Greenville Marine
Survives Hurricane
From Boat & Motor
Dealer Magazine
 It
is every dealer’s nightmare. For Joe and Ann Vernelson, it became a
reality on September 16, 1999. Like much of North Carolina, the
Greenville-area business was hit by Hurricane Floyd and its damaging
wind gusts, downed trees, and wind-swept waters. “We sustained a lot
of damage from the hurricane itself, but our properties could have
survived that,” says Ann, who owns Greenville Marine with husband,
Joe. But it was flood waters the day after, not hurricane rains,
that swamped the dealership and most of the town.
“There was no warning,” recalls Ann. She says the hurricane waters
receded after Floyd passed by. But those waters were soon replaced
by significantly higher, significantly more damaging flood waters.
By the time the Vernelsons knew their town was in danger from the
swelling Tar River, the water was already lapping at the foundation
of their home and washing away their business.
As
the river waters rose, the Vernelsons had little time to look after
material belongings. First, Joe retrieved a boat from the
dealership, knowing it would be needed. Then they were able to
rescue Joe’s mother and move her and their RV to safety. Soon after,
Joe found himself in a week-long struggle to save his neighbors and
the family business.
“It
is hard to remember everything that happened,” he says. He does
remember going to work every day—sometimes by boat, via PWC, or on a
tractor—and helping out however he could. When he wasn’t securing
his own boats to poles and fences so that they wouldn’t be swept
away by the current, he was loaning boats and batteries to the
utilities people and participating in rescues. “I stayed in the
water seven days, working in a bathing suit.”
One
memory Joe says he won’t forget: helping a pregnant woman to safety,
just hours before she gave birth. “She had already walked a mile in
chest-high water, and by the time we saw her, she was exhausted. The
water was so high, I didn’t even know she was pregnant until we got
her in the boat,” he recalls. “Now she’s fine and the baby’s fine
too. But I’ll never forget seeing her working her way through that
water.”
Close to 50 people in eastern North Carolina were not so lucky,
losing their lives to what N.C. Governor Jim Hunt called
“devastation like we’ve never seen before.” Countless others lost
homes, businesses, and peace of mind. And the vast majority of these
people face the ramifications without any help from flood
insurance—the Vernelsons included.
Combining their home and the losses to the business, Joe estimates
that the disaster will cost them about $1 million. While their house
is a total loss, the dealership buildings can be repaired. When the
five-foot-high wall of water broke through the showroom windows,
computers, records, and merchandise were ruined. “What happened to
us would have put us out of business if we hadn’t put money away for
a rainy day,” says Joe.
 Now
interior walls are being replaced, floors have been ripped out and
are being redone, and parts shelves are being restocked. In essence,
they’ve had to strip the dealership bare and start over. “By the
time we’re up and running again, we will have been out of business
for three months,” Ann says. “It’ll take years for the area to be
back to normal.”
The
Vernelsons had an $8.5 million year last year, and expect that they
would have topped that this year. “But now we have to start over,”
says Joe. “I ain’t a quitter, so I have no choice. It scares me to
death to think about quitting. But now the hard thing is getting
motivated again.”
Care from the community has made it easier to keep going, say Joe
and Ann. Ann describes customers who come in with tears in their
eyes when they see the devastation. “We have to console them and
tell them that it’ll be all right,” she says. “It’s brought the
community closer together, bringing out the best in a lot of
people.”
 The
dealership was just one eastern North Carolina business or residence
that benefited from volunteer help. “They came on a mission,”
recalls Joe of a group of young people who spent a day cleaning up
and painting in the dealership. “They restored my faith in the youth
of America again. It’s funny how disasters either bring out the best
or the worst in people. For most, it brought out the best.
“Despite the fact that he was hit, too, Reggie Fountain was right
here making sure we were okay. Maycraft, Triton, and Sea Pro
actually gave us boats to help us get through. Eddie Smith was one
of the first people who called— and we don’t even carry Grady-White
anymore,” Joe recalls. He says most of his vendors really showed
support, and only one of his boat builders didn’t check in and offer
help.
Living the dream
“It was my dream,” says Joe. He had always wanted to sell
boats, and in September 1972, he made the dream come true. “The time
was right and the town was ready,” he says. So he quit his job at
the U.S. Post Office and opened Greenville Marine.
“For eight years we didn’t go to lunch,” Joe remembers. “We’d sell
during the day and rig at night. We worked hard and were successful
as a result. We even made Mercury’s Dealer Congress the first year
we were in business.”
Joe
says they haven’t slowed down since, but many other things have
changed over the years. In 1976, faced with no room to expand
operations, they moved to a larger, highway-fronted facility on two
acres. Joe says he knew he had to find room to grow or get out of
the business. He chose growth—and grow he did.
The
dealership has since expanded into a second building on the same
site—the new building is devoted to the Fountain powerboat operation
and the original one houses finance and sales offices, parts and
service, and an extensive tackle shop. The Vernelsons brought tackle
into the mix about three years ago, and say it’s since grown into an
impressive profit center.
 The
Vernelson’s children, who were three and five years old when
Greenville Marine opened its doors for business, grew as well.
Having grown up in the dealership, both are key players in its
current success. Son Danny concentrates on sales, and spends most of
his time working as the Fountain sales manager. Daughter Kathy
Varnell is the controller, and will eventually take on the role of
general manager, explains Ann. Kathy’s husband, Joe Varnell, runs
the tackle division, and has been integral in its popularity among
local bass fishermen.
Not
surprisingly, Greenville Marine’s lines have changed dramatically
over the years. The dealership started out with Dixie and now
carries some six lines of boats, including top-of-the-line Fountains
and Sea Rays. While they’ve introduced Yamaha and Johnson to the
power line-up, the dealership still carries Mercury, which the
Vernelsons worked hard to introduce to the area.
“Our customers count on us to carry good product and stand behind
it,” says Joe. “They say, ‘if that’s the one you believe in, then
that’s the one we’ll buy.’ If you take care of people, you can sell
any brand.”
“Service is our most important product,” adds Ann. “We try to sell
the best products we can, and then we strive to excel in servicing
those products.” She says it’s the only way a small business can
survive in a world of growing chain stores and retail outlets.
And
that’s what business is all about at Greenville Marine. And that’s
what gives Joe and Ann the spirit to rebuild—in essence, to start
over.
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