Beware of aging men with time on their hands. They come up with wild ideas.

Not long ago the Fates presented us with a gift of unanticipated leisure. Just as I was trying to figure out how to con him into re-doing the master bath, he walked in one day and said, “Why don’t we get on a freighter ship and go around the world?”

Without missing a beat, I replied, “Have you lost your mind?” as I clicked over to HGTV’s “Extreme Bathroom Makeovers.”

Flash forward six months. He takes me out to dinner, smiles into my eyes, and says, “Okay, why don’t we get on a freighter in Savannah and go to Jamaica, the Panama Canal, Tahiti, Fiji, New Caledonia, Australia and New Zealand ?”

Call it madness, ignorance, love – all of the above. I smiled back at my boyfriend of 40 years and said, “Sure, why not?”

And thereby hangs this tale.

I am writing from the middle of the Pacific Ocean where for the last 37 days we have been passengers on the CMA CGM freighter Matisse, a French company with Romanian officers, a Philippine crew, and a passenger limit of six. If you don’t know exactly what a freighter is, next time you cross the Ravanel Bridge into Charleston, look down on your left. See those great big boats with stacks of metal crates? Yep, that’s a freighter, and a few of these ships have cabins available to a small number of passengers. I know, you’re thinking just as I did: “Why in the world would anyone want to do that?” Amazingly, our ship’s three cabins are so in demand that they are usually booked at least a year in advance.

Our personal Odyssey began on September 22, 2011, at the Port of Savannah, Gate 5, Berth 9. As our port-authorized cab pulled up next to our new home away from home, we saw two couples standing on the tarmac in the ship’s shadow. I knew at a glance that they were the other passengers on our ship – and that they were seasoned travelers who do stuff like this all the time. They had that look, you know: sturdy utilitarian clothing, collapsible hats, investment cameras in durable cases hanging around their necks. And there I was: Scarlet O’Hara dressed for the ball. Well, not exactly, but you know how we Southern women have a thing for coordinated outfits and make up. I had spent three months trying to figure out which clothes to bring on the two month trip and was quite proud of myself for cramming everything into one suitcase and a carry-on. As I watched the ship’s third officer and steward struggling to haul our luggage up the 38 steps of gangplank’s ladder, I knew deep inside that these women had put everything they’d ever need into a bag the size of my pocketbook.

Their names were Irene from Denmark and Angela from England. With their husbands, Hans and Mike, they had met on September 8 when the ship departed from England. They’d made stops along the way in Rotterdam, La Harve, Dunkirk and New York City. They were waiting for a cab into Savannah, eager to visit the Waving Girl and an internet cafe.

After checking our paperwork (medical clearance, passports, visas, shot records), the Third Officer had recovered sufficiently from the luggage episode to give us a tour of the ship and introduce us to each member of the crew. The Matisse is a mid-sized freighter owned by a French company with Romanian officers and a Philippine crew. The required language of the workplace is English. The ship’s captain, Laurentiu Melniciuc, is a crusty, no-nonsense boss, but in the evenings after dinner, he shares marvelous, often hilarious, tales of his 33 years at sea, the best one involving a raccoon in the engine after a stop in Miami.

Passengers are given free reign of the ship, including its operational center, the bridge, which is manned 24 hours a day in four hour shifts. An open deck above the bridge, nicknamed “Monkey Island,” is where we passengers all stood to wave at the video cam as we passed through the Panama Canal. We waved at the cameras and the visitors on its observation deck waved back to us, Monkey-see, Monkey-do.

The gymnasium/library on board is a large room with two walls of paperback books. About half of these are in French, but there is a surprisingly impressive collection of English titles, many donated by previous passengers. The room also contains a ping pong table, dart board and treadmill. Meals are served in a sunny dining room designated for officers and passengers. The ship’s masterful cook, David, also prepares Philippine food for crew members who have a separate dining room. Elsewhere on board there is an indoor swimming pool and a small ship’s store which provides wine, beer, soft drinks, snacks and toiletries. I’ve been told that somewhere there is also a coffin – just in case one of us is unable to complete the voyage…

The owner’s cabin, which we leased, is a spacious suite about 10 by 15 feet with its own tiled bath. It has large double porthole windows with a nice view, partially blocked at the moment by stacks of those colorful metal crates mentioned earlier. There are two other cabins, the super cargo and second officer. These are not as large but otherwise much like ours with nice carpeting, sturdy blond furniture which includes built-in beds, cabinets, desk, wardrobe and a small refrigerator. Next door is a large passenger lounge with tables, chairs, sofas, a coffee pot and a nice flat screen television for watching videos. At the end of each hall is small deck with metal chairs. We refer to this as “the porch” and spend a lot of time here soaking up the view and the sun.

Speaking of time, yes, there IS a good bit of that. The ship averages about 20 miles an hour. I’ll let you do the rest of the math. This is not a trip for people in a hurry. It is much more about the journey than the destination. We do not have live television or internet (though we do have access to the ship’s e-mail system), and I am truly amazed that the world has survived almost 40 days without our watching the news or reading a newspaper.

What freighter travel does provide is the rare and precious gift of total leisure. Our culture tends to measure the value of life by how busy it is. On board, it doesn’t take long to get beyond this. Between Panama and Tahiti, we went ten days without seeing land. Spotting a distant fishing boat or freighter off in the distance is often the big excitement for the day. That and watching the radar screen coordinates switch from N to S as we celebrate crossing the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere. This actually WAS a pretty big deal, as was crossing the International Date Line. Currently, we are 16 hours ahead of South Carolina, which just goes to show how our concept of time is both nebulous and artificial.

Our fellow passengers are an interesting lot, each with a unique personal story. A retired English midwife is traveling with her husband to New Zealand where she worked thirty years ago. They got off in Sidney and were replaced by a British engineering professor returning to the UK after seven years in Darwin working on a water project. This trip tops his Bucket List. An Australian woman who doesn’t like to fly is meeting her family in England where she will travel for several months before heading home via the Trans Siberian Railway and a Russian freighter. Two in the group are recent cancer survivors. Hans and Irene from Denmark have visited remote spots all over the world. They got off in Melbourne and will travel around Tasmania for a month.

Despite its Spartan aspects, freighter travel is not cheap. (And no, we don’t have to swab the deck to pay our way.) Passengers pay a daily rate which includes three meals with wine and steward service. The amount seems quite reasonable until you consider the number of days involved – 43 for us. Compare this with costs of flying in to a posh resort or going on a conventional cruise. You may be surprised – as I was.

Obviously, traveling on a freighter is not for everyone. If you like to dress for dinner and need to be constantly entertained, don’t even think about it. If you don’t enjoy reading or otherwise entertaining yourself, this trip could be pure torture. It requires flexibility as well. The ship’s primary purpose is to deliver the goods. Weather and port delays often complicate arrival and departure schedules. For certain people, however, this is a unique and enjoyable way to go. Passengers get to know one another and the officers and crew as well. Often they are invited to tour the huge engine room, impressive even for someone who doesn’t know a piston from valve. When the ship approaches a port, passengers gather to watch the port pilot arrive by small boat. He climbs aboard the moving ship via a rope ladder dropped over the side of the ship, and then takes charge of the ship as he guides it into port. Pretty amazing stuff.

In a couple of days our adventure at sea will end. Forty days and forty nights on a boat is long enough – even for Noah. We will spend the next month aboard planes, trains and automobiles exploring both islands of New Zealand and both coasts of Australia. It is an amazing opportunity which has taught me something very important: TIME is the greatest luxury of all – that and the freedom of not even knowing what day it is.

First off, her last name really is Beaver, thanks to a former husband. Creator and owner of the sprawling, thriving Beaver Bar complex just over the Georgetown County line in Murrells Inlet, Leslye Lanier Beaver is a living lesson in the power of hard work, foresight and fun. She is also a study in contrasts:

a bar owner who neither drinks nor smokes
a quintessential good old girl whose favorite music is opera
a walking success story who loves to poor mouth
an unlikely patron saint whose local generosity is legendary

Leslye Lanier Beaver grew up in the Southwest Georgia town of Albany, a rural fertile crescent that also produced legendary singer Ray Charles, food queen Paula Deen, novelist Sue Monk Kidd, former President Jimmy Carter – and yours truly. She has deep Carolina roots as well. Leslye’s mother grew up in Columbia where her father was a family physician, and the South Carolina State Hospital was named in honor of her uncle, William S. Hall. Leslye grew up spending summers at her aunt’s Garden City beach house where her mother relocated several years after her husband’s death.

In 1988 Leslye moved to the Grand Strand “with four children and $500,” as she describes it. A year later Hurricane Hugo devastated the area, and in its aftermath Leslye found opportunities plentiful for those willing to work hard, which she was. She did construction, owned a structural steel company, and used her earnings to buy and develop land in Murrells Inlet and Pawleys Island. Her motivation and endless energy are easy enough to explain, Leslye says: “When you have four mouths to feed, you learn to do what it takes to get the job done.” In addition, those who know Leslye say she possesses an innate ability to anticipate the next big wave before it breaks the surface.

In 1996, Leslye acquired a small tract of land from her mother at the intersection of Highway 17 in Murrells Inlet, just north of the Georgetown County line where a hot dog stand and miniature doll house stood. For years her mother had let vendors and bike riders park there when the spring and fall rallies were in full swing. Harley Davidson had recently moved its operations north, and SBB was establishing a stronghold on the adjacent site. During the spring bike rally that year, Leslye filled a large garbage can with ice and bottled water which she sold to bikers for $2. The next rally, she added a second garbage can for beer. Standing in the parking lot hawking her beer and water, Leslye noticed a man nearby on his phone attempting to give directions to his location. She tried to help the confused man – finally saying, “Just tell them you are at the Beaver Bar.” And that, my friends, is the origin of the legendary watering hole’s eyebrow raising name!

For over a decade Bike Week at the two adjacent venues was a phenomenal success. Over time, however, noise concerns brought mounting complaints from nearby residents and increasing control efforts by officials. By the spring of 2009 Leslye was tired of trying to deal with the turmoil and ready for a new location with room to spread out. She acquired the former Ghost Ship seafood restaurant on a half acre of land just over Georgetown County line. Though she still operates the original “Little Beaver” during Bike Week and periods of nice weather, the new 13,000 square foot facility has become the heart of a booming operation that also includes a spacious outdoor picnic pavilion Beaver built on the wooded site of a former used car lot. A short time later, she acquired the gas station across the highway to use for overflow parking. Then, in what she calls an epiphany, Leslye and her sister Electa Drake converted the property’s former convenience store into a primitive antiques and Beaver Bar memorabilia shop. Electa, the previous owner of Ricefields Antiques in Georgetown, handles day-to day operations of the shop which the sisters look forward to expanding. Just outside it sits the wildly painted “Beaver Bus” that provides free rides after a night of dining and dancing.

Leslye’s shrewd business eye and the area’s recent economic challenges have provided the Beaver Bar with opportunities to go main stream. In the last year, civic and political organizations across the community have hosted events at the spacious picnic pavilion which she offers at no charge except for food and beverages provided. Terri Larkin of the Surfside Rotary Club says, “Our club held its end-of-year celebration and officer installation there in May. At first a few members were wary of the District Governor coming to install new officers at a biker bar! It was a great time, however, a perfect spring evening with really good food and service. We would do it again without hesitation.”

Monday through Friday the Beaver Bar draws crowds of locals. Especially popular is the Wednesday night Flounder Special followed by free Shag lessons. A very diverse group of people gather each week to learn the S.C. State Dance, one which includes tourists, locals and even some bikers. Surfside residents Lynn and Bill Livesay are Wednesday night regulars. Lynn laughingly says, “The Beaver Bar has made a real contribution to my baby boomer social life.” Another regular, Brenda Quincannon of Murrells Inlet, has been Shagging most of her life. Several years after losing her favorite dance partner and beloved husband, Brenda longed to dance again. She started attending Shag Night at the Beaver Bar and says, “It’s a great place to hang out with my friends, enjoying the music and dancing. Leslye and her staff always make the Shaggers feel welcomed. That’s why we keep going back.”

Perhaps the Beaver Bar’s most popular weekly event is the Sunday Breakfast. Several hundred customers gather on a regular basis to enjoy an amazing full spread buffet and help a good cause. Leslye gives all proceeds from the breakfasts to local non-profits, an average of $700-$1,000 each week. Leslye says, “I believe in giving back to the community. We have worked hard and been lucky. We need to help our own.”

Despite these successful ventures, Beaver makes it very clear that the bikers are still the basis of her business and her remarkable success. During Bike Week upwards of 30,000 bikers flock there every day. Many know one another and have ridden long distances to re-unite with fellow riders once again. Though she is known for her laid-back, easy-going attitude, Leslye gets fired up when the subject of bikers arises: “By and large, they are good and generous people. In these hard times, they have made a huge contribution to the local economy and to the area’s tax base. I think some people are starting to realize how important they are to our economic survival. Unfortunately, the economy has affected many of them as well. Some have had to sell their bikes; others can no longer afford the trip to come here.”

All agree that behind Leslye’s laid-back approach lies a shrewd business mind and innate ability to visualize the next step – like her latest one: concerts in the outdoor pavilion. Country singers Colt Ford, Sunny Sweeney and Lee Brice performed before large crowds in October and plans are under way for more outdoor concerts. Beaver is also looking at new and innovative ways to develop her property across the highway.

Though she is a walking success story in a time when such is rare, Leslye often gives the impression she is just getting by. Whether this is an intentional effort to connect with those around her, a ploy to mask her sharp business acumen, or a long term effect of her early hard times, one thing is clear: she is unreservedly proud of what she believes is her greatest accomplishment, her four well-adjusted and successful adult children who all live nearby with their families: James “Bo” Price, twin daughters Ava Doutt and Allyson Antol, and Charles “Bean” Beaver, owner of Driftwood’s Seafood and Steak across from St. James High School.

She credits her grandmother as a tremendous influence on her life and her outlook. When facing challenges while raising her children alone, Lesley remembered her words to her: “After a day of hearing me whine, she asked if I was cold or hungry. When I said no, she said, ‘Then you are fine.’ And she was right.” Leslye’s congenial personality and natural likability are perhaps the greatest keys to her success. A former elected official who for years wrangled with Leslye over regulations says of her, “Even when you are on different sides of the fence, you can’t help but love Leslye Beaver and admire her hard work and innovative approach. She is a good businesswoman and a good person.”

Several years ago internationally renowned quilting expert, and Conway resident, Charlotte Angotti was taking a cab from Logan Airport into Boston. As five lanes of traffic approached a tunnel clearly wide enough for just three lanes, she nervously asked her driver why there were five cars and only three lanes. The Boston cabbie replied dryly, “Lines are just suggestions.” On reflection, Angotti says the same could be true of the paths her own life has taken. Combining a background in fine arts and traditional quilting with her trademark use of bold color and sense of fun, Angotti has gained fame as an innovative quilt designer who colors outside the lines. One part artist, one part teacher, and one part stand-up comedian, she has created a successful life doing what she loves most and sharing it with others.

The daughter of an Air Force pilot, the late Norm Barikmo, and his vivacious wife Polly, Charlotte was born in her mother’s hometown, Montgomery, Alabama. Like most military families, the Barikmos and their four daughters moved often, but Charlotte always considered Alabama home. In 1978 after graduating from her mother’s alma mater, Huntingdon College, Charlotte was visiting her parents at Quantico, Virginia, sorting out what to do with a degree in fine arts, speech and drama. One afternoon while browsing in the nearby little marina village of Occoquan, she stumbled upon a quilt shop, and her life changed forever. She fell in love with the colors and amazing patterns of the craft and immediately began quilting lessons, steeping herself in all elements of the revered early American tradition. Charlotte’s free spirit and artist’s soul could not be contained by these boundaries, however, and she soon developed her own visionary design concepts. Like the Boston cabbie, Angotti says, “I had to start out by learning the rules then over time began to use them more as suggestions.”

Charlotte sold her first quilt creation immediately after completing it, and she has been making and selling quilts ever since. This is the mainstay around which she has built a creative, multi-faceted career. Soon someone approached her asking how to make a quilt, so Angotti became a teacher as well, ultimately sharing her talent, skill and sense of fun with thousands all over the world. In 1981 she opened a quilt store in Virginia Beach where she sold quilting supplies and taught classes for 18 years. During this time, she also began working with Alexander Henry Fabrics, a small California manufacturing company for whom she still creates display quilts for its market show booths.

Along the way, Charlotte developed yet another dimension to her repertoire: pre-cut kits containing everything needed to create one of her original designs. These soon became so popular that she had difficulty keeping up with orders. Fortunately, about this time she crossed paths with John Flynn, a Montana quilting expert who uses a laser to cut and sear fabric pieces. She says, “John’s work is so precise – it is within 1/500th of an inch in accuracy. That is about the size of a hair!” Together the two worked out an efficient and effective system for assembling the quilt kits. John warehouses thousands of yards of fabric for Charlotte who keeps half yard samples for new designs. After she tests a kit for quality control purposes, Flynn cuts, packages and ships them. Janice Broussard of Katy, Texas, says of Angotti’s design kits: “When you work on a quilt designed by Charlotte, you are assured your finished product will be beautiful, unique and virtually perfect.”

As with her kits, Charlotte’s quilting classes had long waiting lists as well. Boston quilting expert Anne Boyce visited Virginia Beach for one of her workshops. She recognized Angotti’s extraordinary talent and offered to help spearhead her move into large national and international arenas. Ten years after starting her quilting adventures, Charlotte found herself presenting workshops at the country’s largest quilt shows such as in Houston with up to 60,000 participants, Long Beach, California, and more recently, the quilting capital of Peducah, Kentucky. Angotti jokingly calls these one-day classes “Sweat Shops” – an apt image of the huge room filled with intent quilters bent over their machines. Her classes have become so popular that participants are given passwords to keep out unregistered interlopers.

In addition to her widely acknowledged expertise, Janice Broussard attributes Angotti’s popularity to her relaxed teaching style and riotous sense of humor: “Taking a class with Charlotte is a new and different experience. Other teachers often have their classroom doors opened, with dutiful students at their machines or taking notes while the teacher stands at the head of the room. Not so in a Charlotte class. Her classroom door is closed, windows covered with paper, as loud, rambunctious laughter emanates from the classroom, echoing down the hall. All the secrecy, coupled with the roar of hilarity, makes the outsider long to be on the other side of the door.”

This sense of fun pervades everything Angotti does. Broussard says, “She looks at the world out of the corner of her eye, telling stories about normal people moving about the world in farcical situations…poking fun at herself as much as others.” This sense of fun carries over to the titles she chooses for her workshops and quilt designs, along with sometimes raucous tales regarding their provenance. Her most popular class is entitled “Let Me Surprise You.” Until they arrive at the workshop and receive their kits of pre-cut fabric, participants have no idea about the design or colors of the quilt they’ll make. As Charlotte describes it: “Finally, a class where you know you’ve brought the right things!” Other whimsical titles include workshops, “Cure for the Common Quilt” and “Chain, Chain, Chain,” and quilt designs “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “Why Walk When You Can Fly.”

Angotti also leads small workshop sessions, including several in 2011 sponsored by local quilt guilds in Charleston and Columbia, and conducts privately hosted sessions in such beautiful spots as Hawaii, Isle of Palms and a large oceanfront home in Garden City. At these, invited guests arrive from around the country to enjoy three days of gourmet meals, fine wine and Charlotte’s entertaining lectures.

As word of her popularity spread, another exciting adventure presented itself to Charlotte, one that combines her two most favorite pastimes: travel and quilting. Sew Many Places, a specialized travel company which sponsors quilting trips to destinations all over the world, approached Angotti about leading travel workshops. The company provides all aspects of the trip, even sewing machines. Instructors bring quilt designs, fabric and supplies, so the participants can just sew, travel and have fun. In 2007 Charlotte led an eight day quilting tour of Italy with a memorable group that included her mother, Polly. This year she has just returned from an unforgettable ten day August cruise through Alaska appropriately titled “Quilting under the Midnight Sun.” For 2012 she is working details for a quilt shop train tour.

In 2008 Charlotte moved to the Grand Strand realizing, as she put it: “I can live anywhere as long as it has an airport.” She enjoys the opportunity to be near her mother and sisters as she works in relative anonymity from her Conway home, constantly moving in new directions and adding new dimensions. In addition to designing, traveling and teaching, Angotti is also working on two quilt design books to be featured on line next spring on “The Quilt Show.” Her designs are also featured in the current (September) issue of the magazine, McCall’s Quilting.

A wise person once advised: “Do what you love; the money will come.” This has certainly proven true of Charlotte Angotti over the past 30 years as she has carved out a unique and fulfilling life. Described by her friend Janice Broussard as a human vortex, Angotti naturally draws others toward herself and her projects. At the same time, her success has clearly involved large amounts of risk-taking and hard work. Her publisher and friend Debbie Caffrey says, “Charlotte leaves it all on the stage or in the classroom, just like an athlete on the field…There are many, many creative people in the world. What impresses me about Charlotte is how much she accomplishes with her creativity.”

[To learn more about Charlotte Angotti, visit these sites: www.charlotteangotti.com; www.QuiltMakerStudio.com; www.sewmanyplaces.com.]

Once upon a time in a kingdom by the sea there lived a beautiful young princess. Fair of face and kind of heart with the voice of a nightingale, she was also a very hard-working princess who learned to whistle while she worked – even as cruel forces sought to destroy her dreams. Happily, this brave princess was rescued – not by magic or a handsome prince – but by herself.

Dakota Beach does not think of herself as a princess – or even a beauty queen. In fact, prior to winning the 2011 Miss Myrtle Beach title, the 19 year old rising Coastal Carolina University senior had never entered a preliminary state level beauty pageant. The vivacious, striking young woman, however, displays self-confidence and resilience born of life experience beyond her years. Dakota has been completely on her own since she was 16 years old.

Originally from upstate New York, Dakota’s free-spirited mother constantly moved the young girl and her six siblings in search of a stability which constantly eluded them. Displaced from their home when Dakota was seven, the family spent several days living in their car before moving to an apartment which Dakota later realized was a homeless shelter. “At first, I thought of it as a mini-vacation because I was not going to school,” she says. With help from Catholic Charities and various family members in Southern California, New York and Pennsylvania, they always managed to have a place to sleep and enough to eat. Dakota says of these years, “It was a desolate time but not a desperate one. My mother never gave up and did the best she could to support her family. Her courage and determination inspire me to do my very best every single day.”

Throughout years of continuous flux, one constant in Dakota’s life provided stability and order: school. The bright young girl always rose to the top of her class no matter where she was or for how long. School was a source of praise as well, thanks to teachers and administers who recognized her abilities and rewarded her efforts. “From the time I was a very little girl, school has been very important to me. I remember bringing home packets with the next week’s work. I would come home on Friday, sit at the table and work until each one was complete.” Despite their many moves, Dakota skipped second grade and has consistently been an honor student throughout her educational career. While living in Southern California, she was selected to attend the prestigious Butterfield School of the Arts which had stiff requirements and long waiting lists. This experience was a life-changing event in her life, one which helped her see how exciting excellence in education can be. It also affected her decision to become an educator who can make a difference: “It will take the joint effort of educators, parents, students and members of the community, as well as national attention, to turn this issue around.”

When she was 12, Dakota moved from New York to the South Carolina coast, the beloved place that has become her permanent home despite additional moves made by her family. Since graduating from Conway High School at 16, she has supported herself by working three jobs while attending Coastal Carolina University where she will graduate next spring with a degree in English. The self-sufficient young woman also gives credit to many individuals who lined up to assist her in various ways, including 100% financial scholarship support. She says, “I am amazed at how, throughout my life, people have been there.”

Perhaps the greatest of these was the surprise gift of a second family. Shortly after moving to the Grand Strand, Dakota received a call from her biological father with whom she has never had a relationship. Somehow he had learned that she was living in South Carolina and said to her, “Did you know that you have a half-sister who lives in Columbia?” Through an amazing chain of events, the two girls met, visited in each other’s homes, and stayed in touch through e-mails and phone calls. Over time, Dakota built a very close relationship with her sister’s mother Laura, and step-father Andrew. One special day she will always remember occurred during her freshman year of college. Dakota was sitting in her dorm room feeling very sorry for herself. It was Thanksgiving break, and she had petitioned for permission to stay in her room over the holiday because she really had no place to go. Her phone rang, and the voice on the other end was Laura’s asking where she was and what she was doing. The next thing Dakota knew, Laura had driven from Columbia to bring her to their home for Thanksgiving. Laura and Andrew have been there for Dakota in a hundred different ways that include helping her get braces, arranging for her to have one of their cars and being there to cheer for her at the Miss Myrtle Beach pageant.

Over the last five years, another positive force and source of inspiration in Dakota’s life is her voice instructor, Kathleen Seymour. Singing has been Dakota’s passion and her outlet since kindergarten. Her closest friendships have formed through participation in the Conway High School and CCU Chamber and Concert Choirs – and through Miss Kathleen’s Friday afternoon studio class. Dakota’s face lights up with laughter as she talks about Seymour’s teaching antics and absolute dedication to her talented students. A mutual love of music is also what connected Beach to her closest friend, Nicolas Quinones, who graduated May 21 from Georgetown University. In the midst of her preparation for the Miss South Carolina Pageant, she traveled to Washington, D.C., to share this important moment with him.

For her platform Dakota chose a topic of great personal relevance: homelessness among young people, a timely subject for the community as well, as current statistics list over 600 homeless students in Horry County schools. For the talent portion of the competition, she will sing the hauntingly beautiful “Stand Up for Love” by Destiny’s Child, an anthem for all who wish to make a difference in the world.

Dakota Beach is an extraordinary role model of courage, maturity and grace beyond her years. Kathleen Seymour says of her: “Dakota is the best example of where diligence, perseverance and resolve will get you in life…She is the best of what her generation has to offer.” When asked how she has come through her many challenges so apparently unscathed, Beach replied simply, “We are not the product of events in our lives. We are the product of how we handle them.” May the rest of this young heroine’s story be one filled with fairy tale endings and happiness ever after!

Tracy Swinton Bailey recently stood before a group of prospective volunteers to talk about Freedom Readers, the innovative non-profit reading program she founded to help local children develop critical reading skills. Her presentation began with these words:

“Not too long ago, in a house on a dirt road not too far from here, a father and his daughter played out a nightly ritual. The daughter, dressed in warm PJs, is tucked into bed. The father, tired from a long day at work, settles into a chair and reads his baby girl a story. She listens intently as her mind travels to distant places…The daddy, having walked away from formal schooling after the 8th grade, reads to her with gusto and passion.”

The little girl in this story is Tracy herself, a dynamic, impressive young woman who recently began work on a doctorate in language and literacy. Descended from slave families living since the early 1700s in the close knit North Santee community of lower Georgetown County, Tracy and her siblings were the first generation in her family to receive high school diplomas. The area’s isolated location and limited transportation forced her parents and most residents to drop out of school after the eighth grade. Yet Tracy’s father read to her with a gusto and passion he passed on to his daughter, who graduated from Georgetown High School in 1991, the College of Charleston in 1995, and received a masters degree from Coastal Carolina University in 2009. Shortly after starting her doctoral studies, Tracy interviewed her father, now 75, to find out how he learned to read. To her amazement, she discovered that her grandmother, who had very little formal education, had empowered her son with a love of reading which he passed on to his young daughter. Their nightly ritual of reading together helped shape Tracy’s life. Now she, in turn, is paying it forward, dedicating her time, resources and energy to opening the world of reading to children who otherwise might never know its magic.

After graduating from college Tracy joined the faculty of Socastee High School as an English and journalism teacher. Her friend and mentor, CCU professor Dr. Sally Hare, says, “Tracy’s gift as a teacher was that she was never satisfied. She was always pushing herself to do more, to find a better way of teaching, especially to reach those kids that seemed to be falling through the cracks in the system.” She sponsored the Multicultural Club and in 1999, with support from across the educational community, organized Teen Summit, an annual conference which for four years brought together student body presidents and other representatives from every high school in Horry and Georgetown Counties. The participants, from varying economic, academic, and racial backgrounds, met once a month to plan the two-day conference at CCU featuring keynote speakers who discussed issues of common concern. Tracy still hears from participants who say the program changed their lives and the way they view the world.

The idea for Teen Summit originated from conversations with her dearest friend, her husband, writer Issac Bailey, whom she met the summer before her senior year of high school when both participated in the Governor’s School for Academics in Charleston. The young man from St. Stephen went on to receive a degree in journalism from Davidson College, refusing to let physical, racial or economic barriers impede or embitter him. Married in 1998, Tracy and Issac Bailey are tireless in their efforts to create new opportunities and honest dialogue throughout the community. Tracy says her husband’s courage is her greatest motivation. ”You have to learn to live a no excuses life. Issac personifies this. If he can take little steps and big leaps every day, I can too.”

When their son Kyle was born in 2001, Tracy left the classroom to invest herself fully in him and his sister, Lyric, who arrived three years later. Tracy continued to take graduate classes at CCU and work as a volunteer in the Burgess Community. Then in 2005 she was approached regarding a position with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education [NUA] which partners with school districts across the country to assess and assist in meeting educational needs of all students. The next four years Tracy traveled one week out of each month, mentoring teachers across the country in developing effective learning strategies for non-traditional students. She looks back on the experience as both eye-opening and life-changing: “My experience with NUA opened my eyes to the injustices taking place in our schools, and I could not stop thinking, ‘We can do better than this.’”

The poet Robert Frost once wrote of the manner in which “way leads on to way.” Surely this was true for Tracy as each step along one path clearly prepared her for the next. In 2009, using innovative strategies from her NUA work as the culminating project for her master’s degree, Tracy developed a program for children in the Burgess Community aged 4-13. They met twice a week for eight weeks to research and share life stories of historic figures included in the South Carolina state standards. The project culminated in “Faces of Freedom,” a glorious production presented at a community-wide celebration. Community leaders and CCU academic advisors alike praised the program for helping the children understand the significance of their unique history and the heroic shoulders on which they stand.

Once you learn to read, you are free forever.

Frederick Douglas

In 2009, on a wing and a prayer, Tracy entered the doctoral program at USC’s School of Education and began weekly commutes to Columbia. Her first course in language and literacy examined the interplay between culture, language and cognition, a concept she understood from a very personal perspective. Despite a natural intelligence and drive to achieve, Tracy knew that both she and Issac could easily have been doomed by their early environments. Knowing first-hand the link between reading skills and success in school, the young couple laid out an ambitious vision for the future, one that would connect children from at-risk backgrounds with adult volunteer reading partners in a one-on-one developmental reading program which came to be known as Freedom Readers.

Tracy says, “I know first-hand that we have wonderful schools in Horry County with dedicated and caring teachers who are making a difference in the lives of young people. However, they need our help. In a class of 20 students, few teachers can read with each one individually. We know that children whose families are below the poverty line are less likely to be read to every day than those with higher incomes. We also know that reading aloud to children builds listening skills, increases a child’s attention span and develops the ability to concentrate at length.”

Now in its second year, Freedom Readers meets at two area locations, Huckabee Heights and Darden Terrace, in 12-15 week sessions held throughout the year. In groups limited to 20 participants, the children gather after school one day a week for 90 high-energy, intensive minutes. In addition to its main goal of improving critical reading skills, the program is also designed to build confidence and leadership from within. The children gather to enjoy a healthy snack, then stand together and recite these proud words: “I Stand Tall. My family. My community. My country. My world. The world is waiting for my leadership.” For the next hour, trained volunteer reading partners and program participants read together each to each, listening and affirming. Afterward, the children receive a new book to take home for their personal libraries.

Tangible benefits of the program are obvious, but for participants and volunteers alike, the intangible ones are equally significant. During the last 15 minutes of each session the children re-assemble as a group, and each one gives a short speech on the topic, “This Is What Is Important to Me”. Subjects vary from personal goals to concerns about trash on the playground. Phillip Miles, a volunteer mentor and Tracy’s pastor at Christ Community Church, says, “My involvement as a tutor has been eye opening. I have found these students to be willing and able to grow their reading potential with just a little boost from a volunteer. The connection between tutor and student is strong by design and very effective. The results are amazing. Freedom Readers has opened my eyes and heart to the beauty and potential of others so close yet so far away.”

Asked to share her vision for the next ten years, Tracy smiled and said, “I’d like Freedom Readers to operate from its own building near the community, have state-of-art- technology, active support for families from their children’s birth, and the children in the program today enrolled in IB and AP programs on their way to Ivy League colleges.” Wow! As for herself, Tracy describes her future as a walk of faith: “I don’t know exactly where I’m supposed to go, but I know to take the next step.” Wherever she goes and whatever she does, it is sure to be a mighty journey, one which began with the love of a father who read nightly to his little girl and a partner and soul-mate who shares her vision of making a difference, one child at a time.

To learn more about this program, please visit www.freedomreaders.org.

Local dentist Jeanne Fourrier would assure you she is no saint. The only saints she knows wear Super Bowl rings and gold fleurs de lis on their football jerseys. Thousands, however, know first-hand there is another Louisiana saint living among us on the Carolina Coast, one her good friend Marnie Heck refers to as “the Mother Teresa of the United States.”

By birthright, with her ancient Creole pedigree and classic French beauty, Fourrier should be enjoying a life of ease close to her large extended family in Baton Rouge, where everyone knows her name – and how to pronounce it. She could have chosen a cushy major while at LSU, married the day after graduation, and spent the next 20 years lolling around the pool. She chose instead to become a dentist. While a student at LSU Dental School in New Orleans, Jeanne crossed paths with med school student Jeff Eggert, her old high school flame. Though she was engaged, Jeanne and Jeff fell in love, married and never looked back. Together the couple completed residencies, took initial staff positions, and 1982 settled in Myrtle Beach. Jeanne opened a private periodontal practice in Georgetown and Surfside. A few years later, Jeff moved his OB-GYN practice to an office building adjacent to Jeanne’s on Glenns Bay Road. They have enjoyed a rich full life and raised three extraordinary children: Daniel graduated from the USC School of Medicine and is currently a neurosurgery resident at LSU. While in medical school he started a non-profit organization to support a children’s burn unit in Bolivia. Elise graduated from Harvard and currently works as an undergraduate admissions office there while completing a Masters in Educational Policy. Laurence is a math and physics major at Wake Forest with an interest in cutting edge medical research, perhaps in dentistry. When asked about her family, however, Jeanne will tell you she has seven children, not three – one more exciting chapter in the life and times of Jeanne Fourrier.

In 1996 Fourrier visited All Saints Church in Pawleys Island to hear Father Tommy “TJ” Johnston share his story about the Anglican Church’s mission in Haiti and the desperate needs of the people there. Deeply touched, Jeanne went up to him after the service and said, “I am a dentist. If I can help in any way, let me know.” Little did she realize the lifelong impact those words would have on her, on hundreds of volunteers she would recruit and thousands of undernourished children on a tiny forsaken island.

Almost immediately Rev. Johnston contacted Fourrier about forming a medical/dental mission team to go to Haiti. “I was very nervous about it,” she said. “I knew enough about Haiti to recognize the inherent risks, both for myself and for anyone I brought along.” In addition, she had a thriving dental practice and a busy, growing family. A deeply spiritual woman, she also felt a powerful pull to go to Haiti. The young priest continued to call. Meanwhile Jeanne discussed her dilemma on early morning walks with her neighbor, Wanda Howard. Finally, she said, “Okay. Here is the deal: If God wants me to do this, I need a sign – a clear, irrefutable message, and I want it in writing!”

The next morning her neighbor greeted her by saying, “Okay Jeanne, it’s time to pack your bags. You are going to Haiti.” Wanda had asked her children to check their daily prayer calendar, and on that day, May 28, 1996, there was a picture of a tooth and the message: “God bless dentists who to go poor countries to fix children’s teeth.” She tore the page off the calendar and handed it to Jeanne. Be careful what you ask for: ready or not, she was going to Haiti.

A few weeks, later Jeanne and Myrtle Beach oral surgeon Ed Eckert arrived on the island of La Gonave, Haiti. Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw. There was no water, no electricity, no food, no medical equipment. Jeanne broke down and cried, “I cannot do this. It is too much. There is too little.” Then a beautiful little naked boy walked up. He smiled and held out his hand to her. Jeanne took it, looked toward the open sky and said, “Okay, maybe I can.” She and Ed began extracting teeth and performing oral surgery outdoors from improvised cane-backed chairs, the beginning of Jeanne Fourrier’s lifelong commitment to the children of Haiti.

As with most true miracles, it was neither quick nor easy but one that re-invented itself time and again. While on a study trip to Cartegena, Columbia, Jeanne shared her Haiti experience with a dentist who advised her that prevention is critical for patients like these. In isolated areas people can die of complications from a tooth abscess. Providentially, shortly after her return, Clark Wyly, an area sales rep from Colgate walked into Jeanne’s dental office and said, “I heard you are doing mission work. Can you use any fluoride treatments? I have several thousand in my garage.” Since that day the Colgate Company has continued to provide Haitian children with tooth brushes, toothpaste and fluoride which they keep in zip lock bags at their thatched hut schools where teachers supervise oral hygiene. Fifteen years later, tooth decay among children on the island has decreased 50%.

Since her first journey, Jeanne has returned almost every year with a group of volunteers from as far away as Washington State and as close as Conway. Some are experienced; others are not, but all share the common desire to help “the least of these, our brothers.” They load medical, dental, and sometimes veterinary equipment on jeeps and drive into the back country, then often re-load everything (including operating tables) on the backs of burros for the final climb to isolated families. Volunteers use Frisbees as medical trays for administering fluoride. They experience incredibly long days doing work that is both physically and emotionally challenging. Yet the most common shared memory among volunteers is the gentleness and gratitude of the Haitian people. One said, “We were out in the boon docks with no electricity and no running water. Yet these are happy people who love to sing. They ask for little and are grateful for anything.”

Perhaps the most life-changing aspect of Jeanne’s experience in Haiti came through her friendship with Anglican priest, Pere Fritz Valdema, and his wife, Carmel, who have dedicated their lives to changing the face and the future of their country. Long before last year’s earthquake, children were starving all over Haiti. It was common to see a beautiful ebony-skinned child whose hair had turned blond from lack of protein. Regular food will kill a person at this stage of starvation. Through Global Health Action training, Carmel developed a way to grind just the right mix of nutrients into a powder which can be mixed with water. One pound bag costs about $10 and can feed a child for a month. Because 70% of Haiti is illiterate, Carmel turned directions for the life-saving mixture into a happy song they can easily remember. She says, “The way out of poverty is education, but a child cannot learn if he is starving.”

Over time the Valdemas became like Jeanne’s extended family. In 2004, during a time of extreme political unrest, Carmel shared her concerns regarding her children’s safety and bleak educational opportunities in her country. Jeanne threw herself into finding a way for the two older siblings to attend school in the States. Again and again she ran into roadblocks until one day her son Laurence looked at her and said, “Mom, it’s so simple. Let them live with us.” And so it was. Pierrot and Nathalie Valdema came to live with Jeanne’s family in Myrtle Beach and enrolled in Socastee High School where the Eggert kids were students in the IB program. It was a life-changing experience for all involved, including the staff and students at Socastee who continue to hold a fund-raiser each year for Pere Val’s schools in Haiti. Dr. Paul Browning, the school’s principal and strong supporter says, “People need to be taught to give back.”

On December 11, 2010, Nathalie graduated from Coastal Carolina University with a 3.85 GPA. She is currently applying to medical school. Pierrot is completing coursework at CCU in computer science. Both plan to return to help their country. In January, 2010, Haiti’s paralyzing earthquake struck, and the barely functioning country lost all semblance of normalcy. Once again, Jeanne and her family opened their arms and their home, this time to the Valdemas’ twins, Dominique and Donald. They became Jeanne’s sixth and seventh children in what Marnie Heck describes as Fourrier’s personal version of The Blind Side.

Looking back over the last 15 years, Jeanne says, “If I knew then what I know now, I am not sure I could do it.” Day by day, inch by inch, however, she and her bands of angels have achieved miracles. Their work will never be complete. A year after the earthquake, secondary schools have not re-opened and two million people are still living in tents. Beyond disease and devastating natural disasters, Haiti struggles against poverty, illiteracy and corruption which threaten its survival but never the spirit of its people. “The Haitians are happy people,” Fourrier says. “They are materially poor but spiritually rich. We in America tend to be just the opposite. Family and faith mean everything to them. We could and should learn from them.”

In 1935, Ruth and George Anne’s parents moved to Myrtle Beach from Wilmington when their father, George W. Trask, Jr., started a farm in conjunction with a thriving family produce business that trucked vegetables to cities throughout the Northeast. The present Mr. Joe White Blvd., then called Farm Road, led to the Trasks’ 300-400 acre plot of land where Toys R Us and Broadway at the Beach sit today. For irrigation, the farm pumped water from the waterway. George Trask also opened Crystal Ice Company which supplied ice for chilling the vegetables as they were shipped north and later made ice deliveries to guest homes along the oceanfront.

Ruth says, “My mother, who had grown up in Wilmington and graduated from the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., truly thought she was moving to the end of the world when she arrived here, and to some degree it was.” The beach’s sixty miles of unbroken coastline was largely ignored for many years. Naval stores and shipping trade thrived along the Waccamaw, but the lack of roads across the rivers, swamps and marshes made the beach largely inaccessible into the twentieth century. “Over time, however,” Ruth continues, “Mother came to love it here, and it truly was a great time and place to grow up.”

Ruth and George Anne (whom Ruth affectionately calls “George”) grew up in an impressive brick home which still dominates 37th Avenue between the ocean and Kings Highway. The sisters rode their bikes all over the little town, to the magnificent Ocean Forest Hotel for lunch on its Marine Patio or to the Gloria Theatre for week-end movie matinees. Ruth paid ten cents to ride the city bus to her piano lesson at the Methodist Church. For entertainment, sometimes the sisters and their friends would go to the train depot and watch Mr. Copeland, the town’s mailman, unload the day’s delivery off the train which backed into the station each trip because there was not room for it to turn around. On Saturdays, the girls spent hours skating on the concrete slab that had housed foundations of the old Seaside Inn. George Anne’s fondest memory is finding wonderful shells on the beach unlike any found today, shells so abundant that their father paved the family’s driveway with coquina from the beach near their home.

In those days there were very few hotels in Myrtle Beach. Most beach houses were privately owned by families from North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina who spent their summers here. Ruth says, “Those were lovely people, and we got to know most of them. There would be parties and dances every weekend until the beach closed up after Labor Day.” There were also a few guest houses, small establishments from which the hotel industry eventually grew. A sprinkling of these structures can still be found on Chester Street near Mamie’s Kitchen and on Ocean Boulevard in the old Cabana section. Perhaps the best known of these was the Patricia Court which opened in the 2700 block of Ocean Blvd. in 1929. As the business grew, it became the Patricia Inn where the Trasks and most of Myrtle Beach ate Sunday dinner each week, under the watchful eye of “Miss Pat” Ivey and Riley, the revered maitre d’. Like several early hotels, the inn today is a deluxe resort, the Patricia Grand, but longtime residents still miss the elegant white landmark Patricia Inn.

Despite the misconception that still haunts it today, Myrtle Beach was not a cultural backwater. The Trask girls, with their mother and most of the town, attended local performances by the Charleston Dock Street Theatre group. They, and their friends, were thrilled to be chosen as ushers for community concerts featuring such big name stars as ZaSu Pitts and Robert Preston. North Carolina actress and director Jane Barry Haynes came here to direct summer stock theater at the Ocean Forest Hotel, one of the first theaters-in-the-round in the Southeast. The Marine Patio at the Ocean Forest also featured nationally famous bands such as Tommy Dorsey, Guy Lombardo and Count Basie.

Ruth and George Ann’s school, which housed grades 1-12, was located on the site of the current Myrtle Beach Post Office at 505 North Kings Highway. In 1946 this complex was destroyed by fire and for several years classes met in churches and various locations all over town until new schools were built. There were 55 students in Ruth’s graduating class at Myrtle Beach High School, many of whom still live here. They were a close knit group who met after school for Cokes at Nye’s Pharmacy or the Delta Drug Store. They celebrated MBHS football victories at the Canteen, a space provided by Chapin Library and held Junior-Senior proms at the Ocean Forest Hotel. In the 1950s the Pavilion brought in traveling summer shows which they brokered parental permission to attend. It was here that many also experienced the birth of the brand new phenomenon known universally today as Beach Music.

The driving age in South Carolina then was 14, but most young people drove as early 12. Because there were few roads and few residents, this was not a matter of great concern. “The police knew us each by name, and our safety was their main concern,” Ruth said. “If we did anything wrong, the worst thing that would happen is that they would contact our daddies.”

For more than five decades, the center for everything in Myrtle Beach was the Chapin Company store which opened in 1928. Located in the middle of town, this sprawling complex provided groceries, clothing, hardware, fuel oil, furniture, a gift shop, even a doctor’s office. Everyone knew everyone, and it was the place to go for all the local news. Ruth and George Anne’s mother went to Chapin’s every weekday morning at 9:30 to get her groceries for the day. Mr. Butch Taylor, who ran the meat department, knew the cuts Mrs. Trask wanted and always had them waiting for her when she arrived. The store also provided grocery delivery all over town and even put perishable items in the customers’ refrigerators.

In these days before credit and debit cards, Chapin Company customers had charge accounts and settled monthly bills at the store’s pay window. This is also where everyone in town went to cash checks. When the Chapin Company announced its closing after over half a century as the town’s mainstay, Ruth remembers dismayed customers exclaiming, “But where will be go to cash checks?” Vestiges of this important piece of Myrtle Beach history are still evident in the area surrounding Mount Atlanticus Miniature Golf at Kings Highway and Oak Street.

Several significant events in the 1940s and 50s changed the face and the small town culture of Myrtle Beach. The first of these was World War II. The Trask sisters remember black-out sirens and watch towers along the beach where trained volunteers searched the ocean waters for enemy submarines. They remember German POWs housed at the new Myrtle Beach Army Air Corps Base. George Trask hired a number of them to work in his farms. Ruth remembers her father asking Mr. John Swartz, a Myrtle Beach resident originally from Germany, to translate when communication problems arose. George Anne says, “I remember an influx of students from the new military base coming to our school from all over the country.”

The second big event came in 1954 in the form of Hurricane Hazel whose eye passed right over Myrtle Beach early in the morning of October 15. The town was basically obliterated: buildings, piers and dunes on the beach flattened like a pancake, as was most of the coast from Little River to Pawleys Island. Two three-story hotels completely disappeared, and eighty percent of the homes in Myrtle Beach were destroyed or severely damaged. As the area gradually recovered from Hazel, its face changed from quaint to shiny, with hotels replacing the old guests houses, and a new era of Myrtle Beach came into its own.

As the sisters reflect on their lives, both agree they would not want to have been anywhere else. “We lived in a special place at a special time. Myrtle Beach was a safe place to grow up and a safe place to raise our own children. There was little class distinction. We were all just friends,” Ruth says. “I have traveled to many places in the world, but I have not found a strand as beautiful as Myrtle Beach. People come to our beach and never leave.”

The world is her stage…the stage is her world.

If Becky Bannon had not come to Myrtle Beach for a summer job in 1966, hundreds of Horry County students might never have known the magical world of live theater. With a newly-minted degree from Marshall University, Becky came here with her roommate to celebrate a summer of fun before adulthood called her to a teaching job in Michigan. And like many before her, and since, Becky fell in love with the Beach – and with a guy. The following summer she married the guy and became an Air Force wife. Frequent moves of military life challenged long-term teaching opportunities, but she loved the excitement of each new assignment, especially their two years in Turkey. Despite close proximity to the raging Greek-Cypriot War, Becky gamely explored the entire region, discovering in herself an innate and lasting wanderlust.

In 1980, the Air Force brought Becky back to Myrtle Beach where she re-booted her teaching career at full speed. For the next 27 years, she changed lives and stirred imaginations of students throughout Horry County, teaching drama, journalism and English at North Myrtle Beach High and Socastee Middle Schools before a nine year stint at the new St. James Middle School under legendary principal, Wendell Shealy. Here Becky came into her own, taking hundreds of enthusiastic middle schoolers along with her. Her journalism classes regularly produced award winning yearbooks, including three years’ selection as the best middle school yearbook in the state and the 1993 Columbia University’s National Yearbook Competition. As heady as all this was, her true passion was not journalism but drama, and each year her students put on major theatrical performances, including memorable productions of The Secret Garden and The Velveteen Rabbit.

Becky loved St. James Middle School and the students, staff and parents who supported and encouraged her at every turn. She bought a home nearby and planned to stay there forever. Fate and Wendell Shealy, however, had other plans! In 1997 Shealy was named head of the new Carolina Forest Education Center, which became separate high school and middle schools housed on the same campus. He had a secret plan, a sure bet to lure Becky to come with him: a full schedule of her first love, drama. Bannon visited the school site, saw plans for its auditorium, and knew she wanted to direct plays there and continue working with her friend and mentor.

Looking back on our lives, we often see particular moments, specific choices that change us forever. For Becky Bannon, the move to Carolina Forest was surely one of these. Budget concerns cut the dream auditorium to a smaller, sparsely equipped facility with no stage steps, spotlights or curtains, but Becky did not let this deter her. She conned her friend, builder Wayne Vereen, into constructing steps, borrowed lights on poles from the First Baptist Church and conjured 40 middle and high school students into putting on a full-fledged Broadway musical, Give my Regards to Broadway. Despite the lack of sets, props and curtains, the show was a huge success, and tickets sales were sufficient to cover costs! Joining forces with Carolina Forest High’s drama and choral directors, Wayne Canady and Kraig McBroom, Becky’s new Dream Team immediately began to plan the next year’s performance.

Horry County schools receive no funding for drama, so all productions must be self-supporting. In 1999 a $4,000 donation from the Horry County Cultural Arts Association provided seed money for Carolina Forest to buy equipment and production essentials. Since then, ticket sales have sustained all the program’s costs, a tribute both to its high regard and the staff’s unlimited talent and imagination. Each year the shows have become increasingly exciting and challenging, replete with professional sets and a live orchestra. A friend, Margaret Ammons, describes the creative process this way: “Becky goes to New York, loves what she sees, and determines, ‘We can do that!’ Then everybody – students, faculty, parents and the community – inspired by her certainty, makes it happen.”

What happens is nothing less than the 2002 production of Peter Pan which involved the use of flying equipment rented from a company in Tennessee, five students who flew, five adults who assisted and five parents who took vacation time to train with the company’s owner in operating the equipment! Recent shows have run ten to thirteen performances, with casts up to 150 and productions costs as high as $32,000 include Cats, Wizard of Oz, Annie, The Music Man and the unforgettable Beauty and the Beast (which once again utilized flying equipment in the scene where the Beast levitates). Wendell Shealy says, “The only time I remember having to veto any aspect of a production of Becky’s was her plan to use a real horse in The Music Man!”

Meanwhile, back in the middle school classroom, Becky taught six classes of drama with waiting lists of students who recognized her to be, as Wendell Shealy described, “one of these exemplary teachers who demand, expect and ultimately get the very best from her students.” In 2000, inspired by a summer trip to Verona, Italy (the setting of Romeo and Juliet), Becky came home with an idea to launch a five-day, school-wide Shakespeare Festival. In preparation, social studies students learned about class structure in Elizabethan England, band students practiced English madrigals and consumer science classes sold artificial flowers to be woven into crowns for the grand finale: a spectacular Elizabethan Banquet and student performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

In 2007 Becky retired from the classroom but certainly not from the stage. She continues to work with Wayne Canady and Kraig McBroom in the annual Carolina Forest productions which become bolder and more exciting each year. The 2010 tour de force presentation, Grey Gardens, the Musical, is the first Broadway musical ever based on a documentary, and Carolina Forest was the first high school in the U.S. to perform it. Set in the crumbling Grey Gardens mansion, the tragicomedy tells the riches to rags mother-daughter story of Jacqueline Kennedy’s aunt and first cousin. There are two acts, one set in the early 1940s glory days, the second set in 1973 when the two are struggling to maintain reality and subsistence. Canady designed a turntable stage which revolved as needed for the earlier and later timeframes. They enjoyed tremendous support from the Broadway producers and cast, as well as from producers of the original documentary and several individuals whose lives are portrayed in the play.

Then there is High Steppin’ Country! This musical revue has been presented at Lakewood Camp Ground every summer since 1976, with Becky serving as stage manager for 27 of its 33 years. The longest-running show on the Grand Strand, the two hour extravaganza features fourteen talented young singers and dancers in a non-stop celebration of the ‘80s, country, gospel and patriotic music. Many of its current performers trained with Bannon and the Carolina Forest team, including Rosa Rea and Richard Gebo who starred in Beauty and the Beast. Several others are second-generation performers, such as Austin Perry whose mother Rhonda performed with the group for ten years. This must-see summer show at the oceanfront Lakewood Amphitheater is family-friendly, affordable and open to the public.

Becky has also found ways to combine her love of travel, passion for drama and desire to share its magic with young people. Following her divorce in 1987, she began taking groups of 40-45 middle school students to New York City each year for four-day theater trips. She also worked with American Student Travel, meeting and escorting student groups to Broadway performances which, at last count, totals 78 for Bannon. “How lucky am I!” she exclaims.

Great passion for life is a trait Becky has passed on to her two sons, Dean and Brad. Dean has Becky’s free spirit and her love of travel. He has backpacked through Europe, done scuba diving in the Caribbean and worked at ski resorts in Germany and West Virginia. Dean also worked with High Steppin’ Country as a sound technician for ten years. Brad, on the other hand, shares Becky’s love of drama and her perfectionism. A criminal defense attorney, Brad first became interested in law as a member of the Socastee High School 1988 national champion Mock Trial Team. He has won a number of high profile cases, including the highly publicized 2007 trial of the Duke Lacrosse Team. Brad’s work in representing David Evans, the team’s captain, uncovered flaws in the prosecution’s DNA evidence and ultimately exonerated the entire team. He has been the featured in numerous books, television segments and films. Brad and his wife, Carmen, live in the Raleigh area.

Looking back on all she has experienced and accomplished since arriving in Myrtle Beach those many years ago, Becky’s greatest sense of pride comes not from lofty dramatic feats but from knowing she has changed the lives of many young people, a conviction regularly affirmed by her students past and present. A recent note from 2010 Carolina Forest graduate Andrew Bettke perhaps says it best. Paraphrasing Alexander Pope’s famous line – and Bannon’s mantra to her students – he wrote:

“Mrs. Bannon, thank you for all your support and guidance over the years. I have always been grateful for your confidence in me and appreciate the ‘character’ that you have instilled in me. I will always ‘act well my part,’ for I know ‘there is where the honor lies.’”

Angie Eggleston and her husband, Wayne, are living examples of goodness growing out of grief. Theirs is a rare and multi-layered love story which reaches beyond personal tragedy, even beyond the grave, to embrace hundreds of total strangers.

Aiken native Angie Boone Eggleston met her husband when they were both on active duty in the U.S. Air Force. The couple spent over half their 20 year careers in Joint Special Operations at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Theirs was a typical dual-career life of juggling home, parenthood and work until a day in June, 1997, when their 16 year-old son, Chris, did not come home from school. For five days hundreds joined police in searching for the boy until two Special Operations soldiers found his body, tied with rope, buried in a shallow grave behind his high school. A 17 year-old classmate was charged with their son’s murder and, a month later, a 16 year-old girl was charged with masterminding the crime.

During these excruciating days, the entire Fort Bragg and Fayetteville community wrapped its arms around Angie and Wayne, holding and supporting the devastated couple with acts of kindness that continue even to this day. Somehow they survived the initial shock, the investigations, the trials and even a jury’s 11-1 deadlock of one of the accused. Angie says, “Even today, we still can’t believe it happened. You think you know everything going on in your child’s life. It can happen to anyone. Without our faith and the overwhelming support of friends and strangers, we would not have survived.”

Two years after Chris’s death, Angie and Wayne retired from the Air Force and moved to Myrtle Beach where Angie had spent many happy days in her youth. Wayne took a position with Strand Media Group, then later opened his own business, Wayne’s View Photography. He and Angie work together in the firm which specializes in weddings, family portraits, senior class pictures and other happy events.

Little by little, time and the Myrtle Beach sunshine helped lift the fog of despair lodged deeply in their souls. Finally rounding a bend in their lifelong journey through grief, Angie often remembered the amazing gestures of kindness and support they had received throughout the ordeal, especially from those in the Fort Bragg Special Operations area. Over weeks and months, she and Wayne began to talk about finding ways to step outside their grief, show their appreciation to the military community and keep the memory of their son alive. Gradually, a grand idea took shape, one which would focus on a happy event and provide the opportunity to pay it forward to those currently in uniform.

Soon their idea became reality: a nonprofit project named “Operation Happily Ever After,” which will provide a Myrtle Beach dream wedding for a lucky military couple. Drawing on their experience as wedding photographers and their contacts with other wedding professionals, Angie began contacting local vendors, asking them to donate their time and skills for this good cause. The Egglestons were amazed at the generous and enthusiastic response they received. With the exception of the rings and dress, everything will be provided, including the wedding ceremony, transportation, a reception with all the trimmings, luxury beachfront resort accommodations for the wedding party and a three-night honeymoon stay. At the same time, Operation Happily Ever After will raise awareness and funds to help support a carefully selected non-profit organization which assists military members and their families. Here’s how it will work:

As of June 1st any active duty bride and/or groom can enter the contest via its website: www.OperationHappilyEverAfter.org. Within 72 hours participants will be contacted by phone regarding eligibility. If qualified, they can register and start receiving votes right away. Friends and family members can vote by pledging $1 per vote, with 100% of all proceeds going to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. The contest web site will display a running tally of votes until the contest ends at midnight on January 31st, and the winner will be announced on February 15, 2011.

On Sept. 10, 2011, the lucky couple’s dream wedding will take place on the beach in front of the Sea Watch Resort which has also generously offered to host the reception site, lodging for the wedding party and a three-night honeymoon stay. Local businesses have stepped forward to offer such services as the bride’s arrival by horse drawn carriage, officiating of the ceremony, the wedding cake (which will be decorated during the reception), an ice sculpture, photographers, a videographer, a disc jockey and an artist who will paint a portrait of the bride and groom live during the reception. “We are simply overwhelmed at the response we have received,” says Angie. “Even a website design company and a local attorney have provided their services pro bono to help insure we are doing everything properly. So many generous and caring people have stepped forward to offer their time and talents, and others are contacting us every day. We invite any interested businesses to get in touch with us through the website. Our goal is to make this an annual, nationwide event.”

Angie and Wayne Eggleston

For Angie and Wayne, the most challenging task has not been finding businesses and individuals to donate services but selecting the recipient of funds raised by the project. Early on, Angie and Wayne wisely determined that their time and efforts would be best served by donating the project’s proceeds to a well-established and respected military charity. They spent much time learning about a number of national military nonprofit organizations before narrowing it down to four. Then they looked closely at each organization, examining the specific cause it serves and how its funds are used. All were worthy, but ultimately the Egglestons selected the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund which received an A+ rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy and the designation “Best in America” by Independent Charities of America. One hundred percent of the Fund’s contributions go directly to its programs with all administrative expenses underwritten by the fund’s trustees. The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund was established in 2000 to provide financial support to the dependents of US military personnel lost in the performance of duty.

In 2005, the Fund began directing its priorities to the needs of returning wounded warriors, particularly those suffering from traumatic brain injury. It has become a leading force in this area, currently building a 72,000 square foot advanced facility in Bethesda, Maryland, dedicated to brain injury research, diagnosis and treatment as well as educational programs for affected military families.

For the Egglestons, life will always have a bittersweet edge. Nothing can ever change that. However, by holding on to one another and moving beyond personal pain, Angie and Wayne have created a living tribute to their son which will provide a dream come true for one special couple and lend assistance to countless members of the military community which was there for them in their darkest hour. The Operation Happily Ever After logo aptly symbolizes each of these: a military dog tag on a metal chain intertwined with a pair of wedding rings, one bearing the discreet engraved initials of their beloved son Chris.

To learn more about this project or offer assistance, visit www.OperationHappilyEverAfter.org. To learn more about the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, visit www.fallenheroesfund.org.

People watchers might speculate that Marilyn Fore is a fashion model, a film star or jet setter. Surely, the tall, striking blond with a flair for glamour couldn’t be a college vice president with multiple degrees and 30 years of distinguished experience as an educator and administrator. Dr. Marilyn Murphy “Murph” Fore, however, is that and much more. As Horry-Georgetown Tech’s Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, she oversees instructional programs at the college’s three multi-faceted campuses and serves as its chief operational officer. She also functions as President in the absence of Dr. Neyle Wilson who said of her: “I consider Dr. Fore the most talented Chief Academic Officer in the S.C. Technical College System.”

Murph is eager to tell readers about the Early College, an innovative program which on May 18 will celebrate its inaugural graduation. Drawing from all nine Horry County high schools, the four-year program is designed for students who thrive in the goal-oriented, career-qualifying environment of HGTC, rather than a traditional high school setting. Fore’s pride is obvious as she describes the program’s first group of graduates: “Of the 130 students who started with us four years ago, 101 will graduate this year. Of those, 21 will also receive associate degrees by the end of the summer.” Murph’s smiling face briefly turns somber as she says, “This is important to me in a very personal way. As a young person, I needed a program like this. I could so easily have slipped through the cracks.”

Marilyn Murphy Fore was born in Ohio but never lived anywhere for very long. Her father, an itinerant bricklayer with a bucket full of personal, emotional and financial problems, constantly moved his family in search of work. “We usually lived somewhere an average of six months. There was no family car. We traveled by public transportation, lived mostly in public housing and used food stamps to get by.” Her mother held the family together doing clerical work, especially during the harsh Northern winters when bricklayers had no work. “Needless to say,” she adds, “there was not much opportunity to make friends or excel in school.”

Eventually, her father’s fragile hold on life broke, and he became permanently disabled. The family moved to Ekins, West Virginia, to live with Murph’s paternal grandmother, who owned a large boarding house which catered to prosperous businessmen. She ran a very tight ship, allowing no female visitors – with the one exception of a piano teacher. A stately, professional woman who always wore a black dress and high heels, her grandmother became a significant role model for the young girl and a lasting impression as the first person to encourage her to try to go to college.

Her senior year of high school, Murph’s parents moved again, but she chose to stay behind and finish school. She made her own white dress for graduation then chose not to attend the ceremony because she’d have no family members present. She did, however, receive an amazing graduation gift: a $1,000 check for college, donated anonymously by a neighbor who’d recognized her potential.

In 1967, Murph headed off to Fairmont State College, where she enjoyed a sense of belonging and made close friends for the first time in her life. It was a heady environment in which Murph, like many others, majored in social life for a while. However, her grandmother’s death during her junior year affected her deeply. Remembering that strong example, Murph re-evaluated her goals, became involved in student government and, by graduation, was recognized as a campus leader. College taught Murph that she was not bound by the confines of her early life.

In the summer of 1971 several of Murph’s sorority sisters got jobs waiting tables in Myrtle Beach. They called her to say teaching jobs were available and encouraged her to join them. When she arrived, Murph learned that the teaching positions were federally mandated to integrate schools in Georgetown County. She was hired as assistant librarian, audio-visual coordinator and cheerleading coach at Choppee School under Principal Maudest Squires who, like her grandmother, ran a very tight ship. Despite the social unrest of the times, Murph had great respect for Ms. Squires and felt accepted by students and staff. She recalls taking her cheerleaders home from athletic events late at night and claims she still knows every back road in Georgetown County. In order to help support her parents, Murph worked two additional jobs, one as elevator operator and medical coder for Georgetown Hospital, the other as a teacher in the adult education program at the Horry-Georgetown Technical Education Center.

This small part-time evening job changed Murph’s life forever. She had found her passion: to educate and help elevate students much like herself. Three years later, when Ms. Squires left Choppee School, Murph took a full-time teaching position at the Georgetown Center. The following year, in 1975, it became part of the newly founded Horry-Georgetown Technical College, the institution to which Murph has dedicated her time, energy and talent for the last 30 years. She moved from the classroom to an administrative position in 1983, acquiring two master’s degrees and a doctorate along the way. In 2007 Murph also received an honorary doctorate for public service from Coastal Carolina University.

Fore’s imprint is evident in every aspect of HGTC’s academic and physical growth. She designed and initiated 45 academic programs and supervised their development on the college’s three campuses. Among these are distance learning online classes, international placements and innovative learning opportunities, such as one in March in which a group of students and faculty traveled to London during their spring break. She also helped design a number of campus buildings, including the Richardson Art Gallery, the Robert Speir, Jr. Healthcare Center and the Carmen Catino Executive Dining Room. In tribute to her many contributions, the Grand Strand campus science building was named in her honor.

Murph says credit for her success as a student, teacher and administrator should be shared with leaders across the community who stepped forward to mentor her at a time when opportunities for women were just opening up: “I feel very fortunate that throughout my life, others have recognized my abilities and helped me open doors to new challenges. I poured myself into each new opportunity, at times perhaps to fill deep voids in my personal and spiritual life.”

Coming from a family of atheists, Murph grew up believing strength could only be found within herself, yet since childhood she sensed the need to rely on a greater power. “I didn’t know what prayer was,” she remembers, “but as a child I resorted to it when I was so desperately poor. I recall on a dark, snowy night when all seemed to be terribly wrong in life, I went to my room and prayed for help.” No quick miracles occurred, and after a while Murph gave up on God: “For years I wandered through the darkness – clinging to new found material success and personal relationships that made me feel successful, while I continued to feel empty deep within.”

The miracle Murph prayed for that dark night did occur, but not on her timetable. In 1991 she married Fred Fore, a very successful college president and industrial leader in the state. Fred introduced her to his church, Belin Methodist, where they were married. For the first time in her life, Murph felt part of a warm and loving family. Today she refers to the church as her “binoculars” because it keeps her focused and her “vitamins” for the strength and nourishment it provides. Through her marriage to Fred, Murph was blessed with a real life family as well, Fred’s two adult daughters, Lee and her family who live in Hartsville, and Lori who lives in Florence. She says, “Only one who has known such emptiness can appreciate how rich and full my life is today.”

Murph recognizes that her life experience helps her connect with others struggling to stay afloat. Clearly, it has fed her passion for Horry-Georgetown Tech and the contribution technical colleges make to communities across America: “A technical college gives individuals from all stations in life a step toward self-actualization, whether it is a first step or a last one. For many students, it is a smaller, more affordable school environment in which to discover who they are and where they want to go. For others, it is a stepping stone to a larger university. For others still, it is a last chance. Many very bright young people, for a variety of reasons, choose not to achieve in high school. A technical college provides an opportunity to start afresh. One of our students with an associate degree is now deciding whether to complete his studies at Harvard or George Washington University.”

Fore points out the tremendous challenge of instructing such a diverse student population: “A typical class will contain a 17 year old in college for the first time, a 30 year old seeking a better life and a 50 year old wanting a second career. Faculty members must care for every student, personally and professionally, and continuously place the carrot farther out. The impact technical schools have on society is equally significant,” she continues. “They are the bedrock of our communities. seventy percent of all jobs require a two year degree. The Myrtle Beach area relies on our college to produce a qualified work force in law enforcement, medicine, construction, hotels and restaurants, just to name a few. Can you imagine what the impact would be if we did not have these programs?”

Today the future seems bright and full of promise for Horry-Georgetown Technical College, its 8,000 students and for Marilyn Fore. She continues to work hard, paying forward the promise of hope. Describing her contribution, President Neyle Wilson said, “Murph deserves as much credit for the growth and success of this College as anyone.”