By Delayna Earley
Swimmers who visit the pool at the Charles Lind Brown Center off of Greene Street in Beaufort will forever remember the name Alvin Settles after a ceremony on Monday, Nov. 14, renaming the pool in his honor.
The ceremony, hosted by Beaufort County, was held poolside as members of the Settles family and current and former elected officials shared stores about how the former swim instructor changed their lives with his dedication to teaching children how to swim.
“I have warm memories of how patient he was and compassionate he was in teaching the skills that you need to really survive around here as a young kid with the water that surrounds us,” Beaufort Mayor Steven Murray said about his two summers of swimming lessons with Settles.
Settles, who died in April 2021, spent more than 30 years teaching swim lessons at the pool.
He was recognized in June 2015 when the Beaufort City Council proclaimed June 23 as Alvin Settles Day to honor his years of service to the community.
He started teaching lessons when the pool was built in 1981 and spent the summer months, when he wasn’t working as a speech pathologist at the Department of Defense schools in Laurel Bay, teaching members of the Beaufort community how to swim.
“Many of Mr. Settles’ students who never would have had exposure to swimming or the opportunity to learn how to swim have excelled, some of them even becoming lifeguards,” stated the 2015 resolution sponsored by Kenneth Hodges in the SC House of Representatives.
In May 2022, Beaufort County Council passed a resolution affirming that the pool, formerly known in the community as the Greene Street Pool, located at the Charles Lind Brown Center shall be named in honor of Settles.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She spent six years as a videographer and photographer for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette before leaving the Lowcountry in 2018. After freelancing in Myrtle Beach and Virginia, she joined The Island News when she moved back to Beaufort in 2022. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
