BY LAURA BEAMON
Good Measure
remember when
A fond remembrance of longtime Wrightsville Beach resident
David Whitley Mayo who passed away in 2021.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com 17
WBM
THE high temperature where I live in Colorado is
8 degrees. I check the calendar, counting the days
until summer. It can’t get here fast enough. Then
his words come back to me. “Never cross off life.”
My interest in the refrigerator calendar’s colored Xs and
sticky notes had prompted Uncle David’s words of wisdom:
“It helps to see what
day we are on but
never, never cross off
life.”
My husband’s
Uncle David was
born Feb. 27, 1939,
and grew up in
Fremont, North
Carolina, with his
older brother George
and younger sister
Mary Sue. He was
extremely close with
his mother Sue-Sue,
as her grandchildren
affectionately called
her. He and Mary
Sue were always the
best of friends and
his presence was
significantly impact-ful
in his niece and nephew’s upbringing.
A year-round resident of Wrightsville Beach, Uncle
David knew all the neighbors. While not having held
elected office, a bench plaque in his honor on the Loop
describes him as “Unofficial Mayor of Wrightsville Beach.”
Extremely health conscious, he took multiple walks and
swims a day. One could spot him walking with his flip-flops
tucked in the back of his swim trunks and whatever
pair of sunglasses he’d most recently found washed up on
the beach.
My husband’s uncle had a knack for leaving notes, making
time, and finding room. Goggles hang on the nail in the
carport, water goes in the OJ pitcher, socks can be worn with
flip flops. Uncle David made sense of things in life.
Uncle David was like fresh beach air; taking him in
made everyone feel relaxed and content. Never married,
he was a low-maintenance man who surrounded himself
only with things that were special and served a purpose.
His home was a
Wrightsville Beach
cottage on Bay Street
his mother had
purchased decades
before, near the one
his aunt and cousin
lived in.
When he renovated
his domain, he spent
many days retrieving
relics around North
Carolina making every
inch unique, delib-erate
and rich with
history. Most of the
floors and walls were
artifacts he hauled
in his red truck from
Fremont to Wrights-ville,
then sanded
himself.
They serve as a constant reminder to his extended family
of how Uncle David treasured things in life. He loved the
ocean and made sure the Intracoastal Waterway was visible
from almost every window.
He loved celebrating holidays with family. Every Fourth
of July he hosted a cookout and fireworks viewing party,
the highlight of everyone’s summer. He was pleased to do
anything in preparation for the party — except cook.
One year he spelled NOEL in large letters on his house
by the water, later discovering the E was backwards. A man
with a good sense of humor who didn’t take himself too
seriously, he kept that E backwards thereafter.
COURTESY OF LAURA BEAMON