Orrin Pilkey spent his life fighting for the world’s beaches. Duke University honored one of its most distinguished professors by naming a new research lab for him.
People
Coastal Sketch: Lauren Hermley
If you live in Beaufort, you likely know her. If you don’t, you might like to get to know the vice president of the N.C. Coastal Federation who dives shipwrecks and travels the world.
The Passing of a ‘True Ocracoker’
Friends and relatives remember Wayne Teeter, a fisherman and businessman who was as Ocracoke as you can get. He died last week, and the roosters along O’Neal Drive crowed in mourning.
Coastal Sketch: Dick Bierly
The president of the N.C. Coastal Federation, a retired business executive, would have been surprised years ago if someone had asked him if he was an environmentalist.
Coastal Sketch: Veronica Carter
Though she’s on the board of an environmental group, Veronica Carter won’t go camping if she can help it. But try to put a landfill in her neighborhood and she’ll be quick to call you out.
Coastal Sketch: Steve Stone
The farm boy became deputy manager in Brunswick County, one of the fastest-growing in the country, and championed low-impact development to improve water quality.
Coastal Sketch: The Unseen Pilot
Steve Stone, Brunswick County’s deputy manager, is described in this second half of a personality profile as “steering the ship from under the deck.” His unseen hand guided the county to its leadership role in stormwater controls.
Pelican Award: Bob High
Chat with Bob High for five minutes and you will discover the two things he is truly passionate about: craft beer and coastal North Carolina. Chat with him a little longer and you’ll understand what a natural pairing that is.
Sandie Cecelski: Pelican Award Winner for Education
E.H. Ashley High School science teacher Sandie Cecelski exemplifies great teaching, getting students up close and personal with all that marine science has to offer. We gave her a Pelican Award, to thank her for her invaluable service to children.
He Left the World a Cleaner Place
Anyone who knew Elmer Eddy for very long was soon paddling alongside him picking up trash along creeks and rivers of the White Oak Basin. He was that kind of guy. Elmer died recently at age 94.
Coastal Sketch: The Bee Lady
Winborne Evans of Roanoke Island has a passion for honeybees. “Honeybees need humans to survive,” she says. “We’ve got to remember what they do for us, as well as what we do for them.”
Growing Up as a Student of the Sounds
That’s Ladd Bayliss, a native of Manns Harbor in Dare County and a coastal advocate for the N.C. Coastal Federation. She offers an essay about growing up along Croatan Sound.
Coastal Sketch: Barry Bey
Byron “Barry” Bey had intended to play music on the beach when he moved to Southport more than 25 years ago. He became a teacher instead. He has inspired hundreds of students and his high-school aquaculture program is known the world over.
The ‘Plastic Ocean’ and Bonnie Monteleone
Bonnie Monteleone set out to document the plastic debris that is killing marine life after a photo of a deformed turtle in a plastic six-pack ring turned her life around.
Coastal Sketch: Bill Birkemeier
As head of the Army Corps of Engineers research center in Duck, this soft-spoken, jazz-loving engineer changed the way we think about the natural forces that shape our ocean beaches. He’s retired after 32 years.
Louis Moore: An Original Tree Hugger
Louis T. Moore, the longtime secretary of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce in the mid-20th century, had the head of businessman but the eye and heart of a poet. He championed protecting the city’s natural beauty, especially its trees, before such notions were popular.
