First Bancorp OKs merger with Great Pee Dee

Executives with First Bancorp, the holding company for First Bank, have signed an agreement providing for the merger of Great Pee Dee, the holding company for Sentry Bank and Trust, into First Bancorp.

The terms of the agreement call for shareholders of Great Pee Dee to receive 1.15 shares of First Bancorp per share of Great Pee Dee.

First Bank, a community bank headquartered in Troy, N.C., has 69 branches, including four in Virginia, where First Bank does business as First Bank of Virginia.

Sentry Bank and Trust is a three-branch community bank headquartered in Cheraw, S.C.

A news release said the merger transaction is expected to be compete late in the fourth quarter of this year or early in the first quarter of 2008.

Publication praises Luna Technologies device

R&D Magazine, a publication targeting the research and development community, named Luna Technologies' Optical Backscatter Reflectometer with distributed sensing one of the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace in the last year. The full list of 2007 R&D 100 award winners will be published in the magazine's September 2007 issue.

Luna Technologies is a Blacksburg-based division of Luna Innovations Inc. that manufactures and markets test and measurement equipment and integrated sensing solutions.

Happenings

n JUDY DUNCAN of Dublin has been accepted as a diplomat member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants.

n Blacksburg resident JASON POSPICHAL has been named vice president of loans for National Bank.

n Residents at the Showalter Center, an assisted living residence at Warm Hearth Village, have formed a newcomers club to welcome and help orient newcomers. Participants include SUE WHITON, CLARICE RIBBENS, VIRLE PAYNE, NIKKI DISALVO and THELMA KING.

n VENESSA COAKE, has joined Warm Hearth Village as staff education-quality assurance/infection control nurse at the Kroontje Health Care Center.

n The Wilderness Conservancy at Mountain Lake, a nonprofit established by the Mary Moody Northern Endowment, has named EMILY WOODALL its director. Before being promoted, Woodall worked as the Conservancy's program director.

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