From the Frying Pan to the Jaycees’ haunted house
Lead Summary
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
This week’s column was all set to be about my next vacation to the Frying Pan Tower Bed and Breakfast. But then, out of nowhere, John Levo emailed me about the former Hillsboro Jaycees organization.
Thus, we’ll keep it brief on the Frying Pan Tower Bed and Breakfast, which as I understand it, may have recently closed as a B&B.
Truth be told – or written – online images from the Frying Pan really caught my attention during Hurricane Dorian. As the hurricane passed the former B&B – which sits atop an old Coast Guard tower in the Atlantic Ocean about 40 miles off the coast of North Carolina – an American flag was shown whipping in the wind amid the mighty roar of the angrily rising seas.
According to a story last year by Mark Price in the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, Charlotte businessman Richard Neal bought the tower at an auction in 2010. Two years later, Neal started renting rooms (it has eight small bedrooms). He said his plan was to turn the rust-covered lighthouse into an inn (140 feet above the ocean) while keeping the structure largely intact as a monument to 1960s construction ingenuity.
“(The Frying Pan Tower) was built in 1964 at a cost of $2 million to warn passing ships of the shallow Frying Pan Shoals,” Price wrote. “The Coast Guard staffed it until 1979, when the beacon was automated. Then, GPS navigation made the tower obsolete.”
In a 2018 interview, Neal told the Observer he's proved everything he set out to prove, including the fact such a crazy project could work.
"It's truly a place to ignore the world, but I'm just ready to let go," Neal said. "Owning it has been the most fun I've had in my entire life, and I'll leave with a million stories to tell. Who knows, maybe I'll find a decommissioned oil rig in the Gulf and turn it into a franchise."
For more on the Frying Pan, go to https://www.cnn.com/videos/travel/2015/06/22/ocean-hotel-frying-pan-tower-nws-orig.cnn.
Meanwhile, I guess we’ll head back to Gulf Shores for our necessary battery recharge.
* * *
• OK, back to the now-defunct Hillsboro Jaycees. Those of us in Highland County of a certain age may recall the Jaycees (Junior Chamber of Commerce) and their annual October haunted house, known as the House of Screams.
For some reason (no comments, please), my memory of the Jaycees’ haunted house was that it might have been set up near Richards Memorial Field or by the former Gross-Feibel Safe Co. property on Elm Street.
In an email this week, John Levo said the haunted house was located off North High Street close to the Southern State Community College Central Campus.
“I recently heard a middle-aged couple talking about the old Jaycees’ haunted house and how they enjoyed it when it was where the college is now,” John said.
I’m struggling to recall the building (an old farmhouse) where the Jaycees’ haunted house was in relation to SSCC’s campus. I’m also wondering if the haunted house on Elm Street ever existed. Maybe my memories are haunting me tonight. I don’t know.
John also shared an email from earlier this summer from Bob Hodson, who found a Hillsboro Jaycees’ report for its 1973-74 election of officers.
Bob wrote: “I was really surprised to find this 1973-74 Jaycees’ report with the leadership assignments. Most of the men named continued to serve through the years with various roles of major importance. I would like to thank and congratulate each one, but can't. Maybe you can think of a good way to compliment each of them. I can only imagine the things you have done since then. Wow!”
One of the first names from that 1973-74 report that caught my eye was Ken Henke, who was running for state director against former Hillsboro City Council President Bill McCreight. Ken was my A League baseball coach in the 1970s when I played for the Hillsboro Rotary Club – and first announced, to no one’s “give-a-darn” – that you can’t spell “Rotary” without “Rory.” Thus, as that decade ended, I spent the decade of the 1980s working at (you guessed it) Rotary Forms Press, Inc. (Karma, indeed. Years later, when Bob Hodson asked me to join the Rotary Club, I didn't have the heart to say that I'd already belonged for 20 years.)
Other candidates for the Jaycees’ election of officers in 1973 included many notable public servants, businessmen, educators and community leaders. In addition to McCreight and Henke, others included: David Lowell, Earl Burnett, Bill Alexander, Sam Barnhouse, Bill Ryan, Jim Tira, John Rittenhouse, Roger Huffman, Floyd Beekman, Charles Davidson and John Dodds. In the election for the Hillsboro Jaycees’ internal vice president, the candidates were John Levo and Gerald Burba.
I told John that the Jaycees’ membership was an interesting mix, with an impressive list of members. I also noticed it was a mix of local young Republicans and Democrats working together. Imagine that.
“That was the beauty of the organization,” John said. It was non-political and taught leadership skills. In all my years in the organization, I don't think politics was ever discussed. Since members were 'kicked out' once they turned 35 (or 40, by today’s Ohio rules), many turned to either the Lions Club or Rotary Club to continue their community service.”
According to the Ohio Jaycees’ website, they are a part of the JCI USA and JCI International.
“The Jaycees provides young people between the ages of 18 and 40 the tools they need to build the bridges of success for themselves in the areas of business development, management skills, individual training, community service and international connections. Established in 1920 to provide opportunities for young men to develop personal and leadership skills through service to others, the Jaycees later expanded to include women, reflecting the growing influence and leadership of women in America.
“For the past 79 years, Jaycees have been a force for good in America and around the world. Jaycees helped establish airmail services in America with Jaycee Charles Lindbergh, and have raised millions of dollars for causes such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the March of Dimes. They have built parks, playgrounds, hospitals, ball fields and housing for the elderly while conducting service and support programs in thousands of communities nationwide.”
I was happy to read that former President Gerald Ford, who signed the first copy of the last book I hope to publish, was a Jaycee. So was NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
Who knew?
Thanks to John Levo and Bob Hodson for sharing this local history.
Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, Highland County’s only locally owned and operated newspaper. He can reached at roryeryan@gmail.com.
Thus, we’ll keep it brief on the Frying Pan Tower Bed and Breakfast, which as I understand it, may have recently closed as a B&B.
Truth be told – or written – online images from the Frying Pan really caught my attention during Hurricane Dorian. As the hurricane passed the former B&B – which sits atop an old Coast Guard tower in the Atlantic Ocean about 40 miles off the coast of North Carolina – an American flag was shown whipping in the wind amid the mighty roar of the angrily rising seas.
According to a story last year by Mark Price in the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, Charlotte businessman Richard Neal bought the tower at an auction in 2010. Two years later, Neal started renting rooms (it has eight small bedrooms). He said his plan was to turn the rust-covered lighthouse into an inn (140 feet above the ocean) while keeping the structure largely intact as a monument to 1960s construction ingenuity.
“(The Frying Pan Tower) was built in 1964 at a cost of $2 million to warn passing ships of the shallow Frying Pan Shoals,” Price wrote. “The Coast Guard staffed it until 1979, when the beacon was automated. Then, GPS navigation made the tower obsolete.”
In a 2018 interview, Neal told the Observer he's proved everything he set out to prove, including the fact such a crazy project could work.
"It's truly a place to ignore the world, but I'm just ready to let go," Neal said. "Owning it has been the most fun I've had in my entire life, and I'll leave with a million stories to tell. Who knows, maybe I'll find a decommissioned oil rig in the Gulf and turn it into a franchise."
For more on the Frying Pan, go to https://www.cnn.com/videos/travel/2015/06/22/ocean-hotel-frying-pan-tower-nws-orig.cnn.
Meanwhile, I guess we’ll head back to Gulf Shores for our necessary battery recharge.
* * *
• OK, back to the now-defunct Hillsboro Jaycees. Those of us in Highland County of a certain age may recall the Jaycees (Junior Chamber of Commerce) and their annual October haunted house, known as the House of Screams.
For some reason (no comments, please), my memory of the Jaycees’ haunted house was that it might have been set up near Richards Memorial Field or by the former Gross-Feibel Safe Co. property on Elm Street.
In an email this week, John Levo said the haunted house was located off North High Street close to the Southern State Community College Central Campus.
“I recently heard a middle-aged couple talking about the old Jaycees’ haunted house and how they enjoyed it when it was where the college is now,” John said.
I’m struggling to recall the building (an old farmhouse) where the Jaycees’ haunted house was in relation to SSCC’s campus. I’m also wondering if the haunted house on Elm Street ever existed. Maybe my memories are haunting me tonight. I don’t know.
John also shared an email from earlier this summer from Bob Hodson, who found a Hillsboro Jaycees’ report for its 1973-74 election of officers.
Bob wrote: “I was really surprised to find this 1973-74 Jaycees’ report with the leadership assignments. Most of the men named continued to serve through the years with various roles of major importance. I would like to thank and congratulate each one, but can't. Maybe you can think of a good way to compliment each of them. I can only imagine the things you have done since then. Wow!”
One of the first names from that 1973-74 report that caught my eye was Ken Henke, who was running for state director against former Hillsboro City Council President Bill McCreight. Ken was my A League baseball coach in the 1970s when I played for the Hillsboro Rotary Club – and first announced, to no one’s “give-a-darn” – that you can’t spell “Rotary” without “Rory.” Thus, as that decade ended, I spent the decade of the 1980s working at (you guessed it) Rotary Forms Press, Inc. (Karma, indeed. Years later, when Bob Hodson asked me to join the Rotary Club, I didn't have the heart to say that I'd already belonged for 20 years.)
Other candidates for the Jaycees’ election of officers in 1973 included many notable public servants, businessmen, educators and community leaders. In addition to McCreight and Henke, others included: David Lowell, Earl Burnett, Bill Alexander, Sam Barnhouse, Bill Ryan, Jim Tira, John Rittenhouse, Roger Huffman, Floyd Beekman, Charles Davidson and John Dodds. In the election for the Hillsboro Jaycees’ internal vice president, the candidates were John Levo and Gerald Burba.
I told John that the Jaycees’ membership was an interesting mix, with an impressive list of members. I also noticed it was a mix of local young Republicans and Democrats working together. Imagine that.
“That was the beauty of the organization,” John said. It was non-political and taught leadership skills. In all my years in the organization, I don't think politics was ever discussed. Since members were 'kicked out' once they turned 35 (or 40, by today’s Ohio rules), many turned to either the Lions Club or Rotary Club to continue their community service.”
According to the Ohio Jaycees’ website, they are a part of the JCI USA and JCI International.
“The Jaycees provides young people between the ages of 18 and 40 the tools they need to build the bridges of success for themselves in the areas of business development, management skills, individual training, community service and international connections. Established in 1920 to provide opportunities for young men to develop personal and leadership skills through service to others, the Jaycees later expanded to include women, reflecting the growing influence and leadership of women in America.
“For the past 79 years, Jaycees have been a force for good in America and around the world. Jaycees helped establish airmail services in America with Jaycee Charles Lindbergh, and have raised millions of dollars for causes such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the March of Dimes. They have built parks, playgrounds, hospitals, ball fields and housing for the elderly while conducting service and support programs in thousands of communities nationwide.”
I was happy to read that former President Gerald Ford, who signed the first copy of the last book I hope to publish, was a Jaycee. So was NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
Who knew?
Thanks to John Levo and Bob Hodson for sharing this local history.
Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, Highland County’s only locally owned and operated newspaper. He can reached at roryeryan@gmail.com.