Charles "CC" Williams is a South Carolina landmark. Visitors stop by his roadside stand in the Buck Hall area along Highway 17 just south of McClellanville to buy handcarved "walking sticks," canes, and handmade cast nets. Made with the skill, patience, and grace of a time long past, these works of art are the lessons learned from his father. He knows wood like he knows the local creeks to shrimp. Sitting on a folding chair in the shade of a live oak, he carves sticks, strings nets, weaves stories, and teaches those willing to stop awhile.

Whenever you stop by, Mr. Williams treats you like an eager apprentice. He introduces you to limbs of tupelo, cherry, oak, sweet gum, dogwood, and cedar. He picks up each piece of wood and greets it like an old friend. You are never quite sure which is his favorite, and it really doesn't matter. As you learn, you come to know about the texture and natural colors of his woods, about Lowcountry culture, about the land, about the man.

He's a Vietnam Veteran and worked as a U.S. Naval Investigator at the Charleston Navy Base.

"I retired from the Navy after 28 years. I would have made 30 if I hadn't gotten sick, but I didn't let it stop me. I kept busy." Mr. Williams was diagnosed with diabetes over 10 years ago at the Veterans Hospital in Charleston. Now he's on insulin twice a day.

"I did not know I was diabetic. My diabetes was diagnosed almost as a joke.  I was kind of tricked into going for the test by my wife. I really didn't know they were going to look for sugar. My wife knew. She had diabetes, and she could tell the symptoms. When they tested me, the doctors couldn't believe it. My numbers were so high, and here I was still going. I was a walking disaster. I mean it was serious, my numbers were way up there past 800. They worked on me. Took good care of me. After I learned about what to do, what to eat, checking my sugar numbers, I did it all. I cooked all the right foods and watched everything. I learned about exercise, diet and all of that. I did it all for a while. I get my exercise because I'm always walking in the woods. Looking for wood for my sticks. Some people walk along the highway, but I walk in the woods, looking for sticks to carve, stepping over stuff, and there are plenty of places to sit down. I keep busy."

"When you have it for so long, you know to listen to your body. If you sit around and worry about diabetes and don’t do anything about it, you’ll be in worse shape. Diabetes does not stop me." Mr. Williams doesn’t worry.

Sheila Powell, REACH 2010 community health advisor, lives in the nearby community of Awendaw. She stopped by to invite Mr.Williams to exhibit his crafts at the St.James-Santee Family Health Center's 
Health & Wellness Community Fair. 
 

As he works, he talks about his life in the Navy, his family, his diabetes, and everything inbetween. In 1998, his family's house burned down. He wasn’t worried, he just started all over. Mr Williams is always happy to share his philosophy of life:

"Don’t try to be what you ain’t if you ain’t what  you are."

 Mr. Williams holds the picture of him that won First Place
 in the South Carolina Rural Health Association Annual Photo Contest. 

Mr. Williams' work has been featured in the Georgetown Times, the South Carolina Wildlife magazine, a McClellanville cookbook, the Charlotte Observer, and the Charleston Post & Courier. Invited to participate in folklife festivals and community events, he helps preserve the traditional arts, crafts and culture of South Carolina. In the meantime, he tends his garden, carves canes, makes cast nets, and makes friends of strangers. He just plain keeps busy.

"Diabetes does not stop me"

"You have to keep going, stay active, get out and do things. I think that's the most important thing."  His calm voice reflects the quiet countryside that surrounds him. But his laughter comes with the love of wood that his father gave him, and he passes it along. He hopes that young kids will listen and learn from him. He knows diabetes and a whole lot about living well.

 

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