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Wrightsville Beach remembers longtime business owner Buddy Wiles

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Friends of a long-time Wrightsville Beach business owner gathered at Lagerheads Tavern on Thursday afternoon to remember Avery Ashley ‘Buddy’ Wiles, 64, the former owner of Buddy’s Crab House and Oyster Bar, who died on Sunday, June 26 after a long battle with illness.

Having been laid to rest earlier that day at Sealawn Memorial Park in Hampstead, dozens came out to remember the man who was renowned for his humor, his humanity and the cheerful establishment that welcomed Wrightsville Beach residents and visitor alike for 25 years.

One old friend, former alderman Ed Paul, had guests sign a can of Spam. As the story goes, while crabs and oysters were in the business name, they weren’t always on the menu. When customers would ask about the food options, Wiles would inform them that though there were no crabs or oysters, there were “Spam sandwiches for everyone!”

Did the limited food options drive away patrons? Never, said Morghan Getty, a former bartender at Buddy’s who drove from West Virginia to attend Wiles funeral.

“He had an anecdote for everything. He always had an off-the-cuff response and people loved him for it,” Getty said. “You were sucked in, immediately.”

The location had significance, as the current Lagerheads Tavern location was where the original Buddy’s was located, before moving by Johnnie Mercer’s Pier in 2002 and closing in February. The original Buddy’s location is where Laura and Ed Paul met, as Ed, drinking a beer, stopped the pretty lady he saw running the loop to ask her to dinner. As patrons, Buddy’s was a place where they built their relationship.

“If not for this place, we never would have met,” Laura Paul said. “He created that atmosphere himself. Buddy was a free-spirited friend of everyone.”

Paul’s sister, Jackie Whitaker, remembers Wiles sticking his head out the window to try to call in patrons to Buddy’s on slow days.

“He was an original,” Whitaker said. “He wanted to engage with everyone and be a part of their good time.”

Another former patron said it was all part of the atmosphere that Wiles created at Buddy’s.

“The greatest legacy that Buddy Wiles left behind, aside from his family which he adored, was his extreme ability to bring so many people from all walks of life together,” said Patti Riddle.

Many former employees were there to remember the boss who created a work environment they said was more like family.

“He would give you the shirt off of his back if you needed it to survive,” said former Buddy’s bartender Audrey Holloman. “He was the most ambitious person I ever met. He could succeed at anything he put his mind to.”

Matt Wiles, Buddy’s son, remembered the man who wanted a change of pace in his work, leaving the construction industry to open the tavern that was just down the street from the house he built on North Lumina Ave. Wiles now manages the Buddy’s Crab House and Oyster Bar in Surf City.

Wiles said one of his fondest memories of his father was a boat trip the two took to Florida when he was 19 years old. Restoring the 40-foot Chris Craft boat was just an example of how Buddy Wiles was able to succeed at whatever he put his mind to.

“When Buddy wanted to make it happen, he made it happen,” Matt Wiles said.

Wiles leaves behind his wife of 37 years, Karen Denise Wiles; three sons, Dion Wiles and his wife Wells, Matthew Brady Wiles and Matthew Shaun McGrady, and daughter Shannon Dawn Slone and her husband, Jason; two sisters and five grandchildren. He died after a long battle with hereditary hemochromatosis, which eventually caused cancer.

For Matt Wiles, his father’s lasting legacy will be the relationships he established with the people he met.

“His overall compassion for people was inspiring,” he said. “He loved everyone. He taught me to always stay in touch with your friends. Always.”

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