Friends,
Daytime dissolves into dusk
as friends gather at Jim Bailey’s
beachfront townhouse on a balmy
summer night over the Labor Day
weekend to mingle, reminisce and
enjoy a traditional Lowcountry
boil. The meal is not the only tradi-tion
being honored, however. This year
L A B O R D A Y R E U N I O N
40th ANNIVERSARY
WRIGHT SVI L L E B EACH
marks the 40th anniversary reunion for
these friends who met in business school
and have kept a tradition of vacationing
together on Wrightsville Beach since the
late 1970s.
In the autumn of 1978, 12 motivated
students who would soon become friends
matriculated into the Master of Business
Administration program at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The
first few weeks of school proved intense,
and by mid-semester they looked for-ward
to a respite. Bailey, one of the MBA
students, helped spearhead what was to
become the group’s vacation tradition. His
parents owned a waterfront townhouse
on Wrightsville Beach, so he and some of
his male peers decided to head there for
fall break. It quickly changed from what
George Ramsay describes as a “guys’ trip”
to include some of the women in the
When the business school class began vacationing
together at Wrightsville Beach, most stayed at one
of two places. The old Lynch Cottage, which is still
there, is located right across from the water tower on
the south end of the island. It could accommodate
eight families, so most stayed there. All of the people
standing on the steps are actual members of the
class. The one exception is Jack Evans, pictured in the
middle of the photo. Jack Evans was the Dean of the UNC Business School Class at that time. He often joined the
group. This picture was taken on the steps of the Lynch Cottage around 1984. Top to bottom: Jimmy Weeks, Wayne
Gibbs, John Day, Tom Scott, Jack Evans, Stuart Phoenix, Gin Gin Bruce Scott, Nancy Carr Korman, Belk Daughtridge,
Duffy Hickey, Meg Talbert Davenport, Bob Jones, Jim Bailey, Logan Lynch Haigh and George Otis Ram.
august 2019 24
WBM