Hilton Head People

HIGH SCHOOL ARTIST BONDS WITH REFUGEE THROUGH PORTRAIT

If I could only capture his smile, Olivia Waters thought, I could capture the essence of Yousup — a 12-year-old Rohingya refugee confined in a camp in Bangladesh. 

“I couldn’t help but think that despite everything he had been through, despite all the things that must have been thrown at him this past year, he still looked full of joy,” said Olivia, 17, a senior at Hilton Head Island High School.

NATIVE ISLANDER HONORS TIES TO THE PAST BY MAINTAINING TINY CEMETERY

Finding time to tend to Braddock’s Point Cemetery is a no-brainer for Richard “Skeet” Williams. The grandmother who raised him, Ella Williams, lies there, as do other relatives.

“It is all about family,” he said during a tour of the tiny cemetery. “Everybody here is family. Somebody has got to keep things going because we are family.”

“Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.” – John F. Kennedy 

LENA SELLS
The Real Estate Specialist

Lena Sells may be the chief operating officer of The PIP Group, a real estate investment firm, but a while back she moved out of her top-floor office and into an open desk near the firm’s entrance. From there, she can easily spot the sign that is a reminder of her mantra: “Work like a captain and play like a pirate.” 

MISAEL GARZÓN
The Soccer Coach

Looking back, Misael Garzón should have been excited about immigrating to the United States during one of the most economically prosperous times in recent history, but he was 6. 

He was excited about going to Disney World.

“And you know, for the record,” the 31-year-old soccer coach said, “I’ve been here for 25 years, and I’ve yet to go to Disney. So that hasn’t panned out.”

MARTIN MCFIE
The Arts Enthusiast

Talking with part-time Hilton Head Island resident Martin McFie can feel like a treasure hunt. You’ll be chatting companionably and, then boom, without warning, you find yourself in the midst of a riveting story from the London-born expatriate’s life.

For example, a recent semi-technical and mundane discussion of immigration practices in the European Union became a brief account of McFie’s 8,000-mile solo sojourn into the deepest reaches of the vast Sahara, his only method of transportation a 1950s-era London taxi cab.

SWATI DEBROY
The Math Professor

“When people from India think of the United States, they picture New York and L.A., but when I describe the Lowcountry I like to say it’s more like ‘The Notebook,’ with the Spanish moss and everything,” said Swati DebRoy with a laugh. A native of Kolkata, India, her new home is a world apart.

ANDREW SUMMERS
The Golf Entrepreneur

For Andrew Summers, life is about the long game. During a Thanksgiving round of golf with students from International Junior Golf Academy, he described his swing as “lousy. And yet I probably scored better than all of them. A lot comes down to course strategy,” a fitting metaphor for a well-lived life.

MAYRA RIVERA-VÁZQUEZ
The Political Activist

When Mayra Rivera-Vázquez’s husband started looking for jobs in the U.S. as a federal employee, she had one requirement: the new assignment had to be near the East Coast, so she could look at the ocean and know that it connected her with her home in Puerto Rico.

“I needed that,” she said. “To know we’re joined by the same water.”