Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / July 3, 1986, edition 1 / Page 62
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Pope 30?Supp cnienf to The Brunswick B Mour BY SUSAN USHER No matter where you roam, there's no place like home. Ask any transplanted West Virginian. "We haven't moved, we're on vacation," jests Chuck Bannister of Long Beach, a Mountaineer who says nc ;ett his beloved lulls in 1981 following a chance encounter at Shoney's one morning. He makes the trip "home" at regular intervals, visiting family and taking care of business and property interests. At the time Bannister left St. Albans, VV. Va.. he had a coal mine and owned General Maintenance Petro-Chem Inc., which serviced a ihen-iiepresaeu uil industry. When a relative scolded him outside Shoney's for not visiting another family member, Bannister's disgust reached the limit. "Get me a bag ready," he told his wife. "I'm going south." "Where?" "I don't know. South." replied Bannister. In keeping with the state motfrrt ?'RfAntn?i T ;i : ? ? IU inuiiuiiu OCUl^Cl UiUCl 1 (lYiUmi" taineers Always Free), he has for years allowed himself freedom from business for travel, usually to more exotic places, A few weeks later he called home from Wilmington, N.C., (not Delaware, he told her) where he had found work. Today the Bannisters live at Long Beach, where Chuck builds houses, excavates, does general CHOOSE YOUR LOT! RCBINVVOOO? 2 lots with unonstructed view of marsh and waterway with permit for your own private p:er' Beth for only $35 900. HOLIDAY ACRES?Aoorox. one mile from beach OA eoch Prime lo^ftion S16 000 tor both. HIGH HILL?Lots 28 and 29. 100*138 each. S6 000 per lot. BOONE S NECK ROAD?3 lots with 150 ft. rood frontage Deep well septic tank storage buildings SI 7,500. NEAR WATERWAY ?Camper lot with septic tank. 57,500 TANGLEWOOD?Nice lot 75x130 with boat ramp privileges S6.000. QUAIL HAVEN, a plonned mobile home community Beautifully wooded lots beside lake 10% down bolonce 5 years at 10% simple in terest. I vlixE TAnD LANDING ?Lot, on Royu! I Oak River. 80x204*227*95. SM.OOO. I 10?, down, balance 5-7 years at 10?, simple interest. RIVERSIDE SECTION I?Beautiful wooded corner lot 112.5x150 (IV, lots) in restricted section zoned homes only SI2.000. /TNJ Bob jCampbell *5^ Realty LB ioulh bfunsrv" * at RHONE 1919) 84? 2698 ANYTlMT HOI DEN BEACH NORTH CAROUNA 7846? HWY. 130 PAST HOLDEN BEACH CAUSEWAY ON LEFT. eocon Ju'v'A.'g.ist W3jS itaineers Fii ft . \# tfeT **r ^ 4 1-fs IJ < r't' TXT CT tint KTO it* *?_ r\l _. 1 u.-?v.rv !!"? C5 l. rtUS/UNS. r?. va.. VfUlCh had never met Ben and Elly Ramsej maintenance, plays with a local band?and with his wife Jinny socializes with other expatriated Mountaineers. In Brunswick County? "There's a siew of them," says Ben Ramsey of Long Beach, another former St. Albans resident who has found refuge at the coast. like Bannister, Ben and his wife, Ms. Elly, are members and coorganizers of the West Virginia Club. So far the year-old group has about 60 members and. said Ramsey, "If someone put some time to it, it would be a booming thing." Some club members have another connection?Ben, Ms. Ellv and Lois Taylor all retired from Union Carbide plants. Mrs. Taylor and her husband, C. W. Jr., have lived in the Shallotte area for six years. She was the first person Ms. Elly met at Union Carbide. Their friendship has continued down South. The local group may be the only Mountaineer State alumni chapter in the United States. But, quipped Ms. Elly, "there oughta be one in Florida." It's no surprise to the governor's press office in West Virginia that such a club exists. "I would say they're probably just the way West Virginians are," said Jo Ann Humphries. "If you ever live here, you love it. You always come Away from home, Mountaineers or "hillbillies"?a word only West Virginians are allowed to use?become the state's staunehest defenders. If any remark could be construed "by any stretch of the imagination to be detrimental, we attack," she continued. "We just don't like people to abuse us." As is sometimes the case with other love affairs, distance has been known to make the heart grow rid Home / i r.v. ;* J lig!*>' nr; . 1 /*-r\ ^ r' -a; & I f i l /'! lv v ; Bannister (right) three live in Bra but now that all a Mountaineer a fonder. Most members can pull ou none ^ 1 vupj, jav-i\cua ctiiu uuier unsigma laden items for parties and each nev club member gets a packet of infor mation from West Virginia Secretary ui owttc o uuttc. ai iiii^iuvjca ai* auiot tions map. lyrics to one of tire state': three official songs (all equal ii status? and other trivia. West Virginia Club members lefi home with no intention of permanent iy breaking ties. FfJV/ H! ^ I Meet Mary E!l at our shop Si | prints are S25 I EXP \way From I (X H* T, Ij J joSTAFF PHOTO BY SUSAN USHER nswiek County they form the nucleus of lumui club. t Some were "starved out" by a . depressed economy, frozen out by , long winters and snow and in Chuck's . case, he insists, forced out also by a ; need for breathing r oom. "I wanted to get awav from the 5 family," he claims, eyes twinkling, j These Mountaineers away from home get together about once each t four to six weeks to eliit-chat trade . stories and make connections. "I had heard my dad talk about ^ < *' Uit 1tefc. E ART & FKAft !ASH LOW COUNTRY STORES, PHONE n r 4 s en Golden and see her 2 newes alurday, July 19, 7-9 pm. These i each ERT CUSTOM FRAft 1 Home I I Ben Kamsey about all tn\ life," recalled Bannister. "But 1 iiad never H met him." Not in St. Albans, anyway. He hadn't been in Brunswick County lon?, though, before the question came from another transplant: "Have you run into Ben Ramsey?" When they did get together, recalled Bannister, "I said, 'We're going to have to get something started to get all these hillbillies together.1 " On that note the club whs born, with stirprisingly good turnouts for dinner meetings at local restaurants, cookouts and even a Halloween party. Recently the club met in Shallottc, drawing additional members from Holdcn Beach to Calabash. Hike other gatherings, it was u time for recalling memories and making new connections. "Everybody knows somebody's cousin, uncle or somebody?if they're from West Virginia they know somebody," claims Ms. Elly. Only after moving to Long Beach did Bannister's wife Virginia (Jinny i learn she had a cousin, Jimmy Ellis, living across the waterway at Sunset Harbor. What memories don't keep alive, ingenuity can. In "The West Virginia Hills," the chorus sings of "the hills, the beautiful hills" of West Virginia thus"If o'er sea or land 1 roam Still I'll think of haonv home And the friends among the West Virginia hills." In their new home away from home. West Virginia Club members have the best of both worlds, perhaps?with Bannisters' manmade "hill" in the front yard and their many new/old friends from the hills. I I S ^ V 579-6284 H 81,8 ,t releases here limited edition
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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July 3, 1986, edition 1
62
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