I once read something stating the day you are born until the day you die is all about the "dash" in between the two dates!

Well, Paul Field had lots of interesting stories all in between!

It was 40 years ago this coming winter that Paul rescued a father and daughter from the cold waters offshore. That rescue lead to the formation of Fripp Island city rescue, whose members have saved over 100 lives since.

"Fair winds to our founding and skipper Emeritus, Paul Field. Thank you for all you have done, and we will miss you dearly. Your vision of unselfishness service lives on, my good man."

On behalf of all the crew members of Fripp Island sea rescue, past and present an older Maritime salute: BRAVO "ZULU" - Well Done!

~ Skipper, Eric Roberts

A memory of Paul feel! If I were to choose my favorite memory of him it would have to be our lunches under the oaks. Every week we would make our trip to town for appointments/supplies, etc. We would park at Food Lion under the beautiful Live Oaks full of draping moss. I would run in and pick up two sandwiches while he got his iPad set up to play Roger Williams' music. I will get back into the car parentheses he always drove parentheses and he would roll the windows down, play music and have lunch. I miss my old friend already.

~ Sandra Burke, friend of Paul's for over 30 years.

I worked on FISR for approximately three years while Paul was skipper. He took responsibility for all Bass duties, all maintenance on our boats, all scheduling and pretty much everything else, but not going out on the boats. I remember when he announced his retirement, the squad struggled with how to replace them. We finally found a board of seven members to replace Paul. I hope all is legacy lives on through FISR forever!

~ Robbie White, Former Member

Since I've been a member of FISR for many years, I knew Paul has a fine leader of the group he founded approximately 40 years ago. I was on a deep sea fishing trip with him and we were offshore in very deep water. Paul's boat was equipped with all the finest fishing gear. Paul's other passion was fishing! I caught a huge fish and was reeling him in when the line snapped and the fish was gone. Paul immediately berated me, saying "GD it, Don you got to hook him on the bottom." He was well aware that I had been reeling for a long time! A few minutes later Paul caught a fish and the line broke again. Then Paul proceeded to shout and curse at the fish! He was a great fishing buddy, however, you had to ask permission to eat your lunch while fishing! Anyway, we always ended up with a fish for dinner. Great memories!

~ Don Aldrich, Former member of Sea Rescue

Paul had a reputation for being a tough old bird with a true commitment to FISR. He also had a strong commitment to the members. Shortly after I joined, I started treatments for a non-Hodgin Lymphoma. When Paul found out a few days later he gave me a call. I immediately indicated that if I thought the treatments would affect my ability to perform in a mission response, I would let him know and request a leave of absence. He said, "I know that , but I am calling to know how the treatments are going and how are you doing with the stress of having to take them. Are you doing, okay?" This call meant the world to me and helped me see Paul in a different light.

~ Dick Work, Former Skipper

Aye Skipper was the usual response given to the man that we naturally respected and appreciated on Sea Rescue. I joined when he was our skipper, treasurer, secretary, and training officer. There was no doubt that he was in charge which was difficult for Santa except. He looked and managed the part of being skipper. A lifelong non-drinking bachelor that wore T-shirts and shaved when he wanted. He was serious about our task at hand. He was well respected and well received by the US Coast Guard command and Beaufort County sheriff. The monthly training missions with USCG crew to respect Paul for his crew training. While we had two men boat cruise with phone support Paul was in charge. Sometimes refusing to allow us to go into harm if he felt the mission to dangerous or not immediately required. Well he cared about us, he did not hesitate to chill out our collective backside for failures oblivious to him. At his request we changed our officer alignment with me taking on secretary/treasure with others taking over Paul's other duties. We took over command collectively understanding Paul's one main daily and monthly commitments to see rescue. Things changed, but Paul remains our skipper.

~ Ralph Burchfield, Former Member

Today FISR is an active organization that serves the local waters when boaters need assistance. Many policies that Paul put in place have been tweaked over the years, but the focus remains the same. The members are trained monthly and when assigned duty are ready to serve!

If you would like to know more about Paul, please go to this article Retired Fripp Island bank examiner story.

FISR is always recruiting new members that may be interested i serving. If you are interested or have questions, please contact Eric Roberts, Skipper. 843-539-9674 or any of the members.