People Profiles

Professional golfer Reilley Rankin is a survivor, a true model of perseverance on and off the course.

Whether she’s been facing a personal loss, a life-threatening injury or the challenges of competing at her sport’s highest level, she just keeps moving forward.

Rankin lost her mother, Mary Reilley Rankin, last July after a long bout with cancer. She moved back to the area from Orlando a few years ago to help take care of her mother and to be closer to her large extended family.

Golf lover shares her passion for the sport
 
Catch Heidi Wright-Tennyson at work, and golf is on the mind of the director of golf at Moss Creek Golf Club.

See her later checking out at the grocery store, and she’s likely thinking about the sport then, too.

Or spot her behind the wheel driving down Fording Island Road and — you got it.

“I’m a golf geek,” Wright-Tennyson said. “I think about golf almost all the time.”

Sea Pines employee has 50 years on the greens  

He remembers visiting the Sea Pines Resort half a century ago.

Acie Baker Jr. — and what a name for a devoted golf employee — was in his early 20s and working at Port Royal Golf Club when he visited workers at the Ocean Course to see how it looked. That’s when the Sea Pines Resort superintendent asked Baker if he wanted a job.

He did.

And 50 years later, he still does.

BILL GLADWELL DOESN’T READ MINDS. HE READS PEOPLE. IT JUST LOOKS LIKE HE READS MINDS.

BILL GLADWELL HANDS ME FIVE CARDS: the ace through five of clubs. In his hand he holds the ace through five of hearts.

“OK, now pick one of those cards, and repeat the number on it to yourself,” he said. His brown eyes take in my every reaction to this direction with intensity. He never tells me what he’s looking for, exactly, but I see his eyes bore into mine, flicking across my face here and there looking for … what? A subtle raising of an eyebrow? An imperceptible flaring of a nostril?

Jazz Corner owner Bob Masteller is gone, but he will not be forgotten

Bob Masteller moved here 42 years ago, and ever since Hilton Head found reasons to cherish him. In recent years, in recognition of all he did for this community, those celebrations have been official. Bob cast a long shadow.

A jazzman is, by definition, a risk-taker, an explorer going where you don’t need a passport to cross boundaries. Go far enough, see deeply enough, transform that into a form that soars and challenges and inspires, then send back a report: that’s the life. Along with the joy of creation, there’s a certain sadness in the enterprise — so much of what the jazz explorer finds is lost in the chatter and shadows of a nightclub.

Tara Caron doesn’t look at magazines and newspapers the way most people do. Instead of sizing up the stories offered to determine which to read first, she goes right to the pages filled with colorful pictures — because she’s looking for the hues that work best in her jewelry.

Kristen Marshall Mattson grew up near Daytona Beach, Fla., fascinated with everything nature has to offer. The days spent outside exploring were always exciting but it was the nights that especially thrilled her.
“I have always loved the stars,” Mattson said. “Starting from when I was 5 years old, we always camped at state parks and I went to a program a park ranger did and I got to look at Jupiter through a telescope.

George Westerfield isn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty.
The retired teacher grew up in Savannah with a father who loved to garden, and “my father had four boys who helped him in the yard because they had no choice. Some of that stuck with me,” he said.

Devin Mock grew up with a compost heap and a family that recycled "everything," so when she began attending the University of South Carolina Beaufort, she found the lack of recycling bins troubling.
When she was elected president of the school's Student Government Association for the 2013-14 academic year, she made sure to change that.