Intriguing
19 INTRIGUING PEOPLE OF THE
LOWCOUNTRY What makes a person intriguing?
Every day we come across people that fascinate us. They arouse our curiosity. We hear about them and want to know more. What they have done or said stimulates conversations. At times, there is even a mystery about them. What they have done may be unique, heroic, honorable or maybe even comical, but they capture our imaginations. We want to know what makes them tick, why they believe what they do, and why they did what they did. Here are the stories of 19 intruiguing people living among us. January 2015 55
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INTRIGUING
KEEPING THE GULLAH CULTURE ALIVE THROUGH ART
BY TIM WOOD | PHOTOS BY LLOYD WAINSCOTT
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miri Farris has always had a special connection with the Gullah Geechee culture. The West Palm Beach native would listen to his grandmother’s and uncle’s stories of growing up Gullah. But it wasn’t until he himself migrated to the Lowcountry 15 years ago after attending the Savannah College of Art and Design that Farris truly understood how important it was to keep the culture alive. One of his first paintings, of his grandmother, was featured at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, where he first won emerging artist and later Artist of the Year honors. Farris said that while he never set out to be a Gullah storyteller, he sees how important it is to keep the culture alive. “There’s not a lot of younger people telling the story and not a lot of younger folks listening,” he said. “I see land being sold off to developers and I’m trying to protect the land. Folks hear about how to make a sweetgrass basket, hear about the canning, they see how important the culture was and is to our heritage.” Farris’ work is also greatly inspired by music. His portraits of jazz musicians —inspired by artists ranging from Renaissance master Romare Barden to ‘80s pop art legend Keith Haring — have been featured in festivals and galleries across the country, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. “I’ve always listened to jazz, it was just like breathing to me growing up. There’s such a beauty that comes from the music, it just feels natural to paint what I hear and how music comes at you,” Farris said. The 38-year-old professor at Savannah State, SCAD and the University of South Carolina Beaufort has set up his studio (at the historic Fripp-Lowden House) and home in Old Town Bluffton, an area he and his dog Horsa quickly fell in love with as a backdrop for his work. “To live on Wharf Street, to have a house in an area that’s been reborn from blight, it’s an honor and an inspiration,” he said. “To walk across the street to the Oyster Factory and look out over the May River, it’s a Zen moment. It helps me gather my thoughts and refocus. To have this beauty and then go two streets over and be in a sea of people, to have this as my home, it’s amazing.” Bluffton has helped him refocus on his work and his passion after the sudden passing of his mother, Julie, two years ago. “She was so full of life, so healthy before the cancer came and in two months, she was gone,” said Farris, who is working on a show to honor his mother in the future. “It was such pain, but being here and being able to paint, it’s helped me get through the pain.” Farris is a founding board member of Celebrate Bluffton, a group focused on celebrating historic buildings in town and refurbishing and preserving historic homes. “We’re working on an app that celebrates the endless history of the town and we’re working with SCAD and the town to refurbish the Garvin House near the Oyster Factory,” Farris said. The artist is equal parts musician, his style a mashup of techno, hip hop and funk he once described as “Lady Gaga hanging out with Michael Jackson on Cybertron.” He’s putting the finishing touches on his latest CD, titled A.R.T. January 2015 57
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Intriguing
A retirement that never took The only chair Blaine Lotz sits in comes with a gavel By Lisa J. Allen photo by rob kaufman
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26-year career as an Air Force officer was only a good start for Sea Pines resident Blaine Lotz. Lotz, 71, followed it up with 13 years of working for the Department of Defense as a civilian. In each tenure, he was awarded a bevy of medals, from the Bronze Star and Legion of Merit to the Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service. He “retired” to Hilton Head in 2005, but not really. He’s president of the Hilton Head World Affairs Council, vice chair of the Hilton Head Regional Habitat for Humanity board, chairman of the Beaufort County Democrat Party, and a volunteer with about a dozen groups, agencies and church committees. “I limit myself to things that I have a passion for,” said Lotz. He has a lot of passion. When asked what his hobbies are, he could come up only with walking his dogs on the beach and reading. Instead, he talks about the 16 Habitat houses being built on Hilton Head Island or the nearly thousand members of the World Affairs Council. Or about the book drive through his church, First Presbyterian, that keeps a steady flow of books in the hands of Ridgeland students. And not one to tell others to do something he wouldn’t, he ran in the Democrat primary in 2008 for the Second District of the U.S. Congress, but lost. “One of the things that has kept me plugging along is you have to have a two-party system, especially in the South,” he said. “We’ve made a lot of progress. We have 500 volunteers in the county. One of my jobs is keeping up the enthusiasm.
“When my wife Lynne and I moved here in 2005, the joke was you could put all of the Democrats in Beaufort County in a phone booth. We haven’t won elections, but we’re growing. I’m a ‘glass half full’ kind of guy.” After traveling the world, the Lotzes chose Hilton Head because of its vibrant community and the many opportunities to get involved, usually at the top. “I try to have a collegial style of leadership,” he said. “You listen to what everyone has to say. It’s amazing what you can learn
when you listen. I think people who have come here are trying to fit in. You have to adapt to the community you moved to. “I’ve never lived anywhere where there is so much involvement as here. ... The challenge is to maintain that. The World Affairs Council is to give people an opportunity to continue to grow. People want more than to just play golf. Frankly, that’s why we came here. There are always things to do.” Especially for a man who simply doesn’t know the meaning of “retire.”
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Beyond Sight Bill Dengler was born blind, but one should never confuse sight with vision. By Barry Kaufman | photo by W Photography
“Blijfldjpfoijowonln,” issues forth the chirpy electronic tone from Bill Dengler’s laptop, a MacBook he’s rigged to boot both Windows and Mac. The laptop is hooked up to an inhome network he designed and implemented by himself. The network also controls all of the home phones. It resides in a server closet he built in an upstairs study. Typical 15-year-old stuff. Dengler clicks the mouse. “REljwlknfaiopjoa,” the laptop responds. “That’s normal. Can you understand that?” he asks me. I cannot. “I’ll slow it down.” With a few button presses, the voice slowly crystalizes into a crisp British-accented
robotic voice outlining notes from Dengler’s history class. Even slowed down, I just barely catch the phrases “John Locke” and “political thought” bubbling up in the torrent of digital audio. “Is this a better rate for you?” he asks. It’s slow enough to illustrate that while Dengler clearly has better ears than most, the real powerhouse is the gray matter working between them. That he could comprehend, to say nothing of hear, this clipped electronic maelstrom of information, shows that this 15-year-old mastermind lives in a very different world from the rest of us. Diagnosed with Norrie Disease shortly after birth, Dengler was born without sight. And while he may not have sight, there’s no
shortage of vision. With the voice now at full speed, Dengler shows how he uses these vocal cues to navigate his laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard, windows appearing and disappearing at a strobe light rate across the screen, the rapid electronic babble squawking and stuttering to keep up. It’s the electronic world he partially lives in, and it’s a world that Dengler is hoping to master as he makes the highly visual digital realm more accessible for the blind. “I’m hoping to put some Swift Apps up on the store; I do have the necessary approvals to do that and I have been accepted into the Apple developer program and the Android developer program,” he said. With a few more CS classes he’s planning on taking, Dengler is hoping to bring his considerable knowledge to bear on apps to allow the blind to use computers the way he does: more efficiently than the rest of us. Google has already solicited his help in testing out accessibility for its Google Glass. This despite the fact that he pointed out a pretty major design flaw in the Google Chromebook at a developer’s convention in Orlando. “One of the first things I do when I get a device like that is crank the speech rate up,” he said. “I got it to go up to about 45-50 percent. You continued to crank the rate up, and it would say, ‘Rate 55 percent.’ But 55 would be slower than 50. So rate 100 percent was actually painfully slow.” “He’s surrounded by all these Google techs and he’s telling them, ‘I found a glitch in your system’ and they said ‘No, it doesn’t do that,’” added his mother, Terri. “All the sudden they’re around us taking his picture, because he really did find a glitch.” Despite the egg on their face, Google offered Dengler a place in its legendary internship program. They had to rescind the offer when they found out he was only 15, but it goes to show. With his remarkable mind, relentless drive and passion for making the world a more accessible place, the only thing keeping this young man from changing the world is time. And when that time comes, look out world. January 2015 59
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An Iron Will Sculptor Chase Allen discovers Daufuskie Island is a do-it-yourself school of life
Intriguing
By Lisa J. Allen | photos by rob kaufman
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ven at a young age, Chase Allen knew better than to plunk himself on Daufuskie Island and do whatever he wanted. He was working at his first job out of college for a now-defunct Daufuskie Island resort. “I didn’t like the job,” Allen said. “When you go to a job every day and you’re not following who you are, it’s a painful thing. I was following a path without much thought.” Then, a couple of his friends died far too early, his mom fell ill and 9-11 happened. “It was a slap in the face,” he said. “... Life is too short and I really took it to heart at age 24.” He couldn’t stop thinking about a pottery class he took his senior year of college. He wanted to create things for a living, ideally on Daufuskie Island. “I rented a cottage right across the street from a couple who had a pottery studio. They just opened it up. I thought it would be kind of rude to move here and do the same thing, so on vacation in Asheville I saw a bunch of sculptures made out of scrap metal. I watched
(an artist), and I thought, ‘I could do that.’ “I was still doing real estate, so I asked a mechanic on the island to teach me how to weld. I snuck out on lunch hours and practiced welding.” He made a garden pig and donated it to a school benefit auction where it fetched $50. “I thought that was pretty good,” he said. Realizing he might be able to earn a living, Allen spent more and more time on his art. “I kept a couple of jobs for year and half. As soon as I put that sign in the yard, I started making more money from the art than I could have ever imagined.” Once his studio, The Iron Fish, began appearing on the tourism maps, he earned a steady flow of customers, primarily tourists from the resort. Luckily, he had just launched his website in 2006 before the resort closed. The timing was great because articles about him and his art in regional magazines drove people to the site. Demand rose again this fall when Allen, 38, won the 2014 Audience Choice for Martha
Stewart’s American Made craftsmen awards. “A customer emailed me to ask if he could nominate me. I don’t even know them. We were already busy, now we’re just busier,” said Allen, who now has a full-time apprentice. “I call myself a craftsman. It’s not just painting. It’s production art.” It’s that problem solving that has helped him become an integral part of Daufuskie Island. “I’ve been accepted on Daufuskie. You have to have the patience of a glacier. You’re not going to come out here and make a splash. You have to be community-minded. You take care of your neighbors. “When I moved here, I didn’t know anything about anything. I didn’t know anything about carpentry or mechanics. You don’t have a mechanic you can go to. Now I know about boats and owning a home. Sometimes, there isn’t someone to help you. You have to learn how to be independent. You have to do it yourself. “It’s a school of life.”
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Living life to its fullest
By SHERRY CONOHAN photo by Rob Kaufman
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eggy Parker has lived a life of passion – several passions, really. From teaching teachers to becoming a drummer in jazz bands to politics to helping disadvantaged girls, she has embraced each endeavor along life’s path. As the principal of an early childhood development primary school, she worked to help her teachers to do a better job. “That’s what I like to study – the art and science of teaching,” Parker said. Later in her education career, she had the opportunity to supervise student teachers at the University of South Carolina and grade them on their performance. “I taught them effective teaching skills,” she explained. Through two decades in the world of education, it was Parker’s passion to try to make sure her teachers and students were successful. It was no different when she became a jazz musician, playing drums and often sitting in with drummers decades younger than her. Parker said she was inspired to take up the drums by two brothers-in-law who played. She enthusiastically sought out musicians who could help her learn and went to the University of Louisville, which she said has a well known jazz camp, for several summers to improve her skill. “Jazz has a feel. It’s magical,” she said of her passion for music. Today, she plays in the May River Trio, doing gigs at charity events. Sharing the stage with her are Lea Smith on keyboard and Pete Sensivicki on bass. She said Smith has performed in New York, most recently at the Waldorf-Astoria, while Sensivicki is known for starting the free last Sunday of the month of Dixieland jazz concerts at The Jazz Corrner on Hilton Head Island. Parker recently sat in for one number at The Jazz Corner during a charity function and was thrilled by the experience. “They asked me what I wanted to play and I said ‘Satin Doll,’ ” she said. “I really wanted to do well. I was concentrating while I was playing, but when I stood up at the end, I was shaking.” Now a resident of Bluffton – she has a
home on Myrtle Island – Parker lived in Hampton during her education days and became involved in several charities and civic activities there, including an anti-litter campaign aimed at cleaning up the roads and a community health drive. Feeling she could do more, she ran for a seat on the Hampton County Council and won, going on to serve four terms for a total of 16 years. Her council activity included work in race relations for which she received training at the Penn Center. One Hampton County program that Parker is still active in and is extraordinarily passionate about is PEARLS Girls. The program falls under the purview of PEARLS (Philanthropic Empowerment Among Rural Lowcountry Sisters) which is funded by a
commitment by its women members to put up $100 a year toward an endowment that pays for grants distributed to nonprofit organizations in the county. The PEARLS Girls program encourages girls to be successful community-minded individuals. Parker said the girls must maintain good grades and not be a disciplinary problem in order to be in the program and get reinforcement and whatever academic help they need, along with training in social skills throughout their school life. She said there are now 21 girls in the fifth grade who began participating in the first grade. Parker travels back to Hampton every month for the group’s board meetings. “That’s my life now,” she said. “We help them to graduate and dream.”
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Disney’s magic man Mick Ayres brings tall tales to life with a little sleight of hand By Ellis Harman | photo by Valerie Stryker
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ost guests at Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort don’t know Mick Ayres by his real name. To them, he’ll always be B’Lou Crabbe, a loveable, banjo-playing, tall tale-telling entertainer and magician who has been welcoming resort guests with a smile and a story for more than 15 years. “It’s not often you can say ‘I invented a
Disney character,’ ” Ayres said. “But it’s given me a chance to create a show that’s a real family thing, and it’s made me one of the busiest entertainers in the Southeast U.S. I do about 1,000 shows a year.” Ayres’ performances as B’Lou — short for Bartholomew Louis — all include the music, magic and storytelling he’s been perfecting for years.
“I started as a magician,” Ayres said. “I would also tell stories and play instruments to enhance my show. I’ve been doing magic since I was 8 years old, and I did my first paid show when I was 13.” While Ayres said he has always loved conjuring tricks and storytelling, he hasn’t always made it his career. He spent several years working at an advertising agency in Miami, and said he hated it. “I was miserable,” he said. “So I’d go out on weekends to the pier in Miami, set out my fiddle case and do magic and play music. … Eventually, it came down to ‘What if?’ I started thinking, ‘What if I gave it a real shot?’ ” So he did, auditioning for Disney with a humorous magic routine that incorporated his banjo. “Luckily, they laughed at all the right places,” he said of his audition. He perfected his act at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando. Then Disney brought him to Hilton Head, giving him the chance to develop the B’Lou Crabbe character and a variety of tricks and tales. His work with Disney also gave him the chance to entertain area children. Every year, Ayres dons a Santa suit that is “the real deal” and visits children at Boys & Girls Clubs around the Lowcountry, all coordinated by Disney officials. “It was really an eye opener,” Ayres said of his first visits to some of the clubs. “The Boys & Girls Club on Hilton Head is like a country club. But then you go out the club in Allendale, and it’s a double-wide trailer with no electricity and I’m sitting on a box. And some of these kids can break your heart.” Even though there’s some magic Santa — and Ayres — just can’t work, Ayres said he’s grateful for the chance to entertain the Boys & Girls Club children and show them a few tricks. And it’s an opportunity he knows he only receives because of his work with Disney. “I tell people jokingly that if Disney ever lets me go, I have no idea what I’ll do with myself,” Ayres said. To hear a few of Mick Ayres’ stories set to music, go to www.reverbnation.com/ mickayres January 2015 63
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NEWSMAN ADJUSTS TO LIFE OFF DEADLINE
INTRIGUING
BY ROBYN PASSANTE | PHOTO BY W PHOTOGRAPHY
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itz McAden is spending his retirement building things. He started with an elaborate armadillo fence. (Critter Management: Take note.) Then he moved on to Bahama shutters. Now he’s tackling picture frames. “I like to build things,” says the 65-year-old with the self-satisfied smile of a man who just bought himself a miter saw. All this building seems like a departure from his 42-year career in newspapers, until you start thinking about his 42-year career in newspapers. For all of his working years, in particular the last 19 as executive editor of The Island Packet (and, since 2008, The Beaufort Gazette), McAden built things. He assembled carefully uncovered facts into articles that impacted lives. He helped to build the small daily into an award-winning paper that in 2004 was named one of “10 Newspapers That Do It Right,” by Editor & Publisher magazine. And he shaped accomplished journalists out of fresh-faced college graduates, more than he can count, using constructive criti-
cism, occasional humor and a no-nonsense demeanor. Those projects, he says at the close of a long career, were some of his favorites. “I loved it when they went on to do bigger and better, I really did,” McAden says of the young journalists he mentored who “graduated” to large media outlets like the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Bloomberg. McAden’s own career started in the city and moved toward more rural environs. He began as a reporter and then an editor at The Miami Herald before moving to The State in Columbia as news editor. He landed in the Lowcountry in 1995, where small-town news took hold of his heart. “When I first came down here, I thought there wouldn’t be much to write about,” he says. “It turns out there was lots of hard-edged news. And it also surprised me that you could get just as interested in hard news that bubbled up in a small place as hard news that bubbled up in a large place like Miami.” Many of those stories stick with him to this
day, among them the investigative work his staff did on a public utility that was charging poor residents unfair fees, and a local physician’s misconduct on the job. He says he misses having, and digging for, the inside scoop before it is broadcast to the world. “I miss the flow of information, what’s going on and the backstory,” he says. “You hear about a lot of interesting things that for various reasons don’t make it into print or get posted online.” But he doesn’t miss the long hours away from home and family. His two sons are grown and out of the house, but he wakes early enough these days to make breakfast for his wife, Jill, who is principal of Hilton Head Island IB Elementary School. Though he spends a good bit of his time now on those building projects, McAden says in years past he has indulged another love of his — flying. The retired editor is actually a pilot who has been trained in aerobatics, having mastered midair rolls, spins and loops. “I’ve been fascinated with aviation since childhood.”
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Performer, producer & preservationist Music maven Terry Herron directs his passion and talents toward preserving the Gullah culture. The Herron household may have lacked material wealth, but it was rich with entertainment and, by the age of 12, Herron was hooked on swing, jazz and big band music. More than a musician, Herron earned his Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Michigan State University and his MBA from Central Michigan University. A successful marketing career and impressive entrepreneurial endeavors followed, including his prominent importing business that brought him to Ridgeland. He fell in love with the area, particularly with the Gullah culture, and decided to stay. More recently, Herron was instrumental in coordinating a special visit that brought Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, to the Lowcountry to learn about African-American life in the region. Said Herron, “I think that our Gullah culture is one of the Lowcountry’s most unique and valuable treasures, and that we need to do all we can to help preserve and educate others about it. Hosting Mr. Bunch, a well-respected expert and true celebrity, was an honor and a thrill and we are so fortunate to have his support.” Herron is also deeply involved
Christopher Herron
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erry Herron is recognized by many as an accomplished Hilton Head jazz singer, but he was a successful entertainer in Atlanta for 30 years, prior to moving to Hilton Head in 2004, and is also revered for his prowess in producing world-class theme shows in the style of Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond and others. In October 2014, one of Herron’s musical acts paid tribute to “The Life and Music of Johnny Mercer,” which garnered rave reviews. Until recently, Herron served as a board member and concert coordinator for the Coastal Jazz Association, producers of the Savannah Jazz Festival. Those most familiar with him also know that his passion and exceptional talents extend well beyond the microphone, as well as the island. Herron grew up in the small town of Muskegon, Mich., as one of 12 children and the son of parents who owned a grocery store. In spite of having so many mouths to feed, Herron said that his mother always put a portion of their modest budget aside for artistic pursuits. “We lived in a rundown house in an old neighborhood,” said Herron. “We had no money, but had two grand pianos and Mom always made sure we had tap shoes and lessons.”
arno dimmling
By Blanche T. Sullivan
with the Santa Elena Foundation (santa-elena.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the story of European colonization of North America and promoting Santa Elena, founded in 1566 on Parris Island, as the first European colonial capital. When Herron isn’t wowing audiences with his performances
and pursuing preservation, he enjoys spending time with his Kickin’ Asphalt Bicycle Club (kickinasphalt.info) cohorts – participating in major bike rides and serving as a ride tour guide/ planner. Married to Mary Jo, his high school sweetheart, Herron is truly a musical maven with a mission — on stage and off.
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A gift for turning frowns upside down By Tim Wood | photo by arno dimmling
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or 17 years, he’s been the smiling face at the Main Street Harris Teeter that makes lasting impressions on shoppers and turns strangers into instant friends. For bagger Ogunsheye “Sheye” Rohlsen, it is a gift to be a happy memory during what many see as a dreaded chore. “I have always been a people person. I’m unique in my own special way and I try to share my optimism and happiness with people,” he said. “I have been in many places, so I wake up every day feeling so blessed to be here on the island in such a special environment.” Rohlsen came to Hilton Head Island
after 20 years of moving between his native St. Croix and New York City. “I lived in the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan and it was amazing. The lights, the people, the energy, I definitely fed off of it, but I am a warmer island guy,” he said of ultimately deciding to migrate south. After graduating from Job Corps in Kentucky in the late ‘90s, Rohlsen moved in with his father and stepmother in Hampton, S.C. That’s when his stepmom found him the job with Harris Teeter. “It was just such a good fit. I love being around people, working an honest day and being in customer service,” he said. He would often commute to the island
with his father, Ariel, a customer service legend in his own right who worked banquets at the Holiday Inn. “I definitely got the outgoing personality from him,” Rohlsen said of his father, a former backup singer for the ‘60s and ‘70s supergroup Melvin and the Blue Notes who passed away a few years back. Sheye moved to the island 11 years ago, at first living with a friend before getting his own North End apartment. For nearly two decades, he has been a consistent force for good in an everchanging cast of visitors, residents and store employees. He’s seen babies grow into teenagers and work alongside him and he’s seen more than his fair share of grumpy people. “It’s a challenge, but I love turning the frown upside down. There’s plenty of mean people on this island, but I don’t let them get to me,” he said. “I have off days, but I never let folks see that.” He is a man of faith with morals, but doesn’t try to preach. Nor does he try to be a comedian. He just tries to pay it forward with niceness. “Sure, there’s selfish rich folks. I wish they’d share some of that with a homeless person, but overall, I’m just as nice to the mean folks and I’ve won a lot of folks over,” he said. “It’s a challenge and I know I need to be a leader. And when you’re good to people, good things happen to you. I’ve seen that firsthand.” When not at the store, Rohlsen can be seen riding his bike, often with loud outfits and his favorite Afro wig. He’s the proud father to two birds — a cockatiel named General and a parakeet, Crystal — and two beta fish. When he’s not on his bike or at the beach, the self-described gadget geek is on his laptop or tablet. The 40-year-old said his life is full of acquaintances and happiness. “It’s hard to make real good friends, so if you have one, hold on to them,” he said. He’s never shied away from the camera and has done modeling work on the island. He’s an avid handyman and has had opportunities to apply that trade. But he values his place at Harris Teeter. “Job security is a blessing in this day and age,” he said. “They’re good to me and I try to pass that along to everyone I come across every day.” January 2015 67
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Balancing sports with philanthropies
By SHERRY CONOHAN Photo by arno dimmling
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he drives an ancient pickup truck named Lola that she bought from Robert Redford, she shoots clays with the Annie Oakleys at a Savannah gun club, and she celebrated her 60th birthday by climbing to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The diminutive and soft-spoken Susan Ketchum — she’s a slight 5-feet, 2-inches tall — deftly balances her sports and beloved philanthropies in her private life with her job as a top financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, where she has spent her entire 42-year career. She joined Merrill Lynch in her hometown of Pittsburgh. “I was very young. I had just turned 18 and I lost my mother six months before,” she said. “I was part of a large Catholic family. I had five siblings and I was the oldest, so I needed to stay close to home to help take care of my siblings. I got a job as a clerk-typist. Then I proceeded for the next 42 years to climb up the ladder.” Ketchum was moved first to Boston, then went on to New York, attending night school classes along the way. Over time, she went to Harvard, the Wharton School and the University of California-Berkeley for continuing education classes for executives. Thirty years ago she was transferred to Merrill Lynch’s Hilton Head location. Sitting in her comfortable corner office with its lovely view of the trees outside, she talked enthusiastically about some of the charities she supports. One that she is particularly proud of is Women in Philanthropy, a women’s “giving circle,” which she helped found. The organization has been in exis68 hiltonheadmonthly.com
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Intriguing tence for 12 years and began with 100 women who committed to giving $1,000 a year in each of the next three years. They raised $300,000, which was put into an endowment. The endowment has grown with continuing contributions to over $1 million today and has awarded $156,000 in grants to local nonprofit organizations — selected by the women — since 2006. Ketchum cited as an example of a recipient, Hope Haven, which helps women and children who are victims of abuse by providing shelter and counseling. “It’s really a wonderful group of women who want to make a difference,” she said. “And we feel we have.” Ketchum also is involved with building an orphanage in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in Africa. She said she was brought into the Valentine Project through two
friends from St. Luke’s Church. She went with them to Tanzania four years ago on a mission trip. “The (Anglican) archbishop of Tanzania, who was hosting our trip, asked the three of us if we would help him realize a vision and a dream he had, which was to build a center for orphans on property he had in the diocese,” said Ketchum. The three accepted the challenge and have raised money, formed a board, hired an executive director who’s on the ground there and are now building the structures to house the orphans. “We broke ground in July and will be able to move the first children in in the first quarter of 2015. That will be 20 children,” Ketchum said. “Another group will move in later in the summer. That’s another 20 children. Eventually we want to have 100 children.”
Her visits to Tanzania led to her climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. “I was seeing this mountain every time I went to Africa and I said someday I’m going to climb it,” she said. “And I did. I summited it successfully in February (2014).” Ketchum was accompanied on her adventure by her boyfriend, Tom Philbrick, a physician and chief of staff at St. Joseph’s/ Candler Hospital in Savannah, who also is a marathon runner. “It was the hardest thing I have ever done – the most challenging physically I have ever done, and mentally,” Ketchum said. “But how rewarding. It was amazing. “We climbed up to 19,358 feet. I did get to the top at sunrise. We left at midnight. It was a treacherous climb in the dark, and we arrived at 7:30 in the morning, seven and a half hours later, through freezing rain and
60 mile per hour winds, and walked along the crater. The sun was coming up and you only stay up there for 10 minutes because you can’t breathe, then they get you down. “While I was there I took the opportunity — I had some of my dad’s ashes — and I spread them over the roof of Africa because he was so interested in what I was doing over there, but didn’t live long enough to know the first children were going in.” It was Valentine’s Day and her 60th birthday. “Ten years ago, when I turned 50, I set out and bicycled in Vietnam because I love cycling,” she said. “I went from Hanoi to the Mekong Delta, including the mountains of Da Lat in between. That was a phenomenal trip and I thought, OK, what do I do when I’m 60? “So now I’m looking ahead — what’s next?”
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Father, husband finds passion following tragic loss
By Tim Wood photo by rob kaufman
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r. Anthony Mattis has been seeking knowledge his entire life. When he lost the love of his life in 2011, that thirst only became more intense and more personal. “Jessica battled bipolar disorder for so long and we had a wonderful stretch where she was winning and she gave me three amazing children, but when she lost that battle, it just made me fight harder,” Mattis said. Mattis met the Hilton Head High graduate shortly after moving to the Lowcountry 15 years ago and fell in love. Together, they built his chiropractic practice in Bluffton and shared a passion for holistic wellness. Now, as he raises his three kids as a single father, he is trying to honor her fight and her spirit. “It was difficult to get back into daily life, but I know it’s what I need to do for me and for my kids,” Mattis said. “And now, I have found a passion that I believe can help people live to the fullest, to break down the energies that bring us down.” Mattis has become an active practitioner of Access Consciousness, a healing and empowerment program built around the concept of running Access Bars. “There are 32 points on the head that carry all the electromagnetic beliefs, our thoughts on money, sadness, joy, creativity. By lightly contacting these points, we can dissolve preconceived fears and thoughts holding us back,” he said. While he sees connections between his chiropractor work and Access Consciousness, Mattis makes sure to not push his beliefs too hard. “I have always been a different kind of chiropractor, but I keep these two worlds separate until someone is curious and asks,” he said. “We do workshops and run the access bars here, but I know some folks think this is just too wacky. Those who know me know I have been seeking forever, I’ve tried the weirdest, wackiest stuff in that quest. I truly believe I have found the path I’ve been searching for.”
Mattis also works as a life coach using the Passion Test approach to coaching, but he is becoming a driving force behind Access, a program founded in 1990 by Gary Douglas that is now practiced in 131 countries. “I was introduced to Gary and his partner, Dr. Dain Heer, and he was impressed with me. I ran bars on Gary and the two of them told me they wanted to be a bigger part of the program,” he said. Mattis will be traveling to San Diego, Dublin, Ireland and Vancouver in the first quarter of 2015, teaching Access and running private sessions as part of the seminars Douglas and Heer run. “It’s worked for me. Five months after Jessica died, I did the bars sessions, and
after the fifth session, I felt such joy and hope for the first time in so long,” he said. “I’ve seen it work with my kids, I’ve seen it transform my oldest son from super hyper to calm. Now I want to share this with as many folks as possible.” Mattis, a self-described “purple cow” in his field, wants to show people there is more than the standard medical model. “You have choices, I’m trying to create different possibilities for people,” he said. “This gets to those places beyond what even your mind can get to. So many pains are buried deep down into the unconscious, the unfulfilled dreams, the anger, the resentment. This really works to help let that negative energy go.”
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Intriguing
Growing up on stage
By Robyn Passante | photo by rob kaufman
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alented teenagers are often a driven, dreamy sort, with big ideas of the future fueled by early success and encouragement. It’s not that 17-yearold Whitaker Gannon doesn’t have those. It’s just that she’s a bit more of a realist. “Although it would be nice to devote your life to one thing, it’s a lifestyle choice that sometimes can be a little more difficult,” said the accomplished actress and Hilton Head
Preparatory School senior. “So there are easier ways that I can explore the arts and have it be a part of my life without necessarily putting all my eggs in one basket.” Lucky for Gannon, she has a lot of eggs. Besides acting, singing and dancing in such productions as “South Pacific” and “Annie” with local theater troupes, the young star is an accomplished photographer, dabbles in journalism, plays the piano, guitar and
ukulele – all self-taught – and knows enough sign language to “sing” silently to some of her favorite pop tunes. She also holds down a part-time job at Lawton Stables and is a “mostly A’s” student with her sights set on college. “I want a liberal arts college that has arts opportunities for whatever I want to end up pursuing,” she said with practicality. Hers is a perspective born from the grace that comes with not always getting what you think you want, but ending up with what you really need. Gannon’s start with acting began as a fifth-grader, when she auditioned for the role of the white rabbit in her school’s musical rendition of “Alice in Wonderland” – and was given the part of a flower. “I think I was a little too confident,” she said. “But everything happens for a reason.” What happened next was that her mother, Andrea Gannon, who also does some acting, encouraged her daughter to audition for a role in the Main Street Youth Theatre’s upcoming production of “Annie.” Whitaker Gannon landed a spot in the cast as one of the orphans, and her talent and passion bloomed onstage. “That really opened up my love for theater,” she said. A steady stream of roles followed that debut, including two movie roles recently produced in the Lowcountry. Filming wrapped late last year on an independent horror film, “The Hollow Oak,” in which she plays a major character. “There were some scenes where I’m haunting others, so I would have to go through the two-hour process of putting on prosthetic makeup,” she said. While she appreciates having been given the opportunity to try movie-making, Gannon prefers live theater. “It’s kind of my first love,” she said. “You start with the beginning and go through the end and it’s a process. There’s something really rewarding about having an audience right there, and you feed off of that energy. You don’t get that with filming.” Gannon said support from her family – which includes her father, Chris, and older brother, Blake – has given her the wings to fly in many different directions. “I’ve really grown to like being busy,” she said. “It’s rewarding to be a part of all these different experiences.” January 2015 71
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Accomplished Bluffton DREAMer has West Point aspirations By Megan Mattingly-Arthur Photos by lloyd wainscott
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uis Estrada is an extraordinary young man whose dedication to excellence is refreshing. While many people his age spend their weekends watching TV and playing video games, this Bluffton High School junior is out completing community service projects with his JROTC unit and participating in extreme sport race challenges with his JROTC Raiders team — and loving every minute of it. “The Raider team is a team of absolutely extraordinary cadets who push themselves every day to work out and do their best,” Estrada said. “We do community service every weekend. I just love the program; I love being part of the Raider team.” Estrada has numerous accolades to show for his efforts, including a leadership role in the Bluffton High School JROTC program. His Raider team is state champion and he was ranked the top overall male Raider in South Carolina at a recent competition. Academic excellence is also important to Estrada, who credits a high GPA and his involvement in the JROTC program with helping him get into the National Honor Society, where he is currently ranked 62 out of the 419 students in his class. “I currently have a 4.5 GPA on the South Carolina scale and that’s what got the National Honor Society interested in me,” Estrada said. “The National Honor Society requires you to complete 25 hours of community service by the end of the year, and I was able to complete that in a onemonth period because of all the
community service projects we do in JROTC and Raiders.” Out of all the community service projects he’s done, Estrada said he most enjoys helping and handing out water at the annual Hilton Head Island Bridge Run. “I love helping at this run because you see a wide range of people who want to better themselves, who want to compete, who like to do 5Ks and 10Ks,” he said. “It was a great time.” Estrada, who came to the United States from Mexico when he was 3, is accomplishing these great things thanks, in part, to the DREAM Act, which grants conditional permanent residency to select immigrants of good moral character who arrived in the country as minors, graduate from U.S. high schools and have lived in the country for five continuous years. “One thing that really drives me is that I’m not from the United States, so there are a lot of opportunities that I wouldn’t get back in Mexico,” Estrada said. “I like to excel in academics because I feel like, if I really push myself, I’ll be wanted at a college. There are a lot of people who just came here looking for more opportunities and, if you push yourself, you’re going to do very well for this country; they’re going to want to keep you here. It’s about bettering the United States and bettering yourself.” Estrada hopes to one day attend The Citadel or the United States Military Academy at West Point. For more information on the JROTC program at Bluffton High School, visit www.blufftonjrotc. com. January 2015 73
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Intriguing
The [REDACTED] Life of Dan Fuller From the jungles of Vietnam to the backwoods of the Lowcountry, Dan Fuller has seen it all and then some. By Barry Kaufman | photo by ROB KAUFMAN
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an Fuller died once. As in heart stopped, no breathing, no pulse, bright white light dead. And here’s the interesting thing about Dan Fuller: The fact that he died once is not even in the top five most interesting things about him. Although it certainly left a lasting impression. As a special forces-qualified medic, he’d been working for Hilton Head Hospital in the days when the fledgling hospital would still have to send certain patients down to St. Joseph’s in Savannah because they lacked the facilities to properly treat them. It was while driving one such patient that Dan Fuller died. “I died at the BP station in Levy; that’s where they pulled over and did CPR on me,” he said in unnervingly casual tone. Fuller had suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, bleeding in the area between the brain and the soft tissue that surround it. (“I thought I’d been shot in the head,” he said.) A quick-thinking nurse was able to grab the wheel and pull the vehicle over before the situation went from bad to worse. Meanwhile, Fuller was piercing the veil between this world and the next. “I saw heaven,” he said. “There was this brilliant white light, but not so brilliant you couldn’t see, y’know, where you have to squint your eyes?” “I was spoken to, but not like someone talking. They told me it wasn’t my time yet. They told me I still had work to do. But what pissed me off was they didn’t tell me what it was. I had to find out for myself.”
Fuller eventually found it in his work with dogs, training searchand-rescue animals as the founder of Urban Search and Rescue K-9. With a crew of volunteers and highly-trained search dogs, Fuller has helped countless families obtain either the rewarded hope of finding a lost loved one or the bitter relief that comes with finding remains. “The sad thing is, in order for us to go out and do what we do, someone needs to be in harm’s way,” he said. “The whole thing is you want to save a life. If you can’t, at least you can give the family some closure.” Fuller’s passion in his second try at life is pretty far off from his first life, a career spent in the United States Marine Corps serving in the Vietnam War and later in more clandestine outfits carrying out missions that to this day he’s not at liberty to discuss. The stories he is at liberty to discuss paint a wild picture of a career that’s largely a state secret, and make us wonder about the stories he’s not able to tell. There’s the story from the tail end of the Vietnam War when he and a group of Marines decided to celebrate the end of the conflict with what he casually refers to as “a light show.” “We’re sitting on top of this mountain, silly and giggling and we decided we wanted a light show. We get on the radio and start playing these tapes so there’s noise in the background like we’re in contact,” he said with a sly grin. “First we called for artillery. Then we wanted more so we called for Spectre gunships. Those things, man, it was like a
red magic marker in the sky at night. Then we got some B-52s … and they’re dropping napalm; they’re dropping arclights; this three-ship formation dropping 157-pound bombs. We’re up there going nuts. We spent millions just for a light show.” You can get uptight all you want about taxpayer dollars or you can accept the fact that a group of Marines who had just made it through the hell of Vietnam probably deserved a show. After getting out of the Corps, Fuller went into what he calls “the obvious government agencies you go to after Marine Corps and special forces,” where the declassified stories continue, such as the time his mission was to act as cover for agents surveilling the Mediterranean. “We sat in 140-foot yacht, off the coast of Gibraltar… our job was, we were portraying ourselves as spoiled rich American kids. Long hair, all this stuff,” said Fuller. “Down below were all
these techies. They never got to come up on deck and we’d change them out once a week at night. Built into the side of the ship were these antennas you couldn’t really tell were antennas. “The point was, sitting there we could see everything going in and out of the Med. I don’t know how they could do it, but they could tell what was in these ships. So that was our job, to sit up there and party while the techies down below monitored everything that came in and out of the Med. What a great gig. I had this great tan, and all I could do was say, ‘The things I do for my country.’” The stories only grow in intrigue from there, at least the ones he can talk about, and they reveal by omission a fascinating life, and a new one that started when the old one quite literally ended. “I’ve had a very interesting life. That dying and coming back, it made me realize you have to live each day like it’s your last. I do.”
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The power of peace Jan Rose Kasmir proves a picture is worth 1,000 words By Ellis Harman | photo by W Photography
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17, Jan Rose Kasmir was like most teenagers coming of age in the 1960s: She was unhappy with the United States’ role in the war in Vietnam, and looking for a way to make a difference. On Oct. 21, 1967, she joined thousands of anti-war protesters in a march on the Pentagon. Though she wouldn’t know it for
decades, a single photo of her taken during that protest would have an impact on peace activists around the world. “It was a completely innocent moment,” Kasmir said. “It was pure. It wasn’t a photo opp. It was just a really sincere desire on my part to make a difference.” The now famous photo was taken by French photographer Marc Riboud and
shows Kasmir clutching a single chrysanthemum as she faces a line of young National Guard troops holding bayonets. “If you look at the picture, I’m extremely sad,” Kasmir said. “I was trying to talk to the soldiers and get them to join the protesters, and then I had an epiphany. All the rhetoric melted. They stopped being the ‘war machine.’ They were just young men. They were victims, too.” Kasmir wasn’t aware of the photo for years — her father discovered it in a photography magazine while traveling abroad — and she wasn’t aware that it had had such an impact on peace activists around the world. To her, that day had been just like any other. “It wasn’t until recently that I realized that I really could have gotten hurt or been killed,” she said, reflecting on her memories of that day. “But around the world, especially in countries like Spain that have faced oppression, it became known as the David and Goliath photo. I was the girl with the flowers up against the soldiers.” Now, nearly 50 years later, Kasmir is working to keep the messages of hope and strength captured in that photo alive. She has dedicated her life to helping the community. She worked with inmates in women’s prisons for 10 years, spent years volunteering with the Red Cross and currently is a medically trained massage therapist on Hilton Head Island. “My whole life has been about making a difference,” she said. “My peace work now has translated into making a profound difference in people’s health. Through massage, I can help prevent unnecessary surgery and help with chronic pain.” She’s also using her massage work to help those in need. She performs massages for athletes in wheelchair tennis tournaments held on Hilton Head, and she’s participated in “massage for peace” outreach programs, even traveling to Washington D.C. to greet protesters walking across the country in support in peace and to offer them massages. “My goal is to help people realize their power in the community,” she said. “It really takes a village. I want to support people who invest in the community. … My hope is to take the strength of that picture and put it into the social work I plan to do when I retire.” January 2015 75
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Lithuanian not taking American life for granted By Robyn Passante photos by lloyd wainscott
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arolina Kazluaskaite’s parents won a Green Card lottery to leave their native Lithuania when she was 3 years old. It took two years and endless paperwork, but the family made the long trek to America when Karolina was 5. They didn’t have jobs or family waiting for them, and they didn’t know the language. But they had hope, and that crosses all language and cultural barriers. “We were looking for the best future for our kids,” said Virginia Kazluaskaite, mother to Karolina, 17, and her sister Sandra, 25. Today Karolina speaks three languages, is an honors student at Hilton Head Island High School, is active in community service groups and has a deep appreciation for the sacrifices her parents made. But she said it took awhile for that perspective to shine through. “I was extremely upset about it when we first moved. I would always ask, ‘When are we going to move back to Lithuania?’ Now that I’m older I realize I’m really grateful I had the opportunity to live here,” she said. Karolina said the family settled on Hilton Head Island because her mother had a childhood friend who lived here. “There’s a tiny little community of Lithuanians here,” she said, and that tight-knit group helps one another keep their native traditions alive. They make flower crowns to celebrate Jonines in the summer, and on Christmas Eve they gather for Kucios, a traditional Christmas Eve dinner that starts late at night. “It’s nice to have family traditions you can share with other Lithuanians,” Karolina said. “I know when I have children I’m going to want to practice these traditions.” The Kazluaskaites return to Lithuania for a month or more every other summer, where Karolina said she gets to see her faraway family and soak up the warmth and beauty of her native country. “It’s kind of like my happy place, my escape from reality,” said the high school senior. “When I write poetry, I like to write about my experiences in Lithuania, the landscape and the nature.” But she is happy here in South Carolina, acting in her school’s theater productions and dreaming of starting school at the College of Charleston in the fall. January 2015 77
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The guy from Deas Guyz He’s Not Just a Wedding Singer
By John Hudzinski photo by Rob Kaufman
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ntertainer Reggie Deas admits he has never played an instrument or learned a lick about reading or writing music. Yet the singer and leader of the popular Hilton Head band Deas Guyz charms many islanders and surrounding Lowcountry fans on a weekly basis. Its dance and toe-tapping tunes feature songs from classics such as Motown, rhythm and blues and reggae. Music isn’t the only hat Deas wears. While an entertainer by night, by day he’s an assistant principal at the Hilton Head Island School for the Creative Arts. “I have the best of both worlds,” said Deas, who has been an educator for the past 24 years. “I like performing for the public and I love working with the kids.” Both careers keep the self-described workaholic constantly on the go. “I have to get by with very little sleep,” he said. “I have very little down time.” Deas has few hobbies and doesn’t stray far from his life’s passion. “I like to listen to music and sing when I’m not working,” he said. “I also try and spend as much time at sports and other activities with my two sons.” Deas, who was born and raised in Newberry, came from a musical background. His father was a singer and percussionist. However, he didn’t start singing until he was a student at Newberry College, which he attended on a football scholarship. “I’m glad to be off the field,” said the former linebacker and defensive end. “It takes a toll on your body.” Upon graduation he moved to Savannah and began singing at private functions while he started a career in teaching. He eventually linked up with several Savannah area music groups. In 1999 he moved to Hilton Head and in 2000 formed a group called Nu World Beat. That group became Deas Guyz in 2001. One night in a club a customer was asked
by another customer what band was playing, and he said, “These guys.” “We took off from my name and decided to change the band’s title to Deas Guyz,” said Deas. Deas Guyz features six longtime, experienced musicians who play guitar, piano saxophone and drums. “We share a great relationship and a great love for our music,” he said. These days Deas Guyz are nearly a regular Sunday night feature at the Jazz Corner and also play some Fridays at Ruby Lee’s, both located on Hilton Head. On Saturdays, the band usually plays at
weddings or corporate outings, mostly in the Lowcountry. “We enjoy playing the weddings and being a part of many folks’ special day,” he said. The band’s popularity with locals and visitors has also helped it broaden its reach. “We’ve played as far away as Tennessee and Kentucky,” he said. “Someone may have seen us perform locally, and recommended us to a relative who is planning a wedding.” Deas said the group expects very little change in their schedule in 2015, which will include at least two Luther Vandross tribute shows.
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Love for the underdogs
By LESLIE MOSES | photoS by W Photography
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petite Lara Love, 47, strolls Folly Field Beach, joggers turn their heads, walkers slow their pace and children stare. Some people stop altogether. “What a good attention grabber!” said Silvia Roca, visiting from Tennessee. “Can I take your picture?” Love holds the leashes of her attentiongrabbing stars, three “wheelchair dogs,” and knows the drill. She instead offers to swap her leashes for Roca’s phone, and the tourist stands in the ocean, smiling with Mr. Simeon,
Winnie and Miss Mercy. Love snaps their photo. “I am an evangelist called to preach the gospel and teach God’s word,” Love said. But it’s her delivery that often starts the conversation. A train ran over Winnie, and vehicles struck Mercy and Simeon, crippling their back legs. Love adopted them and 12 other old or impaired dogs while living off a $9,000 annual income. At Love’s home outside of Bluffton, Mercy pulls herself along with her front legs, while
Simeon lies around helplessly. But when Love secures Simeon’s limp, back paws with blue bandannas to a thick set of wheels, he’s free. Love drops his leash, and the hound dog tears across the Hilton Head sand independently. “The beach for him is his freedom,” Love said. And when onlookers approach, Love then tells them about her own liberty. Love runs Walk by Faith Ministry. She saves dogs as part of her work, and no, she wasn’t an animal lover growing up. She said she “didn’t really like dogs.” But Love sensed God prompting her to save a mangy German shepard suffering from pneumonia and heartworms in a South Carolina shelter. Workers planned to euthanize him. The dog dramatically recovered in her care, and Love continued welcoming pets down on their luck. In conversation with strangers, the parallel becomes clear: Love was once in bad shape, too. She talks candidly about being sexually assaulted as a girl, and later struggling with an eating disorder, alcoholism, two unwanted divorces and addiction. “It seems to draw people in,” she said. Then Love offers the hope she’s gained: In her 20s, the Jewish woman cried to Jesus from her aimless, suicide-seeking life, and God transformed it, she said. Life stayed difficult, but Love said she now has freedom. She clarifies that freedom let’s her love the unlovable, forgive the unforgivable and help the people who hurt her the most. Wearing an “I Follow Jesus” T-shirt, Love speaks about God whenever she can. Locals see her, leashes in hand, on Folly Field Beach. Or she’ll talk to the homeless, or strangers in Walmart, and write blogs, books and devotionals on God. Standing with Roca, Love motions toward the ocean: “Who but God can create something like that?” she asks. Roca opens up about the death of one friend and illness of another. “I’ll pray,” Love tells her, and invites Roca to call her if she needs a friend during vacation. “I have a heart for the dogs and the people that the world would give up on,” Love said. January 2015 79
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INTRIGUING
THE QUEEN OF COLIGNY
BY SHERRY CONOHAN | PHOTO BY ROB KAUFMAN
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hen Lois and Norris Richardson came to Hilton Head in 1955, there was no bridge from the mainland, no paved roads except the one that would later become U.S. 278, and, according to their son, J.R., there were just a couple of hundred people living on the island. The materials to build their house and business had to be barged in by ferry. Undaunted, the couple proceeded to build their house on Bayberry Lane, hard by the water, which they painted flamingo pink, a color that was all the rage for houses in Florida at the time. They moved into it in 1956. Lois, now 95, said their move-in coincided with the opening of the bridge to the mainland. “We didn’t even put a heating system in the house because we thought when you lived near the beach you didn’t need one,” she said. Their business, the Forest Beach Market, a grocery store which would be the anchor of what became Coligny Plaza, opened on June 15, 1956, in a 3,000-square-foot building. It was built on the site where the Piggly Wiggly grocery store stands today in Coligny. “We would make $3 to $7 a day,” Lois recalled of their start in business. “Sometimes we made nothing.” An early and very good customer was Charles Fraser, who had just gotten out of law school and would go on to develop Sea Pines and other properties. Lois said he lived in a rented cottage on North Forest Beach. “He came by the store one day and he filled up three baskets full of groceries and I
thought I had died and gone to heaven,” Lois said. “That was a big sale for me.” Lois, who now lives with her son J.R. and his family in Sea Pines, also had to take Fraser to task for being careless with a key she gave him to the store. “He was going to Savannah a lot in those days so I gave him a key to the store,” she explained. “And I went in one morning and the door was unlocked. So I took the key away from him.” Lois and Fraser went on to have a long-term business relationship. She was Fraser’s first employee and worked for him for 14 years. Her husband, Norris, who died in 2001 at the age of 87, was working in the store in the morning and then “hammering nails” and doing other work for Bobby Woods, a contractor, in the afternoon to make ends meet. So Lois told Fraser one day that she could type if he needed help. Soon Fraser was bringing stacks of magazines about travel destinations to the grocery store with instructions for her to write to the advertisers and request information about their resorts. “That’s how he gathered his information,” Lois said. Lois and Norris continued to purchase land around the area until all the land at Coligny Plaza was acquired. “Norris was the visionary,” Lois said softly. “He was the dreamer.” “Lois was the accountant,” J.R. hastened to add. “What they did was build the first of everything. The first barber shop, the first fast food restaurant — the ‘Fin and Feather’ which served fried fish and fried chicken — the first retail dress shop, a hardware store, a laundromat … ”
Today, the family’s holdings in Coligny total approximately 11 acres. “I bought the last building 10 years ago,” said J.R. Asked what the future may hold, he replied, “We eventually will do some new and interesting things here, but we’re not trying to build 40 stories here or anything like that. I’ve been working with the town over the past 12 or 13 years and every time we’ve got some plan, we get to the altar and they start going in a different direction. So it’s kind of hard to figure out what the town is doing. Now we’ve got a new mayor, so I have no idea what’s going on.” In addition to their business interests, Lois and Norrris started the First Baptist Church in their home using the unfinished basement for services and the children’s bedrooms for Sunday school.
The couple had three children, J.R., the middle child, an older daughter, Mary Katherine Toomer, and a younger son, Collins, who died at 17 of a kidney disorder. Lois donated one of her kidneys to her son at a time transplants were not common. She has received a citation commending her for her action. Lois also has seven grandchildren and 12 greatgrandchildren. But it all started back in the ‘50s. Lois and Norris’ move to Hilton Head Island was an outgrowth of a vacation they spent with relatives in Ridgeland. They were living in Georgia at the time. After they got home, the relatives urged them to come back and relocate to the Hilton Head area. “From then on,” said Lois, “we were head over heels in love with Hilton Head.” M
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