The Future is Bright
Service Award
Thank you, QOC Team
To be financially responsible …
Kim Williamson Runs Marine Corps Marathon
2006 Service Awards
Fuel Oil Driver: What it Really Means
Reliable Tank Line-Charlotte Gets New Facility
Hospitality News
Quality Mart #42 in Lewisville, NC Gives ‘em the Pickle
Brookberry Farm Update
Hollywood Comes to Maggie Valley
We are pleased to welcome ...
Puckett On Active Duty
Laugh Lines…
Happy New Year
Oiler Crossword

Winter 2007 News

Core Ideology

To do it because it is right To treat others as we would like to be treated To be financially responsible To be better today than yesterday

The Future is Bright

It is hard to believe 2006 is behind us. They tell me it is a sign of old age when life goes by so quickly — well I must be getting old because it seemed to just fly by. 2006 was a good year in which we all should be mighty proud. You followed the basic fundamentals of our business principles and delivered what the customers demand: “quality products — quality service.”

You brought great honor to our Core Ideology and Vision and Mission and you out-worked and out-thought your competitors. JOB WELL DONE!

Now even more good news — the future is bright and 2007 is poised for some amazing things. Success does not happen by chance or luck, as we all have worked hard to accomplish some major initiatives, one being our commitment to our recruiting efforts and QTR (Quality Trained and Ready). Since 1929, we have always been about “people,” and the success of QTR will continue this heritage.

I am skeptical of New Year’s resolutions, but a new year is a time to reflect, to renew our spirit, and to reset our priorities both personally and in business. I am the worst one to try to “put a gallon in a pint jug,” so let’s all promise ourselves to stop and take time to reflect more on the important things in our lives and less about the “little things”… as that book says, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Lastly, I am proud to say I work with the most caring group of fellow employees.

Happy New Year to all of you!!

To quote Hugh Downs:
“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.”

- Graham Bennett

Graham Bennett, President

To be financially responsible …

Although financial responsibility is everyone’s job, Quality Oil Company looks to our Sr. Vice President of Finance, Rocky Nolen, for leadership in the financial department.

Rocky grew up in Virginia and attributes his strong work ethic to working and growing up in a rural setting that was not always easy. His family grew their food and as a young boy, Rocky was the one who pulled the plow to work the garden. His family borrowed mules from a neighbor, Mib Hall, to turn the garden in spring. As barter payment for the use of the mules, Rocky’s family would cut and drag, with those same two mules, two cords of wood for Mr. Hall to burn in the winter.

A self-professed “nerd” in high school, Rocky was always eager to learn. He took advanced study classes and in place of study hall, he took such courses as mechanical drawing, woodworking and typing. In his senior year, Rocky signed up for a financial survival skills course. The class was full, so he moved to a bookkeeping course, which was a natural fit for him. What others struggled with seemed to come easy to him.

Rocky graduated from Virginia Tech with an accounting degree and a CPA certification. He was hired by the Ernst & Young accounting firm in Charlotte and was with them for five years. A strange turn of events brought him to Quality Oil. A friend of his had been asked to interview with Quality Oil but decided to stay where he was. He told Rocky that he should apply. After a series of meetings and interviews with Bert Bennett and Jimmy Glenn in Charlotte, he was hired. He describes his interview with Mr. Bennett as the most extensive and unusual he’s ever known. It included such questions as “What was your first car, and how did you pay for it?” Rocky has been with Quality Oil for twenty-five years.

Rocky married his high school sweetheart, Penny, between his junior and senior years in college. Rocky and Penny have three sons and a daughter. One of his sons is a Lance Corporal in the Marines Reserve Unit. He has served in Iraq and will return there for another tour.

One of Rocky’s many hobbies is coin collecting with his son Jeff. He began this hobby in high school when he worked at a grocery store and would buy the silver coins at the end of the day. He is also an avid hunter and often goes to a home place in Virginia that his great grandfather built. While there, he hunts and spends time with his eighty-year-old father, his sons, his brother, and other family members. Rocky is a very “hands on,” self-sufficient person. Anything he can possibly do himself, he does. This includes working on cars, home renovations, etc.

Rocky is a quiet, reserved and well-rounded man who is compassionate and caring in many ways and about many things.

Nerd – I don’t think so!

— Annette Wagoner

2006 Service Awards

Reliable Tank Line-Charlotte Gets New Facility

This past summer, Reliable Tank Line-Charlotte moved into a new facility at 7800 Mount Holly Road. We remodeled and freshened up the building, doing a lot of work with help from the Winston-Salem heating and air departments. This location presently operates ten tractors and trailers with a work force of eighteen employees. Our new home provides plenty of parking and office space to allow for our continuing growth.

— Danny Stroud

Hotels Begin QTR “Train the Trainer”

The QTR Train the Trainer sessions have begun for the Housekeeping division. The certified trainers session began in Jacksonville, Fla. on November 21, 2006 where four talented Guest Room Attendants learned the value of training and were certified as QTR Housekeeping Trainers. The Housekeeping Trainer role is a critical part of the success of QTR throughout the hotels. The remaining Trainer sessions will be conducted at all hotels during the first quarter of 2007.

Left to right: Pat Perry; Linda Battista, hotel General Manager; Jackie Munoz; Cheryle Lee; Indira Dedric; Ava Thomas; and Kim Williamson, VP Corporate Training and Hotel Sales.

Congratulations to the Housekeeping Team at the Hampton Inn- Columbia. The entire team has earned the Spirit of Pride Award. The Housekeeping Team was nominated by a fellow team member and honored with this prestigious award because of their great attitude, hard work, and commitment to quality. A really big WOW to the entire team!

Homewood Suites Update

The Homewood now has a roof. We are expecting to open the 110 all-suite hotel during the second quarter of 2007. This will be Quality Oil Company’s eighth hotel. It is located next to QOC’s Hampton Inn in Lawrenceville, Ga., fifteen miles from Atlanta.

Brookberry Farm Update

Our 800-acre residential development in Winston-Salem, Brookberry Farm, is progressing very well and ahead of schedule. We anticipate the complete project to take 10-plus years, so there will be many stages with different types of housing. Our first phase of 114 lots is already 91% sold. We are working hard to plan for phase II which will open up another 100-plus lots. Hopefully these will be ready by summer 2007. Forty-two town homes are planned for next spring.

The most exciting part is the way the amenity areas are coming together. The village center area is on a high knoll overlooking most of the development and will have a beautiful club house (above left) with a wrap-around porch. The renovated barn, built in the mid-1940s, will be ideal for weddings and parties. The pavilion (above right) features fireplaces and a patio, all surrounded by 200-year-old willow oaks. Our next project is to start the pool, lake, and tennis court areas. From all reports, Brookberry Farm will be the premier housing development in Forsyth County.

— Graham Bennett

Hollywood Comes to Maggie Valley

On October 1, our latest Quality Plus opened in Maggie Valley, N.C. The land was purchased from Ms. Alaska Pressley, who was proud to be our first customer. She is pictured fueling with Gray Fowler, QOC real estate specialist.

It’s hard to tell who else you may see fueling there. This location was chosen as the site of a scene in the upcoming movie, Don’t Fade Away, starring Beau Bridges. He plays a terminally ill father whose son returns home to care for him. Be sure to check out the movie and watch for the gas station scene.

We are pleased to welcome ...

Nicole Stillman as our corporate specialist. Nicole will work directly with supervisors and managers to determine staffing needs and will also be in the field participating in special recruiting events such as job fairs. She is responsible for developing and implementing effective programs related to staffing in all divisions.

When Nicole visits your location, please give her a warm welcome.

— Lisa Dodson

Puckett On Active Duty

Adam Puckett (left) joined our HVAC service department about three years ago. He has been called to active duty serving in the Navy Reserves. In February 2007, he will go to Norfolk and Williamsburg, Virginia for training and then on to Kuwait.

Adam and his wife, Gloria, have two children, Zach and Emily. We are all proud of Adam and wish him the best of luck. Thank you, Adam.

— Jamie Westmoreland

Laugh Lines…

A magician worked on a cruise ship. The audience was different each week so the magician did the same tricks over and over again. There was only one problem: The captain’s parrot saw the shows each week and began to understand how the magician did every trick.

Once he understood, he started shouting in the middle of the show, “Look, it’s not the same hat!” or “Look, he’s hiding the flowers under the table!” or “Hey, why are all the cards the ace of spades?”

The magician was furious but couldn’t do anything about it. It was, after all, the captain’s parrot. Then one stormy night on the Pacific, the ship unfortunately sank, drowning almost all who were on board. The magician luckily found himself on a piece of wood floating in the middle of the sea, as fate would have it ... with the parrot.

They stared at each other with hatred, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day ... and then 2 days ... and then 3 days. Finally on the 4th day, the parrot could not hold back any longer and said, “Okay, I give up. Where’s the ship?”

Oiler Crossword