“I’ll show you how God works,”
said Jack smiling broadly.
a name they felt would reflect their
focus on seafood. “We weren’t ready
to open, but Calvin Vaughn wanted
us to open the day of his daughter’s
basketball tournament so the team
could eat there that night,” said Jack. A
neighbor was recruited to pour tea. His
wife Martha and Pat Phillips ran the
dining room. “We had a kitchen staff
that had never cooked before. Uncle
Jack came to help me. He and I ran the
kitchen.”
Jack’s children were a vital part
of the restaurant’s success. “Frankie
and Mike worked the kitchen, and
Denise worked the salad bar and the
dining room. My children never had
an allowance. I always thought that
was kind of foolish. If you teach your
children to work, they learn to be
independent. That was the main thing
I was trying to teach them. They are
all self-sufficient today,” said Jack with
pride.
In 1973, Carlos and Jack split their
partnership. “Carlos purchased my
interest in the tractor business, and I
purchased his interest in the restaurant
business. It was an amicable business
decision that benefited us both,” said
Jack.
One Sunday afternoon in 1975,
about two years after the Captain’s
Corner opened, a man drove up in a
truck and called to Carlos. “It was the
ex-husband of a woman who worked at
the dealership. When Carlos stepped up
to the truck, the man stuck a 16-gauge
shotgun out the window and shot him,”
said Jack. “The guy only served two and
half years of jail time.” Carlos was Jack’s
partner for many years, his cousin,
and his closest friend. His death was a
devastating loss for all.
Two years later, Jack bought the
tractor business from Carlos’ widow.
“The timing proved unfavorable. Jimmy
Carter had put an embargo on trade
with Russia, and the government got
out of farming. Farmers were stuck
with no rain and no help.” Jack closed
the dealership in 1982.
The previous year, Jack also sold
Captain’s Corner to his long-time
employees I.D. and Mary Oxford and
turned his attention to a new venue.
“In 1979, I went to buy a pie safe from
Aubrey Brady and came back with a
piece a property,” said Jack. He opened
The Seawinder, “Toombs Counties’ first
white tablecloth, fine-dining restaurant
opened to the public,” on October 31,
1981.
“I’ll show you how God works,” said
Jack smiling broadly. “When I finally
got around to walking down into the
branch behind The Seawinder, I was
standing in the middle of this beautiful
canopy of overgrown grape vines and
huge trees. A short time later, a friend
who worked at Atlantic Woodyard
called. He had a bunch of treated
lumber that they used to build houses
out in the woods. They were closing
that part of their operation down, and
he said he would sell it to me for next to
nothing. I gave him about $200 for it,
and he delivered it, too.”
At about the same time, the son
of a friend, who also happened to be
an architect, was in between jobs. “We
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