LUGOFF, S.C. — Memorial services for Margot Mary Rochester, 72, were held on Friday, Oct. 31, at 11 a.m. at Grace Episcopal Church. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Riverbank Zoo Botanical Garden or Palmetto Health Hospice.
Mrs. Rochester died Tuesday, Oct. 28,2008. Born in Los Angeles, Calif., she was the daughter of the late Thomas McAuliffe and Margot Peyser McAuliffe. A graduate of Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan. Margot earned her master’s degree from the University of South Carolina and later earned her Ph.D. in reading from the University of South Carolina as well. She retired from Lugoff-Elgin High School after 28 years of teaching English and chairing the English Department.
Mrs. Rochester authored the “Earthly Delights” and “Down to Earth” gardening books. She was a freelance writer with regular columns in The State newspaper and Chronicle-Independent. Margot was a Master Gardener and enjoyedpeaking about gardening around the country. Margo and her husband, Dick, also owned a home on Ocracoke for many years. She was active in the Ocracoke community and wrote a gardening column and other feature stories for The Island Breeze for more than a dozen years.
Margot was a member of Grace Episcopal Church. Surviving are her husband of 52 years, Richard James Rochester; children, Thomas “Tom” R. (Cindy) Rochester ofCornelius, N.C., and Dan (Bonnie) Rochester of Wilmington, N.C.; grandchildren, Haley Rochester, Drew Rochester, Gray Rochester, Morgan Rochester and Margot Rochester.
The carvings and boats of William Nathan Spencer and the carvings and sketches of his daughter, Cindy, will be featured in an art show opening on August 28 [2006] at the OPS Museum.
William Nathan Spencer, son of Murray Fells and Zenia Spencer, was born at Ocracoke and delivered by Miss Lola, last of the traditional island midwives. He spent the biggest part of his life on the water, commercial fishing in Ocracoke’s waters. He was captain of his shrimp boat, the Miss Miriam, for seventeen years. For the past eight years he has had what he calls a “straight job,” managing Ocracoke’s transfer station for Hyde County.
William Nathan has been working with wood his entire life. “My great-uncle Charlie Tolson started me making boats when I was about eight. We’d take two cedar shingles and make one into the boat, one the sail. We’d add a rudder and sail them across the Creek.”
His bird carving is a more recent undertaking. Six years ago, while working for the county logging in pickup loads of sand, he found himself in need of something to do. He decided to try carving ducks and he’s been carving ever since. He taught a class in decoy carving last winter Council, and he and Cindy share a booth for their artwork at the Ocrafolk Festival. Shore birds, ducks, geese, and pelicans (some in flight) will be in the show, as well as flounder, drum, and boat models.
Cindy also grew up at Ocracoke, and graduated from school here. She attended Carteret Tech, where she obtained a degree in Law Enforcement. She presently lives in Ayden, North Carolina, and works at a Weyerhaeuser sawmill.
Cindy has always liked to draw, and when she saw her father’s birds she decided to try her hand at carving. She began working on dolphins and horses, which are still among her specialties. Her sketches of animals are done in chalk and colored pencil.
The Spencer’s opening will be from 5:30 till 7:00 p.m. on August 28 [2006] and will include live music, punch, and finger foods.
Just past the Ocracoke Lighthouse and before the corner to Springers Point Trail, look to your right and you will see Pamlico Gifts, home to Folk Artist, Elizabeth Parsons. Folk Art is defined as art that does not come from classical training and study. It is more closely related to craft traditions and is characterized by a naïve style in which traditional rules of proportion and perspective are not employed. One of the more famous folk artists is Grandma Moses. One of Ocracoke’s famous Folk Artists is Elizabeth Parsons. Her shop with all her handcrafted items in addition to her paintings is a folk art mecca. Be sure you allow enough time to chat with Elizabeth when you visit her shop, she is a rich source of history and wonderful stories about what it was like to grow up on the island. Her father like many of the men of his generation worked off island on a dredge along the mid Atlantic coast. That is where he met his wife to be and Elizabeth’s mother. He returned to Ocracoke and commercial fishing when Elizabeth was two years old. Her family had a small store on the island where Elizabeth and her sister, Della helped out. Della owns the little shop called “Woccocon Nursery and Gifts” which you will pass on the left as you travel to Elizabeth’s. Elizabeth has always loved handcrafting with shells and driftwood which are plentiful on Ocracoke beaches especially after storms. She recalled one time when a storm delivered buckets of shells that she and her family collected over the course of a week. More than she had ever seen … starfish, olives, scallops and Scotch bonnets. Then one morning, the tide changed and everything disappeared. Just like that, overnight, the beaches were empty. She recalls meeting her husband Roy when she was selling hotdogs at her family’s store. He told her that as soon as he saw her he knew “she was for him”. After dating awhile, they married in 1950 to start their own family. Many people heard Roy perform guitar, sing and yodel as a regular in the Ocrafolk Opry. He was also an excellent carver. His cheery smile and funny stories are one of his legacies. Sadly, Roy passed on a couple of years ago and is deeply missed. Elizabeth began to work on canvas more than 20 years ago. Her paintings show scenes of the harbor, boats, the lighthouse and other aspects of island life. They are bright with primary colors and lovely in their simple design and execution. Her shop has artwork on every shelf, all “one of a kind” and unique in her straightforward style of painting. In 1979, Roy built her shop, Pamlico Gifts to sell her assorted island craft work. In recent years, Elizabeth has begun painting her island scenes on driftwood, t-shirts, hand towels, mugs and other items you will see in her shop. Her shell baskets are all made from local seashells and personally handcrafted by her. You can also find CD’s of Roy’s music at the shop. Aging has brought on arthritis which has slowed the craft work for Elizabeth but her spirit and passion for art shines as brightly as ever. Be sure to visit her at Pamlico
Editor’s note: This is the third of a three-part series.
Home from her adventures in Central and South America, Eleanor found a job at the Mayo Foundation in Rochester, Minnesota where, she said,
We all worked hard there. I stayed there for nearly a year, but decided that I was not ready to give my all to the Mayo Foundation…there were few single fellows there!
Wanting more excitement, Eleanor decided to go to Hawaii, a choice which changed her life and eventually led her to Ocracoke. She got a ride to San Francisco with a friend and spent five weeks there working at a women’s apparel shop while waiting for a flight.
Jake and Eleanor Garrish date unknown.
When I did get a flight, I recall that it was half cargo: I shared a seat with a big old box. I arrived the day before Christmas 1946. A friend from my Panama days met me at the airport and I stayed with her at her small place near Waikiki Beach… She invited me to accompany a group of gals from Queens Hospital, where she worked, to go to the beach one Sunday afternoon to meet a group of Navy fellows they had met at a ship’s party. In this group was a fellow from Ocracoke (I’d never heard of the place), Chief Petty Officer Willard J. Garrish.
Eleanor and Jake the day they first met in 1946
Eleanor and “Jake” Garrish, whose ship had collided with another ship on its way to China and stopped in Hawaii for repairs, got along quite well.
On our first date, in early February, we went to a dance at the Navy Chief Petty Officers Club, and it didn’t take long before we learned that we both loved to dance.
Two weeks later his ship left, but they kept in touch by mail. Eleanor found a civil service job, and, when Jake’s ship stopped at Pearl Harbor on its way to San Diego, they went to the beach and a movie.
That fall Eleanor took an ocean liner back to California, where Jake was stationed, and got a secretarial job at the Navy Supply Depot on the San Diego waterfront. Jake (she called him “Boats” or “Heap Big Chief” or “Ole Salt”) and she saw each other often, but Eleanor recalls that just before Christmas, 1947, he took off by train to travel all the way back to a place called Ocracoke to see his parents and family, leaving me to spend a rather lonely Christmas. I felt a bit put out!
Upon his return, Jake asked Eleanor to marry him. So they took a Greyhound Bus to Yuma, Arizona, where they were married February 1, 1948. Jake’s ship deployed once again to China and Eleanor changed jobs to the Naval Air Station, which involved commuting by ferry across San Diego Bay.
The next big event was the arrival of our son, Jim, born two days before Christmas of 1949. Jake’s ship was away from San Diego and I had to take the ferry by myself to the hospital clinic shortly before giving birth.
Having served at sea for many years, Jake received orders to his first shore duty at Annapolis, Maryland. He applied for a driver’s license and they bought their first car, a Chevrolet, put all their worldly belongings into the back seat, including a baby crib, and headed across country, to Atlantic, NC.
We were planning to take the mail boat to Ocracoke, but it was not available. So we got in a small open boat. It was cool and damp, raining lightly, and spray was hitting us right and left. So someone at the dock saw to it that a tarpaulin was thrown over us. That helped, but I wondered, “What was I getting into?”
After three long and uncomfortable hours they arrived at the harbor and then walked down the road.
We were met by barefoot fellows, and we trudged through deep sand to the Charlie Garrish place. (On British Cemetery Road) It was evening when we got there, getting dark, and it was good to be on solid ground. I met Jake’s family, and there was a lot of hoopla upon our arrival.
They returned to Atlantic after a few days and continued on to Annapolis, where they bought a house. When it was time for Jake to return to sea, Eleanor at first stayed at home with Jim. She explains, however, that I’d always been a working gal and when Jim was old enough (five) I returned to work as a school secretary.
Jake retired in 1966 after 24 years in the Navy and went to work for the Maryland State Forestry Service. Jim entered the Navy after college and spent 27 years around the world.
After retiring, Eleanor and Jake moved to Ocracoke in 1976, moving into a house they had built earlier near Jake’s parent’s home. (They had bought the one-acre lot in 1950 for $150.) Jake thoroughly enjoyed outdoor life on Ocracoke, whether fishing, clamming, gardening or hunting. Eleanor was active in the Methodist Church, volunteered at the museum and enjoyed quilting.
At first, after moving to the island, I felt like something of an outsider, but that didn’t last. The longer I spent on Ocracoke, the more at home I felt.
Jake died in 1998 and Eleanor continues to live on Ocracoke at age 98.
Looking back, Eleanor muses that Jake and I spent many interesting, adventurous years together, challenging at times. Love, respect for each other, and perseverance
