Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / May 30, 1985, edition 1 / Page 5
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uncle PreacherTa BY SUSAN USHER Occasionally preachers go to great lengths?or heights?to deliver their message of Christ's love. So it was when Rev. Stan Smith, minister of Camp United Methodist Church in Shallotte, performed a recent wedding ceremony at the Franklin County Sport Parachute Club between Franklinton and Louishure. Us ing previously agreed-upon symbols to represent the traditional vows, he married skydivers Karen Lloyd and Bobby Pickard while zipping toward earth at roughly 140 mph. While undergoing one of the most memorable experiences of a lifetime, he said later, "I think I made two friends and I think they appreciated the relationship we had." This wedding was one of those times where he accepted someone else's lifestyle while modeling his own. It offered Smith an opportunity "to represent the church to someone who might not ordinarily seek out the church," to show them that Christians don't as a rule fall iiito the Juiiatiiaii Euv\mu:> inuiu uf i tgiu Puritanism. NEWLYWEDS Karen and Bobby Pickard and Rev ceremony. r* U x /- 1- - r V^MUSI V.IQD5 C Recently I watched a ghost crab as he scampered across the sand, mov- a. ing first in one direction and then another. At any hint of danger, such as a t>irii overhead or someone upproaching, he would run to the nearest hole and dive in! At one such hole, which was already occupied as the resident quickly chased him out, there was a moment's pause as if the crab were reflecting on what had an adult. From happened. Then in a deliberate gradually moves move, this crab gathered a clawful of The burrows u sand, moved over to the hole, threw it pear and disaf in, and fled' He then seemed to rhythm. At nigl resume his routine of exploring and open while the cr moving about on the beach. foraging for foe These pale, sand-colored crabs live crabs return an on the upper beach in deep holes back nels. The days where the dunes begin to rise. Since enlarged den at t they arc not air-breathers, they must but sometimes tl return often to the ocean to replenish tion of the day er the sea water carried in a chamber their home. This surrounding the gills. If it were not the crab hauling for this, and for the necessitv for the aideivnvs r-arr female to return to the water to package under it liberate her young, these would be jng it from the n true land animals. At times, the era Each crab begins its life as a tiny a little way fri creature of the plankton of the sea. deposit it in a n As the young crab drifts in the cur- stock the burroi rent it sheds its cuticle several times them off, and set to accomodate its enlarging body and By autumn mo the slight change of form taking up on the beach place. The last larval stage is the close the doors me galops and its only hope of grow- April. Then they ing into a crab is to obey whatever in- the air is still ci stinct it has to move shoreward and and wait wahile to land on the beach. Once on the The scientific beach, the larva digs a small hole for crab or sand protection and to undergo the moult Quadrata whic that will change its shape into that of "swift-footed". / LETTER TO THE EDITOR Supermarkets Should Advertis To the editor: 1 remember Please change the address of my would read the I Beacon from Hamlet to Supply with Hamlet for our the June 6 issue. It is indeed a Beach to see if H pleasure to read the Beacon. It had any good makes my week a pleasant one with weekend. If the) all manner of happiness being obtain- until we got to 1 ed food. I don't care I I notice that the three super- television adver markets do not advertise in your chases, it verypaper This is truly a culture lag. they would adve because as other establishments ad- they would bene! vance. these three lag behind. This will definitely make their output low CORRECTION In the recent island living supplement cx tecKxV phone number wos incorrectly listed THE CORRECT PHONE NUMBER FOR OCEAN OCEAN ISIE IS S7V609I. We apologue (or any inconvenience this mc SOUTH BRUNSWICK ISLANDS CHAMBER Of COMMERCE i the : kes Wing To Man In talking about marriage before the wedding, be said, "I tried to represent the best of what I think the rhiiPoH Aimht *r? K?? ?? ? L11 * viiiuwi vu51u iu ov iv d tAiupit* who 1 ininK nan Dasicauy already written off the church. "I think they will give it a new look now." The wedding was also fun. While fulfilling the couple's fantasy to be married from "two miles up" at the place where they had met and courted, Stan fulfilled a fantasy of his own. Before assignment to Camp Church in Shallotte, Stan was assigned to a I-ouisburg parish. Among his congregation were Paul and Nancy Fayard, owners and operators of the parachute center. "He called and said his real good friend wanted to get married in the air while skydiving," Smith explained during a recent interview. It wasn't any crazier than some other wedding requests Smith had received in his 17 years of ministry; he agreed. "Since 1979 ! fantasized with Paul and Nanrv about L J UJ WAM tVllklV SI AM PMOIOIBY ItOA AtlIN . Stan Smith landed safely follow ing their high-flying rtjoy The Beach ghost crabs on our Brunswick County l>eaches can appreciate that name as \ they add life and movement at the Bill edge of the sea. Faver this point, the crab , up the beach, f the ghost crab ap>pcar in almost a the arc the ^ *1. About dawn frw the tunare spent in the he end of the burrow e crans spend a par ilarging or repairing is when we can see ;uin<l as it emerges ''S ying sand like a s rear legs, and hurl- : IHREpIj louth of the burrow jni ^ ?s with food, close tie back for a rest! st of the crabs move fl| beyond the tide and until late March or will open up and if old, they'll close up longer. name of the ghost crab is Ocypode h translates into WUCM VAI I inyone who catches WMfcN TOU ROLLING, THI KEEP YOI e In Paper The SPIRIT Pag< way back when I Jf < , j deacon before I left ' cottage at Holden t<)lK'fl, yoll IK'f'fl tl ills or any of the rest toMf {tflfl Voif'f- IKij specials for the . 1 . did we would wait Ci<iy ITlOrC* IHTXiLK'tl Shallot* u> *"> <** stay on top of youi vow much radio or ITlC1 Sl'IRI I |)i tgl usiw! anyone pur- under rugged corn seldom pays off If , ruse W the Beacon SUITOUndingS, It fit it from u. message. ""HfSS f> '>ut more enoiwtk SPIRIT, call as for details. i Oceon Isle In ISIE INTERIORS ATLANTIC ho/a couted MEMBERSHIP THE H sun ry Sky divers my desire to jump. Smith wrote in a recent Camp newsletter. "Courage always failed me or sanity prevailed. I'm not certain which. This time, Nancy offered an additional enticement. I'd be jumping in a tandem parachute with Paul, an expert 'jumper'." In a tandem parachute, both partners wear a harness fitted through arms and legs. In this case Paul would wear the parachute and operate the controls. The preacher would be along just for the ride. Just before dusk, three Cessna 182s and a World War 11 Army Air Corps Beechcraft D-18 carried the 16-member wedding party to 10,500 feet. Then zooming low over the treetops, the Beechcraft scattered flower petals across the grassy knoll where about 200 friends were watching the sky. After a wait of some 30 minutes, tiny specks appeared above them. The wedding party had jumped, some leaving colorful smoke trails in their wake. Only the members of the wedding party could actually sec the ceremony, those on the ground could see only the divers themselves. They soon landed, "thick and fast on one small landing site almost to the point of just missing one another," reported Editor Bob Allen in his editorial page column in the next week's issue of The Wake Weekly. But the airborne preacher "stole the show," he said. Soon all eyes were on the lone, double parachute driftly slowly downward, Stan and Paul traveling piggy-back beneath it. Jumping was a little easier the third time around, but still frightening at the start. Smith said later. Mis first jump, at rehearsal two weeks earlier, had begun in "stark terror" and ended with a heady bird's eye view of the world. In his church newsletter Smith described the preliminaries as follows: "When we were ready, eight other 'jumpers,' the bride and groom, Paul I the best man and soon, in Smith's eyes to be "the very best man") and I boarded a twinengine Cessna. It started with a roar. There were no seats inside the plane, only 12 seat belts attached to the floor. We strapped ourselves in. Huddled together, we looked ? * uni- viL'iiiiuii refugees on nn escape noat. The pianc vibrated. By the time I checked my seat belt again, we were airborne." When their predetermined jumping height was reached, the others exited in "10 seconds flat," he said. Soon it was time for the wedding couple, I'aul l the best man) and the minister to make their jump together. First they stood, looking into the plane, your lunula gripping a bar above the space where a door should be, knees bowed "like a banana". "Suddenly you're falling," he recalled, remembering the "sheer stark terror" he felt at that first Jump. "Free fall" was anything hut free, he recollected. OVER 10 Ft. *RE REALLY W0RL IS PAGER CAN 0FTV J AHEAD. Installe From Motorola. Dealer' 40 hut Hood to stay in with Ye 10 compact, SPIRIT of Exp 140r. It can mako your Backed IVO by helping you Fsrtnrv r business. " r is a top jx'rformor Wflrran rlitions. Kvrn in noisy livers a crisp, clear A HO Ml about liovv tlie DEMON ja^er can iieli) vou. WW 4 1 TELEPHONE u A CORPORATION "A Mu RUNSWICK BEACON, Thursday, May 30, 1985?Page 5-A r \ M fi r / t SAFELY LOCKED Into n tandem chute with lx-st niun Paul Fayard at the controls. Smith (front) was simply alonR for the ride. "It emptied my entire serenity 'ready reserve' account. Grace alone brought nte enough composure to do hand signs to symbolize the wedding vows." Then, as during the real wedding two weeks later, the bride and giuuiu moved tii front of the minister, kissed and vanished, joining the other jumpers of the wedding party who had formed a large circle and were falling together. Smith next saw them on the ground. With the opening of his and Paul's shared parachute, Smith recalled, came "more relief than if I'd taken a dozen Hoiaids." lie continued, "Peering down, I became conscious of the marvelous view before me. The sky was Carolina blue. Among the white clouds was a 'Goofy' head Paid pointed out my former parish, Izmlsburg; home of Umisburg College and site of the National Whistler's Convention then in progress. Near Wake Forest lay the mouth of the Ncuse ltiver. From this high up, people looked like microdots on a PacMun video game." Would he do it again'.' Asked tluit question shortly uftcr the wedding, Smith hesitantly replied, in part, "Well, yeah, I'll do it. It was good and one of the most in credible experiences I've ever hud." HY PAY TO LEASE.. . WHEN YOU CAN PAY TO OWN! V DOWN PAYMENT and -L MONTHLY PAYMENTS! it a nnd Master* [el lite rth Station ) CHANNELS TO CHOOSE FROM! 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The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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May 30, 1985, edition 1
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