55 “W Handcrafted in the USA from Recycled Sailcloth Visit our factory at 311 Judges Road Unit 2-H Wilmington, NC for factory discounts www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM hen Cypress Gardens invited me to be a part of their team down in Florida, my parents were terribly against me joining,” Lawler says. “It would mean me living in Florida, working two shows a day, only off in January and February; and to my parents, it was like I was off to join the circus!” She laughs and continues, “That was in the early ‘60s when girls lived at home until they got married, and my mother, being a schoolteacher, thought education was the most important thing. So, I stayed. At the time I thought it was terrible, but it ended up being a really good thing because I would have never met my husband had I pur-sued that.” At age 23, Lawler went on her first date with her future husband, Eddie, and six months later the two were married. “Our first date was on the Fourth of July. We went sailing, and we were married in February,” she says. It was an easy decision to marry when Eddie Lawler affirmatively answered her two most important questions: Do you love the beach? Do you want to stay in Wilmington? Those two questions have truly laid the foun-dation for the Lawlers’ marriage. They can still be found whipping through the waters at Wrightsville Beach on late summer afternoons. After the crowds have retreated from their day of boating through the Intracoastal Waterway and Banks Channel, when the water is calm, Jean Lawler takes her shore-start with Eddie at the helm. Jean Lawler skis Lollipop Bay in July. www.ellavickers.com | 910.350.8878
2014-8
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