Harvey was a descendent of Alexander Grant, one of the founding fathers of this area of Onslow County. Dixon schools were named in honor of his grandmother’s family, and from the first grade (when he had a perfect attendance record) until his death he dedicated himself to the school and its students. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Dixon athletic programs and he rarely missed the opportunity to cheer on the players, documenting the action with his camera.

After graduating from UNC-CH with a BA in Journalism, Harvey accepted a commission in the US Marine Corps and subsequently was awarded his "wings of gold" as a Naval Aviator in 1956. In 1967 he flew 306 combat missions in Vietnam in his F-4 Phantom, and in the mid-70’s he commanded the Silver Eagles in Japan, Okinawa and the Philippines. The late 70’s found him in command of the Marine Aircraft Group-31 in Beaufort, SC, and he was awarded "Aviator of the Year" in 1977. After 26 years of distinguished service he retired as Colonel/Chief of Staff at Cherry Point on July 31, 1980.

Although Harvey finally had his feet on the ground he never stopped flying. In the mid-80’s he developed Grantwood, a Sneads Ferry community dedicated to 300 years and 12 generations of the Grant family. He traveled extensively, most recently to Africa, and documented his trips with photos and writings. He had an enduring love of Sneads Ferry and worked with filmmaker Matt Barr on the documentary "Wild Caught: The Life and Struggles of an American Fishing Town." Because of his deep roots in the community Harvey was scheduled to be the first guest speaker on the "Tales of our Town" oral history project.

And he was a great friend to Karen Beasley, founder of the Topsail Turtle Project and namesake of our turtle hospital. He and Karen spent many nights nest sitting, sharing turtle stories and histories. Jean recalls their bond and says that the one thing many people didn’t realize about Harvey was that he was a gentle soul and a poet at heart. When Karen died he wrote a touching tribute, "Karen’s World" that he read at her oceanfront memorial service. That piece remains a much-treasured part of Karen’s family’s memory.

Harvey visited our hospital many times over the years, chatting with the volunteers, thanking them for their dedication, and always leaving a generous donation for our turtles. I often ran into Harvey in Sneads Ferry and he never failed to comment on my column, telling me how much he looked forward to reading it. He was a presence, always supportive to so many people, and he will be missed.

Going Home
By the time you read this Mother Nature will have opened her arms to quietly reclaim nine of her family. After their physicals by Dr. Harms and his team of vet students, our rehabilitated turtles received their flipper and PTT tags, and two satellite trackers. More details next week. All sea turtles are federally protected animals. Harassing or interfering with them or their nests in any way is punishable by a hefty fine and/or imprisonment. Please report any incidents of hatching, injury, stranding or harassment to our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer at 910-470-2880 immediately.

Hospital Closed
We’re still getting visitors who are hoping to see our turtles, but we are closed to the public. We have many long days ahead of us reconfiguring our plumbing and tank layout to somehow accommodate our twenty-two remaining patients. If you miss our limited opening the weekend of Autumn with Topsail, October 17-18 the next chance to catch us is in June of 2010.

Lobster Dinner and Auction
Tickets will be available beginning October 1st at: Topsail Area Chamber of Commerce, Surf City Welcome Center and the Quarter Moon Bookstore for our event on Saturday, October 24th. We’ve held our price to $40 for a home-cooked plate loaded with lobster and all the trimmings. Artists, craftspeople and business owners have been very generous with their donations over the years, but we know that there are a lot of people new to our coast who would love to use this opportunity to introduce us to their work. If you haven’t been part of our auction in the past please consider donating an item or service for this year’s event. We’ll give you more details in the next few weeks, but if you have an immediate question you can e-mail me (flippers@embarqmail.com) or Jean  (loggrhead@aol.com) for information.

Join our E-mail Newsletter
To sign up for our new e-mail delivery of this column (beginning in October) plus other news of note, contact me at: flippers@att.net.  Questions or comments about the printed column or special events should be addressed to me at: flippers@embarqmail.com.