Suffolk Living magazine

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Connected Families, the Fourth and freedom's forces july/august 2016 • vol. 7, no. 4

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FEATURE

18

One lesson from Cyber Guard 16 is that a coordinated cyber attack on the nation’s infrastructure could have some scary results. But the men and women of the U.S. military are on the job.

contents july - august | 2016 23

WHERE AM I? | Think you know Suffolk well? Then see if you can identify this photo.

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Five generations

10 Five generations. One photo. Make that two photos. Five generations each. You do the math. Our heads hurt.

On the cover suffolklivingmag.com

14 The odds of Thi-Le ever finding her long-lost brother were approaching zero. But half a world and half a century could not keep them apart.

24 Take a step back in time to visit an old-fashioned Independence Day celebration in the village of Eclipse.

Connected FAMILIES, THE FOURTH AND FREEDOM'S FORCES july/august 2016 • vol. 7, no. 4

by R.E. Spears III

editor's note july-august

2016

EDITORIAL R.E. Spears III Editor Tracy Agnew News Editor news@suffolklivingmag.com

ADVERTISING

Earl Jones Marketing Consultant Nathan Richardson Marketing Consultant Dana Snow Marketing Consultant Tiffany Rapp Marketing Consultant sales@suffolklivingmag.com

PRODUCTION Troy Cooper Designer

ADMINISTRATION John Carr Publisher

A family tapestry There’s one thing woven through the wonderful memories I have of summer vacations, days at the beach and nights watching fireworks and lightning bugs: my family.

For me, summer has always been about family — camping, traveling, picnicking and swimming at the beach together — so when we were looking for a topic to explore for this summertime edition of Suffolk Living magazine, family seemed a logical choice.

Two great stories by Tracy Agnew are particularly well-aligned with the choice.

Most families have a scrapbook full of old family photos, many of them worn with age. Some of those scrapbooks include a five-generation photo, usually with an infant being held by his or her very old great-great-grandmother or great-great-grandfather.

Robin Smith is in two such photos — the first, taken 54 years ago, when she was a baby, and the second taken recently, after Smith’s grandson, TJ, was born.

Two five-generation photos within a little more than half a century of one another is surely a rare accomplishment, but it’s one that speaks to longevity and connections.

Connections between family members can be incredibly strong, and they can overcome both the time and space that might separate them.

That’s the gist of the incredible story of how Thi-Le, a Vietnamese woman who owns a shoe repair and alterations shop on West Washington Street, found her long-lost brother.

Le’s story spans continents, wars and exile and is a testament to the tenacity of a woman torn from her family by the harsh realities of life in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. But she promised her father on his deathbed that she’d keep the family together, and through a nearly miraculous turn of events nearly 40 years later, she found herself fulfilling that promise.

Most Americans — especially in a close-knit place like Eclipse — couldn’t imagine that kind of family story. The little village on the banks of Chuckatuck Creek is a place where generations come and go, where many of the surnames today are the same ones that called the place home 200 years ago.

A place like Eclipse is steeped in tradition, and one of this village’s great traditions is the annual Fourth of July celebration, which includes a parade, a raft race, games and festivities and, of course, fireworks. Look for a photo essay from this year’s event in this edition.

And, finally, nothing says patriotism quite like the U.S. armed forces. I like to think of the nation’s service men and women as America’s family, ready to serve and protect the way families have done since the beginning of time.

Members of every branch of the armed services were in Suffolk in June to work with representatives from private industries responsible for some of the nation’s most important infrastructure to test the nation’s ability to respond to a cyber attack on the U.S. power grid, its port facilities and more.

With images from the Department of Defense, the Cyber Guard 16 story in the middle of this edition will make you proud to know your family in the military is on the job.

We hope you’ll enjoy this edition of Suffolk Living magazine and that you’ll spend some time this summer making memories with your own family.

God bless, Res Spears, Editor Suffolk Living is published six times per year by Suffolk Publications, LLC. P.O. Box 1220, Suffolk, VA 23439 www.suffolklivingmag.com • (757) 539-3437

suffolk living 7

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8 suffolk living

what to do Send us your news To submit your calendar or news item, simply email it to: news@suffolklivingmag.com

Chuckatuck Powwow Saturday and Sunday August 20 and 21 The Nansemond Indian Tribe will host a two-day cultural celebration including music, dance, authentic crafts and food during its annual tribal powwow. Admission and parking are free, although donations are gladly accepted. The powwow grounds are located at the end of Pembroke Lane, which runs off Godwin Boulevard across from Oakland Elementary in Chuckatuck. The powwow is set for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, visit www.nansemond.org.

suffolk living 9

what to do Saturday July 16

Morgan Memorial Library, located at 443 W. Washington St., will hold a Luau Splash Shindig from 2 to 3:30 p.m. There will be water-themed adventures, along with games, dancing, crafts, snacks and more in this all-ages event. If you plan to get wet — it’s a Luau SPLASH Shindig, after all — you’d better bring a towel. The party is free. For more information, visit www.

SuffolkPublicLibrary.com.

Saturday july 23

Everybody thinks he’s an expert at cooking with fire. But if you want to really master the art of grilling, sign up now for the Grill Masters Workshop at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, located at 110 W. Finney Ave. Chef Dedra Blount, who will conduct the workshop from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., has been a culinary educator for more than 20 years. Participants will learn the importance of marinades, while preparing and grilling a delicious meal. The $60 cost includes lunch. For more information, visit www. suffolkcenter.org.

The Riddick’s Folly House Museum continues its popular American Girl series with “Meet Maryellen Larkin,” a program during which girls 5 and older will be introduced to the 1950s-era American Girl figure, whose favorite television programs are “Davy Crockett” and “The Lone Ranger” and who dreams up episodes in which she can be the heroine. There will be three sittings — 10 and 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. — limited to 20 girls each, and those attending will be eligible to win a Maryellen doll. The program is free, but reservations and adult supervision are required. For more information, call 934-0822 or email riddicksfolly@verizon.net.

Tuesday August 2

Help bring back a sense of nostalgia and feelings of safety and security by getting involved in National Night Out, a night when citizens of Suffolk are invited to join forces with thousands of communities nationwide for a drug- and crime-prevention event. The local kickoff ceremony will take place at the Suffolk Visitor Center Pavilion, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Motorcade tours will depart for various neighborhoods across Suffolk's 430 square miles immediately following the ceremony. For more information, visit www. suffolknno.com.

TGIF! Suffolk’s popular TGIF series is back this year with loads of fun for the whole family.

On select Friday evenings throughout the summer, bands will take the stage — first at Constant’s Wharf Park and Marina, and later this summer at Bennett’s Creek Park. The music is family friendly, and both locations offer plenty of room for folks to get up and dance.

The event also offers games, a children’s area and food vendors. Bring your lawn chair or a blanket to sit on, but expect to be on your feet, grooving to the tunes. The fun starts at 6 p.m. and wraps up at 9:30 p.m.

Following are the dates, venues and scheduled bands for the remainder of this summer’s series.

• July 15 – Constant’s Wharf, Touch of Spice • July 29 – Bennett’s Creek Park, The Deloreans • August 5 – Bennett’s Creek Park, Cheap Thrills • August 12 – Bennett’s Creek Park, The Tidewater Drive Band • August 19 – Bennett’s Creek Park, Popwire

Thursday August 4

Join host Nathan Richardson for Poetry, Prose and Pizza, a free open-mic event at the Suffolk Art Gallery, located at 118 Bosley Ave. Poets, writers and musicians are welcome. Present your original works or favorite works by others. Not a writer or musician? Come listen to and enjoy the talents of others. Sign-up for microphone time begins at 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.heartandsoulsuffolk. org.

Saturday August 13

The Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts will host the third annual Mystery Authors Festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This one-day festival will showcase best-selling mystery, suspense, horror, paranormal, romance and women's fiction authors. Highlights include book signings, fan meet-and-greets and author readings. Additionally, attendees will enjoy multiple workshops, a New Authors Expo and moderated panel discussions. This event is a partnership between the Suffolk Division of Tourism, the SCCA and the

Suffolk Public Library. For more information, visit www.suffolkmysteryauthorsfestival. com.

Friday August 19

Come to the Suffolk Art Gallery and enjoy time with good friends, good wine and fun art during Paint Class and Wine Glass.

Don’t worry if you think you can’t paint.

The instructor will guide you through creating a beautiful flower mandala. All art supplies will be provided, along with an appetizer buffet, wine, mocktails and a coffee bar. For those who do not wish to drink, or are underage, there will be plenty of nonalcoholic beverages available. The cost for the event, which runs from 6 to 8 p.m., is $35, and the registration deadline is Aug. 12.

Visit www.heartandsoulsuffolk.com for more information.

Tuesday August 23

Michael Berlucchi of the Chrysler Museum will discuss the history of and collection housed in this Norfolk treasure during a special presentation from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society’s Phillips-Dawson House, located at 137 Bank St. in downtown Suffolk. The event is free. For more information, visit www.

SuffolkPublicLibrary.com.

Saturday August 27

The Suffolk Department of Parks and Recreation and the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts will host a Teen Summit, beginning at 8 a.m. at the SCCA. This dynamic conference will provide youth, parents and youth service providers with educational sessions developed to encourage positive change in our communities. Teen Summit is a free conference for ages 11 to 17. Registration is required. For more information, visit www. suffolkva.us/parks.

Suffolk Tourism will host a book-signing by the authors behind “Virginia is for Mysteries: Volume 2” at the Suffolk Farmers' Market, located behind the Suffolk Visitor Center, 524 North Main St., from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This anthology of 19 short stories, set in and around the commonwealth, features Virginia landmarks and locations such as Virginia Wine Country, the Poe Museum, Luray Caverns, Colonial Williamsburg, the Great Dismal Swamp, Nimrod Hall, Barter Theater and Mill Mountain, to name a few. Books will be available for purchase at the time of signing. The event is free.

10 suffolk living

Five generations, times two

The same family has taken two five-generation photos in the last 54 years. Above, Thomas Sutton holds his great-great-granddaughter, Robin Bass. Clockwise to the left are Robin's mother, Thomas Bass; Robin's grandmother, Geneta Head; and Robin's greatgrandmother, Rhoda Price. At right, Geneta Head is the oldest generation, holding the newest, Todd Harrell Jr., with Todd's mother, Lauran Huffman Harrell, at left.

Robin Bass Smith and Thomas Bass Pritchard round out the family.

suffolk living 11

story by Tracy Agnew submitted photographs

Above, a photo of the extended family taken at Christmas 2012. Below is the youngest generation, Todd Harrell Jr.

Few babies are lucky enough to meet not only their great-grandparents but also their great-great-grandparents.

But one Suffolk family has had it happen twice in the last 54 years. And they have the photos to prove it.

The photos are the same, yet different. In both photos, the youngest generation is sitting in the oldest generation’s lap, surrounded by the three generations in between.

But in the older photo, the only male in the photo is the oldest. In the new photo, the only male is the youngest.

The old photo is in black and white. The new photo is in color. Hairstyles and clothing give away the age, too.

The old photo has been treasured in the family for generations, and now the new photo can be, as well.

“I guess we didn’t think a whole lot about it at the time,” said Thomas Pritchard, who is in both photos. She’s named after her great-grandfather, the oldest generation in the 1962 photo.

The photo ran in the newspaper at the time but spent most of its life in a desk drawer.

However, when Robin Smith, the baby in the older photo, ran across it, she took it.

“I have it now in a scrapbook,” Smith said.

See Family page 12

12 suffolk living

A few members of the extended family at Christmas 2012.

Family continued from page 11

Despite the photographic evidence of her meeting her great-greatgrandfather, Thomas Sutton, she doesn’t remember him. She remembers slightly more of her great-grandmother, Rhoda Price.

“She liked to eat hot dogs on a piece of bread with mayonnaise,” Pritchard said of Price, her grandmother.

Smith remembers spending time at her great-grandmother’s house and spending the night at her grandmother’s.

When Smith’s daughter, Lauran Harrell, was born, Lauran’s great-greatgrandmother, Price, was already deceased, so another five-generation pic-

ture wasn’t possible. That’s why Smith was so excited when her daughter became pregnant in 2015.

“When she was pregnant, I said, ‘I want to do a five-generation picture when the baby’s born,’” Smith said.

Harrell said she believed her mother was most excited about it.

“She was a part of the original one, so she was way more excited about it,” Harrell said. “She got to be a part of both of them, while myself and TJ were the new ones to complete that second picture.”

Harrell said she was hoping the second photo would be possible.

See FAMILY page 13

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suffolk living 13 FAMILY continued from page 12

Lauran Huffman Harrell, Todd Harrell Sr. and Todd Harrell Jr., the youngest generation in a multigeneration family.

“I thought it was cool, but I was more so hoping my great-grandmother can hang on,” Harrell said. “She’s in her 90s, and you never know.”

Once little Todd Harrell Jr. was born, it still became difficult to get the photo. It was the first time TJ had met his great-great-grandmother, and he doesn’t always take kindly to strangers holding him.

“He gets apprehensive and starts crying, because he doesn’t know you,” Harrell said. “He did OK at first, but when we realized we needed some better lighting, he started getting a little perturbed. It was very warm in the room, and he’s very hot-natured.”

Harrell said she was happy her great-grandmother seemed to know whom she was holding.

“She was pretty much all there that day,” Harrell said of her great-grandmother, who is 93. “She was in really good spirits and seemed really excited about it. We were able to see her comprehending everything. She was understanding this is her great-great-grandson.”

While Harrell said the five-generation picture is a treasure, she hopes TJ will be able to reap the benefits of her family’s longevity.

“It’s cool that he’s a baby and she’s older, but I’m hoping if she can hang out a little bit longer that he can actually meet her at an age he remembers meeting her. I hope it’s possible there’s a chance.” ←

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14 suffolk living TRUCKS continued from page 13

Out of Vietnam: A family is restored

suffolk living 15 TRUCKS continued from page 14

Siblings Thuy-Le, Thi-Le, Kim-Le and Vinhu-Le have vacationed together in San Francisco since the sisters located Vinhu after more than four decades. At left, Kim and Vinhu are seen in a childhood photo. story by Tracy Agnew submitted photos

T

he story of how Thi-Le found her long-lost brother spans four and a half decades and five countries and features a war, a genocidal dictator, a secretive stepmother and a rare birthmark.

Le and her husband, Doan Than, own and operate a shoe repair and alterations shop on Suffolk’s West Washington Street. But they started their lives half a world away, in Vietnam, before the war started.

Le was born in 1954, and she had two sisters and an older brother. Because of her father’s political views, he had been blacklisted, and the family was in exile in Cambodia, with her father under an assumed identity that had previously belonged to a dead man.

When Le was 11, her mother died. Her father remarried, and a halfbrother, Vinhu-Le, was added to the family in 1967. The family got a shock when he was born — a purple birthmark covered part of the right side of his face and also extended onto his eye, covering part of the white of his eye.

At the time, nobody had any idea that this birthmark would prove key to their quest to reunite the family more than 40 years later.

Two years after Vinhu was born, their father died of liver cancer.

“My father worried about us,” Le said. On his deathbed, he made her promise to try to keep the family together, even as the Vietnam War had

the region in turmoil.

Le made the promise. But after her older brother died in action in the war and the girls were sent to live with a friend of her father’s, it didn’t seem like a promise she’d be able to keep.

The family friend and the girls moved back to Vietnam and lost contact with the girls’ stepmother and their half-brother.

A lot changed in Le’s life. She married in 1975 and had a daughter in 1978 and a son in 1980, both born in Vietnam. The family tried to escape Vietnam several times, one attempt ending in a two-year prison sentence for husband Than.

After he was released, the family spent four months in a refugee camp in Malaysia in 1985 and also lived in the Philippines for about six months, where Le took English classes. The family in 1986 made its way to America, where Than had earlier worked as an interpreter.

“I’m very lucky,” Le remembers thinking. Even so, she thought about her younger brother often, wondering if he was well. The devastation Pol Pot had brought upon Cambodia made her wonder if he was even alive.

“Every time I thought about my brother, I said, ‘I want to find my youngest brother,’” she said. “‘Now I don’t know where he is.’”

She never imagined they were now on the same continent once again.

See Siblings page 16

16 suffolk living SIBLINGS continued from page 15

A few years ago, Le determined to make an effort to find her brother.

“If we don’t try it, how can we find him?” said Than, her husband.

She decided to place advertisements in Vietnamese newspapers. But after talking with relatives in Vietnam about the culture, she learned this wasn’t a good idea.

“Most people, they are low education,” Than said. “Nobody reads much.”

But what most people do is watch television, they learned.

The couple spent $100US to place an advertisement on prime-time television in their home country. The amount doesn’t sound like much in the United States but is a staggering sum in Vietnam — roughly equal to a schoolteacher’s monthly pay.

The day after the first announcement ran, Than’s mother called her cousin, and word eventually got to Le and Than that someone knew where her brother was.

But the trail dried up, and they couldn’t get back in contact with the people who had called them. They considered offering a reward, but were afraid someone would make up false information to collect the money.

After a month, they decided to run another ad. And they got more calls.

Le learned her stepmother had eventually married an American and moved with their brother to America, never telling him he had three older sisters and a deceased older brother. Later, her stepmother’s husband died, and her stepmother had fallen ill and decided to live out the rest of her

days in her home country of Vietnam.

But her brother was living in Colorado, with a wife and two children. It wasn’t long before the siblings were talking on the phone.

Just to be sure, she questioned the man on the other end of the line about the unusual birthmark in and around his eye.

“That’s when I found out,” she said. “Oh my God, I’m happy.”

She flew to Colorado to see her brother in September 2013.

“I was very happy,” Le said. Her brother said, “I never knew I have three sisters and one brother.”

The four surviving siblings have also vacationed together in San Francisco and Skype regularly. One of the other sisters lives in Canada, and the third lives in California.

Vinhu-Le Le even got the opportunity to travel to Vietnam and see her stepmother again before she died.

“I told her I was happy to see her again,” Le said.

She learned her stepmother had tried to find the girls after they moved back to Vietnam, but so much had changed.

“There were a lot of changes in Vietnam and in Cambodia, too,” Than said.

Le said all four of the siblings — and, she is sure, their father — are happy they are reunited.

“I’m very happy, and my brother’s happy, too,” she said. “I think about my father, and I think he’s happy, too.”←

“I was very happy. I never knew I have three sisters and one brother.”

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18 suffolk living

Cyber-secure in Suffolk Joint Staff hosts huge electronic exercise story by R.E. Spears III photos by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jesse Hyatt

A

coordinated cyber attack has left much of the nation in darkness. There is a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Traffic control systems have been shut down in Tennessee. And ports along the West Coast have been all but crippled.

That was the scenario more than 800 individuals from an array of military and civilian agencies faced in June during Cyber Guard 16, an exercise designed to test the ability of the military, government and industry to work together, respond to and defend against electronic attacks against the nation’s critical infrastructure.

Led by U.S. Cyber Command, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, the exercise was held at the Join Staff Suffolk Complex, located off College Drive in North Suffolk, though teams also joined remotely from Fort Meade, Md., Scott Air Force Base in Illinois and Pensacola, Fla. The main point of the exercise was not to determine who might have caused the fictitious disasters, though some teams, like the FBI, were definitely trying to determine “attribution.”

Nor was the intent to develop or test America’s potential military response to such an attack by some other nation or terrorist group — those responses would be tested in another exercise, Cyber Flag 16, set for late that month at Joint Staff Suffolk.

Instead, the goal of Cyber Guard 16 — which concluded June 18, after eight intensive days of immersion into what, for its participants, looked and felt like a real national disaster unfolding See CYBER page 20

suffolk living 19

20 suffolk living A multi-national force took part in the Cyber Guard 16 exercises at the Joint Staff Suffolk complex in June.

Military officials were also joined by representatives from civilian government agencies and from private industry in a test of their ability to work together in case of a coordinated cyber attack.

Cyber continued from page 18

before their eyes — was to encourage cooperation among agencies and industries and help identify weaknesses in the response plans of participating organizations.

“The battlefield is the wrong place to meet for the first time,” said one agency chief on the penultimate day of the exercise.

That official watched as a team sequestered in a purpose-built room within the facility grappled with the problem of an unknown entity that had broken into the Federal Aviation Administration’s computer system and stolen software that would give the hackers knowledge of the location of military aircraft around the nation.

Cyber Guard 16, the fifth in an annual series of such exercises, was the first to include private-sector participants — among them Dominion Virginia Power; the ports of Los Angeles, San Diego and Long Beach, Calif.; American Electric Power; National Oilwell Varco; and others.

The first version of the exercise, held in Suffolk in 2012, was designed simply to test the ability to coordinate incident responses between the fed-

eral and state governments and to explore the ability to use the National Guard to buttress the response to a cyber attack.

The exercise has grown, with more agencies involved and more offsite participation each year since 2012.

The scalability of the exercise and the adaptability of the facility that Joint Staff Suffolk now occupies are two of the best features of the Cyber Guard series, according to Major General John Charlton, vice director for Joint Force Development, J7. J7 assists the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in training and equipping the various branches of the military to operate in a unified and integrated manner.

Charlton said Cyber Guard 16 was the result of 10 months of planning and three months of building and reconfiguration within the Joint Staff Suffolk complex.

Hundreds of support staff from a variety of agencies were involved in preparing for and hosting the event at the 48,000-square-foot facility, he said.

See Cyber page 21

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suffolk living 21 Cyber continued from page 20

More than 1,100 computer workstations were set up for the exercise, utilizing “miles and miles” of fiber-optic cables that run below the floors throughout the building.

“This place was built to do these exercises,” Charlton added, noting that the level of detail his staff was able to support extended even to producing fictitious live news feeds and “all of the simulation necessary to make it seem realistic.”

Future versions of Cyber Guard, he said, could involve even more agencies — some sending teams to Suffolk to participate on site and others joining the closed network from remote sites.

During a special tour, officials provided media access to several rooms where “blue teams” worked to stabilize and respond to the damage caused by the increasingly diabolical electronic incursions of the “red teams,” which took on the role of a coordinated electronic foe for the exercise.

In the exercise control room, known as “The White Zone,” large, flat-screen monitors showed flowcharts and diagrams representing various facets of the exercise.

Dozens of smaller computer monitors arrayed at workstations around the spacious room had been temporarily switched to show innocuous charts or the Cyber Guard 16 logo.

Controllers there were the conduits between the blue force and the red force. If the troubleshooters on the blue force were solving their problems too easily, an order from the control room would cause the red force to raise the stakes by introducing some new twist to the scenario.

By Day 8, the scenario had become complicated, indeed.

Every branch of the United States armed forces was represented during Cyber Guard 16. A follow-up exercise — Cyber Flag 16, held later in June — brought even more members of the military to the Joint Staff Suffolk complex.

See Cyber page 22

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Whenever it looked as if the blue team was getting ahead of the cascading problems created by the red team during the exercise, a control team would direct those posing as the attacking force to turn up the heat by adding new twists and complexities into the digital mix.

Cyber continued from page 21

Rolling blackouts in the Midwest had darkened Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Traffic systems that control lights, signs and highway gates had become unresponsive in Tennessee. Control systems at a refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, had been shut down, causing a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A cascading power outage in Arizona was having effects as far away as Los Angeles. California’s ports were under electronic attack, making it impossible to fuel vessels and stranding an ever-growing fleet of container ships off the coast. And through it all, the red team continued to throw electronic glitches, spearfishing emails and other complications — both minor and major — into the mix.

“Our goal is to have the red team test them and get them to the point of failure,” one official explained.

The idea, said Coast Guard Rear Admiral Kevin Lunday, director of exercises and training for U.S. Cyber Command, is to get the participants “to perform up to the point of failure, because that’s where learning is going to happen.”

Better to fail within this controlled environment in the middle of a test, officials said, than to risk failing in the middle of a real cyber attack. ←

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suffolk living 23

where am I?

I

n each edition the Suffolk Living staff provides a challenge of sorts, testing how much of Suffolk you really know. We photograph some location in Suffolk that is readily accessible and open to the public, and see if you can tell us where it is.

If you know where this photo was taken, submit your answer, along with your name and contact information to news@suffolklivingmag.com. If you’re right, you will be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to any one of our partner advertisers.

So, if you know where this is, let us know. If you’re right, you could be a winner.

Go out and enjoy Suffolk!

24 suffolk living

Eclipse on the 4th

F

olks in Eclipse didn’t let a little rain keep them from a fun Independence Day celebration. Taking advantage of a break between downpours that lasted just long enough for parade participants to wind their way down Eclipse Drive, organizers were able to keep the village tradition alive another year. Later in the day, the traditional raft race along Chuckatuck Creek took place. The skies were gray, but the homemade rafts were colorful — and most of them stayed afloat. The village capped a day of tradition and fun with fireworks launched from Willis Field.

suffolk living 25

26 suffolk living

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suffolk scene

B2B Expo The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce held a Business 2 Business Expo networking event on May 25at the Hilton Garden Inn Suffolk Riverfront. PHOTOS

BY Tracy Agnew

Bridget Gloff and Raichelle Garcia

Tracie Williams and Cynthia Chaing

Dr. Leanna Olennikov, Leslie Harrison, Brittany Stonecypher, Dr. Christopher Kuc, Karen McCullough and Susie Plumlee

Diana Atha, Matt Glaize and Sherry Gaskins

April Wiggins and Anthony Randolph

suffolk living 29

Beer, Bands and BBQ The C.E. & H. Ruritan Club hosted its annual fundraiser, Beer Bands and BBQ, on May 21. Hundreds turned out hear the popular band, Island Boy, and for a reunion performance by Aces Up. PHOTOS BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS

Michael Drewry and Cory Sackett

suffolk scene

Terry Sennett and Kay Duncan

David Thurston and David Southard

Jason and Laura Gould

Glenda and Jerry Franklin

30 suffolk living

suffolk scene

State of the City The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce held its annual Suffolk State of the City event on May 10 at the Hilton Garden Inn Suffolk Riverfront. It rounded up the annual State of the City series also held in Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach. PHOTOS BY Tracy Agnew

Scott Price, Ginnele Shonyo, Christie Russ and Millie Wilkerson

Mason Copeland and Gary Rodgers

Lily Traficante, Crystal Foster and Victor Kisseadoo

Ron Hodges and Siru Barber Susan Craft, Madeline Taylor and Rachel Massengill

suffolk living 31

TGIF - June 24 Suffolk’s annual TGIF concert series kicked off June 24 at Constant’s Wharf with Groove Train entertaining. PHOTOS BY Henry Luzzatto

suffolk scene

Milton and Tanya Myrick, Pamela Williams, Tamine Banks, Tamika Banks, Alisea Arrington and Carolyn Myrick

Kathy and Wallace Morgan

Vicky Mooney and Linda Frame

Patrick, Kristen, Jakson and Carter Walter

Shirley Morris and Cordero Gatling

32 suffolk living

through the lens: Beverly Dhaliwal

B

everly Dhaliwal has lived most of her life in a succession of three houses that are next to each other in Chuckatuck. She simply moved next door a time or two. Her husband gave her a camera a few years ago to give her something to do while he was completing his master's degree. Now she takes a camera everywhere she goes. She takes her dog Bandit with her on her adventures, and if she lingers too long, he barks to get her moving. Beverly works at Johnson, Gardy & Teumer, where a few of her photos are on display. “I love the city of Suffolk and encourage everyone to get out there and enjoy it,” she said. Email Beverly at beverly.dhaliwal@gmail.com. Are you a photo enthusiast or an aspiring professional? We’re always looking for folks to showcase on this page. Send an email to news@suffolklivingmag.com.

suffolk living 33

on vacation

Clawing our way from the stacks of paperwork that littered our desks last month, praying for a glimpse of sunshine, we received emails from a couple of readers that prove at least our magazine gets to go on awesome trips to exotic places. We’re not sure, but we think maybe Ruth Fleak, pictured below at Fairyland Point in Bryce Canyon, delights in taunting us with her travels. She’s taken Suffolk Living with her on jaunts to Canada and Yellowstone National Park in the past, and she carried it along recently in her backpack as she explored the canyons of the Southwest. New to this space — but no less the subjects of your overworked and under-traveled magazine staff’s jealousy — are Donnie and Rana Weaver at Nippers Beach Bar & Grill in Great Guana Cay, Abaco Bahamas. Are you going away this summer? Take Suffolk Living along, have someone snap a photo and then send it to us at news@suffolklivingmag.com. If we put the photos very close to our faces, we can pretend we’re not stuck in the office.

Last edition’s Where Am I? Dawn Rountree, who works in technology and engineering education at Nansemond River High School, was one of the first to correctly identify the location of the Where Am I photo in the May/June edition of Suffolk Living magazine.

Her name was randomly chosen from the nine correct answers. For I this photo, we had to where am I? get off the road and into a public parking lot at the Pruden Center for Industry and Technology, where this sculpture can be found. Do you think you know Suffolk inside and out? Check out Page 23 for your chance to prove it and possibly win a $25 gift card in the process. suffolk living 23

n each edition the Suffolk Living staff provides a challenge of sorts, testing how much of Suffolk you really know. We photograph some location in Suffolk that is readily accessible and open to the public, and see if you can tell us where it is.

If you know where this photo was taken, submit your answer, along with your name and contact information to news@suffolklivingmag.com. If you’re right, you will be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to any one of our partner advertisers.

So, if you know where this is, let us know. If you’re right, you could be a winner.

Go out and enjoy Suffolk!

Network with Suffolk Living on Facebook

34 suffolk living

scrapbook

Sunday School: A Sunday school class from Main Street United Methodist Church poses for a photo in 1921. The church is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its current building at 202 N. Main St. this year.

The building is the third to house the congregation. Pictured, among others, are Frances Birdsong Darden, Olive Steel Sharp, Margaret Blount, Elizabeth Campbell van Valkenburg, Nancy and Bessie Winborne, Mabel Jackson Turner, Blonnie Johnson, and Roselle and Virginia (last names unknown). — Courtesy of Sue Woodward

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