.
The idea of
“Outdoor Catering” was spawned out of necessity during the aftermath of
Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Terry Jones, the owner of “Mr. Microwaves”, had
been involved in the food business since 1964 when he was responsible
for the training of new microwave oven users for Litton Industries. He
started his own business in 1973 and conducted microwave cooking
schools in the Greenville, Spartanburg, Columbia and Asheville markets
during the late 70’s and early 80’s. Terry was known throughout the
area as “Mr. Microwave”.
Terry moved to Myrtle Beach in 1988 and established his microwave
business in a downtown location. When Hurricane Hugo struck in
September, 1989, Terry volunteered to help. Having served on the Board
of Directors for the American Red Cross in his home town of Greenville,
SC for ten years prior, he was immediately elected to the Board and
given the responsibility of setting up a mass feeding station for the
National Guard, volunteers and victims in the hurricane relief effort.
With no electricity to begin with, Terry borrowed a large tow-behind
propane grill from a friend and set up an operation at Saint Michaels
Catholic church in Garden City Beach, the hardest hit area in the
county. Within three days, Terry went from cooking donated meat on the
grill to directing the logistics of seven tractor trailer loads of food
and supplies and a relief operation that fed thousands of volunteers
& victims each day.
Terry sold the microwave business in 1990, had a
trailer hitch
installed on his Lincoln Town Car, bought a used tow-behind grill from
Belin Methodist church, ran an ad in the local newspaper and started
catering. With his friend, Bill Irwin, a 1963 Finance graduate of the
Citadel College, they began catering to small groups staying at the
beachfront hotel they operated. Today, Terry caters to more than
20,000 guests per year. The
average party ranges from 50 to 100+ guests per event but he and his
crew
have catered several events in the 1,000 plus range for corporations
such as Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Campbell Soup, and A.O. Smith.
Terry is also a food critic and an editor for Coast Magazine and
Alternatives NewsMagazine, members of the AWN news syndicate, which
includes several hundred free weekly news magazines across the United
States. Members of the syndicate include the Village Voice in New York
and Creative Loafing in Atlanta. Terry has interviewed and written
profiles on such notables as President George W. Bush, Nobel Laureate
Dr. James Watson, the father of DNA, Nobel prize contender Mr. Guy
Tozzoli, the president of the World Trade Centers Association, and Dr.
Joycelyn Elders, the first African-American Surgeon General in the
United States. Coast Magazine was founded in 1955, and is
one of the oldest continuosly published magazines on the east coast. To
read the latest issue go to www.myrtlebeachalternatives.comPresident George W. Bush
43rd President of the United States 2001 - 2009
I
interviewed President Bush during a campaign stop in Myrtle Beach in
2000. Out of all the contenders for president that I interviewed that
year, including Dan Quail, John McCain and Jim Edwards, I liked Mr.
Bush the best. He looked me straight in the eye when he spoke. He was
confident and a man of both style and grace. We spoke of his Christian
upbringing and his strong belief in God. I am proud to have shared some
precious time with him before he took on the hardest, most demanding
job in the world. May God bless you in your retirement Mr. Bush.
Dr. James WatsonDiscoverer of DNANobel
Laureate and co-discoverer of the double helix, deoxyribonucleic acid,
(DNA), as first reported in the scientific journal "Nature" in 1953. I
interviewed him at Time Magazine's Future of Life Summit celebrating
the 50th Anniversary of his discovery in Monterrey, CA in 2003. Dr.
Watson shared a little part of his youth with me as I always begin my
interviews with a look back at high school days. Dr. Watson's parents
were atheists but he confessed to me that he always believed that there
was a supreme creator. That belief is evidenced in his work.
Mr. Guy Tozzoli President of the World Trade Centers Association. Guy
has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is married to a
Myrtle Beach girl.and lives in New York City. He is the gentleman that
came up with the idea of dredging the river and creating the land that
the World Trade Center stood on. What started as a 15 minute interview
ended up lasting for 30 minutes as we staved off the mayor and the rest
of the press while we told Navy stories. Mr. Tozzoli was in the field
of electronic countermeasures and radar for the Navy in the late 40's,
some ten years before me. He was an absolute delight to interview.
Dr. Jocelyn EldersFormer Surgeon General of the United StatesDr.
Elders was born a Jones girl in rural Arkansas and migrated with her
family to California at an early age. She was an accelerated student
and graduated from college at 18. She enlisted in the Army and used her
GI bill to go to medical school. She was so elegant and prim and proper
as I entered the room for the interview. She was sitting, looking out
the window at the Atlantic ocean and the beach. She relaxed and became
more comfortable when I told her that I was born a Jones in Alabama and
I could relate to her view of segregation in the south in those early
days. She was fired by President Clinton because she advocated safe sex
in the high schools, a subject too controversial for politics. She was
a lovely lady.