Saltwater Portraits

TThe Cape Gazette staff has been featuring Saltwater Portraits for more than 20 years. Reporters prepare written and photographic portraits of a wide variety of characters in Delaware's Cape Region. Saltwater Portraits typically appear in the Cape Gazette's Tuesday print edition in the Cape Life section and online at capegazette.com. To recommend someone for a Saltwater Portrait feature, email newsroom@capegazette.com.

Susan McLean: Serving up photos with a side of humor

Bill Shull
1 week ago
Susan McLean had her measuring tape in hand. She was trying to figure out how to squeeze a 36-inch-...

Rehoboth Beach Patrol’s Sophia Gulotti helps save...

Aaron R. Mushrush
3 weeks ago
Fear not, beachgoers, the shores are protected by some of the best in the industry. It might be the...

Hurley Waples builds bird, butterfly, bat houses by...

Chris Flood
1 month ago
Hurley Waples didn’t set out to build birdhouses, bat houses and butterfly houses in retirement; it...

Patrice Gancie: A life well spent serving others

Ellen Driscoll
1 month ago
Making the world a better place for others comes naturally to Patrice Gancie. The descendant of...

Terry Miller: From Steeltown to Milton

Ryan Mavity
2 months ago
Like so many people who end up retiring to Milton, Terry Miller ended up there as very much a happy...

Beattie brings efficiency to Post 28

Melissa Steele
2 months ago
Efficiency is Jim Beattie’s middle name. As finance officer and adjutant for American Legion Post...

Frances Grote: Architect of fiction

Bill Shull
3 months ago
When Frances Grote touched down in Shanghai, China, on a long-ago business trip, she had everything...

Viki Dee celebrating two decades of entertaining...

Chris Flood
3 months ago
It’s Fourth of July weekend in Rehoboth Beach and local entertainer Viki Dee is getting ready to...

Woodworking is Warren Walls’ passion

Ron MacArthur
4 months ago
Give Warren Walls a piece of wood and watch the magic happen. Growing up on Lewes Beach, Warren was...

Coincidences abound for Lewes Elementary educators

Ellen Driscoll
5 months ago
Decades after their own first day of school, Lewes Elementary’s Nicole Anderson and Erin Handley...

Legion commander went from airplane mechanic to...

Melissa Steele
5 months ago
Joe Brown loved working on car engines as a Wilmington teen. Racing to see whose car was the...

Pete Harrigan: Words, music, service define varied life

Bill Shull
6 months ago
Pete Harrigan traveled from Lewes to Buffalo, N.Y., to view the recent total eclipse firsthand. “It...

Caring for the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk one board at...

Chris Flood
7 months ago
It’s a chilly and windy morning in mid-March on the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk. The sun is beginning...

Michael Thomas finds purpose in connections,...

Ellen Driscoll
8 months ago
For Love Creek Elementary fireman custodian Michael Thomas, life is what you make of it. “I enjoy...

Jillian Kemmerlin goes from patient to caregiver

Ryan Mavity
8 months ago
For Jillian Kemmerlin, the journey to becoming a lymphedema/occupational therapist started with...

Shepherd’s Office leader Jim Martin is a survivor

Ron MacArthur
9 months ago
Jim Martin calls himself a survivor, and that’s an understatement. He was an addict who lost...

Bob Blouin: This pilot runs down-to-earth charity...

Bill Shull
9 months ago
Bob Blouin has had a license to fly for five decades. He also has had a calling to help people in...

Larry Woodall Jr. wants to build a youth center

Aaron R. Mushrush
9 months ago
Larry Woodall Jr. has a dream. “Cape, to me, is a community thing, and we shouldn’t lose that here...

Hannah Whiddon makes a name for herself in the Cape...

Ryan Mavity
10 months ago
Coastal Delaware wasn’t a place where Hannah Whiddon thought she would end up, but after three...

12-year-old baker brings holiday joy

Melissa Steele
10 months ago
Twelve-year-old Capri Sen started a cottage industry this year making holiday cakes in her mom’s...

Local libraries will be Kay Wheatley’s lasting legacy

Chris Flood
10 months ago
Kay Wheatley doesn’t remember exactly what spurred her desire to help be a guiding force for...

Melissa Squier: finding joy by giving back

Ellen Driscoll
11 months ago
Dewey Beach police dispatcher Melissa Squier didn’t realize the kids’ coloring book she created of...

Truitt family rooted in Rehoboth Beach history

Ron MacArthur
11 months ago
The Truitt family has its roots tied to the history and growth of Rehoboth Beach. George Truitt...

Warren ‘Yankee’ Miller’s noteworthy life of baseball

Aaron R. Mushrush
1 year ago
For a few years, the Lewes Base Ball Club had a former player who took the field for both the New...

All Jeff Irwin ever wanted to do was play music for...

Chris Flood
1 year ago
Having grown up in a musical family, local musician Jeff Irwin said he knew at an early age he...

Jazmin Tinsley bonds and blooms with service dog Bonus

Ellen Driscoll
1 year ago
Jazmin Tinsley is a happy and determined young woman who loves stickers and anime, particularly the...

Lyn McDonald overcomes fear to live dreams

Ryan Mavity
1 year ago
In her first book, “The Great Tree and the Ladybug,” Lyn McDonald writes about a ladybug that has...

Boyer dedicates life to animal-human bond

Melissa Steele
1 year ago
Kelly Boyer was 10 years old when she started riding lessons. She’s never looked back. “I was...

Local chef David Krasnoff has the recipe for retirement

Bill Shull
1 year ago
David Krasnoff sat at a friend’s dining room table talking about dining. During his legendary...

Barbara Antionette Felicetti: A living testament to...

Aaron R. Mushrush
1 year ago
“If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will...

Bob Cooper honored for 50 years of flying

Nick Roth
1 year ago
After 50 years of flying, Bob Cooper knows a thing or two about aviation. Although the Milton-area...

Corey Groll keeps Bandstand’s music playing all...

Chris Flood
1 year ago
It’s about 4 p.m. the day of Rehoboth Beach’s annual fireworks display, and Rehoboth Beach...

Bread-making venture rises in Lewes

Ellen Driscoll
1 year ago
As Diane Batchik saws a slice of bread from the freshly baked round loaf resting on a herringbone...

Neyda Albarran brings the world to Delaware

Ryan Mavity
1 year ago
Once a month, kids gather at My Sister’s Fault in Milford to take a trip to a faraway land. One...

Hardin sees a sustainable energy future

Melissa Steele
1 year ago
Dave Hardin loves electricity. He is an encyclopedia of electric and power grid information. From...

Beautifying Baywood, Pot-Nets and Longwood Gardens

Aaron R. Mushrush
1 year ago
Life is beautiful. A simple statement that can be made when things seem to be breaking the right...

Catherine Scott’s ‘fetish’ is a benefit to all of...

Chris Flood
1 year ago
Catherine Scott hasn’t lived in Milton very long, but she’s already made a name for herself picking...

Love Creek’s Allread creates joy through art

Ellen Driscoll
1 year ago
One Monday morning, a gathering of child-size blocky characters from the Minecraft video game...

World War II vet served duty in China

Ron MacArthur
1 year ago
Growing up in Jersey City, N.J., George McCarthy never imagined he would end up serving his country...

Sebastien comes full circle with women’s clubs

Melissa Steele
1 year ago
Early on, women’s clubs played a role in helping establish Ann Sebastien’s professional career. Now...

Ryan Blades finds artistic inspiration in Milton

Ryan Mavity
1 year ago
New residents find all kinds of reasons to fall in love with the Town of Milton. Whether it's the...

Karson Barenholtz: award-winning granddaughter

Aaron R. Mushrush
1 year ago
What’s in a name? The daisy flower is a perennial with one composite head supporting several petals...

Richard Claypoole was kid in candy store at National...

Chris Flood
1 year ago
Born in Washington, D.C., on President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Lewes resident Richard Claypoole...

Music is an essential part of life for Chris Burkhart

Ellen Driscoll
1 year ago
Born into a performance-oriented family in a Philadelphia suburb, Cape High Band Director Chris...

Revitalizing through positivity

Aaron R. Mushrush
1 year ago
Overcoming the odds has been a specialty of Tricia Walsh since April 11, 1987. That was the day her...

Competition, business go hand-in-hand for Rehoboth man

Melissa Steele
1 year ago
Will Harris always knew he wanted to help people reach their full potential, he just wasn’t sure...

Trudy Graboyes: Cape Region newcomer takes to the stage

Ryan Mavity
2 years ago
Shakespeare once wrote “all the world's a stage,” but for Trudy Graboyes, that sentiment isn’t just...

Linda Bonville: Always liked working with older...

Chris Flood
2 years ago
Founded in 1966, the Cape Henlopen Senior Center has been in existence 56 years. Center...

Vic Letonoff, renaissance man

Ellen Driscoll
2 years ago
Dewey Beach Police Patrolman Vic Letonoff is enjoying his ride – literally. And, the ride has not...

Allen Sangree: connecting to nature through art

Ellen Driscoll
2 years ago
Losing an election turned out to be one of the best things to happen to Allen Sangree. After...

Jerry DeLair: the Cape Region’s games master

Ryan Mavity
2 years ago
After nearly 20 years in the military, Jerry DeLair was ready for something new. That something was...

Lewes woodworker turns out creations

Melissa Steele
2 years ago
Jim Whattam knows a good turn when he sees one. Four years ago, the retired attorney took up wood...

The Sandcastle Lady of Lewes Beach

Ron MacArthur
2 years ago
Although she's not a permanent Lewes resident, when she's here in late summer, Lynn Hicks McKeown...

Ron Parks: Stained glass isn’t easy, but it’s rewarding

Chris Flood
2 years ago
Ron Parks hadn’t intended on taking 11 years and 222 days to finish making his replica of a Tiffany...

Brian Bassett: The man behind the schools

Ellen Driscoll
2 years ago
Days before Cape Henlopen students begin a new year in September, the man responsible for planning...

Keith Mack and Ed Shockley ask “What Happened?”

Ryan Mavity
2 years ago
For locals in the Cape Region, Keith Mack and Ed Shockley likely don’t need an introduction. The...

Cape grad focused on giving back

Melissa Steele
2 years ago
Krystle Gardner-Blackwell likes fighting for the underdog. In 2018, after a young Seaford girl was...

World War II veteran nearing 100th birthday

Ron MacArthur
2 years ago
Chuck Menige's timing was not good when he was shipped overseas to fight in World War II. After two...

Dr. Rudolph Schilli: Beebe doctor writes the book on...

Ryan Mavity
2 years ago
To get the idea of what his new book is about, Dr. Rudolph Schilli comes in and begins with a...

Mailman Bob Steck had a thousand different friends...

Chris Flood
2 years ago
After 25 years of delivering mail to the southern half of downtown Rehoboth Beach for the U.S...