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Lori Ann Gonnella loved to volunteer, and to raise money for her community.

Now, her legacy will live on through a scholarship in her honor and memory by the Davie County High School Athletic Booster Club.

The new scholarship will recognize athletes who have played a sport at Davie High and volunteered at least 20 hours in their community during their junior and senior years combined.

The Lori Ann Gonnella Community Scholarship will be awarded for the first time to seniors from the Class of 2023. Selection of the recipients will be made by Lori’s husband and sons, keeping it a family affair as they remember their wife and mother.

“Lori was an amazing wife, mother, sister, aunt, cousin,” said Jane Simpson, president of the Davie Community Foundation, which administers the scholarship. “She added friend to many in the Davie community to her list after moving to the county in 2005.

“Lori took great joy in spending time with her family and in volunteering in her community. Over the last 20 years, Lori volunteered countless hours in various PTOs, community councils, library and booster clubs. She took great honor in raising money to help school-aged children and others in the community she loved so much.

‘Lori gave everything she could to give back to others, but her greatest pride was in her sons, Gabriel and Nicolas.”

Lori said “My greatest accomplishment in life is the two humans I raised, along with my husband. Anyone who knows them knows exactly what I mean. No matter what, anything I could have done would have never been as great as being your mother. I am and always will be your biggest fan. Never look farther than your heart, that is where I will be.”

Lori spent many hours in her role as treasurer of the Davie High Athletic Booster Club. She attended countless numbers of games making sure the concession stand had volunteers, supplies, and change. She spent most of her Friday nights at Davie High during football season and then transitioned to other days for other sports. If you volunteered for the Booster Club, you most likely knew Lori.

“Lori was beautiful, generous, feisty, and loved unconditionally,” Simpson said. “She was one of a kind. Her spirit will live on through her family and now through the Lori Ann Gonnella Community Scholarship.”

The scholarship may be added to by anyone in any amount, online at daviefoundation.org, choose “Lori Ann Gonnella Community Scholarship” from the “allocate donation” drop down. You may also send a check payable to Davie Community Foundation with Gonnella Scholarship in the memo section to PO Box 546, Mocksville, NC 27028.