Southport Magazine

Everyone deals with the empty nest syndrome in their own way. Cindy Horrell Ramsey became an author and found a new sort of family — veterans who served on the USS Battleship North Carolina. Ramsey’s book ”Boys of the Battleship North Carolina” grew from a school assignment and is now used in training for the battleship’s living history crew. CindyRamsey is currently working on a book about Oak Island, featuring the stories of the people who lived and vacationed here.

“When we moved here, I fell in love with the island and just wanted to know more about it.  Basically, I don’t want to concentrate on just the history, but also the memories of what the island has meant to people throughout the years,” said Ramsey.

The working title is “Three Beaches and a Port: Oak Island Milestones and Memories”. It’s been bouncing around in her head for a couple of years. “I’m slow. I don’t write every day. I’m retired and it’s turtle season!” Ramsey remarked in a sweet Southern accent she claims she doesn’t have. Ramsey and her husband have been involved in the Turtle Watch program since moving to the island in 2018.  She used one of her experiences in “Maddie in the Middle,” when she saw a nest boil for the first time. Walking on the beach inspires Ramsey and helps her work through ideas she may be stuck on.  

Ramsey welcomes anyone who wants to share a story about Oak Island to email her at Cindyhorrellramsey@gmail.com.

Dunes Mercantile Gifts and Guitars, located at 8600 E. Oak Island Drive, Suite #5, will host a meet and greet book signing on Wednesday, Nov. 9 from 2-4 pm featuring Cindy Horrell Ramsey. Refreshments and snacks will be served and the public is welcome.

A Life That Led to Writing

Ramsey was born in Burgaw, and she and her husband Steve settled about 15 minutes north of Wilmington on Highway 421 amongst the tobacco and blueberry fields where they raised their two daughters and a son. Besides raising her family, Ramsey was busy as an administrator in a dental office, real estate paralegal and owned a wallpaper hanging business for 15 years. The family eventually moved to west Pender County. When her youngest was in college, Ramsey decided to enroll in college too, at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW), majoring in writing.

“I always loved to write, even when I was growing up, writing stories and stuff, even letters to the editor,” she chuckled.

Ramsey received a bachelor’s degree in writing and went on to earn an MFA in Creative Writing from UNCW.  Part of the requirement for the MFA was to write a publishable manuscript. 

”Boys of the Battleship North Carolina” was born from that assignment, and would eventually be her first published work in 2007. Ramsey describes the book as “a story of a ship seen through the eyes of the sailors.”

“With ‘Boys of the Battleship North Carolina,’ I had to learn the history along with the technology. I had to know what the guys did, how everything was and who did what. The most important part of that to me was the lives of the crew members themselves – why they joined, how being on the ship affected them and how they actually made the ship come to life,” Ramsey said.

Writing “Boys of the Battleship North Carolina” was not all smooth sailing for Ramsey.  “I just want to say it scared me, wordless, and I ran away from it for a couple of years. I even quit school. But the guys didn’t give up on me. They would call me or write and say, ‘How’s the book coming? I’m 85 and I won’t live forever!’” 

Ramsey’s “guys” were the Battleship veterans who served as sources for her work. 

During that time period, Ramsey also owned a family newspaper in Pender County for four-and-a-half years and would send the crew members subscriptions to let them know that she may not be working on the book, but was keeping busy with the paper and how great it was. Their response was always, “How’s the book?”

Sometimes it’s the belief that people have in you that drives you forward to believe in yourself. Just as the crewmen had propelled that ship forth, they also propelled Ramsey to publish her first book. Ramsey interviewed many of the crew members and fell in love with them, and some became really good friends.

“I tried to pull it all together in a cohesive story and also do them justice,” Ramsey said. “When I met them in the early 2000s, most of them were in their mid-80s. I went to reunions every year for 15 years. The biggest thing with this book was to write something worthy of the sacrifice that they have given for us all.”

The USS North Carolina battleship, located across the river from downtown Wilmington, now uses the book for its WWII Living History Crew as a requirement for the volunteer tour guides. Ramsey goes back every year for the reunion, and even though her research began 21 years ago, she still has trouble getting through her presentation without crying. The attendee numbers are diminishing, and last year only one crew member attended the event. Their lives will never be forgotten though as the book keeps living on and educating so many about the amazing “Showboat.”

Writing That Incorporates Personal Experiences and Real Life

Ramsey has an eclectic background, and that feeds her creativity. Instead of using an outline or character sketches, Ramsey lets her characters come alive and feed her.

“I know where I want the book to start and I know where I may want it to end, but that sometimes changes,” she said. “It’s like they take on a life of their own and I let them take me where they want to go. In a couple of my books, what is now the beginning was the end of the book when I first wrote it, but then when I revised, it shifted.”

Ramsey said she likes to write about things that matter and strives to feature women who are strong because that is important to her. That attribute can be seen in all her fiction work including “600 Letters Home” (2016), “Edge of Sanity” (2017), “Maddie in the Middle” (2018) and “Trying Not to Drown” (2020).  

Another of Ramsey’s works, “600 Letters Home,” features a love story between two teenagers during WWII who communicated through letters, though neither could tell the other where they were or what they were doing. “Roy couldn’t tell Evelyn where his ship was nor anything about his experiences. Likewise, Evelyn couldn’t tell Roy her secret job and where she lived but they were still able to develop their relationship,” Ramsey explained. 

“Edge of Sanity” takes place in the 1960s in Burgaw, where Emily Gillespe’s world seems to be spinning out of control. Her marriage is not the fairytale that it is perceived to be as her husband is jealous and abusive. But Emily is determined to find inner strength to build a new life.

“‘Edge of Sanity’ actually started out as an attempt in one of my MFA writing classes to write something that did not sound like me,” Ramsey said. “Everyone kept saying that they would know my writing without seeing my name. That’s a really good thing, but at the time, I thought it was a liability and tried to do something different. That short story sat in my drawer for a very long time, years in fact, but ended up being the basis of the book. It was fun to write and my most edgy book.” Ramsey is currently working on a sequel to “Edge of Sanity.”

“Maddie in the Middle,” features a troubled 10-year-old who is born between two sets of twin brothers. She has a big problem – her daddy doesn’t like her. On a trip to the beach, Maddie and her daddy come face to face with the secret that has haunted him for more than 45 years. Maddie is in the middle of everything! This book also became a fundraiser for Ramsey’s cousin who needed a kidney transplant.

“I dedicated this book to her and used it as a fundraiser and we raised quite a lot of money,” said Ramsey. “I actually tried to find a kidney donor for her and was able to go on television. She had a lot of people who tried to get tested but they did not match. This book also has a Vietnam veteran in it, and to me that’s something that really matters. I did an article for Wrightsville Magazine where I interviewed seven Vietnam Veterans about their experiences and it was just heartbreaking.”

Ramsey often pulls from personal experiences in her works. “Trying Not to Drown” features Lucy Miller Brown dealing with Hurricane Florence and its aftermath, having to make decisions on how to survive as the floods threatened her family and farm. It is also a salute and a tribute to the resiliency and generosity of people in the community.

“We moved to the area right before Florence, so I was able to experience the way communities came together to help people who had been flooded. There was even a church in Burgaw that turned their whole building into a warehouse and people would just bring stuff. It was important to me that Lucy have options.  When she was making life decisions at the end, she had gotten past the disaster but had to choose what direction her life was going in,” Ramsey said.

Meet Ramsey at the Dunes Mercantile author event Nov. 9, and share your stories of Oak Island for Ramsey’s latest project — maybe your Oak Island memories will be shared with readers everywhere!