One of the practices of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners that went by the wayside during the COVID-19 pandemic was that of honoring county residents who were celebrating their 100th birthdays.

Apparently, it was considered a bad idea during the pandemic to bring 100-year-olds down to the meeting room in the Old Guilford County Court House and have them shake hands with nine commissioners and then pose for pictures in tight group shots.

Well, the good news for the 99-year-olds now living in the county is that the practice once ended by COVID is back and, at the Board of Commissioner’s Thursday, May 5 meeting, soon-to-be centenarian Lucy Sligh will join the board in celebration of her 100th Birthday, which actually falls on May 18.

Sligh was the second oldest of nine children of the late Reverend Posie and Annie Mae Turner born in 1922 in Pleasant Hill, North Carolina.

At the Thursday, May 5 meeting, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston will read a resolution honoring Sligh’s life.

It speaks of her growing up “in an era that was composed of a segregated society” where “the world around her seemed much smaller than it really was and her family life consisted of working on the family’s small farm where she and her siblings were introduced to work at an early age.”

The resolution also recounts her dream as a young girl to attend beauty college – which she did at Macos Beauty College in Greensboro.

She also, happily, “married the love of her life, John Sligh, and in 1946 their family was made whole after welcoming their son Alvin.”

The resolution also notes that “Lucy has spent a lifelong career serving her community and she has made a huge impact on people nationwide” and it concludes:   “NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Guilford County Board of Commissioners express their appreciation and admiration of Sister Lucy Sligh and extends its sincerest congratulations in the celebration of her 100th birthday.”

 

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