BY JANET BERNOSKY
Eastern Shore Post
For the first time in more than two decades, Evelyn Shotwell will have nothing but time on her hands — and that’s something she is very much looking forward to.
For as long as she can remember, her own personal calendar has revolved around a robust schedule of community events as executive director of the Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce and Certified Visitor Center. Shotwell retired from that position effective January 3.
“I have no idea how this is going to play out, and I am OK with that,” she said.
Now, she anticipates that her grandchildren’s events will fill that calendar, along with a few spontaneous road trips with her husband, Holt, with nowhere in particular in mind.
Shotwell began her career at the chamber in 2001, hired as a part-time summer tourism counselor.
“I told people how to get to the beach and how to find the ponies,” she said.
She loved the job and was asked to stay on, soon becoming the office manager/bookkeeper. However, she also found herself wearing many hats in an office with two employees.
When Suzanne Taylor retired as executive director, Shotwell was hired for the position in February, 2014. One of the first things she did as director was to convince the board to hire more people.
One of those hired was Joanne Frick Moore, the chamber’s marketing and events coordinator, who has worked alongside Shotwell since October 2014.
How Moore got her job had much to do with fate and being in the right place — at an unexpected time.
Moore was living in Chincoteague with her family and was contemplating returning to work after years as a stay-at-home mom.
Her husband casually mentioned to her that if anyone knew what jobs were available on the island, Evelyn Shotwell would know.
Moore hadn’t quite gotten around to contacting her yet when she ran into Shotwell in H & H Pharmacy on the island while picking up medication for her daughter, who was ill. They began talking and one thing quickly led to another.
“I literally hired Joanne that day in the cold remedies aisle of the pharmacy,” Shotwell said.
Now, Moore is taking the reins as executive director from her boss and mentor, a role Shotwell said she has been grooming Moore for since the day she hired her.
Moore reflected on this fortuitous encounter, saying that “if my daughter wasn’t sick, I might not be here. I was looking, but not looking.”
Neither woman is from Chincoteague or the Eastern Shore and both arrived on the island via different paths.
Moore, who hails from northern New Jersey, received an undergraduate degree in accounting from Salisbury State College, now Salisbury University. On a trip back to the area to visit her college roommate in 1990, she met Will Moore and she married him four years later.
A Chincoteague native, he was serving in the Coast Guard at the time, a career that would lead them away from the area for many years. They settled in Chincoteague in 2009 as part of his retirement package.
Originally from North Carolina, Shotwell and her husband were busy raising their children in Hillville but frequently traveled to Chincoteague on vacation.
The couple always felt the island was a special place they’d retire to someday when they were older. However, the Shotwells opted for sooner, rather than later. In 1997, they decided to pull up roots while still in their thirties and replant them on the island they’d come to love.
“We chose Chincoteague for our home,” Shotwell said. “We picked it because we loved it here as visitors and felt it would be a great place to raise our children.”
Now that retirement truly is here, Shotwell reflected back on her time at the chamber.
“What a gift it’s been to share my love for Chincoteague on a daily basis with our visitors, some here for the first time — while also helping our local businesses thrive and prosper.”
