THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608090488
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER McMENAMIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: 129 lines
When a bus dropped Judy O'Connor off at the Sadler pastel beach cottages across from Jockey's Ridge in 1964, the 18-year-old Cincinnati native was not impressed.
``The house where my aunt and uncle were staying was the ugliest building down here,'' said O'Connor, now 50. ``When we first pulled up and I saw the beach . . . I don't mean to sound snobby but the places my family had vacationed had been more built up. I thought, `What have I gotten myself into?' ''
But the rolling surf, swaying sea oats and inherent relaxation of the barrier islands captivated O'Connor after only one day.
Seven years later, she again tentatively pulled up to the Sadler's cottages, this time with her husband, Mike, and their son, David, and her sister, Betsy Ott, and her family. ``I remember telling them it's really out in the middle of nowhere,'' O'Connor said, ``because I was afraid they wouldn't like it.''
Thirty-two years after her first visit, O'Connor and a continuously fluctuating number of family members and friends are celebrating the 25th consecutive year of ``the Nags Head tradition.''
``All my friends are like, `How do you sit on the beach for two weeks? How can you go back to the same place every year?' '' 27-year-old Amy Ott-Shuck said. ``I can't imagine not.''
Every summer, the families fill their first two weeks of August with what Betsy Ott, 53, calls ``the naturalness'' of the Outer Banks: the sound of the waves, the smell of the saltwater sea, the beauty of the dunes.
Beach bonfires and volleyball tournaments, windsurfing and water skiing, parasailing and pier fishing, kayaking and cooking, sparklers and miniature golf are man-made extras.
The tribe's ritual begins each year with Kentucky Fried Chicken and a flag-raising ceremony. The white nylon ``cocktail flag'' - emblazoned with a martini glass - flies from their second-floor porch and marks the beginning of their daily cocktail hours.
``We're celebrating our German heritage,'' said 53-year-old Paul Ott. The families have ridden out a hurricane, huddled in the Otts' peachy-pink cottage as waves crashed over the railings and seeped through the walls of the O'Connors' white oceanfront rental.
``The water actually got into the electric sockets,'' Judy O'Connor remembered, ``so when fire started shooting out of the sockets we took the kids over to Betsy's.''
They celebrated a wedding reception on the beach in front of the South Nags Head house they've been renting for 10 years - moving only after the Sadler cottages were torn down to make room for more pricey accommodations.
Twins Sarah and Leslie Ott and Molly O'Connor, all 21, tasted their first sips of champagne at this oceanfront party.
One year, the parents awarded ``medals,'' crafted with sea shells on strings of yarn.
Christopher Ott, who will blow out 23 candles atop his cake on Saturday, has spent every birthday at the beach.
Chris Ott-Shuck proposed on bended knee to Amy at Owens' Restaurant in 1994.
``He was having back problems at the time, so I thought he was stretching or something,'' Amy remembered. ``He asked me to marry him and I was so shocked that I didn't say anything.
``Then I heard the people at the table next to us say, `Did he just ask her to marry him? What did she say?' Chris said, `I don't know. She hasn't answered me yet.' ''
One summer, the family vacation was interrupted by an emergency appendectomy. Another went on hold when one child hooked his head instead of a fish. And family members returned to the hospital when one child crossing the street was struck by a car. He came out of it just fine.
And almost every visit included an ear infection when the children were younger.
``When we first started coming down here, there was no medical care on the islands,'' Betsy Ott said. ``Finally, our pediatrician began prescribing antibiotics for our vacation every year. We always needed it because one kid always got an ear infection. That's a ritual.''
The Otts and O'Connors - joined by their 80-year-old grandmother Betty Vosken, the Pynes, two families of Parkers, the Pacificos and the Sarmieres - fed off each other Thursday as they reminisced about vacations gone by. Almost every other sentence from this gang - enjoying the ocean breeze in their beachfront gazebo - began with ``Remember when?''
They interrupted each other, filling in the important details of stories and playfully teasing each other.
``Do you remember the candy trips?'' someone asked.
``Oh, it was the biggest trip,'' Betsy Ott continued. ``The kids would save their money and take - how much was it?''
``A dollar,'' Molly, Sarah and Leslie all volunteered at once.
``And they'd take their dollar and march over to the 7-Eleven and get a little brown bag's worth of candy,'' Betsy said.
Molly picked up the story: ``And then one year they told us the dentist had bought the 7-Eleven and there was no more candy.''
Just as quickly as that story ended, another started in its place.
``I figured out,'' Betsy Ott began, ``that I have almost spent one year of my life here.''
``How do you figure?'' someone shouted out.
``Well, if I've been coming here for two weeks for 25 years and there's 52 weeks in a year, that's almost a year.''
``Oh, these mathematicians,'' chided Patrick O'Connor, 17.
Judy O'Connor patted her son's leg.
``That's not exactly higher math.''
Everyone laughed.
Friendships have been forged through this laughter. Children met other kids on the beach.
Their parents got together as childlike laughter rose up from the frothy surf.
Anna Sadler, who ran A.E. Sadler Cottage Court with her husband E.L. ``Budgie'' Sadler, said she remembers this group's fondness for each other and their friends.
``They remind me of what Nags Head really was,'' she said. ``A family beach. Their friends came and they tried to get cottages side by side. We'd rent six cottages along the south row and every family would know each other.''
And as the growing up continues and the children marry and aunts get pregnant, things are going to stay this way, everyone seemed to agree. ``The cycle is starting over,'' said Nathan Pine, 23. ``Soon, we'll be building sand castles again.''
``When we were at the bonfire party the other night, Nate was saying we really need to keep this tradition with the families,'' Sarah added.
``We'll end up paying for our parents,'' Nathan chimed in.
``And even if there's a period of time where we're all going different ways, we'll definitely come back here,'' Molly finished. ``Definitely.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
DREW C. WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
The Otts and O'Connors - joined by the Pynes, two families of
Parkers, the Pacificos and the Sarmieres - have made beach bonfires,
volleyball tournaments and daily cocktail hours among their family
traditions. by CNB