up front
This magazine is a thing of beauty
and we dedicate it to Wrightsville Beach Magazine creative director
Teresa Kramer, who has taken a leave of absence.
Teresa has been designing
celebrated graphic layouts
and ads for the magazine
since April 2004.
This issue is also a credit to the amaz-ing
team of people who stepped into the
gap to accomplish the impossible.
It was challenging to score an inter-view
with UNC basketball coach Roy
Williams, spotted by one of us ages ago
on a favorite street as he walked his dog.
The interview was not an easy one to
prepare for either, considering my lack
of attention to organized sports. But,
once I cracked open his autobiography,
appropriately titled, “Hard Work,” I was
hooked. This is a man who is incred-ibly
loyal, gives his all, and is deter-mined
to never be outworked. Sitting
in a white rocker on his lawn, early on
a picture-perfect Memorial Day morn-ing,
I was captivated.
The upshot is a thrilling interview, a
good portion of which is in these pages.
Due to space limitations, the remainder
can be found on our website. Coach
Williams was relaxed, forthcoming and
as charming as the men from the North
Carolina mountains are known to be.
And for those longing to be in the moun-tains
this summer, the timing is perfect.
High Country writer Anna Oakes previews
the 57th Highland Games, about to kickoff
in Grandfather Mountain’s high meadows.
If you have never been, this is a sight to
behold, a treasured time you won’t soon
forget. Turn the pages to find out more.
In this issue we also feature one of my
favorite newly-built homes, constructed
literally on the footprints of historic plan-tations
overlooking Masonboro Sound. I
met the Johnsons when we staged an entre-preneurial
luncheon at Dennis Gillings’
historic cottage. In the intervening years,
Johnson has become a familiar face around
the office, and on Masonboro Island, where
his nonprofit has launched a major clean-up
WBM july 2012
campaign on high-summer holiday week-ends.
Now, his family’s new homestead,
complete with a beehive and vegetable gar-den,
is finally finished. You will enjoy this
private peek inside.
We welcome Tony Rivenbark to our
pages to tell the little-known history of
Oscar Wilde’s one night in Wrightsville
and we welcome back former staff writer
Jules Norwood to educate us about offshore
billfishing’s triple crown: the grand slam.
Muni Fit, the outdoor exercise phenom-enon,
is adaptable to any park-like setting
in the world. Part two of the Muni details
three fitness levels of outdoor workout sug-gestions
and incorporates the new piece of
equipment in Wrightsville’s park. Trainer
Cole Dittmer, Pat Bradford and Coach Roy Williams
LaMaine Williams is one of the nicest
people you’ll ever meet and his commit-ment
to training is extraordinary. Together
we’ve made it pretty darn easy to get out
and exercise. Let us know how it’s working
for you.
Being a huge fan of comfort food, I
doubt there is anything more scrumptious
than fresh apple or berry pie topped with a
substantial scoop of ice cream. Our salute
to summer and the Fourth this month is
American Pie.
So sit back, relax and enjoy the magazine,
which had some divine intervention in its
creation. Hoping you’ll make a difference
in someone’s life today.
Editor/Publisher