Coastal Delaware exerts a strong pull on area natives whose careers took them elsewhere

By Bill Newcott
Photograph by Carolyn Watson
From the June 2022 issue

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Walking across the stage for her 1995 graduation from Cape Henlopen High School, Ingrid Hopkins knew one thing for sure: She was getting out of here.

Not that she had been unhappy with her childhood on a dairy farm, her family or her friends. But the world outside coastal Delaware was beckoning, and she was answering the call: The following fall she began a life journey that took her to veterinary nursing school at Pennsylvania’s Delaware Valley University, then to a couple of horse farms — first in Indiana, then in Florida.  

 

There’s a strong local appetite for farmers markets, which vendors are eager to satisfy

By Pam George
Photograph by Pamela Aquilani
From the June 2022 issue

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Rehoboth Beach resident Pat Coluzzi once dreaded buying groceries in the summer. The errand required a trip on Route 1, which often resembles a parking lot. So, in 2007, she spearheaded the formation of the Rehoboth Beach Farmers Market in Grove Park. The ability to find fresh food within walking distance wasn’t the only motive. “I wanted to do something specifically for the community,” she recalls. 

The Tuesday market had 14 vendors for its inaugural year. Now it averages around 38 and has a waiting list. And, as Coluzzi had hoped, the market is a social hub. “People hang out with friends, listen to music — that’s what it’s all about,” she says.

 

A rare genetic condition hasn’t dampened Elle Nauman’s gift for brightening others’ lives

By Susan Towers
Photograph by Carolyn Watson
From the May 2022 issue

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Elle Nauman may know more students and teachers than anyone else at Cape Henlopen High School near Lewes. And those who’ve met the outgoing senior respond to the positive energy she radiates as well as her gentle nature — and her propensity to send text messages.

“All my friends text me after school,” Elle says, breaking into a broad smile that’s familiar to everyone who knows her. “She sends text messages to everyone, and they all message her back,” says her younger sister, Anna, a junior at Cape.