Like many others, my wife Elaine and I have lost a dear friend with Louise Hunsucker’s passing. We will sorely miss seeing her at the beach and our visits with her at her home.
Louise and I were in high school together but I knew her best thru dancing with her at the High Point City Lake and Carolina Beach in the late 40’s and early 50’s. In my experience she was one of the great early beach music dancers. However we both pretty much quit dancing at some point in the 50’s as marriage and other things prevailed.
As our children became older my wife and I jump started a new interest in the shagging scene. This was in the early 80’s beginning with the early SOS gatherings. Of course locally it was the Bushes on Elm Stin Greensboro and the Winston Salem beach clubs. Thirsty’s would come later.
Don’t know if its true but a couple of years after Billy Ray died, maybe 86’ or 87’, I was told that Louise was having trouble getting over it so I decided to pay her a visit. My main purpose was to encourage Louise to get back into dancing and I invited her to go with us to The Bushes. Her reaction was “Oh, I don’t know. It’s been a long time”. I called her a couple of times over the next few weeks but to no avail. However a short time later on a Sunday afternoon, there she was, dancing like she had never stopped.
These dates are a little hazy but I believe it was 1988 when she moved to the beach area and that began a new life for her. She was able to enjoy her rebirth into shagging, to meet many new (and old) friends and to move on to recognition such as induction into the Shaggers Hall of Fame, Thirsty’s Wall of Fame, Living Legends, etc.
After her move to the beach we exchanged Christmas Cards every year, including last Christmas. Very appropriately for someone living at the beach she always sent us a Santa Claus Christmas card. Old Santa may be riding a surf board or a jet ski, water skiing, fishing, racing in a speed boat, sunning on the beach while reading the children’s wish list, or lying on the beach while beautiful girls waited on his every whim. It got to the point where I waited eagerly for her card every year and it became one of the highlights of Christmas for me.
Yes, I will miss her friendship, her dancing, and the good times we shared. But I will also miss my Santa Claus Christmas Card from Louise and Christmas will probably never be the same for me again.
Zack Clinard
6013 Old Park Lane
High Point, NC 27265
Ph: 336-882-1465
Another article that was published in the Carefree Times concerning Louise Hunsucker & MiMi Benedict
By David Smith
Grand Ladies of the Dance:
Grand Ladies of the Dance.pdf