Some days in this line of work
are fun. Others are off the charts.
ON a day in late July,
just as the summer
semester at Cape Fear
Community College
was ending, photographer Allison
Potter and I visited the class-rooms
of Daniel Hendrickson’s
Mechanical Engineering
Technology program. Grads of the
program had built several solar
car early prototypes to debut at
the 2019 North Carolina Azalea
Festival. I got to drive one of
them. If you cannot tell from my
expression, it was a blast — even
though I required a booster seat
to see over the steering wheel.
See the CFCC cars story on
page 20.
That’s one of the great perks
of this job, the unexpected
stories that we uncover and
are privileged to share with
readers.
Another is the continua-tion
of Robert Rehder’s Vietnam series
upfront
featuring Major Ronnie Brown. Each of these stories has
affected me deeply, even though I only know these Wilmington
sons because of their sacrifice. When the Vietnam Traveling
Memorial Wall came to Wilmington in July, I went to find the
names of each of these three men on the panels, and the emotions were overwhelming. So, too, was someone’s placing of the
July 2019 WBM’s story of CWO Wayne Lanier at the base of Panel 57E. Thankfully it was near midnight, because I sat there
on the hard ground and wept over the sacrifice of this American, this Wilmington hero I never met.
The next day, I returned with the May 2019 WBM issue and its story of Whit Moore, leaving it at the base of Panel 41E.
I returned a third time to leave a scan of the photo you will find on page 14 at the base of Maj. Brown’s Panel 4E, so that those
who knew him as a WB lifeguard in 1955 could find him more easily.
There’s tons more exceptional reading. We so hope you’ll enjoy it and will support our advertisers who make this all possible.
Have a wonderful September.
ALLISON POTTER
13
Editor/Publisher
Pat Bradford out for a solar car cruise on the campus of
Cape Fear Community College’s north campus in late July.
Pat’s hair cut by Frank Potter, Bangz Hair Salon. Hair styled by Rob Asp, Bangz. Makeup by Sarah Harris, Bangz.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM