Meet Our Volunteers

We couldn't do what we do without the help of hundreds of people each year who volunteer their time and talent to protect our coast. Here are just a just a few of the people who give so freely of their time. We'll feature new volunteers from time to time. So check back often.

Brad Tesh, Swansboro

Serendipitous: occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Brad Tesh came into our office in Ocean one day last fall. He wanted to talk to Frank Tursi about kayaking. He and his wife, Suzanne, are members and had just moved fulltime to their condo in Swansboro after Brad retired from his job in Washington. He was taking up kayaking and wanted some pointers from Frank, who’s been known to use his kayak to entice puppy drum, flounder and speckled trout out of the White Oak River. Frank had not met Brad before.

We should note that when’s he’s not fishing, Frank manages our Web site, Facebook page and our email service and is sort of our untrained IT guy, among his other duties. He got the job because he likes gadgets and gizmos and builds computers in his spare time. That’s good enough for us.

Brad could not have picked a worse day for his visit. Emails were down, and Frank had spent of much of the morning on internet chats with real IT guys at the company that runs the email server. They were convinced that the problem was on our end.

While Brad and Frank talked about good places to kayak along the river, a staff person poked her head in the door to note that the emails still weren’t getting through. What’s the problem? Brad asked. Frank tried to explain it without getting too technical for the novice. You know something about this stuff? he asked.

That job Brad had in Washington? Turns out he was the main computer specialist for the Smithsonian Institution. That’s right. The Smithsonian. In fact, he set up its first computer network 30 years ago. He decided to visit the office to talk kayaking on the only day the email system has ever crashed. What’s the chance of that? There is computer god, Frank thought.

He quickly put Brad to work. Brad got on the internet, traced the email signal and diagnosed the problem in short order.
“The problem isn’t on this end,” he typed emphatically to those real IT guys. “It’s on your end. FIX IT.”
They did.

As a good fisherman, Frank knows when he’s landed a whopper. He told Brad we need a good IT guy of our own, but can’t afford the $100 an hour such guys normally charge. Would he consider volunteering as our IT consultant? He would, readily.

Brad’s been coming to the office every Tuesday ever since. He’s mapping our computer network so that we’ll be able to rebuild it after The Big One hits. He’s also building a server for our Wilmington office, taking parts from old computers we have lying about. He also plans to evaluate all our computing equipment and recommend what we need to upgrade or scrap. Of course, he’ll be on hand the next time Frank needs a real IT guy.

As for the personal stuff, Brad grew up in Onslow County, leaving to attend the University of Nevada at Reno. Then, it was on to George Washington University in Washington where he got a master’s degree in anthropology. That led to an internship at the Smithsonian and a fulltime job when a kid trained in the antiquities proved his handiness with this newfangled computer technology.

“When I built that first computer network, there may have been three books on the subject,” he said. “I read a few pages in each and became an instant expert.”

Brad seems to enjoy his time here. “You guys do cool things,” he says. “You’re unique. The Smithsonian set the standard for world-class museums. NCCF sets the standards for stewards of the coast.”

Wayne and Mary Grossnickle, Sneads Ferry

How does a couple, one originally from Wales and the other a retired captain with the New York City Police Department, end up knee-deep in a salt marsh with hands full of oysters? Volunteering for the federation is just one way that Wayne and Mary Grossnickle spend their free time helping to protect and restore our coast.

Retired since 2000, Wayne and Mary moved to Chadwick Bay in Sneads Ferry. They soon developed an interest in oysters, joining the Shellfish Gardeners of North Carolina and the federation.

Despite less-than-perfect field conditions, the Grossnickles have participated in all aspects of our oyster habitat restoration program. They have also helped with the stewardship of the Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve and volunteered at festivals. Wayne and Mary deserve our thanks and recognition as true leaders in coastal stewardship.

Tom Thomason, Nags Head

If you look at the pictures from the Northeast Region during the last several years, one face keeps appearing again and again. He’s there in the rain gardens at Manteo Middle School, planted in November 2006. He’s there helping landscape the grounds at the northeast’s new office in the summer of 2008 and he’s there in the shots from last winter bagging oyster shells at Jockeys Ridge. Tom Thomason has been one of the region’s most enthusiastic and loyal volunteers. Accompanied often by his wife, Lynn, he’s turned federation volunteer events into a means for accomplishing two personal goals—helping the community while getting as much exercise as possible.

Tom spent 24 years in the Air Force and reached the rank of colonel. During 1985 and ’86, he was an acting assistant deputy undersecretary of defense under President Reagan. Tom retired in 1997 and moved to Kill Devil Hills from their long-time home of West Springfield, Virginia. “I was ready to take some walks on the beach,” Tom says.

But beach combing wasn’t enough. The Thomasons soon became involved in a variety of volunteer programs in the community. When the federation’s Northeast volunteer program began in earnest in 2006, Tom and Lynn were among the first to sign up.

An avid gardener, Tom’s efforts have been particularly helpful to the region’s rain garden program. He says he keeps volunteering because of the staff’s smiling faces—and the ability to help out while keeping active.

SHOP |

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