Doris Dayhoff was born in a house on Sullivan’s Island on March 5th, 1928. During this interview, she recounts her early childhood growing up on the island. Her father worked as a tugboat captain and an oysterman. Her mother was postmistress at the Atlanticville Post Office. The family home was at Station 26 ½ and Myrtle Avenue on the marsh side of the island, locally referred to as “the back beach.” Property research indicates the land was originally part of a “King’s grant” in the Colonial era. Dayhoff helped her father with his oyster business, selling pints of fresh oysters for only 25 or 50 cents each. Dayhoff attended elementary school on Sullivan’s island. For high school, Dayhoff first attended Memminger on the Charleston peninsula, though she attended and graduated from the newly opened Moultrie School. Much of her time was spent on the beach with friends, and in this interview Dayhoff recounts an instance when one of her friends nearly drowned. Dayhoff also recalled how, despite there being only a few stores on the island, one store operated a delivery service for the residents of the island, including going to the house of customers to take their order. Dayhoff was in high school when World War II started. She described the island’s initial reaction to Pearl Harbor. Like most all the other girls on the island, Dayhoff was recruited during the war to go to the local USO clubs as a volunteer to dance with the servicemen. Dayhoff recounted how some of the airmen would later fly over the beach and dip their wings to say good-bye to the girls as they flew off to war. Dayhoff described the stresses of living on the island during World War II, including blackouts, rationing, and evidence of U-Boat activity. A GI from Ft. Moultrie eventually asked Dayhoff to marry him, which she did. Doris describes in detail the origins of Sullivan’s Island Baptist Church, which she has attended for 68 years. Dayhoff discusses the changes the island has undergone in her lifetime, including the island demographics shift, the accretion of land and increased traffic on the island.
Doris Sander Lancaster was born in a house on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, in 1928, and ever since has spent most of her life on the island. In this interview she recounts memories of childhood growing up including games, crabbing, and playing on the beach. She tells of the house near Station 24 where she and other family members grew up "fatherless." Doris details much of the relationships between the civilian population and Fort Moultrie Military Reservation. She recalls the initial reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She and other island girls then were recruited by the USO to dance with the ever-increasing number of servicemen in the area who were headed for the war. She tells of her emotional reaction to the newsreels showing the horrors of combat. Doris met her future husband, Bob, when he was stationed at the fort. They were married in 1948 and spent most of their married life on the island. A great deal of Doris's narrative surrounds the relationship with Stella Maris Catholic Church, the events that took place and the personalities involved. The interview ends with Doris Lancaster's reactions to the many changes that have occurred on Sullivan's Island over the 94 years of her life.
