‘The Light at the End Is a Tunnell’

Frank Timberlake is president of R F Timberlake & Company, Inc., Marketing Communications Consultants, based in Wake County near Zebulon. He is a motivational speaker who has delivered presentations at several John Tunnell family and Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant events over the years.

John Tunnell started working at the Sanitary in Morehead City, N.C., in 1945. Frank Timberlake was 10 years old when he met John Tunnell about 60 years ago. You might say “they bonded.”

Frank Timberlake wrote this poem for John Tunnell’s surprise 85th birthday party at the Sanitary in 2015.

 

John Tunnell (center) with Frank Timberlake (right)

The light at the end is a Tunnell, and his name is John,

And to see what he’s become, look to where he’s from.

“Pamlico County,” he’s always and quickly quipped,

Proudly exclaiming, “Been workin’ hard since I’s a little nip.”

 

A high tider with his own characteristic Southern English brogue,

The demeanor of a captain, a teacher, sometimes even a rogue.

Captains Tony and Ted knew and appreciated his measure and his wit,

To run the Sanitary and to greet the folks, they knew that John was a fit.

 

For season after season, the tourist families to the Sanitary would come and go,

John greeted each one and before they left, their family, home and each name he’d know.

“You’re from Edgecombe County and you’re Uncle Delmus’ son” to one he’d say,

“And I’ve known your mama since she come down here to the shore to play.”

 

Some call him the Memory Man because he holds each name and person as treasure,

Oft times sitting around with customers and friends, looking back and taking measure.

With unmatchable recall, he pulls stories of Morehead, Down East and areas vast,

God made John’s recorder very well for it to store so much of our past.

 

Memories of Sanitary workers, beachcombing families, watermen and old pals,

John’s been storing them all up for years and sharing with the new dit-dot guys and gals.

From 16th Street he’d walk to work and ponder on things of Morehead and life,

He would think about his family and smile to think of Faye, his wife.

 

He knows us all so very well and prides himself on knowing us each and every one,

He’s seen us at our best, our worst and Lord knows he’s seen us eat a ton!

John’s transcended being the man in the restaurant, who knows who we are,

The memories, the smile of him and all of it has gone so way beyond, so very far.

 

John Tunnell is a light and he shines this very day, for us he’s a brilliant burn,

No matter where I go, no matter who I see, John’s already been before I can return.

He is in all our families, a part of our lives from which we’ll never depart,

John lives in Morehead City, North Carolina but moreover he lives in our hearts.

 

John Tunnell is a standard, a constant in the confusion of life’s complex funnel,

For me, and for so many others, the light at the end is John Tunnell.

 

Sanitary Fish Market brand has quite a following

 “The Queen of Clean Goes Sanitary” is the title of an essay written by Malinda Dunlap Fillingim and published by the North Carolina Folklife Institute in 2014. 

Fillingim said: “We never ate out…primarily because of my mother’s life motto that cleanliness was next to godliness, and no kitchen except hers was clean enough to meet her sanitary standards.” 

“She was the ‘Queen of Clean,’ and because of her reign, we ate out only if necessary and necessary came about once a year. She was terrified that one of us would get sick from food poorly cooked or unsanitary cooking conditions. 

“When we traveled, she packed a shoe box with biscuits, crackers and peanut butter, Mason jars of tea and tomatoes she’d slice and place on white bread, sans mayonnaise.” 

The car drove past gas stations that sold boiled peanuts, roadside hot dog stands and barbeque joints. “Mother reminded us no place was immune to some sort of food poisoning, disgusting flies or unwashed workers’ hands.” 

“Once, when my aunt let her cats roam in her kitchen while cooking, mother grabbed us kids, and we left, hungry. Germs were mother’s enemy, and the enemy was lurking behind every crumb outside her culinary domain.” 

The author’s stepfather Carl was a Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune in Onslow County. She wrote: “His life took him many different places, and he’d recount all the wondrous foods he enjoyed, leaving me hungry for variety outside of my mother’s kitchen.” 

“While mother attended nursing school at night, he and I ventured to restaurants around Jacksonville, Swansboro and Morehead City, all within close proximity of our Camp Jejeune home.” 

“We’d dirty up dishes to cover our eating escapades, tricking her into thinking we had eaten at home. Those were fun meals with Carl until mother became suspicious and discovered our outings.” 

“Somehow, Carl convinced her to try a restaurant he knew she’d like, one with a perfect name for the ‘Queen of Clean.’” 

“We drove to Morehead City one spring Saturday. After much cajoling, she agreed to eat at the restaurant perfectly named for her, the Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant. She inspected everything with her extraordinary eyes, calculating if it was clean enough for us to consume its foods.” 

“She noted the clean glasses, the hairnets on the cooks, the clean hands of the servers and the spotless floors and tables. She agreed that any restaurant with such a wholesome name was worthy of her patronage.” 

“We ate that day free from worry and enjoyed laughing at her zealous quest for germ-free gastronomy. She ate fish, shrimp and especially hushpuppies like there was no tomorrow. At the end of the meal, Carl estimated that mother ate about 20 hushpuppies.”

 “She blushed and said they were better than anything she’d ever eaten before. After that day, we went to the Sanitary frequently, and still to this day, when I eat there, I think about the hushpuppies that hushed up the ‘Queen of Clean’ one large bite at a time.”