Letters

This letter is in response to Dave Johns’s January 9 Letter to the Editor [“Signs of Love?”] regarding the memorial stone at the end of Towd Point Road. While I certainly respect and admire the spirit and the sentiment of the hand-painted declaration that was on the rock, “Do What You Love,” I would like to remind Mr. Johns that the rock itself and the original plaque (this one is number three of three, as the first two have been taken by thieves) were placed by the heirs of the original owners of the expansive beach property.

Following the death of my cousin Frank Edwin Tupper II in 1996 (Frank was a lifelong resident of the North Sea hamlet and the third-generation owner of the parcel), his children made sure these 28.6 acres of private use lands were transferred to the Town of Southampton for open and public use. The first two plaques were stolen, and eventually someone painted “Do What You Love” on the rock.

I worked with Peter Gaudiello at the Town of Southampton to get the plaque replaced to honor my cousin’s sincere philanthropy to the local beachgoers, especially to wonder at the beautiful summer sunsets.

So please understand that the stone is being used for the original purpose for which it was intended: to hold that plaque. Let us hope that Mr. Johns’s sentiment does not hasten the theft of the current plaque.

Colonel (Ret.) Charles Tupper

Edisto Island, South Carolina

Tupper is a former resident of North Sea — Ed.