10
The Coastal Buzz
Women’s History in Brunswick County
MARCH 2022
AN UNCONVENTIONAL WOMAN
The Story of Joy Arnold Gregory By Jan Morgan-Swegle “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” —Michelle Obama When former first lady Michelle Obama said this, she could well have been speaking about Joy Arnold Gregory of Southport. Arnold has accomplished much during her life— many “firsts” for women during the era of World War II. Joy was born in 1925 and was an only child, unconventional from the start. As a young girl, her father taught her to “hunt, fish, and fight.” She was known as “Tuffy” because there wasn’t anything she was afraid of trying. Her parents, especially her mother, didn’t impose traditional gender roles of the era on Joy, because she herself didn’t follow them. Her father piloted shrimp boats and tug boats. Her mother was a “Shore Captain” in the family’s charter boat business and a weather watcher. Her mother told Joy, “If you enjoy your work and you’re good at it, do it.”
Southport Romance By the age of 16, Joy was a volunteer hostess at the Southport USO. She was not afraid to walk home in the evenings after her shift, but one night, she felt like someone was following her. She turned quickly and asked the young sailor who was behind her what he was doing. He said, “I’ve been watching
Photos courtesy Southport Historical Society
Joy Hewe Gregory Arnold, le , was the first woman to become a deputy sheriff in Brunswick County. Fearless and ambi#ous, she blazed many trails for women.
you all night. I like you so I thought I’d walk you home.” Joy pondered this for a minute and replied, “Well, if you’re going to walk me home, get up here and walk with me, not behind me.” And that was the start of her love story with George Gregory. George was from Pennsylvania, stationed at Fort Caswell near Southport, on the USS Ruby. He became a frogman, a very dangerous job to have in the Navy, but he volunteered for it and was proud to have been selected for this role. George left Southport to complete his frogman training—but not before marrying Joy. He served in Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Now 17 and married to a military man, Joy decided to go to one of the shipyards in the area
and become a welder to help the war effort.
Shipyard Safety Joy and the other women at the shipyard were required to wear long pants and, in the interest of safety, they were never to roll up their pant legs. One hot summer day when she was welding, deciding the rules weren’t for her, she rolled her pant legs up to let the breeze cool her down. Immediately hot metal hit her legs and burned her. “Well, I jumped right up and took off my pants then I headed for the horse trough that held water for cooling metal and jumped right in. I drew a crowd that day,” she laughed.
