The Fur Ball

Lancaster SCPA going ‘all out’ with fundraising gala

By Mandy Catoe
For The Lancaster News
Nov 12, 2017

One of the photos featured in the 2018 LSPCA Calendar

The Lancaster SPCA will host its biggest fundraising event ever on Dec. 2 – Fur Ball Gala 2017, a night of dining, dancing, live music and auctions.
The event is 7 p.m. at the Bradley Building’s special events room at USC Lancaster.
The semi-formal party will be a festive way to bring in the holidays and support the SPCA’s mission of saving homeless pets.
The silent and live auctions will offer the chance to bid on fine art, handmade jewelry, handcrafted furniture, gift baskets and much more. A week-long stay at any U.S. Wyndham Resort will go to the highest bidder.
“We have been talking about this a couple years, wishing we had a signature event,” said Diana Knight, Lancaster SPCA president. “And this is the first time we have gone all out.”
She wants to see everyone in “festive attire” and welcomes anything from tuxedos and formal gowns to slacks and crazy Christmas sweaters.
“We just want everyone to have fun. If they want to dress up, then that is what we want them to do,” she said. “Come have fun and let’s raise some money for our animals.”
Knight said she has been overwhelmed by the support of the community with its many auction donations.
Among the items up for bid are handmade jewelry, pottery, a farmhouse table with a bench, a wine rack, paintings, gift baskets, and a fully-decorated Christmas tree.
“The tree, which I can’t wait to see, is decorated by Julie Walters from the Women’s Enrichment Center,” Knight said. “And it has her flair on it that we all love.”
Attendees will enjoy a catered meal from Jean Hegler as they dine surrounded by the festive decorations of the Lancaster Garden Club. DJ Split Second Sound and Musically Yours will provide the dance tunes. There will be a full open bar.
Attendees can take fun pictures in a photo booth with various props including boas, signs, masks and hats. Freshly-rolled cigars will be available on the patio.
LSCPA will unveil its 2018 calendar, featuring before-and-after photos of SPCA-rescued pets along with a story from the pet’s new owner.
The 15-month calendars will be sold for $20, with all proceeds going to the LSPCA thanks to two sponsors who donated the printing and the photography. Mike Gilmore of The UPS Store and photographer Amy Tensei made the calendar at no charge, Knight said.
UPS also printed the tickets and event brochures free of charge.
Tickets for the four-hour celebration are $50 each and can be purchased at Black Stone Massage, the Women’s Enrichment Center and Hair Port. They are also available online or from any LSPCA board member.
The Lancaster chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was started in 2013. Knight fostered animals for two years prior to establishing the local chapter.
Since the LSPCA does not turn any dog or cat away, it has become the urgent-care rescue group in the area, Knight said. They saved the burned puppy Sophie, Marty, a victim of gallstones, and Blondie, who had to have her injured eye surgically removed.

Brodie when rescued

Brodie after much love and a good bath

Knight said the nonprofit’s partnership with Faulkner Animal Hospital enables it to offer the critical pets a chance at life. She said she is grateful they can accept animals in need.

“Before becoming the emergency urgent-care rescue group, we could handle our costs with adoption fees,” she said. “This critical care goes beyond our vetting costs.”  
Long-term goals include a facility offering spay/neuter services, adoption and education.
“Lancaster needs available spaying and neutering,” Knight said. “Taking care of animals people already own will cut down on the strays.”
Knight is aware the evening of the party coincides with the ACC and SEC football championships, and she will have TVs onsite and tuned to the football games. Clemson will play in the ACC game if it defeats Florida State University this weekend.  
“Don’t stay home and have a party at your house,” Knight said. “Come to ours. This is the best kind of Christmas party. Raise money, watch football and have a beverage on the patio.”
More information and updates can be found on the website www.Lancasterspca.net and facebook page: Lancaster SPCA – Lancaster. Auction items are still being added.

Roo - Ready for adoption

4 Vets, 3 Generations, 64 Years of Service - and Still Counting

By Mandy Catoe

For The Lancaster News

November 8, 2017

Adams, David, Janie, DJ

Gary Adams had just celebrated his 17^th birthday in 1955. He was finally old enough to join the Navy if his father would consent. He remembers plowing a field behind a mule and dreaming of far off lands and a better life.

“All I knew is I wanted to be in the military,” Adams said. “I wanted to serve my country and I wanted to travel and I knew I couldn’t do nothing there on that farm.“

After a brief conversation with the navy recruiter standing in the field, his father, a sharecropper, made his mark on the parental consent form and Adams began a 31-year career in the Navy.

Adams

Adams visited his daughter’s family in Buford on a Sunday afternoon last month. He began telling stories. Three generations of his family, which included three military service members, gathered round to listen. 

“I wasn’t going to sit in Ruby, South Carolina and live there my whole life,” he said.

Adams was seated on a couch beneath a large photo of the Viet Nam War Memorial. 

Adams served two tours in America’s least respected war. He adjusted his Naval Aviation hat and held his walking stick gently in his hands. His most attentive listener was his step-grandson, DJ, 20, a first year marine about to be deployed overseas on his first mission.

Anchors Away

Adams said when he left home, he felt like Li’l Abner, a cartoon about impoverished hillbillies, especially when he saw young men with fancy suitcases. He was clutching a brown paper sack that held one pair of levis, a t-shirt and a shaving kit.

“We were poor people. I mean a little bit poorer than poor,” Adams said. “I think mama made $18 a week in a mill sewing and Daddy didn’t make anything unless he was pulling a crop in.”

Adams

Adams

Within his first year, he saw a horrific accident on his aircraft carrier, the USS Ticonderoga. A cable snapped as a jet was landing on the ship. It broke with such force it killed a dozen men on the flight deck. One man’s legs were cut completely off. Adams watched in horror, as young men, mangled and bleeding lay dying.

“I saw a second class aviation man hold the injured man’s arteries,” he said.  “He stuck his hands up where his legs had been cut off and squeezed his arteries and every time his heart beat, the blood squirted up on his chest.”

Adams said he didn’t let the experience deter him. He later heard the experience unhinged an older, combat-seasoned sailor which sent him to a mental asylum.

During his service, he earned the rank of senior chief, patrolled the Viet Nam waterways as a Riverine in armed boats under continual assault, and was the boatswain mate on three ships: Ticonderoga, Franklin D Roosevelt and Independence.

The only thing Adams loved as much as the Navy was his family so they traveled with him and lived on naval bases throughout the United States, including three years in Hawaii.

He finished his last few years as a navy recruiter in Georgia.

Second Generation

His first-born Janie, now 53 and a Lancaster County paramedic, followed in his footsteps.

“I grew up Navy and we lived on Navy bases,” Janie said. “I cried like a baby when Daddy got out. I wanted him to stay in because that is all I knew.”

Because of her father’s years of service, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland offered her an education and her dream when she was 18 years old. She turned it down to stay close to her boyfriend.

After 21 years of regret, she got another chance. After the bombing of the World Trade Center September 11, 2001, the military extended the age limit for enlistment.

In 2004, at the age of 39, Janie joined the Naval Reserves and went to boot camp at Great Lakes, IL, the same place her father went 50 years earlier.

David Demby

Janie Adams Demby

“I celebrated my 40^th birthday my first full weekend in the navy,” Janie said.

In 2006, Janie married David Demby bringing an army man with a decade of service into the family. David is quiet, accomplished, and confident. He also brought along two kids from a previous marriage, DJ and Kayla, who were 10 and 12 at the time. One week after their wedding, David was deployed to Iraq for a one-year tour. He was a combat medic.

In 2010, David began another fight. This time the enemy was colon cancer. Janie was by his side the whole way. She never missed a medical appointment and was pulling double shifts as a paramedic, attending to the kids and still serving in Naval Reserves.

By  2012 she was exhausted and left the Navy to continue caring for David and the family.

While fighting cancer, David completed his nursing degree. He never missed a class.

He is now in his 24^th year of service and works as an intelligence officer in the Army Reserves.

David Demby, 42, made a full recovery and works as a nurse practitioner at Healogics, the wound center of Springs Memorial Hospital.

Third Generation

DJ

David’s son, DJ was born at Fort Knox, Kentucky, the army base where his father was stationed in the 90s.

By the time he graduated from high school in 2016, DJ was a battalion commander in ROTC. He soon joined the marines. He has completed his first year as a marine, survived the intense boot camp at Parris Island, and completed the Crucible – the final test for a recruit before becoming a marine. The 54-hour endurance course challenges their mental toughness, physical strength and stamina. DJ made it and was presented the distinguished symbol of the marines – the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor medal. His family lit a candle at home and prayed throughout the ordeal.

DJ and David Demby

DJ shared a little about his marine life so far.

“It feels great to know you have a lot of support especially through boot camp,” DJ said. “I knew everyone back home was rooting for me. It made it a lot easier.”

Adams looked at the young marine for a minute, then said, “You will see combat and it won’t be good, but you will be okay.”

All four veterans appreciate how modern technology and cell phones give immediate information relieving the worry soldiers and families endured in the past.

Adams said he paid $100 in the 50’s to make one phone call home to check on his family and to assure them he was okay.

“It was worth every penny,” he said.

Adams said he knew DJ would be a military man the first time he saw him as a young boy.

“I called him Sarge when he was 10 years old,” he said. “He had the look.”

DJ sat mesmerized as Adams told stories about the Marines at Chosin Reservoir in the late 1950s during the Korean War.

“If it was not for this boy and the dadgum marines, we wouldn’t have made it then and we won’t make it,” Adams said. “I tell you that right now. If you have the Navy and the Marines on something, they will get it done.”

Within two weeks DJ will be deployed to his first overseas mission to Okinawa.

“It smells like rotten eggs over there and sometimes you won’t see the sun until mid-day when the fog lifts,” he told the young marine.

After a pause, Adams looked directly at DJ and said “You are leaving here for Okinawa and I came back here from Okinawa.”

Janie, Adams, David, DJ

NFL Controversy

This military family is boycotting the NFL until the players stand during the national anthem and honor the flag.

Adams said it’s a privilege more than a duty to stand for the flag. The entire family agrees.

“Sometimes you got to give sweat and blood for our country. You just have to,” he said. “I thank the God Almighty that I served my life under that flag and that I live my life under that flag. That isn’t just a made up piece of cloth.”

“When I stand up, this old boy who turned the plow, I get a wonderful feeling inside that I belong to something. This is my country and I am getting to do this. I am proud to give thanks to it. I’m proud to salute it.”

David nodded in complete agreement.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, green or purple, every one of the caskets has the American flag draped over it,” David said.

DJ and his dad, David, at the ROTC Ball

Three Generations

Gary Adams, senior chief petty officer, 31 years in the Navy.

David Demby, command sargent, Army Reserve 21 years plus 3 years active duty.

Janie Demby, petty officer second class, hospital corpsman, Navy Reserve for 8 years.

DJ Demby , lance corporal, one year in the Marines.

‘I’ve had a great life, and I’m still having it’

Rotarians salute Buddy Hungerford for 70 years of ‘Service Above Self’

By Mandy Catoe

For The Lancaster News

Nov 5, 2017

The Lancaster Rotary Club gathered this week to honor S.R. “Buddy” Hungerford III, who has given 70 years of his life to the service organization – and counting.
Nearly 50 Rotarians filled the Carole Dowling Center at USC Lancaster on Thursday to celebrate his dedication.
One of the state’s top Rotary leaders, District Gov. Ed Irick, drove down from Greenville to present Hungerford with a wooden plaque engraved with words of gratitude and merit.
“It is a complete honor to present you this plaque in recognition of 70 years of faithful allegiance to the ideals of Rotary,” Irick said.

Hungerford, with his wife, Deanna, by his side, was taken by surprise. He didn’t know this was planned.

1954

After nearly a minute of applause, he spoke.

“I want to thank all of you,” he said, looking around the room. “You are all my friends. It’s been a pleasure being a member with you.”
Irick encouraged members to talk with Hungerford to find out what it was that drew him back meeting after meeting for seven decades.
After the ceremony, Hungerford answered that question.
“It’s a habit,” he said with a sly smile before getting serious.
 “Service is the main thing in Rotary,” he said. “Our motto is Service Above Self.”
Hungerford will celebrate his 92nd birthday next week. He still drives himself to the weekly meetings. Despite the age-earned stoop, he stands erect when saluting the flag, addressing the audience and accepting awards. This was his second in the past year.
Last December, Rep. Mick Mulvaney traveled to Lancaster from the nation’s capital to present the World War II veteran with the Bronze Star.
Hungerford often pauses before speaking, and his listener never knows if he is about to crack a joke or share words of wisdom. He has plenty of both.

Joined after WWII
His life of service began in 1944 when he was drafted into the Army at 18. After recovering from battle wounds suffered in Germany, he returned home to Tunica, Miss., looking for a way to serve in the civilian world.
He joined the local Rotary there in 1946 when he was 21. The club elected him president five years later.
He worked for his family’s furniture business until he retired in the mid-1980s and moved to Naples, Fla. After a couple of decades in the Sunshine State, he and his wife relocated to Lancaster, and before a year had passed, Hungerford was back in Rotary. He was a young 89.
No one can recall anyone with a longer tenure in Rotary, according to Regina Maxfield, club treasurer, who checked with national Rotary officials about it. He might be the longest-serving Rotarian ever, they said, but it can’t be proven because of inconsistencies in past records.
However, one thing is for sure – everyone loves Buddy. The proof is the hugs, smiles and brightened eyes of anyone in his presence. Judging by the line that formed to give him a hug – or a kiss from the ladies – he is probably the most loved Rotarian in town.

Those who could not attend Wednesday's meeting sent their thoughts by e-mail.
One note was from Danelle Faulkenberry, special projects chair, who joined Rotary five years ago.
“Buddy was one of the first members to invite me to sit with his group for lunch,” Faulkenberry said. “Each year he remembers my birthday and always gives me a card and a box of candy.”
The current Rotary club president, Richard Band, said,  “Buddy is a great friend to everyone. Especially to the ladies, I might add.”

Brockman and Hungerford
Photo supplied

Kind and witty

Kind and Witty

Hungerford is quick to compliment women, especially his wife of 27 years.
Faulkenberry said Hungerford always introduces Deanna as “my beautiful wife.”
“She’s the stump to this old tree,” Hungerford said.
His dedication and diligence challenge members half his age.
“He is there every week and is right on top of every issue,” Band said.
Hungerford is thankful for the high regard others have for him.
“I appreciate that,” he said. “Everybody is good to me, so I might as well be good and spare a little time for them.”
Former club President Susan Rowell describes him as “not only the kindest person I know, but also the wittiest.”
“He always has something to say, and most likely it will make you laugh or at the least put a smile on your face. Always,” Rowell said. “And when he tells a story... you listen. He is full of great stories and life lessons.”
One of Hungerford’s most interesting friendships is with former Lancaster Rotarian Andreas Brockmann, “that ol’ German boy” as he calls him.
Hungerford jokes that it was Brockmann’s grandfather who shot him in the war.

Brockmann said it was a great honor to have a WWII veteran share war stories with him.

There is much esteem between the native German and the former Army man.
“I say this with great respect and hope for others that we come to this point in life, where we have served 70 years in an organization like Rotary, where we put others first and our personal life second,” Brockmann said.
“Buddy’s service in the military, putting his country first, and the commitment he shows to his family demonstrates his outstanding character. He is one of the best men I’ve known in my life, and he is my true hero.”

Rotary philosophy
Hungerford strives to abide by the Rotary philosophy.
He seemed pleased this week with the shiny plaque and praise from his fellow Rotarians. His wife said they will hang the plaque in Buddy’s corner with his WWII medals and photographs.
He will no doubt share this latest award when he makes that weekly phone call to his daughter, Cheryl Harrison, 70, who lives in St. Louis.
Just before leaving the meeting, Hungerford talked about his world travels, his family, especially his wife, and his life in general.

He paused a moment and looked at his gold signet ring that long ago had been engraved with an "H," now worn away with time.
“I’ve had a good life, a great life, and I’m still having it,” he said.
Hungerford ended with a little Rotarian philosophy.
“The Rotary four-way test asks: ‘Is it true? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?’
“I think if you follow these four tenets and put service above self, you will be going to heaven.”