6 minute read
Holiday Memories
Brunswick County Celebrities Recall Holidays Past
The stockings are hung by the chimney and by one of Ginny Lassiter’s pain ngs at Sunset River Gallery in Calabash. Each gallery staff member has a stocking, Lassiter says.
Ginny Lassiter Artist and Owner, Sunset River Marketplace Calabash
“I grew up in Wilson, N.C. Thanksgiving or Christmas are favorite holidays for me, depending on whichever our granddaughter can spend with us,” says Ginny Lassiter, owner of Sunset River Marketplace in Calabash.
“Our granddaughter loves having our holiday dinner in our formal dining room and helping me set the table with the good china and silver. We both love using linen napkins and lighting the candles and the warm ambience that all creates.” For the past few years, Lassiter has hosted an annual reception at the gallery that has become a December tradition for local authors, where they can set up tables to sell their books in the midst of the artwork and talk to Gallery visitors. This year’s reception is on Saturday, Dec. 11 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
—Joan Leotta
J. Martin (Marty) Cooke Brunswick County Commissioner Local Business Owner Married 23 years to Catherine Cooke, with four children
Brunswick County Commissioner Marty Cooke is not only a county commissioner, but is also a business owner, a husband, and a father. And a son: Cooke let us know right away that it was his dad’s birthday.
“Dad would have been 100 years old today. Mom is 95. Christmas is a happy time, but it is also a time that we tend to think of those we have lost when there is an empty seat at the table.”
Cooke’s parents had a large influence on who is today. “Before moving to Ocean Isle Beach in the 70s and starting a family real estate business, my parents owned a small store in Wadesboro, where I grew up. They had some difficult times financially, but they kept me sheltered from that. I never knew it. No matter what the circumstances, they always made Christmas special for me.
“When I was 4, my parents got me a toy International Harvester tractor. My dad and uncle stayed up half the night putting it together in the basement. When they brought it up the stairs it wouldn’t fit through the basement door. They had to take it apart and put back together all over again,” he says, laughing. “I had no clue what had gone on behind the scenes and of course, Santa got all the credit.”
Parents sacrifice for their kids and go through hard times, but they want to make Christmas special for their children. Cooke remembers this about his parents and feels it had an influence on him. He likes being a “behind-the-scenes guy,” working for the good of his community and those he is serving as a public official.
William Sraver, Jr. Boiling Spring Lakes Planning Board Member Previously Commander of Island X5 Seabee Veterans of America
Bill Sraver is 96. He was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and spent much of his life there as Chief of Space Management for the State of Maryland. Sraver is a proud veteran of the Second World War. He joined the war effort in January 1944 at the young age of 18.
“My three brothers were already in the Navy, so I decided if they were out there in the war, then I had to be there too,” Sraver says. His sister, Ida, was a real life “Rosie the Riveter,” working for Glenn L. Martin Aircraft factory. He joined the Seabees, a construction battalion, whose motto is “We Build. We Fight.” Sraver spent Christmas of 1944 stationed in Milne Bay, New Guinea. “Well, there wasn’t much to celebrate,” Sraver says. The heat in December was stifling. “You take your salt tablets and your Atabrine to prevent malaria. It rained all the time. It was muddy. We just went to church that day. There were 400 men in that unit. We went to the theater where services were held. There were coconut logs for us to sit on and we listened to a sermon.”
Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” was a hit song that year, a song of nostalgia and longing for home for American soldiers overseas.
Boiling Spring Lakes Planning Board member Bill Sraver shows some of his memorabilia from his days in the Seabees. He spent Christmas 1944 sta oned in New Guinea.
Donna Prince Long Mayor of Calabash
Donna Prince Long is a true local girl, born and raised in Calabash. She has wonderful memories of what Christmas was like in a rural coastal town.
“There was always the annual tree lighting at Callahan’s and that was a big thing,” Long says. Callahan’s was the local gift shop and yearround Christmas shop, one of Calabash’s biggest attractions. “The tree lighting at Callahan’s is still a big thing, even today. I have no memory of a time when we didn’t have it. The biggest thing, though, was the town Christmas party at the fire station. My dad was the fire chief so I was always there. The kids loved it! We would get these small brown bags full of candy and nuts and then go sit on Santa’s lap to tell him what we wanted for Christmas.
“Christmas was special for me and my sister because of the community. My dad was a single parent, raising two girls. I remember him doing everything he could to make Christmas special at home. The people who made up the community of Calabash made sure we lacked for nothing.” She laughed, “Dad bought us a lot of gifts but makeup was always included. I guess he was making sure it was girly enough for us. It’s funny, though, because Jenn and I were tomboys and rarely wore the stuff. “I remember going to Marge and Bob Crocker’s house. Every year there were things under the tree for us there. The community loved my dad and loved us and they made sure we never wanted for anything. We were community kids. I think that’s why—no, I know that’s why—I wanted to be mayor. This community gave so much to me, I wanted to give something back.”
—Casey Freed
Calabash Mayor Donna Long, a few years back, tells Santa her wish list at the annual town Christmas party at the fire sta on. Her dad Jerry Prince was fire chief.
William Sraver, Jr. continued
of Christmases here. “We always spent the Christmas holidays visiting my sister in the Adirondack mountains where she had retired, but after becoming tired of the snow, she moved to Oak Island. We began to spend Christmas with her here and my wife Maureen fell in love with the beach. She found that she was a beach girl, and she told me we were moving.” They bought their home in Boiling Spring Lakes in 1998. Sraver joined the Boiling Springs Lakes Planning Board and both he and Maureen were active members of St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church. He recalls the live nativity that St. Peter’s would host every year at Christmas when Boiling Spring Lakes was a much smaller town.
