Bill Creasy always had the answer. For many years, he was a go-to fount of knowledge about all things Wrightsville Beach.
William Bulluck Creasy Jr., 87, died at home June 4 in Wrightsville Beach. He was born in Wilmington and spent many summer days at his family’s summer home in Wrightsville Beach, riding the trolley that has long since ceased running. Years later, his machinist’s job with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad took him away from Wilmington, but he and his late wife, Elaine Cartier Creasy, moved back to the beach in 1986 for good.
Creasy was a founding member of the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History and the organization that made it possible, the Wrightsville Beach Preservation Society. His longtime friend, former Wrightsville Beach Fire Chief Everett Ward Jr., remembers the day in 1995 the society moved the historic Myers Cottage to Salisbury Street, where it would get a new life as the home of the museum.
“He was leading the TKF House Moving truck,” Ward said.
A collector, Creasy contributed many photographs and other items to the museum, including a brass train whistle. But the contribution he was most known for was his steel-trap memory, which helped local historians piece together bits of the beach town’s past.
“For many, many years he was the go-to person for the museum,” said Madeline Flagler, executive director. Whatever the museum needed, he would be more than happy to do, Flagler said. Among other things, he helped create a 12-foot model of the beach, including a working model of the trolley he rode as a boy.
“When he wasn’t tinkering in his garage workshop, drafting plans and building everything from miniature steam engines to a calliope organ,” his obituary reads, “Bill could be found on his front porch overlooking Banks Channel, telling tales of beach days past with friends and family, usually with an orange tabby cat by his side.”
Creasy would often accompany his wife, also a dedicated museum volunteer, to the museum. In later years, after her death, he was still a welcome fixture, often bringing figs from his yard to the staff.
And if someone had a question about Wrightsville Beach history or needed help identifying an old photograph or postcard, he or she often looked to Creasy for help.
“He was just a Wrightsville Beach expert,” said local historian Susan Taylor Block.
Wilmington resident Elaine Henson got to know Creasy because of their mutual love of postcard collecting. While working on a project for the museum about a century of dining in Wrightsville Beach, she needed help identifying the image on an old postcard.
“I arranged to go to his house, and the minute he saw it he said it was the first Neptune, — right off the top of his head,” Henson said, referring to the King Neptune restaurant. She hadn’t recognized the original building, which was next door to the current site and has since been torn down.
His deep knowledge of local history will leave a large hole, Flagler said.
Creasy’s son-in-law, former Wrightsville Beach Mayor David Cignotti, will remember his ability to tackle just about any job he set his mind to accomplishing.
“He taught me how to use power tools,” Cignotti said. That skill was a must, in Creasy’s mind, for any man who may marry his daughter, Susan Creasy.
No job was too big to do himself. After Hurricane Fran, Creasy rebuilt his dock.
“He really could make anything,” Cignotti said.
Ward, who delivered the eulogy at Creasy’s June 9 memorial service, said he used to trade historical tidbits with his friend. Sometimes, the pair would make model tugboats, with Creasy crafting tiny steam engine parts himself.
“His house was like a walk-in museum,” Ward said. The collection included a running model trolley on his balcony. And, Ward added, Creasy never bought anything if he could make it himself.
In lieu of flowers, his family asks that donations be made either to the Wrightsville Beach Museum or to Lower Cape Fear Hospice. The museum has already received donations and will discuss with Creasy’s family how that money will be used, Flagler said. A goldfish pond was installed in memory of his late wife, and Flagler said she is certain there will be some lasting memorial to Creasy and his contributions.
“His love of the beach inspired other people,” she said.
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