02/15/2022
There are a lot of folks hurting today.
Eastern North Carolina is not such a big place.
And Down East in Carteret County?
It’s the epitome of tight knit.
It’s the place in North Carolina that travels east when you think you’ve hit the end of the road in Beaufort.
It envelopes the communities of Bettie, Otway, Straits, Gloucester, Harkers Island, Smyrna, Marshallberg, Williston, Davis Shore, Stacy, Sea Level, Atlantic and Cedar Island.
Most folks have been there for generations.
They’ve attended the same schools and fished the same waters.
They’ve battened down for many a hurricane.
The storm that struck on Sunday wasn’t one they expected.
A plane filled with eight folks, coming back from a duck hunt in Hyde county, crashed into the Atlantic.
No one survived.
Four children, all teenagers.
Jake Taylor, Daily Shepherd, Noah Styron and Kole McInnis.
Four adults, too.
Stephanie Fulcher (Kole’s mom) and her boyfriend, Hunter Parks.
Ernest “Teen” Rawls (the well-experienced pilot) and his son, Jeffrey Rawls, both of Greenville, NC.
We look at their faces and we know that the world has suffered a great loss, but for those who called them by name?
Their time on this earth will never be the same.
Thirty years after the death of my only sibling, I weep with the loss of him and the smile that beckoned so many and the hands that ruffled my little girl hair.
Those four teenagers have left behind parents and grandparents and cousins, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and so many friends.
A future generation lost in a moment.
Those grownups left behind their own children and grand children, siblings, spouses and parents.
Parents should not never be the ones burying their children.
And here we sit, watching from the sidelines, wondering how we can make things better.
There’s not much that can be done to mend a broken heart.
Close friends can cook, change sheets, stock paper towels, and show up for long listening sessions on well-worn couches.
As for outsiders like myself?
Maybe maybe a donation because while money doesn’t buy happiness, it does make things easier.
Maybe help with an electric bill or a funeral, or go towards a much needed vacation in the months to come.
I wish there was more, but a token of love is the best I have to give.
If you wish to donate, Rylan Jones of Morehead City got the ball rolling and we will humbly offer your tokens to the families of Jake, Dailey, Noah and Kole.
Donation Options
Zelle: 252-333-0588
Venmo:
Cash app: $debutanteadrian
Paypal: [email protected]
OR mail a check (Memo line- Down East)
Adrian Wood
107 Pembroke Circle
Edenton, NC 27932
