ROCKWELL — Longtime Rockwell resident and community leader Nell Tolley has received plenty of awards during her lifetime, but a surprise presentation of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in front of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren on Sunday might have meant the most.

The Order of the Long Leaf Pine is the highest award offered by the governor’s office and is awarded to “persons who have made significant contributions to the state and their communities through their exemplary service and exceptional accomplishments,” according to the order’s website.

Tolley was recognized for over five decades of service in Rowan County and Rockwell, including eight years as a member of the Rockwell Board of Aldermen, working with the Rockwell Intercivic Council, serving on the Salisbury-Rowan Mayor’s Council for Persons With Disabilities and on the Rowan County Board of Social Services. She also worked for 50 years with St. James Lutheran Church, both with the church preschool and as a secretary and treasurer.

“I’ve just always tried to make something a little better. I think I got that through my mother, who was always working with children and the community,” said Tolley.

On Sunday, Tolley thought that she was simply going to the homecoming service at St. James, and was surprised when her son John Tolley and her daughter Renee Page and their families showed up to the service despite having told Nell that they were not going to be able to make it. She said that she knew that her son might be able to make it, but that Page had “supposedly” been busy with her own church’s service in Burlington and would not be able to make it.

“I certainly didn’t expect to see them and their little ones, but all of a sudden they came into the church and it was amazing to have them there with me,” said Tolley.

Fifty minutes into the church service, Tolley was surprised to hear that Pastor Craig Sigmon would be presenting an Order of the Long Leaf Pine award to someone, and even more surprised when her name was announced. Sigmon left St. James in 2013 to serve with another church, but returned to preside over the homecoming service.

“Heavens no, it was quite a shock. This was something I never even dreamed that I would be thought about for,” said Tolley.

Sigmon worked with Tolley for a part of her time working at St. James, and said during the service on Sunday that the church and its community have been blessed by Tolley’s work throughout the years.

“We’re all familiar with the contributions Nell has made here at St. James, not only with the church office for all those years, I got to spend 17 years with her and I’m blessed to have spent that time, but also those many years in the preschool where she served the young children and the families of our community, providing preschool education and preparing them to enter kindergarten. And, there’s so many other things that she has done in the community,” said Sigmon during the presentation.

Tolley began her work with the St. James preschool in 1974 and officially retired in 2023. However, she had begun serving the community years before working with the church. In 1970, Tolley was nominated by the Rockwell Women’s Club, where she had been a member for 10 years, for the Outstanding Young Woman of the Year Award, even having her accomplishments and service appearing in that year’s version of the Outstanding Young Women of America, according to a Salisbury Post story from Jan. 20, 1970.

Between 1970 and 1984, she served on multiple boards and committees in Rockwell and the county, including on the county social services board, as president of the Salisbury-Rowan chapter of the American Cancer Society and as the Democratic precinct chairperson for Rockwell. 

During that period, she also served as the president of the Rockwell Intercivic Council, which worked with the town to oversee recreational activities. That experience led to her running for the town board of aldermen in 1984, with one of her main concerns being the lack of a park for the citizens of Rockwell. In recalling why she decided to get involved with local politics, she said that she could not remember what the exact issue was, but that she saw something occurring in Rockwell that she did not agree with and wanted to make better. She was reelected to the board multiple times and served until 1993.

“I think a town this size can support a recreation program this size. A lot of good things have happened in Rockwell, and I would like to see it continued,” said Tolley in a Salisbury Post article announcing her intentions to run in 1985.

The town bought the land for Rockwell Park from the Earl Sides family towards the end of Tolley’s tenure on the board, and she continued to work with the town through committees during the ensuing years while the park was built.

Nowadays, Tolley said that she is fully retired. She still does some work with St. James Lutheran Church organizations, but she said that most of her time is spent enjoying her retirement.