Probate Lawyer in Gramling, SC

District 1 Schools recently announced its 2012-13 Teachers of the Year for each school and the Teacher of the Year.

Teacher of the Year for District One Schools and Chapman High School Teacher of the Year is Mrs. Erin Gramling, English/ language arts. Gramling is a graduate of the University of South Carolina Upstate, has a master's degree in education and has been teaching for seven years, all at Chapman High.

Gramling teaches ninth and 10th grades and serves as cheerleading coach for the Chapman Competitive Cheer Squad. She is married to Trey Gramling.

Mrs. Gramling says, “With support, a student can be successful. I want to teach because I have an opportunity to give, selflessly, every day. Teaching is rewarding because my heart almost bursts with happiness when I am able to help children believe in themselves. Since I am only one person, the reality that I am expected to be the teacher, parent, mentor and counselor for each child is overwhelming. Since I rely on prayer to guide me through life, I am able to achieve a sense of peace as I begin each day.”

Mrs. Anna Hodge is the Campobello-Gramling School Teacher of the Year. She has been the art teacher at Campobello-Gramling School for 12 years and holds a master's degree in education.

The Teacher of the Year for Holly Springs-Motlow Elementary School is Mrs. Melissa Lark, who teaches third grade. Lark has been teaching for 20 years, all at Holly Springs Motlow Elementary. She holds a master's-plus-30 degree.

Mrs. Mary Somers, special education teacher, is Inman Elementary School's Teacher of the Year. She has taught for 32 years, 17 of those at Inman Elementary. She has a master'splus- 30 degree.

Media specialist Amber Keeran is the Teacher of the Year for Inman Intermediate School. She has taught for 26 years as a media specialist, special- education teacher and public library media specialist.

Col. Robert Sanders is the Landrum High School Teacher of the Year. Sanders holds a B.S. in engineering from West Point and a master's degree in counseling from Auburn University. He spent 28 years in the Army and has been an ROTC instructor for eight years.

Landrum Middle School's Teacher of the Year is Mrs. Jackie Putman. Putman has been teaching for 28 years and for six years at Landrum Middle School. She has a master's-plus-30 degree.

Mrs. Tammy Starosto is the Teacher of the Year for Mabry Middle School. Starosto has taught for 28 years and has been a math teacher at Mabry Middle for four years. She holds a master's degree.

O.P. Earle Elementary Teacher of the Year is Ms. Anna Mathis, who teaches fourth grade at O.P. Earle. Mathis holds a B.A. in elementary education and is elementary and middle level math-certified.

Mrs. Gayle Elrod serves as guidance counselor for New Prospect Elementary School and represents the school as Teacher of the Year. Elrod has taught special education for nine years and has been school counselor at New Prospect for five years. She has a master's degree in guidance and counseling.

Teacher of the Year for Swofford Career Center is Mrs. Tracy Thornton, who teaches graphics and printing at the school. She has been in that position for 11 years. She has degrees from Spartanburg Community College and career certification from Clemson University.

The Teachers of the Year were honored by the District 1 Board of Trustees at a dinner in their honor on Aug. 13. Each teacher received a name plaque to be placed outside the classroom door identifying him or her as Teacher of the Year. They were also recognized at the annual District 1 Convocation of all staff on Aug. 16.

Call, email or mail Ashley Dill at:

-- 864-562-7272

-- ashley.dill@shj.com

-- Town Square, Herald-Journal, P.O. Box 1657, Spartanburg, SC 29304

Betty Barnwell and Campobello-Gramling School

Story by Erin Boggs

One sunny Saturday this past October I was at the grocery store in Landrum and much to my surprise, I laid eyes upon my sixth grade Social Studies Teacher, Betty Barnwell. She looked exactly the same, and we recognized each other instantly. She informed me that she had just celebrated her 90th birthday. For the rest of the day, I was transported back in time thinking about that era in my life and how much I loved being a student of Mrs. Barnwell.

The year was 1986 – There I was, a sixth grader at Campobello-Gramling School. I had been a student there since I was in first grade. It was the awkward, gangly preteen with a bad perm year, the year of my mom’s non-stop sourdough bread baking bonanza, fun outdoor science lessons on the CGS Nature Trail in Mrs. Hilda Goley’s class, and also the year the of Space Shuttle Challenger incident, which happened just one day before my birthday on January 28th. Many of us including myself were in Mrs. Barnwell’s classroom when it happened and she comforted us during that difficult time.

Everyone has at least one early teacher or school who made a big difference in their life. As a child you might not be able to put your finger on or verbalize what made a teacher so special or why that school is so significant to you. Campobello Gramling was an exceptional school back then, and still is today. It has always attracted creative and uniquely gifted educators like Mrs. Barnwell, from Science and Art, to Social Studies and beyond, and in Mrs. Stallard’s P.E. class where we would engage in Disney’s “Mousercise” and Dancercise to “Hey Mickey” by Toni Basil. We were encouraged to be creative, to be thinkers, and to believe in ourselves. Ah, the 1980’s at good old CGS!

Today, many years later, people from outside the school still recognize how special CGS is. Fast forward to only a couple of years ago, when my friend Kirsten Toledo who was at the time the Community Impact Program Associate for the Peace Center in Greenville, asked me if I’d ever heard of Campobello-Gramling School.

Kirsten says “Campobello-Gramling had one of the most positive atmospheres I have ever experienced at a school. There was student art and projects everywhere, the teachers were excited to be there, and their principal (Jeremy Darby) was thoughtful and creative with his use of their resources. Those students not only had the opportunity for a solid basic education, but had opportunities to challenge themselves, experience and create different forms of art, and engage in activities to build problem-solving skills that will give them an excellent and well-rounded educational foundation.”

As a former student there, it was heartwarming to hear someone, after me being there over thirty years ago, feel the same way about the school as I always have.

Social Studies touches on so many subjects, covering history, current events, civics, economics, geography and many other topics, all in one class. Mrs. Barnwell’s class was right up my alley. In fact, I went on to complete my undergraduate degree in social sciences. The way she taught the class was to engage every student. We were encouraged to actively participate by presenting and commenting to the class what we thought about our assigned topics. One day every week we covered current events. There wasn’t any sitting and listening to just one person talk and take notes. The way Mrs. Barnwell led the class made every student feel included, heard and respected.

Recently I got to sit down and talk with Mrs. Barnwell after all of these years, and finally got to know about some of her life experiences that make her so special.

Though she was born in Polk County, NC and raised in Gramling, I did not know how extensively she has traveled the U.S. She even lived in California on and off for over eight years, which was rare for our area during that time. She brought this experience to the classroom and encouraged us to have an open-minded approach to learning and understanding new things. She taught us to think, confidently verbalize our thoughts, and to listen to and respect one another.

Mrs. Barnwell is an immeasurably strong woman, who has suffered what many would consider unimaginable losses of loved ones throughout her life. At age 15, before her mother passed, Betty made a promise to her mother that no matter what, she would finish all of her schooling. Many years later, after she returned from California with her husband, Mrs. Barnwell got her certificate and began teaching at CGS. She says she got into teaching to fulfill that promise to her mother and because she wanted to help children.

After an 18 year teaching career at CGS, Mrs. Barnwell finally retired and still lives on the original Barnwell estate in the beautiful, tranquil Gramling area. I am so lucky and grateful to have been at CGS at the same time as her. I know many of my classmates feel the same.

She is a life-long member of Gramling United Methodist Church, and credits the church and its members for most of what helped her endure the loss of her parents at a young age. Throughout her life, the church has been a constant source of support and fellowship, and she says she doesn’t know what she would have done without it.

Mrs. Barnwell is a dearly loved mother of four, one of whom is the late Barney Barnwell who was a world-renowned fiddle player in the Plum Hollow Band, formed in 1974. The band still plays today at the Plum Hollow music festival and other venues.

For more information on Campobello Gramling School, go to https://www.spart1.org/campobello-gramling_home.aspx

If you are interested in hearing “Mousercise” circa 1982, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft8lKycReao

For information and to learn more about the history of the Barney Barnwell Moonshiners Band, go to https://www.moonshiners.com

Ben Gramling built his reputation in the Lowcountry on the residential side of the real estate business, developing one of the largest and fastest-growing master-planned communities in the state. In the past eight years, however, Gramling Brothers Real Estate & Development has moved boldly into commercial development, especially in Mount Pleasant.

The company, originally based in the Upstate, has purchased four tracts of land along Coleman Boulevard. Construction on buildings that will house restaurants and office space is well underway on two of them.

A three-story building is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year where Coleman Boulevard and Lansing and Broadway streets intersect. Further east, at the site of the former Fonduely Yours restaurant, construction on a two-story, 12,000-square-foot building is moving along on schedule.

Gramling Brothers also owns the location of the now-defunct Boulevard Diner and the properties behind and beside it, as well as the Peach Orchard Plaza, a shopping center bounded on the east by the other end of Broadway, which forms a semi-circle that touches Coleman in two places.

Gramling, a third-generation builder and developer, is well aware of the controversy that surrounds Mount Pleasant’s off-the-charts growth, and he said he intends to remain above the fray. He’s not taking sides.

“Building is a very delicate process,” he commented.

“We want to maintain the character of the town. Our goal is to do the right thing.”

Mikell Harper, vice president of business development for Gramling Brothers, explained why the company decided to play a key role in the development of Coleman Boulevard.

“It’s the heart of the town,” Harper said. “When people come to visit Mount Pleasant, they come to Shem Creek, which is ground zero for it all. Businesses want to be there and people want to live there.”

The building at Lansing, Broadway and Coleman, across the street from Metto Coffee & Tea, will be the new home of The Kickin’ Chicken restaurant and will serve as the headquarters of Ameris Bank. Gramling said the third floor of the 30,000-square-foot building has not yet been rented. The developer also owns the land behind the building, which will be 50 feet tall, five feet more than the current maximum at most places on Coleman. When Gramling Brothers bought the property, the limit was 55 feet.

Despite the unexpected zoning change, Gramling Brothers is satisfied that the property will turn out to be a good investment. A traffic light already in place will provide easy access for tenants and customers of the restaurant.

“It’s a good corner. When we bought it, there were plans for landscaped medians in the center of the road, so there was a premium on signalized intersections. We had a hunch this would be a valuable property,” Harper said.

The Granary, a restaurant currently located in the Belle Hall Shopping Center, will be moving to the building that once was home to Fonduely Yours. Gramling said Dunes Properties and Hibbits Insurance also are renting space there.

Harper said there are no firm plans yet for the Boulevard Diner property, which includes an office building and Automotive Excellence, a business that has been in that location since 2001. He pointed out that one of Gramling’s partners, Roberts Perry Miller (RPM), The Kickin’ Chicken’s parent company, has moved into the office building behind the former restaurant, and that the auto repair shop would remain, for now, on a short-term lease.

The same is true for the tenants in Peach Orchard Plaza, where Gramling’s partner is Rusty Bennett. Harper said they all are on leases of five years or shorter.

According to Harper, Gramling Brothers currently is working on “six to 10” commercial ventures in the Charleston area, including two hotels and an office building downtown, a shopping center in West Ashley and projects on Savannah Highway, Folly Road and Main Street in Summerville. Gramling made his original mark in the Lowcountry in residential construction, developing Cane Bay Plantation, a 4,500-acre master-planned community in Berkeley County consisting of several distinct neighborhoods that eventually will be home to around 7,500 families. Gramling Brothers donated the land for Cane Bay’s elementary, middle and high schools.

Gramling Brothers also developed Reverie on the Ashley, a condominium community on the Ashley River; and Arbor Oaks, Summerhaven and Summer Park, all located in Summerville.

About six to eight years ago, according to Gramling, the company expanded its focus and started looking at the commercial side of Lowcountry real estate. The company’s penchant for “creating comfortable, safe, convenient and beautiful communities that people can proudly call home,” according to its website, apparently has carried over to its commercial projects.

“I’m inspired by Ben’s passion for what he does,” said Kelly Seger, who has served as Gramling Brothers’ director of marketing since 2009. “He thinks about things from every angle. He does what’s best for all involved. It’s great to work with someone who cares so much about what he does.”

Harper, like Gramling, a Charleston resident, echoed her sentiments.

“We live here. He can’t run and hide from something we’re responsible for. We intend to be proud of whatever we build,” he commented.

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Pet on the Street with Sophie Rose Ragamuffin Children’s Boutique: Children’s Styling from Head to Toe

Published 4:38 pm Friday, March 1, 2013

For the second consecutive year, the top three finalists for the South Carolina International Reading Association’s Exemplary Reading Schools Award were schools from Spartanburg School District One.

Campobello-Gramling School was named the SCIRA Exemplary Reading School for 2013. Holly Springs Motlow School was named an honor/ first runner-up school.

District One Schools is extraordinarily proud of this accomplishment and it serves to validate that our schools are at the forefront of the best in literacy instruction across the state. When making the announcement of the winning school, the Chairman of the Awards Committee stated that all three schools from District One could have been the winner but the International Reading Association recognizes only one school from each state.

Each school was required to submit an extensive paper application that describes the literacy and reading program and covers these areas: the reading program is consistent with sound theory, research and practice; the reading program facilitates student learning; students have access to a wide variety of reading materials; students demonstrate success in reading; comprehension strategies are taught and applied across the curriculum; listening, speaking, viewing and writing are integrated into and support the reading program; administrators and teachers provide leadership and vision for the building and/or district reading program; the school and/or district offer support services to the program; literacy activities occur outside of school; and the community, including parents, is involved in the reading program.

Published 4:38 pm Friday, March 1, 2013

Spartanburg School District One had several teams of teachers present at the conference to present workshops on our strategies for successful reading schools. Fourteen presentations were given from teachers from Spartanburg District One, including the three Exemplary Reading finalist schools.

Campobello Gramling serves about 765 students in K4-eighth grade.

John Hodge, principal at Campobello Gramling School, said he is extremely proud of the school’s accomplishments.

“Our students, our teachers, and our community worked extremely hard to get to the place where we could receive this award and we will continue to work hard. I am honored to be the principal of one of the three schools in District One who were finalists — what an accomplishment.”

Dr. Ron Garner, Superintendent of District One Schools, Spartanburg, said Campobello Gramling School is to be commended for receiving this honor.

“This recognition only validates what occurs every day in the school and is reflected in the success of the students at Campobello Gramling,” he said. “This is just another example of our district mission to provide a ‘quality, student-centered education. We are just as proud of our other schools that were honored by SCIRA and in our minds, they are all winners for the children we serve.”

– article submitted by Paula Brooks

Ignoring the Invitation’s Fine Print

Adriana Giovanna Salazar and Ben Gramling Lopez were married Saturday by the Rev. McKennon Shea, a United Methodist minister, at the Duke University Chapel in Durham, N.C.

The bride, 30, will continue to use her name professionally. She is a financial adviser, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, at Evercore Partners, an investment bank in New York. She graduated cum laude from Duke and received an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Victoria Salazar and Alfonso Salazar of Whittier, Calif. The bride’s father is a service technician for gas appliances with the Southern California Gas Company in Los Angeles. Her mother is a secretary at the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The groom, 32, is a consultant at Accenture, the information technology and management consultancy, in New York. He also graduated from Duke. He is a son of Jo Willa Gramling Lopez of Gramling, S.C., and Otto B. Lopez of Bedminster, N.J. His mother is the executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union Counties in Spartanburg, S.C., which is part of the National Children’s Alliance, a national organization in Huntsville, Ala., that seeks to help children who have been victims of abuse. She retired as the general counsel for global banking from Merrill Lynch in New York. His father, who also is retired, was a director of operations at Merrill Lynch and also worked in New York. He was in charge of the process that provided clients with tax forms.

The couple met in October 2006 at a gathering of Duke graduates in New York. Ms. Salazar and Mr. Lopez had been students there at the same time, but had never met. Ms. Salazar found this puzzling.

“Suspicious would be a polite word to use,” he said. “She didn’t really seem to care for me; uh, she was not really interested in me.”

Still, Mr. Lopez was taken with Ms. Salazar and slipped her his telephone number at the end of the night. She was dating someone else at the time, so she never called, and Mr. Lopez tried to put her out of his mind.

In January 2007, Mr. Lopez received a group e-mail inviting him to watch a Duke basketball game at Brother Jimmy’s, a bar and restaurant on the Upper West Side. Mr. Lopez showed up, having missed the “ladies only” line in the message. When he got to the bar and saw Ms. Salazar he was delighted. As it turned out, no one else she knew had come and the two of them began talking.

“Prince Charming came to rescue me sitting alone in the bar,” she said. “But I was still not romantically inclined.”

They both enjoyed the game, which Duke won, and discovered that they had more in common — work and being the children of immigrants — than college. Ms. Salazar’s parents are from Mexico; Mr. Lopez’s father came from Cuba. They made plans to meet for the next Duke game and did so for the rest of the basketball season, whenever Mr. Lopez was not traveling for work. When the season ended, Ms. Salazar thought she would not see him until the next season.

But on May 4, he called and asked if she wanted to get together the next day to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Ms. Salazar said yes, assuming it would be the usual: a friendly time. Yet when they saw each other, both sensed it was something more. They shared their first kiss that night. MARGAUX LASKEY