Alton Scarborough: 1940 to 2026
Al Scarborough has sailed on. Stories, no doubt, will continue to be told. Some of them will even be mostly true.
Al died at home on Ocracoke on Saturday, May 2, 2026. Ocracoke was where he chose to be.
Born on April 14, 1940, in Wilmington, Delaware, he was a son of Mary Ann Sparks Scarborough and Alton Thaddeus Scarborough Sr.
Al was raised in Pedricktown, New Jersey. Their home included his cousin, Frank Henry, and maternal grandfather.
Summers were spent on Ocracoke, where generations of Al’s father’s family were from.
In 1962, Al graduated from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. He was a Peace Corps volunteer from 1963 to 1965, which is when he met another volunteer, Linda Smith. They were married for almost 60 years. After serving in community development in West Cameroon, Al trained future Peace Corps volunteers in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He and Linda bought a 25-foot sailboat and explored nearby islands.
Al received a master’s degree in Math Education from the University of Florida. He was hired by The Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC, where he helped design and conduct leadership development programs. Colleagues from the center remained friends throughout his life, and remember him as a man who prioritized integrity, who warned against drawing lines in the sand, and as someone who had an abundance of originality and ideas, who, in fact, had “more bad ideas than most people have ideas.”
That observation pleased Al, who said he would consider it for an epitaph, if he were planning to have a gravestone. There will be no service, per Al’s wishes.
He worked for one year as principal of Hatteras School and learned that he liked neither managing others nor being managed. He bought another sailboat. He and Linda and their daughters, Catherine Ann and Jennifer Lynn, aged 7 and 4, respectively, at that time, headed south for the Bahamas. Then, in 1978, Al docked his boat at Ocracoke.
He and Linda owned and operated the Trolley Stop One Restaurant. (It really did have it all.) Al drove the trolley. He dispensed with the pre-recorded tour and offered his own commentary. The family later ran the Slushy Stand and Beach House Bed and Breakfast, where Al and Linda met many lifelong friends.
Al fished on a winning surf fishing team and served as an Ocracoke Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament judge for years. He coached and refereed basketball; served on local boards; acted in Ocracoke Players productions and gave tours of the Ocracoke Preservation Society Museum.
He cared deeply and thought critically about issues facing Ocracoke. He spent an inordinate amount of time talking about unintended consequences.
Al enjoyed hearing the stories told by Fowler O’Neal, Lawton Howard and others on the Community Store porch, and later in life relished being the old timer telling stories to tourists. He found a nightly audience while watching sunsets on Jack’s Dock.
Al retired younger than most. He bought another sailboat, and he and Linda spent winters in the Bahamas, becoming lifelong friends with fellow sailors Ann and Lew Tucker. Al joined Ann and Lew on different legs of their circumnavigation. He instilled a love of adventurous travel in his family.
He grew tomatoes and eggplants, baked bread, and gathered and cracked pecans. Al liked taking walks; watching other people build things; sitting in his chair (though, really, that was a lifelong thing); and visiting on the porch. He relished a lively exchange of ideas, oyster stew, and Italian subs–the real ones, from South Jersey. He did not like ducks in his yard.
Al is survived by his poker club, which includes his beloved friends Dave Frum, Frank Brown and Philip Howard.
He rooted for the Tarheels and the 76ers and attended all of his grandsons’ basketball and baseball games. Al was very proud of his grandsons, Max Owen Elicker and Gavin Isaac Elicker.
In addition, he is survived by his wife, Linda; two daughters Cathy and her spouse Jason Elicker, and Jenny; all of Ocracoke; his closest cousins Edward Sadler and Roger Sparks; and brother-in-law Charlie Smith and his wife, Therese.
Al was one of a kind and will be missed.
