Hilton Head People

A few summers ago, when I made the decision to move to Hilton Head, I arrived a very broken man. I remember packing up my car, unsure of what this next chapter would be like, and having this overwhelming feeling of defeat. I had previously lived in Brooklyn and worked on 5th Avenue as a retail manager for Guess. During that time, my best friend and I were close to finishing off our 16-song concept album, which we had been working on for the better part of eight years. We both received our recording arts degrees from Fullsail University in 2005 and had been recording all our songs ourselves. In short, the two of us had an ugly falling out and went our separate ways.

Local musicians John Cranford and Jared Matthew Templeton collected childhood photos of several members of the local music scene. They call this yearbook collection, "The School of Rock." Enjoy.

LOCAL YOGA INSTRUCTOR VICKI RICKARD ALSO PRODUCES NEW AGE CDS

Yoga is a practice in which one learns permanent peace in order to know one’s true self.

It certainly worked for Vicki Rickard, a musician and instructor at Jiva Yoga Center on Hilton Head Island.

It was yoga and a love of music that prompted her to sing in her yoga classes and later teach herself how to use a harmonium to accompany her vocals.

If you think about it, Hilton Head Island became to be as we know it -- a family-oriented vacation destination -- because Sea Pines Resort hired a guy to strum a guitar under a huge oak tree.

That guy was Gregg Russell, a Birmingham, Ala., native who was trying to earn a graduate degree in business by singing for the summer at Disney World.

“I was the front guy for a trio and an agent asked if we wanted to go to Hilton Head for a couple weeks.” His bandmates weren’t interested, but Russell was.

South Carolina is a bevy of strange political stories, from our former governor’s “hike” on the Appalachian Trail to the most current tale of Andy Patrick, a Republican member of the S.C. House of Representatives from Hilton Head Island.

Patrick is involved in a very contentious divorce that has brought out his dealings with FBI, the Secret Service and possibly the CIA.

In the midst of all of this brouhaha, Patrick has announced he will not run for reelection. His seat will be up for grabs in the Nov. 10 election.

Well, not necessarily “up for grabs.”

WEXFORD RESIDENT CHARLES WELZANT, WHO HAS THREE PURPLE HEARTS, BELIEVES INJURED VETERANS DESERVE MORE SUPPORT

The scars tell the story of Charles Welzant’s heroics more than words or his three Purple Hearts ever could.

There is the gaping hole near his tailbone, the shrapnel scar across his throat and then there are the knees — both gone at this point, the result of the one jump among the 1,000 he made during tours of Vietnam that went terribly wrong.

“Those are the most noticeable ones. I always seemed to get dinged when I was out in the bush, but you didn’t complain. It was badges of honor,” the 79-year-old said, sitting in his home office.

HILTON HEAD HOSPITAL LACTATION CONSULTANT JEAN MAGARELLI OFFERS PERSONALIZED SUPPORT FOR NEW MOTHERS.

LIKE MOST PARENTS, JEAN MAGARELLI COUNTS THE MOMENT HER FIRST CHILD WAS BORN AS A TURNING POINT IN HER LIFE. UNLIKE MANY, THOUGH, IT WASN’T JUST HER PRIVATE LIFE THAT CHANGED; IT WAS HER ENTIRE CAREER.

Magarelli was a school nurse at the time, but her decision to breastfeed her baby brought with it a new passion that became her life’s work: Helping other moms do the same.

“It was very slow going,” Magarelli said of her endeavor to breastfeed both of her children, who were born 13 months apart. “Nobody helped me. My latch wasn’t great, and I can remember my toes curling, it hurt so bad. But I stuck with it, and it got better; I really enjoyed it.”

Can you imagine the symbol of our island, the iconic, octagonal Hilton Head Lighthouse at Harbour Town, painted a different color than the bright, candy-cane red and white we all know and love?

“Charles Fraser would roll over in his grave if he had seen it a few years ago when it looked like a more burnished red,” said William B. Whalley, chuckling.

“Charles always knew what he wanted, and he wanted it to be a bright red, not a subdued red.”

Whalley should know. He is one of the people who helped build the towering structure overlooking the island at Calibogue Sound.

Through Whalley’s family, the lighthouse, in its own roundabout way, has royal connections.

Art has been a part of Linda Hartough’s life for as long as she can remember. The celebrated golf landscape painter declared herself an artist at age 6 and, by the time she was in high school, had decided she’d rather eke out a living as a “starving artist” than take a nine-to-five job.

“When I was about 6 years old, I realized that not everybody had that kind of artistic talent and people kept telling me that what I did was really great,” Hartough said. “That was when I realized I was an artist and that realization really shaped the rest of my life.”