MEMORIAL FISHING TOURNAMENT
MANY SEASONAL EMPLOYEES have come and gone in the nearly three decades that
Gene and Alison Long have owned Wrightsville Beach’s Motts Channel Seafood,
but few are as memorable as Mandie Phillips.
“She was probably the most positive, happy employee we’ve ever had,”
Alison Long says. “I would sit in my office and I would hear her laughing and giggling. It was
a happy environment when she was working.”
Tragically, Mandie died in a car accident in December 2014. The Long family wanted to do
something in her memory. She loved school and she loved to fish, so the Longs worked with
the Phillips family to inaugurate the Mandie Phillips Memorial Fishing Tournament. Proceeds
would go to fund a scholarship for a New Hanover County student to attend Appalachian State
University in Boone, where Mandie majored in political science.
The first tournament, in 2016, raised enough money to fund a $25,000 endowment and a
$5,000 scholarship. Last year’s event funded three $5,000 scholarships and added $17,000 to
the endowment.
“I really wasn’t sure how it was going to be received,” Long says. “It’s been very successful.”
The third annual Mandie Phillips Memorial Fishing Tournament is scheduled for Sept. 20-22.
“I’m hopeful it will continue growing,” Long says. “It would be great to do four scholarships. The fishing offshore was terrible
last year, but we still had 50 boats enter. We’re expecting bigger and better things this year.” — Simon Gonzalez
ENJOY THE VIEW!
MICKEY AND ANGIE FAULK of Raleigh, Landfall, and Wrightsville Beach gave back to the community they love with the dona-tion
of three replacement park benches at South Channel Mini Park on Harbor Island in July 2018.
The Faulks surprised their daughters — Diana, Amy, and Ashley, who now live in California, Charlotte, and Wilmington —
by donating and dedicating the benches to the women. One also memorializes Charles Mitchell Welton, a grandson who
ALLIE PHILLIPS REID
Family and friends joined Mickey and Angie Faulk for the dedication of three
new benches at South Channel Mini Park.
died when he was 5 months old.
Mickey and Angie gathered family and friends, includ-ing
former mayor David Cignotti and Wrightsville Beach
Parks & Recreation program supervisor Katie Ryan, to
reveal the seats that enjoy the view across the channel.
Cignotti and the Faulks reminisced about a time when
Cignotti had been a tenant in their duplex.
The new benches meet a need in the community, and
Mickey hopes they also serve as an important lesson to
his children and grandchildren.
“You don’t just take, you give back,” says Faulk, whose
family has owned multiple properties at Wrightsville for
decades. “We’ve had so much joy here that we wanted to
give back to the community and do whatever we could
to help Wrightsville Beach.”
The new benches, installed after a donation of more
than $3,000, provided a much-needed upgrade to the
park, replacing ones that had worn out, Ryan said.
— Shephard Sullivan
The fishing tournament
funds scholarships in
memory of former Mott’s
Channel Seafood employee
Mandie Phillips.
17
PAT BRADFORD
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM