uniquespecialty snackmixes that arehard to find.




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Twin County Regional Healthcare measures its overall organization-al performance based on six (6) pillars of success: (1) quality of pa-tient care, (2) service and patient satisfaction, (3) growth, (4) patientsafety, (5) people and (6) fiscal responsibility.

Twin CountyRegional Healthcare’s

Pillars of SuccessWith the support and involvement of

loyal and dedicated physicians, employ-ees and volunteers, Twin County Region-al Healthcare (TCRH) was successfulagain in 2009.

Twin County Regional Healthcaremeasures its overall organizational per-formance based on six (6) pillars of suc-cess: (1) quality of patient care, (2) serv-ice and patient satisfaction, (3) growth,(4) patient safety, (5) people and (6) fis-cal responsibility.

Quality of Patient CareTwin County Regional Healthcare has

consistently performed above the UnitedStates hospital average and the Virginiahospital average on all quality indicatorsmeasured by The Joint Commission andthe Centers for Medicare and MedicaidServices (CMS). Furthermore, in August2009, TCRH received six (6) qualityawards from CMS for participation in theHospital Quality Improvement Demon-stration (HQID) project, including “mostimproved” in heart attack care (AMI),heart failure care (CHF) and pneumoniacare (CAP). The public can view the de-tailed quality reports online. Medicare’sHospital Compare report can be found at

www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. The JointCommission’s Accreditation Quality Re-port can be found atwww.qualitycheck.org.

Service and Patient Satisfaction Twin County Regional Healthcare’s

patient satisfaction scores on Medicare’sHospital Consumer Assessment ofHealthcare Providers and Systems (HC-AHPS) continued to be above the UnitedStates hospital average and the Virginiahospital average. Consumer websitessuch as Consumer Reports Health andMyHealthCompare indicate to the publicthe higher level of patient satisfaction atTCRH. On one HCAPHS patient satis-faction indicator, “room cleanliness”,Twin County Regional Hospital leads theentire Commonwealth of Virginia with ascore of 96 out of a possible 100. Thepublic can view the Survey of Patientsabout Their Hospital Experience atwww.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.

GrowthTwin County Regional Healthcare ex-

perienced increased volume during fiscalyear 2009 compared to fiscal year 2008.

See TCRH, page 13


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405 North Main StreetGalax, VA 24333

[email protected]

The increased volumes led to a 10.5% in-crease in net revenue. The six servicesthat experienced the most growth during2009 included:

(1) Hospitalist Program (admissionsup 19%)

(2) Behavioral Health (admissions up16%)

(3) Emergency Department (visits up8%)

(4) Hospice (care days up 8%) (5) Pediatric Care Center (visits up

8%)(6) Women’s Health (births up 7%)Updated equipment and new technol-

ogy for the Women’s Health and BirthingCenter of Twin County Regional Hospi-tal was funded through the TCRH Foun-dation’s annual campaign and golf tour-nament.

Twin County Regional Healthcare hasalso added several new services includ-ing: Faith Community Nursing; TwinCounty Urology; Twin County Rheuma-tology and Teleneurology.

Additionally, several providers wereadded to the TCRH medical staff includ-ing: Peter I. Aliu, MD, Hospitalist;Jamie Lynn Carlo-Demovich, MD,Pathologist; Bonnie C. Harrington, NP-C, Nurse Practitioner at Galax Family

Care Center and William B. Gruhn, MD,Rheumatologist at Twin CountyRheumatology.

A primary goal for Twin County Re-gional Healthcare is to become the re-gional “healthcare provider of choice”.Community support for TCRH, an inde-pendent, not-for-profit community healthsystem, is critical to adding high-qualityhealthcare services and programs locally.

Patient SafetyTwin County Regional Healthcare

continues to place a strong emphasis onthe safety of patients, visitors and em-ployees as evidenced by 2009 safety re-ports. TCRH is accredited by The JointCommission and continues to be in com-pliance with all the 2009 National PatientSafety Goals. A detailed report of TwinCounty Regional Healthcare’s imple-mentation of all the National PatientSafety Goals can be found at www.qual-itycheck.org.

PeopleTwin County Regional Healthcare’s

strength continues to be the people thatwork and volunteer here. The achieve-ments and recognitions that TCRH em-ployees received throughout the year aretoo numerous to mention. Each month,there are several examples of team and


TCRH: Pillars of Success

See TCRH: page 14


Store Hours: Store Hours: Mon. - Thurs.: 8:00am - 7:00pm Mon. - Thurs.: 8:00am - 7:00pm

Fri. & Sat. 8:00am - 8:00pm Fri. & Sat. 8:00am - 8:00pm Sunday: 1:00pm - 5:00pm Sunday: 1:00pm - 5:00pm

1-800-251-88241-800-251-8824www.redhillgeneralstore.comwww.redhillgeneralstore.com

1035 Sylvatus HighwayHillsville, VA 24343

(The Old Triangle Furniture Store)

Featuring our new spring line of Carhart, Columbia, and Rainbow Sandals for both men and women. Also check out our Rosie’s Coveralls for the working woman.

Don’t forget to shop our 50% off kid’s winter clothing from

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Check out our Earthway Garden Equipment. We have Precision Seeders for

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Get your seeds while you’re here! We offer a variety of old fashioned

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We would like to thank our customers for your

loyalty & support.In business over 40 years

individual accomplishments that im-prove TCRH’s performance. Some ofthese achievements have been show-cased by TCRH staff at state, regionaland national conferences. Nationalrecognition such as the “Top 25 MostImproved” in the Most Wired bench-marking survey places TCRH, a smallcommunity health system, on the health-care industry map for demonstration ofbest practices. In addition to staff accom-plishments, during 2009 TCRH experi-enced a significant increase in volunteersthat enabled us to have new volunteerstations to serve patients and families inthe Emergency Department and Outpa-tient Surgery areas of Twin County Re-gional Hospital.

Another goal for Twin County Re-gional Healthcare is to become the“healthcare employer of choice”. Withover 650 employees, the economic im-pact of TCRH, as your community hospi-tal, in salaries and wages was over $27million dollars during fiscal year 2009making TCRH the leading employer inthe Twin County area.

Fiscal ResponsibilityIn 2009, many hospitals across the

United States experienced their worstyear ever for financial performance. De-

spite the worst economic recession sincethe Great Depression of the 1930s, TwinCounty Regional Healthcare finished fis-cal year 2009 with a small profit of$70,000. This represents a $1.8 millionfinancial improvement over 2008. How-ever, TCRH’s operating margin of 0.2%falls short of the target operating marginof 2.5% needed to sustain competitivewages, new technology and upgraded fa-cilities. The lower than expected operat-ing margin is due to a higher than pro-jected length of stay, increased charitycare of $5.1 million compared to $4.4million in fiscal year 2008, and bad debtsof $4.7 million compared to $3.6 millionin fiscal year 2008.

Despite the many challenges present-ed by these difficult economic times,Twin County Regional Healthcare suc-cessfully weathered the storm and had asuccessful year in 2009. TCRH madegreat strides in improving patient carequality, patient safety and patient satis-faction during 2009. The expectations for2010 and beyond are even higher with astrong focus and commitment toward be-coming a top 25% performer in all six (6)pillars of success.

For more information about TwinCounty Regional Healthcare’s programsand services, please visit www.tcrh.org.


TCRH: Successful in 2009


416 South Main StreetHillsville, VA 24343

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What started as an idea nearly 20 years ago is now thesource of medical care for more than 500 people in thearea.

The Free Clinic of the Twin Counties offers healthcarefor the uninsured, low income residents of Carroll,Grayson and Galax, and in recent years, its services havebeen well-used. In 2006, the Clinic had around 30 pa-tients. In 2009, the Clinic saw 543 patients 2,197 timesand paid more than $18,000 for 4,242 prescriptionsthrough Food City’s $4 prescription plan. And as of thiswriting, there were still 151 people waiting to get an ap-pointment at the Free Clinic.

“It’s increasing each month,” said Executive DirectorDina Slusher. “Our patient load is increasing; the numberof prescriptions is increasing.”

Plus, Slusher said the Clinic is close to adding dentalcare to its array of services.

“We are on the verge of opening our own dental clinic,”she said. “We’ve got the trailer in the back and we’ve beenrenovating with help of volunteers from the community.”

In the early 1990s, two doctors who attended the FirstBaptist Church of Galax saw the need for a free clinic inthe area. They talked to the pastor and deacons of thechurch and shortly thereafter started seeing patients atFBC one or two nights a week.

“It was a big undertaking and it got off to a great startbut after a while, the volunteer participation dwindled andit became a clinic without walls,” Slusher said. “A part-time director would work from their home, set up appoint-

ments in doctors’ offices and call the patient and let themknow they had an appointment and paid for prescriptions.They did that for a number of years.”

Slusher came on board as the Free Clinic’s first full-time director on Sept. 1, 2006 and helped it open its per-manent home at 300 W. Oldtown Street in Galax.

Once the Free Clinic was in its new home, Slusher saidthings took off almost to the point of closure, but dona-tions came in to help keep the doors open.

“Our pharmacy bills were outrageous,” she said. “Be-fore I came on, we were not getting funds from our locali-ties like Hillsville and Galax, Carroll and Grayson. I be-gan going to those localities and asked for funds and theybegan putting us in their budget. We got money through

the Virginia Association of Free Clinics. Based on patientsand prescriptions. That money comes from state budget.”

Slusher said individuals and businesses have con-tributed when they could, and no amount is insignificant; adonation of as little as $4 is enough to pay for a prescrip-tion.

“The community has stepped up each year a little bitmore,” she said. “At this particular time, they have lessand less to do with. We recently got a $25,000 donationfrom Vaughan-Bassett Furniture. At the same time, every$5 mounts up. I don’t want anybody to think any amountis insignificant.”

Fundraisers also play a big part in setting the budgeteach year for the Free Clinic. Slusher said on the first Sat-urday of each month, Applebee’s hosts a pancake break-fast.

“It’s $5 a person and you get all you can eat pancakes,sausage and a drink,” Slusher said. “We need volunteers tohelp us with those fundraisers. It takes 10 to 15 people torun one of those fundraisers. We’ve been asking churchesand other civic organizations to help us do it.”

Applebee’s has also hosted a car show, and among oth-er popular fundraisers is bike ride that is headed up byFred Mitchell on the second Saturday of July.

“It’s a big event and it’s amazing to see the work thatgoes into it,” Slusher said. “There are riders who come infrom all over the United States. They have tents set up allover the community, great refreshments and a rest stop forthe riders. It’s a great fundraiser.”

Those fundraisers help keep the Free Clinic in opera-tion, where volunteer medical professionals offer servicesto those in need. Dr. Kathy Schultz said she was lookingfor a way to help in the community when she heard about

Free Clinic provides health care for those in need

See FREE CLINIC, page 16

The Free Clinic of the Twin Counties is lo-cated at 300 W. Oldtown Street in Galax.


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the Free Clinic.“I have wanted to help, but as an indi-

vidual, I don't have the opportunity or themeans,” Schultz said. “Then someone toldme about the Free Clinic and invited me tohelp. Here was my opportunity. The com-munity provides the means by supportingthe Free Clinic.

I know that this is an answer to prayer.God directs us to help those in need, andHe has provided the means and the oppor-tunity. Let's remember to thank Him forthis blessing.”

Schultz said with out of control insur-ance companies, the Free Clinic is the onlyway for some in the area to receive thecare they need.

“Over the past 50 years, I have seenmedical care taken over by big business,”Schultz said. “People could buy BlueCross insurance at a reasonable rate. Now,only Bill Gates can afford it as an individ-ual. Corporations must buy it for employ-ees, but the jobless are just out of luck.”

Many of the Free Clinic’s patients canreceive some of the same quality care thatTwin County Regional Hospital’s patientsreceive, as the Clinic partners with TCRHfor procedures and work it can’t handle.

“They’re almost like our lifeblood,”Slusher said of TCRH. “They provide allof our tests, x-rays, MRIs, labs, everythingthat we can’t do here, they provide. I know

this is a tough time for them as well, sowe’re having to be selective of who wesend and then we have to get it preap-proved for our patients to go and utilizetheir services.”

She said many doctors’ offices also arewilling to donate equipment as they getnewer pieces.

“Lot of doctors’ offices think of uswhen they have extra equipment or sup-plies,” Slusher said. “Samples are a bigthing. If we can get samples from doctors’offices, that will help us not pay so muchto Food City. If we can get support fromour doctors’ offices, that would be great.”

Plus, Slusher said she hopes areachurches will lend their support to the FreeClinic, as the volunteers try to mend soulsas well as bodies.

“We focus on ministry here as well, notjust health but the holistic approach to ourpatients,” Slusher said. “We want them tobecome a healthy, productive part of socie-ty. We like being a steppingstone in help-ing them become that part of society;building their self-esteem. We share theGospel by the smiles on our faces, havinga positive attitude, by showing them loveand that we care and that there is a betterway to life. I think one of the early visionsof the Free Clinic board is what we do, wedo in the name of Jesus.”


Free Clinic: Offers health help


Providing Quality Health CareTo the Counties of Carroll, Floyd, Franklin And Patrick.

Tri-Area’s Medical Staff: Jacki Webb, PNP; Glen Tate, MD; Steven Huff, MD; and Jennifer Bennett, CFNP

“Community Owned And Governed ByThe Laurel Fork Health Commission”

Ferrum Community HealthCenter & Pharmacy

40 Wiley DriveFerrum, VA 24088

Center • 540-365-4469Pharmacy • 540-365-9992

Floyd CommunityHealth Center

216 Parkway Lane SouthFloyd, VA 24091540-745-9290

Front: Virgnia Burris, Kayla Crowder, Priscilla Agnew, Vicky Hylton, Maxine Kennedy, Bart Taylor, Michelle Turman; Back: Ralph Barnard, Tom Barnard, Scott Lefwich, Cindy Melton,

Nancy Puckett, Llew Ellyn Meredith, Renae Conner, Connie Vass (not pictured: Debra Shelor, Pat Moles, Meagan Underwood)

Front: Barbara Goins, Grace Padgett,

Linda Sutphin; Back: Sue Jessup,

Annette Hold, Crystal Webb, Dave Byrd

(not pictured: Danny Barnett,Robin Belcher)

Front: Nikki Davis, Jocelyn Phillips, Terena Goad; Back: Claudette

Ayers, Carla Horton Shawn Kimble (not pictured:

Donna Phillips)

For 25 years, Tri-Area Health Clinicand Pharmacy in Laurel Fork served por-tions of Carroll, Patrick and Floyd Coun-ties and the surrounding areas.

In 2006, LFHC expanded to a secondlocation, Ferrum Community Health Cen-ter and Pharmacy (FCHC), in Ferrum, Vir-ginia. In 2005, the Board was approachedby a group from Ferrum College who wereconcerned about the lack of health care inthe village of Ferrum and surroundingarea. Recognizing the similarities in thetwo communities, the Board voted to ex-plore the opportunity for expansion intoFranklin County, VA. Ferrum CommunityHealth Center employees began providingstudent health services to Ferrum Collegein August 2006 in the existing studenthealth center. Ferrum Community HealthCenter and Ferrum Community Pharmacyopened to the public in January 2007 in therenovated basement of Vaughn Chapel onthe Ferrum College Campus.

March, 2007 brought new, unexpectedopportunities to expand our services to aneighboring community, Floyd County,VA. In 2007 as part of President Bush’sHealth Center Initiatives, 200 counties na-tionwide were designated as High PovertyCounties in need of additional health careservice, and Floyd County was included.The Bureau of Primary Health Care invit-ed grant applications for new communityhealth center programs in these counties.The board reviewed the criteria, assessedtheir resources and voted to pursue the op-portunity. Tri-Area Health Clinic hadserved the Burks Fork district of FloydCounty for 25 years and recognized theneed for additional access to healthcareservices in Floyd County.

A New Access Points in High PovertyCounties grant was awarded in September2007 for the start up and continuation ofFloyd Community Health Center. A condi-tion of the grant was that the center mustopen within months, so a temporary sitewas sought while a permanent site was be-ing located. The Floyd Community HealthCenter opened in March 2008 in leasedspace in the dormitory of the JacksonvilleCenter for the Arts.

The plans for a permanent facility con-tinued, and land was purchased at 140Christiansburg Pike. Construction began inspring 2009 by G & H Contractors. Tri-Area Community Health Center at Floydopened on March 22,2010. The new8,050 square foot facility hosts 8 examrooms, 1 treatment room for emergenciesand minor office surgeries, state of the artdigital x-ray, in house laboratory, physi-cian offices, conference room, and a largewaiting room with children’s area. The in-side of the facility is complete. There isstill some work to be done on the exteriorsuch as landscaping, paving the drivewayand parking lots, exterior painting, fencebuilding and the completion of the sign atthe entrance. With all of the cold wet win-ter we have had, we are looking forward to

spring and the chance to see everythingcompleted.

The interior of the building was de-signed with a warm palette and natural ele-ments to reflect the general nature andcharacter of the local communities. Origi-nal paintings from local artists were usedthroughout the building.

Tri-Area Community Health Centercurrently employees 10 full and part-timeemployees at the new Floyd site. Dr Lor-rie French and Beth Hubbard, CFNP pro-vide health services to the entire familyfrom newborn babies to geriatrics. Theyare supported by a team of compassionatenurses and x-ray personnel and courteousprofessional office staff. A formal OpenHouse Celebration is planned for later thisSpring.

Community Health Centers much likeprivate medical practices, but are non-profit businesses “owned” by the commu-nity and governed by a volunteer boardcomposed of residents of the communitiesthey serve.

The Board of Directors includes:From: Floyd County: Jack Russell, JohnMcEnhill, Korene Thompson; PatrickCounty: Mary Dashiell, Roseanne Black,Gloria Hilton, Margie Cockram,WalterRugaber; Carroll County: Jim Kieley, Eu-nafaye McAlexander; Franklin County:Cy Dillon, Rosa Perkins

Community Health Centers are non-profit medical practices located in med-ically underserved areas to provide com-prehensive primary health care to anyoneseeking care. In addition to treating indi-vidual patients, a health center emphasizeshealth promotion and disease preventionfor entire communities. A CommunityHealth Center provides health care servic-es to everyone - all community residentshave equal access regardless of ability topay, geographic locations/residence, cul-ture, age, sex, or religion.

The three key aspects of CHCs — uni-versal access, cost effectiveness, and com-munity governance - continue to prove tobe the most effective long term solutionfor meeting primary health care needs inmedically underserved areas.

In 2009, our company underwent aname change and redesign. We changedour corporate name from Laurel ForkHealth Commission to Tri-Area Commu-nity Health. All three sites followed suitechanging their names to Tri-Area Commu-nity Health Centers at Ferrum, at Floyd,and at Laurel Fork.

Like our Laurel Fork and Ferrum healthcenters, Floyd CHC will use a sliding feescale with discounts based on patient fami-ly size and income in accordance with fed-eral poverty guidelines to ensure equal ac-cess to all community residents for unin-sured lower income residents.

Medicare, Medicaid, Anthem, and mostprivate insurances will be accepted. Ap-pointments can be scheduled by calling540-745-9290.

Tri-Area opens newFloyd Health Center




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[email protected]

It’s been a Hillsville institution since1946.

And for some people, the HillsvilleDiner takes them back to that year or tosome other time long gone.

Owner C.D. “Mac” McPeak Jr. saidthere’s no one real reason why the Dinerholds a special place to so many, but youdon’t get to be in business for 64 yearsby accident.

“The longevity of it? I think it’s acombination of good food, good serviceand being consistent,” McPeak said.“With the economic times right now, it’sgot to be doing something right to con-tinue.”

The Diner came to Hillsville in 1946when Will Sowers brought the 1920smodel O’Mahony dining car up fromnearby Mount Airy, N.C., where it wasbelieved that the Granite City’s most fa-mous former citizen dined as a young-ster.

“When this place was in Mount Airy,it was when Andy Griffith was growingup,” McPeak said. “Supposedly, whenyou hear them mention the diner in (TheAndy Griffith Show), I have a vision thatthis was the place he was talking about.”

Shortly after beingtransported fromMount Airy toHillsville and openedup by Andy Howlettand Marvin Marshall,McPeak’s father anduncle, C.D. McPeakSr. and Roy McPeak,began operating it andthe Diner began trans-forming into the busi-ness that it is today.

“Before anythingwas added on, it wasjust the car here,” Mc-Peak said. “They putthe kitchen on firstand then they addedpart of the diner, thenthey added again.”

Mac McPeak tookover operations in1983, and said in the27 years that he hasbeen in charge of thebusiness, he’s seenHillsville and CarrollCounty transform.

“We’ve seen a lotof changes just in mytime really,” he said.“Back in the early andmid 80s, this town was

still pretty much textiles; Sprague Elec-tric, a lot of jobs. Now it’s changed to alot more of, I’m going to say a retirementcounty. We have a lot of people retirehere. We have a lot of people travelingthrough, too. It’s a combination.”

But, McPeak noted, a change in thebasic customer hasn’t meant much of achange in business.

“What we lost in work eaters, wepicked up in travelers; as a tourist attrac-tion,” he said. “People don’t stop herebecause they drive by and say hey. Thisis not an impulse buy. Most people thatcome here plan to come here.”

McPeak said in recent years, he hasnoticed a lot of people making the tripjust for the experience of eating at theDiner.

“We don’t have a Web site, but there’slots of information out there about din-ers,” McPeak said. “A lot of people arediner junkies. They like to go to diners;they grew up with them. They look onthe Internet and see where diners are.”

And many of the Diner’s diners comefrom all over the world.

“Not so long ago we had a guestbook.We had people sign their names andwhere they were from,” McPeak said.“We’ve had them come from Australia,people from England, people from justabout anywhere imaginable. I thought itwas pretty cool how they heard about it.”

McPeak said the Diner serves manyof the same staple meals that have beenon the menu for years. Plus, he said un-like many eateries, there’s not a wholelot of turnover and you can count on see-

ing familiar faces such as Robin Parnell,Jessica Coleman, Sandra Creasy, SherryFouts and Kim Taylor behind the counteron a regular basis from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m.on Monday through Friday and from 5 to11 a.m. on Saturday.

And according to some customers,there are a few older, familiar sights tobe seen.

“We had a guy that had breakfast a lit-tle while ago and he said I believe thatequipment was here the last time I washere. I said when was that and he said1950. I’m sure it was,” McPeak said.“Why he came in, I don’t know, he prob-ably just wanted breakfast, but maybe hewanted to go back in time too.”


3

• Health• Health

114

Hillsville Diner harkens back to yesterday

The Hillsville Diner is a 1920s modle O’Mahony dining car. It’s been sitting on MainStreet in Hillsville since 1946.

Owner C.D. “Mac” McPeak


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If ever a business fit the description ofvariety store, it would be The HeritageShoppe in Woodlawn. Offering anythingfrom a wide range of wedding and cakesupplies to musical instruments and rarerecordings, The Heritage Shoppe hasjust about everything.

Opening in August of 1983 primarilyas a cake decorating specialty supplystore, The Heritage Shoppe has contin-ued to expand the amount and type ofgoods it offers over the past quarter of acentury. Obviously the strategy hasworked, as the business has grownenough to add on twice during that time.

“We’ve just listened to our customersand tried to get stuff they wanted andneeded,” said Bobby Patterson, whoowns The Heritage Shoppe along withhis wife, Janet. “I think a lot of peoplego into business and they make the mis-take of not listening to their customers.They do what they want to do and thatdoesn’t necessarily lead to success. Ifyou don’t listen to your customers andsatisfy their needs, they will go some-where else to get it.”

Chief among the many items avail-able at The Heritage Shoppe are a largeselection of Wilton cake and candy-mak-ing supplies, partyware, wedding acces-sories and invitations, stringed instru-ments, and hard-to-find music. Amongthe party supplies include a massive se-lection of copyrighted characters thatchildren love such as SpongebobSquarepants, Mickey Mouse, StrawberryShortcake, Barbie, Elmo, Scooby Doo,and Pokemon. The business features ahelium balloon and treatment station,even carrying balloons with charactersfrom Star Wars, Superman, My LittlePony, Toy Story, and others that are hardto find.

If you are looking for wedding or an-niversary supplies, there is no need totravel a great distance to find them. TheHeritage Shoppe has a massive invento-ry, including many items that can’t befound in larger chain stores that special-ize in the same types of occasions. Theselection is so broad, Patterson says hegets a regular stream of customers fromas far away as Roanoke, Christiansburg,Pulaski, and even Bristol, Tenn.

“I just had some people come by thathad gone to shop in Winston-Salem(N.C.). One fellow said he had shoppedat a lot of the bigger supply stores, but hesaid they don’t compare to what wehave,” Patterson said. “You can findanything you want here. If not, we willspecial order items that are hard to getthat most places don’t carry. If we don’thave it, we will try to get it. That goes

for CDs and recordings as well.”Patterson’s love of music is evident

upon stepping foot inside The HeritageShoppe, as guitars and other stringed in-struments hang from the walls near theentrance. Rare recordings of old-timeand southern string music are availableon both CD and cassette, as are blue-grass and Southern Gospel music.

“We also have instruments and mate-rials to play almost any instrument —banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar, bass, pi-ano, organ, keyboard,” Patterson said.

As a leader in the Galax MooseLodge, Patterson has recorded the annu-al Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention thepast 24 years. While all those recordingsare housed at Ferrum College, he takesselections from each year’s fiddler’sconvention for an annual CD he offers atthe business. Cassettes and vinyl recordsas also available.

“There are still people that orderthem,” Patterson said.

Also one of the area’s most noted mu-sicians, Patterson was one of six peopleto receive the 2009 Virginia HeritageAward last summer from the VirginiaCommission of the Arts. Patterson hasplayed mandolin in The Highlandersbluegrass band since 1974 and he’srecorded and produced albums since1972, including Wayne Henderson’s firstalbum in 1976. Along with accom-plished Appalachian artist Willard Gay-heart, who operates The Front PorchGallery and Frame Shop just behind TheHeritage Shoppe, much of Carroll Coun-ty’s history is being preserved in Wood-lawn for local citizens to enjoy for gen-erations to come.

“I do it through recordings, preserv-ing the sound, and Willard does it in hisartwork and drawings,” Patterson said. “In fact I have a slogan I put on all myCDs now, ‘Preserving the Past in Mu-sic.’”

By preserving the culture and heritageof the county, and Appalachia in general,The Heritage Shoppe and The FrontPorch Gallery and Frame Shop havebeen listed as venues on The CrookedRoad — Virginia’s Heritage Music Trailwinding through the mountains ofSouthwest Virginia. That listing hasbrought visitors to the two businessesfrom all around the globe.

“Anybody traveling The CrookedRoad, most all of them stop here, proba-bly about 75 percent of them. We’vebeen getting people from all over theworld,” Patterson said. “We have lots ofpeople come in from Holland, and we’vehad had them from Switzerland, Englandand Italy, and a lot from all over theU.S.”

And in a way, it was also music thatled to The Heritage Shoppe’s opening.Patterson was a sales rep for Hillsville


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208 N. Main St. Hillsville, VA 24343276-728-4212

Variety comes standard at The Heritage Shoppe

Bobby Patterson (left) and his wife Janet have been offering every-thing from wedding and cake supplies to musical instruments andrare recordings since opening The Heritage Shoppe in Woodlawn in1983.

See HERITAGE SHOPPE, page 21


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AM radio station WHHV in 1983 whenthe station was put up for sale. Figuringhe would lose his job, Patterson beganstudying alternative routes of employ-ment. At first he considered opening aPorter Paints franchise at The HeritageShoppe’s current location. The companyconsidered Galax to be a better location,however.

“So we got to talking and my wifesaid, ‘Why don’t you get into cake deco-rating supplies?’ So I’d already made

arrangements to buy the building. Twodays before that the new owners tookover the radio station and they offeredme a job. I told them it was too late,”Patterson said. “I remembered my oldbuddy, my old boss at the furniture fac-tory, when we lost our jobs, he said, ‘Weshould create one of our own,’ so that’swhat we did.”

The Heritage Shoppe is located at 101Coulson Church Road in Woodlawn, justabove the Woodlawn Post Office. It isopen from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondaysthrough Saturdays.


Heritage Shoppe: A little of it all

The Heritage Shoppe has a wide range of party supplies with copy-righted characters as Spongebob Squarepants, Mickey Mouse,Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie, Elmo, Scooby Doo, and Pokemon,and many others that children love.

Rare recordings of old-time and southern string music are availableon both CD and cassette at The Heritage Shoppe, as are bluegrassand Southern Gospel music.



[email protected]

Chances are you’ve seen his work —either a business sign or one of his “Car-roll County Collection” pictures.

And while some might look at hissigns or drawings and assume he studiedyears to become so adept, local artistRon Leonard said his skill comes from alifetime of drawing on his own, with noformal training.

But that’s not to say he didn’t perfecthis craft while in school.

“Sebert Sisson’s wife was my Englishteacher in eighth grade. I hated English,”Leonard said. “We sat alphabeticallythen and there was a Jackson girl sittingin front of me and a Nester girl sittingbehind me and I drew them pictures ofElvis and they would do my homeworkfor me. Mrs. Sisson would go around theroom and I had my notebook open anddrawing. She would catch me and tearthem up.”

Years later, Leonard said Mrs. Sissongot a good look at what Leonard learnedwhile in her class.

“ In 1972, they talked me into beingthe PTA president at St. Paul School,” hesaid. “At that time, they were workingon the gym and I was talking to the guythat was working on it. I told him whenthey got the floor in and finished to apoint, before they put the final finish onit, if they gave me time, I’d paint a pic-ture of the mascot. He agreed to do that.I was there one day laying down andpainting. It was a four- or six-foot circle.All the sudden, the door opened and herecame a group of school dignitaries. I gotup and I was trying to get out of the wayand they came over and looked at what Iwas doing. They were oohing andaahing. Mrs. Sisson was in the group andshe hadn’t seen me for a number ofyears. She said, ‘Mr. Leonard, where didyou go to art school?’ I said, “The eighthgrade, your English class.’ They all got abig laugh about that.”

And since then, Leonard said he hasconsidered the Sissons close friends —with something they can all laugh about.

“When we moved to Hillsville about20 years ago, I met her at the VFW,”Leonard said. “She did that time, andevery time since, she apologized for tear-ing my pictures up. She’s good as gold.”

Leonard also spent time drawingwhile in the Army, and upon his dis-charge, he got a job drawing forSpencer’s in Mount Airy, N.C., beforegoing into the sign business.

“I came out of the Army and workedin a print shop at Spencer’s in MountAiry,” Leonard said. “I got a job theredrawing the babies to use on the label. Idid that for 10 or 11 years.”

Today, Leonard’s shop is in Cana, atthe site of his parents’ produce market.Leonard said the building holds a lot ofmemories from his childhood and from

his collection of signs.“This old store belonged to Mother

and Daddy,” he said. “After she died, mybrother, who lived in Mississippi got thisold building and I always wanted it be-cause we were raised in here. When I gotit back, I started getting things — I had alot of things from the 40s and 50s that Igrew up with — and started doing itfrom memory.”

Leonard said it’s not unusual for trav-elers to stop by and look around theshop, but he said they shouldn’t expectto take a sign with them — they’re notfor sale.

“People will stop by and look. It’s alot of fun,” Leonard said. “A lot of peo-ple will stop that are interested in a lot ofthat old stuff. Some come through thedoor and when they find out nothing’sfor sale, they’ll leave. I don’t sell any-thing. I just let them look.”

In addition to signs, Leonard’s shophas several pictures of historic CarrollCounty buildings as well as works de-picting the Allen family and the 1912Courthouse Tragedy.

In one of his most recent works,Leonard has drawn a picture of the pro-ceedings moments after the first shotswere fired. The scene is chaotic, withfolks firing their weapons and scaredpeople running for their lives.

“I’ve been interested in this thing allmy life,” Leonard said of the Tragedy. “Ididn’t realize how close they all were to-gether. There were some scared peoplethat day. That’s the reason nobody was-n’t hitting nothing. Floyd (Allen) wasshot two or three times but there were sixor seven of them shooting at Floyd fromsix or eight feet and he still got outside.”

The drawing depicts all of the knownparticipants in the event, as well as threecontemporaries — authors Ron Hall andBill Lord, who wrote about the shoot-ings, and Leonard, himself, who is seat-ed on a bench to the side of the firefight.

And while most of the assembly hastheir weapons drawn and firing, Leonardsaid he made sure he didn’t implicateanybody as a person’s particular gun-man.

“I tried not to point guns directly at

anybody,” he said. “I don’t want one ofthe families saying ‘You’ve got himshooting my great-uncle when someoneelse did it.’”

Leonard’s art brings Carroll’s history to life

Ron Leonard drew this scene based on the Carroll County Courthouse shooting of 1912 in commemo-ration of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the event.

Ron Leonard


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If you’re interested in having some-thing framed, The Front Porch Galleryand Frame Shop in Woodlawn is a greatplace to go. Chances are, though, thatyou’ll leave with something much more— a greater appreciation of Appalachianlife and culture.

The sounds and images of the BlueRidge Mountains come alive upon step-ping foot in the local business, opened 20years ago by legendary local artistWillard Gayheart. Gayheart, who is oftenreferred to as the Norman Rockwell ofAppalachia, is well-known throughoutthese mountains and far beyond for hisunique way of capturing the essence ofthe people and the culture of these partsin beautifully-detailed graphite drawings.All throughout the shop, Gayheart’s workis on display, featuring faces and placesthat are familiar to locals, and others thatcelebrate the cultural icons of the region— bluegrass legends such as Bill Mon-roe, Doc Watson and Ralph Stanley. Andit’s that high, lonesome sound that madeold-time and bluegrass music popular somany years ago that resonates throughoutthe building as well behind the steadyhand of Scott Freeman, who gives fiddle,mandolin, guitar and bass lessons five

days a week to children and adults alikeat the shop. Freeman is Gayheart’s son-in-law, and the two make up four mem-bers of the bluegrass band Skeeter and theSkidmarks. The band has recorded fouralbums and will be getting back togetherfor a reunion later this year. One of Gay-heart’s previous bands, The Highlanders,opened for Bill Monroe and played on thesame stage with Ralph Stanley, evenplaying the 1982 World Fair in Knoxville,Tenn.

The combination of Gayheart’s highly-sought after drawings and the music ofthe region draw visitors to the shop fromThe Crooked Road, Virginia’s HeritageMusic Trail on which Gayheart’s businessis listed.

“We do get many visitors from TheCrooked Road. The book about theCrooked Road that Joe Wilson wrotedraws a lot of people because we have apretty good article in there. There is dif-ferent publicity that is out there and itdoes help,” Gayheart said. “A lot of themcome here because the article in TheCrooked Road book has an illustrationfrom one of my drawings in there. I thinkit is the subject as much as anything. It’sall part of the culture here. The music andthe drawings and so on, they’re all con-nected.”

Gayheart said he opened The FrontPorch Gallery and Frame Shop 20 yearsago mainly because he needed framingdone for his own artwork. So why not of-fer the service to the public as well?

“It turned into a pretty good business.We serve Carroll County, Grayson Coun-ty, and part of Wythe,” Gayheart said.“We get customers from all over, so it

keeps busy.”Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, Gay-

heart said he’s always had a fondness fordrawing the people of Appalachia, andhe’s been doing it for as long as he can re-member. The hobby began to take off,however, after he began a series of por-traits in the 1970s and donated several ofthem to the annual Lord’s Acre Sale inGalax. Locals immediately fell in lovewith the honesty of Gayheart’s work aswell as their intricate details, so carefullyillustrated many folks have often com-pared them to photographs. The series ofdrawings evolved into a theme Gayheartcalls “Nostalgic Glimpses of the Ap-palachians.”

“I grew up in Eastern Kentucky and Ialways wanted to draw ever since I canremember. I grew up drawing mostlypeople, people doing things that are com-

mon in the Appalachians. I still use thetheme ‘Nostalgic Glimpses of the Ap-palachians’ and that is mainly what I aminterested in, glimpses of the Appalachianpeople and what they do,” Gayheart said.“I do other things as well — Bill Mon-roe, Doc Watson. I’ve done a series ofdrawings of Bill Monroe, one a year forthe past six or seven years. I’ll do one ayear until Bill will be 100, which will be2011.”

Of course, producing a drawing withthe quality of Gayheart’s work doesn’tcome easy. The 77-year-old said patiencewas a virtue he had to develop over timeas demand for his work began to grow.

“Through the years I haven’t been avery patient person. I used to think I hadto do these drawings in one sitting, but inorder to do what I do today I had to cometo grips of taking whatever time it takesto do these,” he said. “Sometimes it willtake two months to do them. It dependson the drawing and how much detail is init, but I just have to let it finish when itdoes and it has taught me to be more pa-tient.”

An original Gayheart drawing is typi-cally done on a 22-inch by 29-inch can-vas, which is very large for a pencil draw-ing. Much of his original work has sincegone on to print, while many are sold out.At least 50 of Gayheart’s sold out draw-ings can be found in a book published byMcFarland Press titled, “Willard Gay-heart, Appalachian Artist.” Aside from hisWoodlawn business, Gayheart prints canbe purchased at Shoney’s in Hillsville andTreasure Potts in Fancy Gap. In total,Gayheart estimates he’s authored about150 originals over the past 30 years.

“And I still do it for people,” Gayheartsaid. “I am working on three right nowthat are personal-commissioned draw-ings.”

Of course, then there are the framingsfrom which The Front Porch Gallery andFrame Shop gets its name. Gayheart saidthe business offers a wide range of fram-ings from five different companies. Ifthey don’t have something in stock, Gay-heart said he can get just about any type


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All throughout The Front Porch Gallery and Frame Shop, WillardGayheart’s work is on display, featuring faces and places that are fa-miliar to locals, and others that celebrate the cultural icons of the re-gion. Gayheart (left) and Bobby Patterson, another local bluegrassstalwart, are pictured in this Gayheart original.

Local artist Willard Gayheart,owner of The Front PorchGallery and Frame Shop inWoodlawn, is often referred toas the Normal Rockwell of Ap-palachia for his unique way ofcapturing the essence of thepeople and the culture of the re-gion in beautifully-detailedgraphite drawings.

See FRONT PORCH, page 25


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of frame. Molding generally runs any-where from $3 to $25 for a foot of mold-ing. And after 20 years in the business,it’s rare for Gayheart to come across achallenge he hasn’t tackled.

“We do all kinds of matting and shad-ow boxes, just about anything you canthink of that can be framed we’ve done.We’ve done it for so long, there’s notmuch we haven’t’ seen,” Gayheart said.“Map prices are all consistent with every-body else, but the molding prices varydepending on the type of mold. We get a

lot of big posters and maps and thingsthat we frame. So much of what we getwill be diplomas, portraits, prints bywell-known artists, and they are all 20- or24-by-36, but every once in a while weget a big poster and will have to get over-sized glass and mapboards for that.”

And of course, prints of Gayheart’sand other artists’ work are available atThe Front Porch Gallery and FrameShop. And from the sounds of it, they willbe there for a long time to come.

“This is where I want always be, herein these hills,” Gayheart said.


Front Porch: Piece of Appalachia

Scott Freeman (right) offers fiddle, mandolin, guitar and bass les-sons five days a week to children and adults alike at The FrontPorch Gallery and Frame Shop. Here he is shown giving lessons tostudent Jordyn Cox.


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305 South Main StreetHillsville, VA 24343

8 Years

Lawncare Done RightKris Richardson

259 Excelsior School Rd.Laurel Fork

Experienced, Insured, Reliable, AffordableHome: 276-398-3567Cell: 276-733-9910

Accepting New Clients... Free Quotes

39 Years

Ayers Accounting& Tax Service Inc.

Marion P. Ayers EAPresident

408B N. Main Street336 Bobbitt Road

Hillsville, VA 276-728-7011 • Fax 276-728-4760

www.chillsnet.org

25 Years

Russell’s Garage24 Hour Towing Service

Front End Alignment & TiresUnlock Service • Exhaust

Rt. 221 NorthHillsville, VA 24343

276-728-3850 Day 276-728-5408 Night 276-728-9812 Night

21 Years

Trinity Mission Health & Rehab of Hillsville, LLC

222 Fulcher StreetHillsville, VA

(276) 728-2486Fax (276) 728-9077

20 Years

Located next to the Post Offi ce

416 S Main St.Hillsville, VA

Open 8 am - 6 pm M-F8am - 1 pm Sat.


2010 Business Honor Roll

32 Years

The Dawn Auction, Inc.

235 W. Stuart Dr.Hillsville, VA

(276) 728-9181www.dawnauction.com

64 Years

HillsvilleDiner

525 N. Main StreetHillsville, VA

(276) 728-7681

37 Years

McGrady & McGrady, LLP

Attorneys At Law

Joseph H. McGradyJonathan L. McGrady127 Mill Street P.O. Box 605

Hillsville, VirginiaPhone (276) 728-2591

[email protected] [email protected]

64 Years

NESTER’S STORE INC.Family owned since 1946

13055 Danville PikeLaurel Fork, VA

(276) 398-2521

36 Years

Brady’sProduce

“Fresh daily from the farm to you”Located at Southwest Virginia

Farmer’s Market - I-77, Exit 148-5 - 7 days a week

276-728-2433After 5 leave message at

276-398-2015

12 Years

BARR’SLandscape, Lawn

& Tree ServiceOffering full landscape services at

affordable prices1199 Little Bit Rd,

Hillsville, VA276-733-7985276-398-4348

[email protected]

20 Years

His and HerAutomotiveSpecializing in Nissan & GM

2905 Bell Spur RoadLaurel Fork, VA

276-398-2040

14 Years

SNOW INSURANCE AGENCY

A FULL SERVICE AGENCYBob Snow, Doug Snow & Kellie Bodnar

AgentsAuto • Home • Life • Health • Business

P.O. Box 1237 - 708 N. Main St.Hillsville, VA

Ph: (276) 728-9975 • Fax (276) [email protected]

25 Years

HILLSVILLEPRESCHOOL

Located @ 1st United Methodist Church

PO Box 356, Hillsville, VA

276-728-2434Now accepting enrollment

for Fall 2010

1 Year

Massage Therapyat

D-ZIRE’S EDGE HAIR STUDIO

April Thompson,National Certifi ed Massage Therapist

Gift Certifi cates availableFacials and ear candling

276-728-2071

60 Years

FAMILY SHOE STORE

60th AnniversaryHillsville, Virginia521 Main Street

(276) 728-7483

5 Years

Jackson Mowing Service

39 Snowball LaneLaurel Fork, VA

276-398-1126(Leave a message)

Free Estimates

36 Years

Hi-Fashion

“Kut Ups”Sharon, Jan, Becky,

KaraHairstylists & Nail Tech

308 North Main St.Hillsville, VA

276-728-7071

20 Years

Stephanie A. HarveyAgent

231 S. Main StreetHillsville, VA

Bus 276-728-2231

65 Years

Carroll County Coop, Inc.PO Box 98

Int. of Rt 221 & 58Hillsville, VA

(276) 728-2912Fax (276) 728-3421

Shop (276) 728-5406FEED - SEED - FERTILIZER - FARM SUPPLIES

14 Years

Carroll CountyDance Center

Professional Performing Arts Training

Kelly G. KrantzArtistic Director

522 North Main St.Hillsville, VA 276-728-5667

1 Years

Kidz Clozet“Keeping Down the Cost of

Growing Up”

225 N. Main StreetHillsville, VA276-728-2327

[email protected]

5 Years

Time Factoryof Hillsville

Kenneth M. Ashley - Owner706 North Main Street

Hillsville, VA(276) 730-0300

Fax (276) [email protected]

3 Years

D-ZIRE’S EDGEHAIR STUDIO

510 West Stuart Dr.Hillsville, VA

foils, color, pedicures, manicures, airbrush tanning, extreme

tanning bed

276-728-2071

Providing Insurance and

Financial Services


Proud member of

Grayson National Bank“Serving the Community Since 1900”

BBNNGG

What’s Going On? Celebrating Carroll County’s past,...

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