Lauderdale: Man who adds beauty to life hits 100

The Shell Point man of hundreds of camellias has turned 100.

Lewis H. Wright has flowering plants in his yard that are old enough to be on Social Security.

Friends and family threw a birthday party for him last Saturday in a magnificent yard overlooking the marshes of Parris Island. Even in the chill and rain, they were greeted by bright camellia blooms -- red, pink, white and variegated mixtures -- and citrus plants.

Wright spends most of his time these days sitting on a back porch walled with windows. He hangs close to a space heater and his protective giant of a black Lab-chow mix named Bo. Bo's job is to keep deer out of more than 300 camellia bushes Wright has grafted, planted from seed or transplanted, some now taller than the house.

The plants don't get the daily, year-round attention they used to. But when Wright scoots out to the bushes with his walker, his 100-year-old hands immediately go to work, pinching off dead blooms.

Bright eyes and a sense of humor still live behind Wright's oversized glasses.

His comment on turning 100 is that he's "old and stupid."

He used to say he liked camellias because they didn't talk back.

Wright is an Augusta, Ga., native who got Beaufort sand in his toes as a child and could never shake it. His father used to practice medicine in Augusta in the winter and Beaufort in the summer. The family bought about 100 acres on Battery Creek.

Wright's life as a University of Georgia student was uprooted on Dec. 7, 1941. He instructed pilots, and flew troops, supplies and VIPs during World War II. He was a TWA commercial pilot. Long after the war, he was a flight instructor at Frogmore International. He'd fly people from Lady's Island to Fripp Island before there was a bridge, landing on the beach. At 90, he took up gliding.

He once built a 65-foot boat in his yard, behind the house he built with one helper.

He always loved growing stuff. At one point, he farmed in South America. When his son, John, was a child he pulled a little hand plow in their garden. His father said John was the only mule he ever had to buy a Pepsi.

Wright married an Augusta girl, Roberta, who wrote a gossip column in The Beaufort Gazette called "The Bay Window." He has outlived both Roberta and his second wife, Alice.

He lives on the best sliver of 100 acres of marshfront land he bought for $3,000 well more than half a century ago. It was fashioned into a neighborhood in the area behind Bi-Lo at the entrance to the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.

Fishing, hunting and boating -- as well as a glass of red wine each day and three Hershey chocolate bars a week -- have kept Wright going. But his main hobby for 72 years has been the camellias.

He entered shows and did well, but never cared that much for them. Over the years, he's shared some of his secrets. He pruned his camellias all year long. He'd leave one bud per stem end. He did not spray his bushes. He doesn't have lower limbs touching the ground. And he disregarded the advice of nurseries to cut the tap root.

Now the eyes that made transatlantic flights with a compass and a sextant are content to scan the marshes of Shell Point. Wright points to a glimmering stream and the exact spot he caught many a bass. And he scoots closer to the space heater.

Follow columnist and senior editor David Lauderdale at twitter.com/ThatsLauderdale and facebook.com/david.lauderdale.16.

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 8:28 AM with the headline "Lauderdale: Man who adds beauty to life hits 100."