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WBM may 2011
which reappear in the spring. “Every
winter there are four or five bird feeders
and I take them all down except for
one … and each spring the bear comes
and completely bends it down and eats
all the sunflower seeds,” Griff says.
“We have lots of fox squirrels ...
with very unusual markings, the
largest nonflying squirrel east of the
Mississippi. They’re huge. They’re
indigenous to long leaf pine, they
eat the nuts of the pinecone. It’s the
only place you find them. They’re all
through the sand hills. Here we have
a lot of them and we watch the wild
turkeys walk by. All year long: the turkeys
and the fox squirrels,” he adds.
The Welds, Joan from Ohio and
Griff from Minnesota, discovered
the sanctuary of the North Carolina
coastline on Ocracoke Island. “I fell
in love with the Outer Banks,” Joan
says. Having visited the island with
her family and camped out there, she
adds, “It’s always been a healing place
for our family.” She and Griff were
married in a litte Ocracoke chapel by
Reverend Creech.
A former staffer for Ohio Senator
John Glenn, Joan says they eventually
resided in historic downtown
Wilmington to be closer to Bald Head
where they bought land in the 1980s.
Griff, who was hired to take over sales
for Woodbury Insurance, believes it’s
important to be an integral part of the
community. He was drafted to a variety
of nonprofit boards—the Coastal
Land Trust, the local North Carolina
Symphony, WHQR Public Radio, the
YMCA and Cape Fear Community
College. He was also the creator
of QENO, Quality Enhancement
for Nonprofit Organizations, at
the University of North Carolina
Wilmington.
Meanwhile, Joan commuted to
Raleigh, first as Assistant Secretary for
Natural Resources in the Department
of Environment, Health and Natural
Resources, later as Governor Jim
Hunt’s chief of staff during his second
administration.
8262 Market Street, Suite 104
(next to Harris Teeter in Porters Neck)
910.319.7400
— and our new location —
7204 Wrightsville Avenue
(next to CoolSweats - at the Beach)
910.256.1005
Store hours: 10-6