SELMA — Eleven Johnston County residents and one local nonprofit were honored recently at the sixth-annual Johnston Now Honors event, held at The Farm at 42 on July 20.
The 2023 honorees are: Patricia Goldsmith, Excellence in Arts; Tom Britt, Veterans Service; Monty McLamb, Inspiring Coach; Stephen Anderson, Distinguished Police Officer; Kaylee Stavlas, Dynamic Entrepreneur; Alan Johnson, Outstanding Firefighter; Dr. Octavio Cieza, Best Healthcare Professional; Spencer Kirby, Rising Star; Dr. P.K. Vyas, Legend Award; Jeanelle McCain, Exemplary Volunteer; Temple Dream Center, Nonprofit of the Year and Kyle McDermott, Spirit of the County.
“We love telling positive stories in Johnston County, and Honors is the epitome of that,” Johnston Now publisher Randy Capps said. “We’re fortunate to have people like this living and working in our community, and we’re honored to highlight their contributions.”
Patricia Goldsmith
Goldsmith, a Smithfield resident, spent decades teaching graphic design and offset printing in Pitt and Wake County schools, touching countless lives and fanning the flames of a host of artistic visions along the way.
“Having paid for my education, I was determined to teach for at least one year to prove to myself I could do it,” she said of teaching. “And the rest is history. It just fit like a glove. It wasn’t so much the subject matter. It was just being with the kids and teaching them and watching them grow into something. Passing along not just art or graphic design or the skills of offset printing, … but life skills. Hopefully, somewhere along the way, it served somebody well.”
Tom Britt
Britt has lived in Johnston County since 2008, and he has spent those 15 years working to serve his fellow veterans in multiple ways.
“Once you’re a veteran, you’re a veteran for life,” he said. “If I’m able to do it (help veterans), I’m going to do it. We’ve lost too many veterans I was friends with.”
Monty McLamb
For a time, the fun had gone out of coaching for McLamb. He regained that fun through the formation of the Miracle League of Johnston County, and because of that work he has been named the Johnston Now Honors Inspiring Coach award winner.
“It can be tough to get out of bed on a Saturday morning, but when the first kid gives you a hug, it’s game on,” he said. “Parents have told me I treat their kids just like kids. That’s the purpose of the league, they’re just kids on a baseball field. You’d be surprised at their personalities. They’re just out there to have fun. That’s what I like most about it.”
Stephen Anderson
Anderson is in the midst of his eighth year as Chief of Police in Four Oaks, and despite the community’s growth, his approach remains rooted in approaching the job with a personal touch.
“Our community has grown and flourished a whole lot quicker than I imagined,” he said. “As a chief you set goals as to where you want to see the department go as the town grows, and my end-of-career (goals)? I’ve changed those twice because of how fast we’re growing. But we still have that small town feel, and community policing is where it’s at.”
Kaylee Stavlas
It’s not always the case that a high school sophomore devotes a good portion of their time and energy toward helping others, but Stavlas is an exception. She founded NEX GEN CEO, a program that empowers the next generation of diverse entrepreneurs to use their businesses for good.
“I try to teach them how they can be the change through their businesses,” she said. “We are targeting diverse communities, minorities and the disabled. One of our main goals is to be inclusive to all.”
Alan Johnson
Johnson grew up in Benson, started volunteering at the fire department in 1996, joined the staff as an engineer in 2002 and became the town’s chief six years later.
Of course, much has changed in Johnston County during his 15-year tenure as chief. But his approach isn’t all that different these days.
“There’s a lot more traffic and houses,” he said. “Benson hasn’t changed as much as some other places in the county, but we can tell it’s coming. We have much better equipment than we did then. We have more paid staff, but we tend to have fewer volunteers. We’ve been fortunate over the years to get grants to get better equipment.
“I’ve never been anywhere else. Never looked anywhere else. … I love people, and I love helping people. I love the community. I love Benson, that’s the main thing.”
Dr. Octavio Cieza
Dr. Cieza is a native of Peru, and a graduate of the National University of San Marcos in Lima. It was there that the idea of practicing medicine in the U.S. was born.
“It was the way of destiny to come (here),” he said. “When I was in medical school, there was a medical mission team from Ohio that came to Lima. I had the time to meet them, and it kind of was a link (to the United States). It was a very long journey to make. You finish medical school, then you have to take the boards. Passing the medical boards was not really that hard, but the language is the main barrier.”
With many other options available, Dr. Cieza decided to concentrate on infectious diseases. “My answer was simple,” he said. “When you’re doing your internal medicine and you’re about to finish, that’s when you choose. … There was a report at the time that the happiest doctors worked in infectious diseases. It said specifically, ‘you will not be rich, but you will be happy.’ To me, that made sense. I’m not here to make money. I wanted to be happy and fulfilled. I do not regret it.”
Spencer Kirby
If one grows up in a family of racers, the odds of that person becoming one improve. So the notion that Kirby races motorcycles isn’t all that surprising in a vacuum, but toss in the fact that she’s a 12-year-old girl, and the story becomes a little more unique.
“One day, we went to a race and it was cool,” she said. “They told me that my grandfather raced the same type of racing, and I just wanted to carry that on.”
It turns out that the racing community is supportive, too. “This community that we race with, they couldn’t care less,” Kirby’s father, Josh, said. “You don’t get the typical ‘you got beat by a girl’ kind of thing. It really is a good group of people. When we first started going, we’d have random people come up and give us tips and hints. In other sports they aren’t going to share anything.”
Dr. P.K. Vyas
From arriving in the United States with $29 in his pocket to establishing a thriving medical practice in Benson, Dr. Vyas has accumulated quite the list of accomplishments.
He founded Eastern Carolina Regional Medical Center, a community park in Benson and a recreation center in Dunn both bear his name and he’s always looking for a chance to give back to a community that has been so good to him.
“I want to sincerely thank the people in the area that have supported me all these years. I owe my practice to the people of Johnston, Harnett and Sampson counties. About 90 percent of my practice comes from these counties,” he said. “They have had faith in me and put their lives in my hands.”
Jeanelle McCain
It’s not often that someone with “attorney” and “lobbyist” on their resume becomes known for giving back to their community.
“Christian” and “servant” might not be on that resume, but they both can be used to describe McCain and her work with the Benson Area Ministerial Association.
“I was raised with parents who served,” she said. “They served in the Optimist Club, at church, they served the community. My mother was a teacher, and she tutored. So, I grew up with that example of servanthood, and that God expects that of us. He calls us to do that.”
The Dream Center network is committed to meeting the needs of the communities it serves, whatever they may be. The Temple Dream Center in Selma is dedicated to the same mission.
“Dream centers are basically an outreach to the community,” Executive Director Yvonne McCarthy said. “If you look at dream centers across the nation, it could be anything from an after-school program, a food pantry, there’s one in DC that does a fine arts program for underprivileged children — it depends on what your community needs.”
Kyle McDermott
McDermott has been giving his time to his community in Johnston County for 40 years through organizations such as the Johnston Health Foundation and the Clayton Chamber of Commerce.
“I have been extremely fortunate to be allowed to participate in all these outside functions by the hospital leadership all during my tenure. They have seen the value of employees participating. I have been in the right place at the right time,” he said.
“The relationships I’ve been able to build over 40 years is not something you can measure. I think it’s just something that was meant to be,” he continued.
