HAMLET — April Maness has made a career of looking after — and learning from — children.
Maness, 34, has spent the past nine years working with pre-K students and has worked as a teacher at Second Baptist Christian Academy since 2012.
Although she comes from a large family in Ellerbe with a history in tobacco farming, Maness is technically “from” Pinehurst.
“My mama went there and had me, then brought me back here and this is where I’ve lived all my life,” she said, finishing with a smile and some laughter.
FAMILY
“I have two boys and a girl. And a husband I’ve had for 14 years, which is very good. My little girl is so smart. The lowest grade she made was a 98, so I’m very proud of her. The boys are smart, too, though. My papa farmed, was a tobacco farmer. Grandma had over a hundred acres of land in Ellerbe. My mama is from a family of 11, and 5 of them still live on the homeplace. ”
COMMUNITY
“There are two things they have in Ellerbe that I go to. They have the Farmers Day Parade and the Hometown Christmas. I go to those. ”
MOTIVATION
“My babies. And God motivates me. Lord help if he wasn’t around, I don’t know if I’d be sane spending all day and night around children.”
PROUDEST MOMENT
“Graduating from high school. None of my family hardly graduated, except my mama who was the only one out of 11 brothers and sisters who graduated. It broke the cycle.”
BIGGEST INFLUENCE
“Children. Definitely children. They have taught me so much. Not just mine, but the ones at school, children of other family members. You learn things from what they do right and when they go wrong. Everything in life is your decision, and if I see someone making bad choices, I try not to do that.”
HOW SHE UNWINDS
“I unwind at about 10 o’clock at night when I finally take my shoes off. I get about an hour and a half to myself after work and before I go to pick up the kids. I just can’t be still. My husband’s always saying, ‘Why don’t you just sit down?’ And I tell him, ‘I can’t. There’s too much to do.’ I think I have attention deficit disorder because I’m constantly moving. I never wind down until it’s time to go to bed.”
FUTURE GOALS
“Me and my husband are going to retire, and we are going to travel. We’re going to get an RV and roll. I’m hoping the children are spread out across different parts of the country so we can stop and see them while traveling.”
Reach reporter Melonie Flomer at 910-817-2673 and follow her on Twitter @melonieflomer. Notable Neighbors is a series of personality profiles featuring Richmond County residents from all walks of life. Stories will appear in the Daily Journal on Thursday and online at YourDailyJournal.com. To nominate a Notable Neighbor, email Corey Friedman at [email protected].
