Storm washes away beloved memory on fishing pier, family hopes it will turn up

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH, NC (WWAY) — So many people lost so much during Hurricane Florence and it’s just not home and belongings.

One family is looking a beloved memory that may be lost at sea.

“When you lose someone that’s very special to you and you make a memory for them, and then it’s gone, it kind of breaks your heart,” said Angela Wells.

Wells shared many fond memories with her father John ‘Buz’ Wells at Sea View Fishing Pier in North Topsail Beach before he died in 2015.

She and her father’s longtime partner Linda Woodlief say Buz fished on the pier just about every day, no matter the weather.

“When it was raining, and nobody else (was) fishing but him, he said, I don’t know why they’re going in. He said, like Angela said, the fish don’t know if it’s raining or not, they’re still going to bite my hook,” said Woodlief.

Woodlief says when he wasn’t fishing he was fixing old rods and reels or teaching kids to fish.

“One of the kids had asked one of the older men, ‘would you show me what you do?’ And he said, ‘I don’t have time.’ And Buz told him, says ‘come here boy, I’ll show you something,” said Woodlief.

After his death, Wells and Woodlief had a plaque made and installed at the end of the pier in Buz’s honor. That plaque was lost in Hurricane Florence along with about 200 feet of the Sea View Pier.

“It was very emotional, it was. Because I’ve been on the end of this pier many a day. Just to come visit my dad, or wet a line,” said Wells.

Wells and Woodlief are hoping the plaque will wash up on the beach and someone will find it and return it.

“If you can find it, and you can return it, I would personally like to meet you,” said Wells.

If you happen to find the plaque, Wells asks you to please mail it back to the pier, 123 Fishing Pier Lane, North Topsail Beach, NC 28460, and include your contact information.