11
wbm SEPTEMBER 2019
28 18
CHANGING OUR WORLD TOGETHER ONE FASCINATING STORY AT A TIME.
ON THE COVER
86
Viridescent Views
SOME GAVE ALL PART III
Maj. Ronnie Brown
SEA TO TABLE
Spearing Tonight’s Meal
LIFE SAVING WORDS
In A Rip: Float, Don’t Fight
34 The Long Journey Home
Air Force Major Ronnie Brown didn’t return home from
Vietnam the way other soldiers did. His family suffered
perhaps the worst tragedy of all when, for decades during
and after the Vietnam War, he was Missing in Action (MIA).
By Robert Rehder
48 Creative and Dynamic Approach to
Nature
Katherine Wolf Webb’s watercolors celebrate the world
around us. Her art began at age 7, when her mother
gifted the budding painter a watercolor set. Included is
Lloyd Singleton's companion story about her garden.
By Kathryn Manis
58 Heron Watch
A vacation home turned primary residence on Lumina
Avenue, gets a new life and a new name as a Modern
Coastal masterpiece christened Heron Watch.
By Melissa Sutton-Seng
76 From Sea To Dinner Table
Spearfishing off Wrightsville Beach provides locals —
including D.J. Struntz, Ren Chapman and the author —
a bounty of fresh fish and a healthy lifestyle. By Peter Viele
DEPARTMENTS
13 Up Front
14 Letters
16 Shorts
18 Trending
28 Doin’ Good
42 In View
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
FEATURES
18 “Tri-ed” and True: Swim, Bike,
Run
The Wrightsville Beach Triathlon, which traverses
the popular Wrightsville Beach Loop, continues to
thrive and is a must-do for many triathletes.
By Mary Margaret McEachern
20 Sun Power: Cars of the Future
Graduates of the Mechanical Engineering
Technology program at Cape Fear Community
College built solar car prototypes to debut at the
2019 N.C. Azalea Festival. The program’s students
have already started on the next prototype.
By Pat Bradford
24 Float, Don’t Fight Message
Ali Joy’s husband, Austin, drowned in June 2018 in a
rip current at Atlantic Beach. She says a U.S. Marine
on his way to her yelled words that saved her life and
her two children, “Float, don’t fight.” By Clark Anderson
28 One Year Later: Still on the Job
Almost a full year after Hurricane Florence brought
sustained wind, rain, flooding and abject misery to
Eastern North Carolina there is still much to be done.
One group that is still on the job helping victims of
Hurricane Florence is the Cape Fear Volunteer Center.
By Pat Bradford
30 School’s Out at Wrightsville’s
220 Coral Drive
A new future is on the horizon for Wrightsville Beach
School children as students are bused to Porter’s
Neck temporarily while the old school at 220 Coral
Drive is in the midst of a much-needed redo.
By Peter Viele
58
This peaceful Banks Channel
scene perfectly captures a last
look of summer color.
— PHOTO BY MICHAEL BLEVINS,
MB PRODUCTIONS
ADVERTISING SECTIONS
20 Gift Guide 51 Gallery Walk
81 Tide Chart
48 34
24
20
30 76