I moved to this little beach town 55 years ago.
I had just graduated from the University of Texas, but no one would give me a job since I was 1-A and had a low draft lottery number.
I moved to this Island in April of 1970 to have fun in the sun until the inevitable. On August 3, 1970, a hurricane hit us dead center.
My rental was gone with the wind. I slept on a cot in the Community Center, manning the radio, controlling Ferry traffic to the mainland. It was hot, there were mosquitoes, and I bathed in the Gulf of Mexico (est.1552).
A week later, after restoration of electricity and phone service, I called my parents to tell them I was ok. My mom said, “Thank goodness. Your draft notice is here,”
After discharge from the Army two years later, I returned to this Island town and been here ever since. It’s changed, more development, short-term rentals, and golf carts, but I have loved it. 55 years….it’s gone by fast…from a kid to a geezer in a wink of an eye. 🏝️
= new reply since forum marked as read
$930,000,000 in 1970 is worth $7,665,285,309.28 today.
That was the same year I did my antiwar hunger strike. I went down to 98 lbs and my mom had to take me to the doctor. My dad was in Vietnam at the time. He volunteered.
I'm glad you survived, surfered.
❤️
Class of 1986 
Great school. Lucky to grow up in Austin and able go there. It was a weird time. Whitman shooting people from the Tower in ‘66, then the protests of 68 and 69.
glad u were ok.