Hilton Head Monthly Connecting the Lowcountry 
Latia Nelson, communications manager at WHHI-TV, describes her job at the Lowcountry television station as a blessing that she walked into.
“I love that I can be my true self,” she said of her work. “I’m a creator, and as long as I can be creative, I’m happy.”
But getting to that realization wasn’t easy for the 27-year-old mother of two.
KIWANIS CLUB OFFERS ANTIQUES APPRAISALS
At the start of a new year, many people vow to clean out their closets and declutter their homes. But sometimes there can be treasure buried beneath all that junk, and the Kiwanis Club of Bluffton wants to help you know what to toss and what to keep.
The club’s second annual Antiques Appraisal and Auction Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 23 at Seaquins Ballroom in Bluffton. Appraisers will be on hand to estimate the fair-trade value of items, and there also will be a silent auction featuring beer and wine baskets, service and restaurant gift certificates, getaway weekends and more.
JUDY PAULL HELPED FLORIDA HOSPITAL WEATHER HURRICANE MICHAEL
When Judy Paull of Hilton Head Island took a new job as interim chief nursing officer at Bay Medical Sacred Heart Hospital in Panama City, Florida, she had no idea of the dramatic events that awaited her. She started her new job Sept. 17, overseeing the hospital’s nursing care. As luck would have it, she was also the administrator on call for the week that a Category 4 hurricane would slam into the area. When predictions of a probable evacuation ahead of Hurricane Michael came in the early hours of Oct. 8, Paull knew she was in for a wild ride.
COURT ATKINS WINS HONORS
Court Atkins Group has been awarded four prestigious 2018 AIA Awards from the American Institute of Architects. The firm won accolades from Hilton Head AIA chapter across six categories, including Honor Awards for a private transitional resort home in Moreland Village at Palmetto Bluff and, on the commercial side, for the state-of-the-art Lowcountry Kennel. The residential team earned AIA Merit awards for two projects: an expansive contemporary home in Barge Landing in Palmetto Bluff (pictured here) and conceptual plans for Longfields compound.
Tennis has played a huge role in Realtor Ken Oliver’s life — on the court, in business and in love.
Thanks to one of the best men’s tennis players of the 20th century, you might say Ken and Susie Oliver’s courtship began on the court.
When Donna Taylor’s son, Evan, cut himself with a knife and needed seven stitches, she knew she had to help the Culinary Institute of America student get back into the kitchen.
“I hurt for him, watching him bandage and glove (his wound) and have to go to work and rub that knife blade again,” she said of her son. “I was trying to find something to protect his hand so that he could keep working.”
It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention. That’s not always the case in the automotive industry, where invention is often the byproduct of vanity, such as fancy trim packages or tires that look good but do nothing to improve the ride.
Elongator is the exception, conceived 20 years ago in Bluffton by a guy who knew his pickup wasn’t doing the job like it should.
COFFEYKUBEC LAW FIRM OPENS
Law firm CoffeyKubec, LLP has opened on Hilton Head Island with three attorneys: Maureen T. Coffey, Ed Kubec and Leighanne Kubec. The firm specializes in civil litigation, criminal defense, business law, personal injury, family law, immigration law and special education law. Coffey previously worked for 18 years as municipal court judge for the Town of Hilton Head Island. Ed Kubec started his law practice in Los Angeles, where for 15 years he represented performing artists and companies in the entertainment industry. Leighanne Kubec specializes in the education rights of special needs student.
Mike Monroney might not be a household name. But his legacy is written on every car window at every new car dealership across the country. The late Oklahoma senator wrote and sponsored the Automobile Information Disclosure Act of 1958, requiring that every new car carry a window sticker showing every option it carries, every feature and every bell and whistle bolted onto it at the factory. While most of us refer to it as a window sticker, the real gearheads call it by the name that honors that legacy: a Monroney label.
Charles Wohl is the Don Ryan Center for Innovation’s new vice president of innovation, leading the business incubator and entrepreneurial ventures, and he came to Bluffton both to step back and to shake things up.
“On my bucket list was to move back to a coastal environment,” he said on why he took the job and moved to the Lowcountry from Texas last summer. But it’s a sure bet he’s not going to kick back and take it easy.
