And joining the Nutrition Leaders around 

 1985 opened her eyes to the possibilities and 

 potential of seafood. 



"First is fresh, fresh, fresh," she says. 

 Fresh ingredients and fresh fish and shellfish 

 taste better. "Also, that seafood can be cooked 

 many different ways." 



Kay Holm 



Squid. That was the first seafood 

 ingredient Kay Holm was introduced to as the 

 newest Nutrition Leader one day at the Seafood 

 Lab in the early 1980s. "I looked at it and 

 thought, ooooooh. But it was darned good!" 



Anne Lawton 



When it comes to creating things, Anne 

 Lawton' s hands can work magic. Whether 

 working behind a kitchen counter or a craft 

 table, Lawton could turn a few scraps of cloth 

 into a pretty quilt or a handful of ingredients into 

 a mouth-watering dish. 



"She had this big metal tin that she mixed 

 the fruitcake in," her daughter recalls. Those 

 fruitcakes tasted unlike any you could buy. Then 

 there were her crab cakes, homemade bread and 

 caramel cakes, too. 



One of five children to grow up on a farm 

 outside Summerville, S.C., Anne Smith married 



The cheery cook grew up on a farm near 

 Wilson Mills. The sixth of seven children, she 

 learned basic cooking skills helping out in the 

 kitchen. But before joining the group, 

 McNamee had never cleaned a crab or filleted a 

 fish. "I really only knew frying," she recalls. 



She had the good fortune to marry a 

 commercial fisherman who caught, cleaned and 

 cooked his own catch. 



Joining the Nutrition Leaders in the late 

 1980s taught McNamee new ways to prepare 

 their fresh-caught fare. Plus, over the years, she 

 lost 50 pounds and gained good friends, tasty 

 recipes and good health. 



says the long-time Merrimon resident. 



The Los Angeles native always has loved 

 seafood and loved to cook. She grew up by the 

 apron of her Armenian mother, watching her 

 craft pilafs, stuffed grape leaves, and of course, 

 her sweet, light baklava. 



Holm moved to Carteret County in 1975. 

 "Back then, I cooked seafood the way 

 everybody did — J fried it." But after joining 

 the Nutrition Leaders, Holm learned about 

 other species besides squid, how to use herbs 

 and spices, and new ways to cook and entertain 

 with seafood. 



an Army man in 1939, moving around the world 

 and rearing five children before retiring to 

 Carteret County in 1968. 



Two decades as a Nutrition Leader led 

 Lawton to cook more seafood for friends, family 

 and her home extension club, her daughter says. 

 "Everything she made was delicious." 



Iissie McNamee 



"I have my own gill net — 50 feet long — 

 three crab pots and a row boat," says Lissie 

 McNamee of Merrimon. "It's just enough for 

 me to go out there and catch a few mullet when I 

 can on Cedar Creek off the Intracoastal 

 Waterway." 



Betty Motes 



Like many coastal North Carolina families, 

 Motes' mother and father farmed and fished, 

 grew vegetables and raised hogs and chickens to 

 make a living. 



"My mother cooked fish at least once or 

 twice a week," she recalls. "We went clamming 

 in the summer and bought oysters in the winter. 

 We caught our own hard crabs in the summer. ... 



"We also canned fish roe, which we ate 

 with eggs from our own chickens, for breakfast." 



She married, keeping her roots near 

 Harlowe. As the Motes' family grew, Betty 

 began her own cooking traditions like conch 

 stew and fresh-cooked hard crabs. But the ritual 



10 AUTUMN 2003 



