Hanks Column: Sampley's friends honor his memory
by Bryan C. Hanks
On Friday, Ted Sampley's friends gathered to honor his memory. They came from all over Kinston - and all over the state - to pay for Styrofoam plates full of delicious chicken wings, celery and carrots, the profits with which will fund a memorial to the former war hero.
Did I call Ted a war hero? Yes, but he had so many other titles you could attach to his name: businessman, patriot, father, POW/MIA defender and political activist.
Sampley, who died on May 12 at the much-too-young age of 61, was one of those guys it's impossible to put a simple label on. At Friday's "Wings Over the Neuse" event, there was one universal label for Ted, though: friend.
The event, the brainchild of John Nix, brought hundreds of folks to the site of the CSS Neuse II, one of Ted's largest and most important Kinston accomplishments.
Nix, a co-owner of the Matrix East surveying company who had directed a couple of stewfests to raise money for the boat, also helped with the formation of the Neuse II. Nix created Friday's unique idea to honor Ted only a couple of days after he died.
"I came up with the name, 'Wings Over the Neuse' before I came up with the idea," Nix said. "I envisioned Ted in heaven looking over the site and it took on sort of a double meaning with the cooking of the wings."
If Ted was watching - and admittedly, I think he was - he had to be pleased. Dozens of cars pulled through a make-shift drive-thru that would've made Ray Kroc proud. Around a dozen volunteers cooked and dipped wings in a delicious sauce, boxed them up and served them while others waved at traffic on Herritage Street, enticing them to come through the Neuse II site to pick up their plates.
Nix's friend, Dan Binkley, drove from Winston-Salem with his three sons, Joseph, George and Julien, to pay homage to Ted.
"John introduced me to Ted and I thought he was the neatest guy I ever met," Binkley said of Sampley. "The more I talked to him, the more I liked him."
Binkley and his sons - ages 10, 7 and 3 - did some damage to their plates of wings, then took a tour through the Neuse II.
"What (Sampley's) done here is incredible," Binkley said, nodding at the Neuse II. "I think that should be a national monument. We're proud of it, even in Winston-Salem."
CSS Neuse Foundation Treasurer Jeff Stephens said the money raised from Friday's event will be used to build an approximately 4-foot high marble memorial for Sampley at the site of the Neuse II. He said he hopes it will be erected within the next couple of months.
"It will have an inscription on it that will tell what Ted did, not just for the boat, but for the whole downtown area," Stephens said while he directed traffic at the site. "We're going to have a U.S. flag, a North Carolina flag and a POW. flag representing him fighting for our country."
Early on, heavy rain tried to slow down Friday's festivities - but Ted's friends would have none of it. The organizers ran out of carrots and celery before 1 p.m. and had to go get more for the hot-selling plates.
"The response today was overwhelming," Stephens said. "Even the rain couldn't keep people away; they just kept coming through.
"Ted was a great American hero. Some people didn't really realize what he did until they read his obituary. A lot of people respect him for what he did and wanted to honor him."
Jordan Barwick, a TACC-9 and Kinston Indians onfield personality, came to the event and walked away with three plates of wings.
"Ted did a lot for this community and a lot for Herritage Street," Barwick said. "If there's any recognition that should be done on Herritage Street, it should be for Ted. There should be memorials all over this town for him."
Friday was about Ted's friendships, though.
"He was a great friend and was very inspirational to me," Nix said. "He was a great patriot. He was outspoken, but he said a lot of what other people didn't want to say. We need more people like that."
Nix was asked what Ted would say if he was witnessing Friday's event.
"He'd say, 'Why are you honoring me? You need to spend that money on the boat!'" Nix said with a hearty laugh.
Mary Lou Johnson, who lives in Hugo, sat under a tent eating wings with her friends Joyce Tilghman and Cynthia Worthington. She recalled seeing Ted "nearly every morning" eating breakfast at nearby Lovick's Caf.
"He would come in all sweaty and dirty, from where he was working on the boat," Johnson said. "He was so dedicated to this boat."
Johnson knew what Ted would say if he was, indeed, spreading his wings over the Neuse.
"I think he'd look down and say, 'I do have some friends,'" Johnson said. "I hope he can see all this and know he did have a lot of friends."
Bryan C. Hanks' column appears every Sunday in The Free Press.
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