sailboat, for a cocktail cruise. “I was first impressed by his creativity and overall persona,” Lawrence said. “He’s incredibly interesting to talk to. He’s dynamic. I have to say, though, he didn’t always make sense. Some of his ideas were out there.” Margaret Greer, a friend and neighbor since the early days, agreed. He was “multi-tasking” before it became the buzzword it is today. “Sometimes it seemed as if he was brainstorming with himself,” she said. “He was a genius. You couldn’t crawl into that mind.” Added Joseph B. Fraser Jr., Charles’ older brother, “What a mind. He was one of a kind. There aren’t many people out there with his vision.” Fraser said he and his brother had a good working relationship with one another and that the older they got, the closer they became. “What we had and what is taking place today (in Sea Pines) was his baby,” he said. “The closer I got to him, the more I got caught up in it.” Fraser was a voracious reader and had a passion for history, especially the history of Sea Pines. He bought whatever he could get his hands on – books, maps, anything pertaining to Hilton Head Island. “He would have read in the shower if it (whatever he was reading) wouldn’t have gotten wet,” Mary said. As an ardent fan of history, Fraser was relentless when it came to preserving and conserving the environment. Part of the reason he developed such strict covenants was to see to it that the rich history of the area was preserved. “Sea Pines Resort sets us apart from others because of its history,” Greer said. “Charles worshipped the importance of history.” Incidentally, prior to the Fraser family’s acquisition of the land, a portion of Sea Pines property had changed hands several different times. It wasn’t until many years after Charles and Mary were married (the two wed on Nov. 30, 1963) that he stumbled across the fact that Mary’s ancestors, the Lawton family, had once owned the land in preCivil War days. Through the years, many tried to test Fraser’s knowledge of the history of the area and his quest to preserve it through its covenants. “People have tried, but they have failed,” said Thomas Norby, chairman of the Sea Pines 50th Anniversary Committee, who got plugged into Sea Pines in 1965. He has, in one capacity or another, kept his ties with the company ever since. Mary said that about seven years after the first lots were sold, a family challenged one of the covenants, something having to do with the color of the houses, she recalls. “The Supreme Court of South Carolina ruled that landuse covenants could be applied,” she said. Norby was a childhood friend of the Fraser boys, who grew up in Hinesville, Georgia, about a three-hour drive from Hilton Head Island. Norby got involved when Fraser’s mother, Pearl, said, “You have to come help the boys.” Although busy with other business affairs, Norby said he knew better than to say no to Miss Pearl. “[Miss Pearl] painted a pretty picture of what Charles envisioned, and I knew enough that Sea Pines was a blossom waiting to bloom,” Norby said. Laura Lawton Fraser, Charles’ youngest daughter, shared Miss Pearl’s perspective. “When I turned 27, I thought about what I had done and then thought about what my 10 SeaPines50thAnniversary.com | SeaPinesHomesAndVillas.com
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