The Poteats. They summered in Saltaire, the Poteats did, on Fire Island in the early 1950's. Their old man, Doctor Poteat was back from World War II where he was a surgeon for the Navy on an aircraft carrier. After the War, Doc. Poteat worked a hospital in Brooklyn for a few years. Those are the years that they summered in Saltaire. Billy and brother Bobby had a little boat in Saltaire. It was a dinghy about the size of a tiny bathtub. And about as seaworthy. It was green, and the brothers painted the name "Bill-Bob"on the stern.
Eventually, the Poteats would move back to their native South Carolina. After their last summer, they left the Bill-Bob on the beach of the Great South Bay. It stayed there for a year or two, as if waiting for their return. We just left it there on the shore. Seaweed, sand, crabs and water covered it and filled it. One spring when we came down after a long winter the Bill-Bob was gone. It washed out to sea, I guess. But for a couple of years, it had reminded us of friends we had shared wonderful summers with and wished that they would come back. Billy did come back, one day, in 2012. His Saltaire memories were as fresh as yesterday. All us Saltaire Ex-Pats remember the Poteats fondly.
The Bill-Bob:
JO'H
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