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Becky has been repairing and restoring broken and antique dolls of all kinds for decades. Over the years she's had some unusual requests, including one customer who needed Becky's services after her ex-boyfriend poured syrup all over her prized doll collection. Her current batch includes a doll that was stored in a barn and eaten by rats, and a busty Dolly Parton doll in a red and white cowgirl suit, which was damaged in a fire. She's also restoring a highly prized antique Bye-LO Baby (The Mercedes Benz of dolls, apparently), valued at $600.
In addition to all the assorted body parts, Becky's workshop is cluttered with the tools of her trade -- sewing machine, air brush, sanders, twine, glue, scissors, paint, putty and storage boxes full of ribbons, lace and fabric. She even has a salon-style sink to wash the dolls' hair. My testosterone level is still depleted from a recent visit there.
Golf Ball Retriever
Marty Sohovich loves to see an errant golf ball flying into the drink -- each one is like money in the bank. As owner and operator of Encore Golf, he retrieves golf balls from ponds and lakes at golf courses throughout the Carolinas.
"I used to work for Time Warner Telecom in Charlotte, and I just got sick of working for the man," Sohovich explains.
Unlike old-school golf ball retrievers, who don scuba gear and go diving in the muck, feeling around blindly for golf balls, Sohovich went high-tech, plunking down about $25,000 for special golf-ball retrieving equipment.
"I have two pieces of equipment that I've customized. I put one on either side of the pond, both of which are attached by cables to a big 350-pound roller. The roller rolls along the bottom of the pond, and scoops up all the balls."
Sohovich says he can retrieve about 600 balls in 20 minutes, which is far more labor and time efficient, not to mention safer, than scuba diving. He estimates he retrieved about 400,000 golf balls last year. Once collected, they're cleaned, refurbished, sorted by quality, and sold back to golf courses. He also sells them on eBay under the search word "Encore Golf."
Scoreboard Operator
About an hour prior to every Charlotte Knights home game, up on the third floor of the stadium, you'll find lots of people scampering about and speaking in urgent tones. It's where you'll find Bob Young. By day, he's an ordinary project manager for Dixon Glass; but at night he becomes "Scoreboard Bob."
A big, sweet-natured 62-year-old husband and father of three boys, Bob moved to Fort Mill from Pennsylvania in "85. His base of operations -- the "Scoreboard Control Room" -- is a small, glass-enclosed office three floors up situated right behind home plate. It's sparse save for a couple of folding chairs and a stack of cameras and monitors, which are used to show video of players and their stats on the stadium's big screen. Bob lets fans keep track of the score and everything else by means of his little gray box with a series of buttons labeled "ball," strike," "out," etc. Despite the environment of controlled chaos, once the game starts Bob locks in on the action out on the field, ignoring all the noise and activity around him. "You gotta concentrate," he says. "It's a matter of paying attention and pushing the right buttons at the right time."
Pet Cemetery Proprietor
The smell of honeysuckle fills the air as you walk among the dearly departed, their names immortalized on headstones: "Buffy Tracas," "Tossol Hornblower," "My Neapolitan Buddy Brutis Moore," who sadly succumbed earlier this year at the age of 10. Thousands no doubt drive by the Charlotte Pet Cemetery on South Tryon Street every day without noticing it. Set next to a bustling neighborhood, it's been the final resting place for our four-legged or winged companions since 1954.
For the past three decades, Terry Davis has been the owner and operator, handling everything-from picking up euthanized animals at area clinics to digging graves and the final burial. Because most people now have their pets cremated, Davis doesn't have as many burials as in years past, but still averages about three or four a month. He estimates there are a total of about 3,500 pets buried at the cemetery.
"We have cats, dogs, birds, hamsters, gerbils; there's even a monkey out there," he says. Davis says grieving pet owners often hold funeral services, where they read poems or excerpts from the Bible. "I don't like for anybody's pet to die," he says. "Some of the nicest people you'll ever meet are pet owners."
