COASTAL GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
- I S L A N D
W
ith 2017 marking Elegant Island Living’s 15th year, we turn our thoughts to all the different features we’ve written, events we have covered, and the many people we have met who have become a part of EIL’s story. There are the subjects of our articles, our advertisers, photographers, models, and many more people with whom we work each issue, and, of course, we wouldn’t be here without our readers. Recently we spoke with reader Carolyn Hatala about her writing. Carolyn graduated from Glynn Academy and Brunswick College (now the College of Coastal Georgia). She retired for the Board of Education after a career in Special Education. 50
ELEGANT ISLAND LIVING
M E M O R I E S A mother, grandmother, and an author of two books, she considers herself an armchair St. Simons Island history bluff. Carolyn wasn’t keen on telling us too much about herself, but she eagerly offered up stories about growing up on St. Simons Island. She mentioned going to the beach and dancing at the casino, lively picnics under the giant oak, and walking hand in hand with her friends on the wooden pier. She said, “I could tell you about the causeway’s old wooden bridges and when we all stopped and helped turtles cross the road safely. I could tell you about the scent of honeysuckles, wild azaleas, and the giant magnolias that greeted us when crossing onto the island. Of beach towels that filled with sand while white-haired boys played and tanskinned girls forgot about tomorrow.”
