
DATE: Sunday, June 29, 1997                 TAG: 9706290085

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   79 lines

SEABEES JOIN BUBBA'S ANGELS THE OCEANA SAILORS ARE HELPING TO REPAIR A HOUSE FOR OUT-OF-TOWN CANCER PATIENTS.

Thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers called Bubba's Angels, Bubba House is about ready to open as a temporary sanctuary for out-of-town patients undergoing cancer treatment and those who care for them.

When there's space, the small house at the corner of Great Neck and West Plantation roads also will be a place where family members of seriously ill hospital patients can get some rest or fix a hot meal just five minutes away from Virginia Beach General Hospital.

Named in honor of Bubba Nicklin, the owner of Bubba's Beach Club on Laskin Road, the sanctuary is a memorial to the man who died of cancer two years ago at the age of 31.

Early Saturday morning, a crew of skilled volunteers poured concrete for a circular driveway. For nearly a month, members of Construction Battalion Unit 415 at the Oceana Naval Air Station, better known as Seabees, have been showing up after work and on weekends to do the kind of heavy jobs at which they excel.

``This seems like a really good thing to do,'' said Petty Officer 2nd Class John Woolster. ``It's what I do in the Navy, and they needed people with our kind of experience to help out.''

Unlike many Bubba's Angels, the Seabees never knew the man for whom the house is named. And it's doubtful that any of them will ever benefit from its services. Most, like Petty Officer 1st Class William Rucker, a Georgia native, will be leaving Hampton Roads when they get out of the Navy. Still, they are committed to helping while they're here.

That is something the Nicklin family, originally from upstate New York, finds particularly touching but the Seabees take for granted. ``I'm volunteering for my community where I am right now,'' said Rucker. ``I work with kids at my church on weeknights and I come over here on the weekends.''

The Seabee involvement started with a conversation between Patrick Ryan, a base civil engineering manager at Oceana, and Bubba Nicklin's widow, a friend of Ryan's wife.

``Both my mother and father had cancer. When Courtney Nicklin told me what they were doing at Bubba House, I started thinking of ways we could help,'' said Ryan. ``I guess something like this hits home with a lot of people, because cancer touches everyone.''

Armed with the Bubba House wish list, Ryan put out the word around the base asking for donations. Offers of used furniture and equipment poured in. When help was needed to build a driveway, Ryan turned to Lt. Jeffrey Carter, officer in charge of the Seabees. Carter called in his First Class Association. Eventually nearly a third of the unit's 41 members were working at Bubba House in their off hours.

Other volunteers have raised funds and done much of the work in sprucing up the four-bedroom 1960s ranch-style home that had been a rental property for many years. They also have repaired a front window broken twice by vandals, and planted donated flowers - replacing others that disappeared shortly after being planted.

A few people in the Point O'Woods neighborhood oppose the project, wanting the house to be used only for a family home, but many now support it.

As the Seabees took a break from their work Saturday morning, a minivan stopped across the street. The driver got out, then walked toward Bubba's father, Joe, whom she recognized from pictures in the newspaper.

``I'm Fran Thomas,'' she said. ``I live here in the neighborhood and I have a swing set I'd like to donate if you can use it.'' Thomas went on to explain her special interest in Bubba House. Her 15-year-old daughter, Lindsey, is fighting non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Since her illness, the Cox High School student has become an active spokesperson for the American Cancer Society.

``It's like I said,'' Ryan commented, ``cancer touches everyone.'' MEMO: Bubba House is tentatively scheduled to open in mid-July. For

information or to volunteer, leave a message at 646-9855. ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER photos

Seabees from Oceana Naval Air Station help construct a sidewalk for

Bubba House, a Virginia Beach home that will be a sanctuary for

out-of-town cancer patients.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Carl Hardgrove gets into his work - pouring

concrete. Seabees provided the skilled labor to construct a sidewalk

for the house, which will serve people going to Virginia Beach

General Hospital.