Just out of architecture school I worked w/ Jim (three year apprenticeship). Morehead / Beaufort and Carteret County were quite different then than now. Winters were quite distinct from the Summer crowds. We made our own entertainment in the winter. Jim said up front he was not a teacher but he was in his own way. Jim had a talent few could rival. Have you ever seen someone sketch upside down to a client in perspective to illustrate a spacial concept? Jim had the ability and confidence to do so!
The Coral Bay Condominiums were the first of such on Bogue Banks. To this day none better have been built! I would like to know what they cost then vs what they resell for when / if available today?
Jim was a pioneer for Carteret County. It is and was not a place where good architecture was actively sought or necessarily appreciated. Each project became an opportunity to improve beyond what was expected. Jim's brother Barry knows what I mean by this. We worked w/ Richard (Dick) Bell, landscape architect on a number of projects. Also Bill Bigger, structural engineer. I remember the Yacht Club, the regattas, the friendships. Jim's house projects are in a class all to themselves, quite distinct taking their visual cues from the local environment demands via time tested methods. He was practicing construction sensitivity on the outer banks long before it became popular to do so. I recall the Ocracoke School house. Bob Shuller was involved w/ that project.
I owe a great deal to Jim... I know he knows this! We kept in touch thru good times and not so good! I am saddened and I miss him!
Edgar
When Jimmy moved to Morehead to set up his office as architect, he needed a secretary, and I was living in Morehead with our parents while my husband was in basic training for the Army. I was pregnant with my firstborn, Monty Miller, and had not been working as a nurse during this time. I had never been a secretary but had enough skills to answer the phone, go to the post office, make coffee, and run errands as needed. I was so proud of him and admired his talent beyond words. I thought he was the most brilliant, creative person I knew.
He designed many homes, businesses, schools and projects over the years, and they're sprinkled all around Carteret County. Every time I visit Morehead and walk that waterfront, I swell with pride as I see how he left his fingerprints on that community. His artistic vision was sometimes well ahead of his time, but the designs he left will remain. Harborview Nursing Home remodel and the first high-rise building on the waterfront got it started. Then the high-rise at the other end of the waterfront took shape. When it was time to revitalize the street and walkways, he put his stamp on all of it, and left a beautiful street to stroll down. Along the way, there were projects that I don't even remember, but it's part of what he left behind.
His love for sailing in countless sailboat races had him in Bogue Sound again and again, so some of my most vivid visual memories of him have him dressed in sailing gear, including some kind of hat. The memories that my children have of spending time at his house at the end of 13th St., which we called Camp Willis, are too many to number. He always hosted family gatherings at his house on the water, especially the Thanksgiving oyster roasts, and those are some of my fondest memories.
My granddaddy, Durwood Belmont Willis, owned the Coca Cola bottling plant located on the waterfront. When my daddy and mama met for the first time, they were about 8 yrs old as she stepped off her daddy's mail boat onto the dock of that business. She said she loved him from that moment on. My granddaddy, Daniel Hargett Ward, ran the mail boat from Swansboro to Morehead, so much of his life was spent in that water. Uncle George Purifoy, married to my mom's sister, Minnie, was one of the boat captains of the Lucky 7 fishing fleet, which was a prominent fixture on the waterfront for years.
At the end of our mom's life, she drew her last breath in a bed at Harborview by a window that looked out over that same Bogue Sound. That had much personal significance for me, as she began her life in Morehead there and ended it there.
I call it "my waterfront" when I walk along and remember all the years that included walks from the homeplace on 10th St. as well as events that happened there. It's impossible to remember any of it without remembering jas b, jr. My big brother...
Jimmy was an accomplished pianist and the accompanist for choral concerts at Morehead City High School and music programs as First Baptist Church. This required him to spend many hours at the piano in our living room, and he was very proud of the mahogany piano that James, Sr and Cora provided for him to nurture his talent. We all played the piano a little bit, and I loved to plunk around on it when I was about 6 yrs old. I wore Mary Jane shoes, with ruffly socks like most little girls in that day, and I didn't see the need to remove them when I sat at the piano. However, the stool was just a little low for me, so I would tuck one foot under me on the seat to make a better fit. The only problem with that was that the buckle on my shoe strap scratched that beautiful mahogany stool. Of course, I denied that I had anything to do with those scratches, but Jimmy surely didn't give me any mercy on that one! Every time! Clearly, the chastisement I got for that stuck with me all these years, but as far as I know, he didn't hold it against me!
