Have you ever stopped to think about how the Isle of Palms became such a great place to live? Sure, there’s sand and surf, but there’s more to island life than having the beach at our fingertips. This idyllic community has been shaped by the contributions of countless residents, both past and present. And many of them are women.
Carmen Bunch
A maker of tough decisions
One whose name will certainly spring to mind is that of Carmen (Ramirez) Bunch, the island’s first (and only) woman mayor. The timing of her birth, just days before women earned the right to vote, foreshadowed the remarkable future in store for her.
Born in New York City, she joined the U.S. Navy during World War II, interpreting and translating communications between Allied Forces. She married another sailor, Jack Bunch, and the couple later moved to the Isle of Palms, Jack’s hometown, where they ran his family’s restaurant at Breach Inlet. They left the restaurant business after several years and went to work at the Charleston Naval Shipyard where she was employed for 22 years as a recreation specialist.
When the city was incorporated in 1953, Bunch had begun attending city council meetings. She ran for mayor in 1981, two years after her husband’s death, but lost to the incumbent. Bunch would, however, win the next mayoral election after serving four years on the city council. And so began her 16-year tenure as mayor.
Bunch’s moxie was put to the test when Hurricane Hugo blasted the Isle of Palms in 1989. About 95% of the homes on the island were destroyed or rendered unsafe. Roads became impassable and even the Ben Sawyer Bridge, the only route onto the islands at the time, could not be used. Bunch had concerns that looters would still find their way onto the island, so, with the approval of then-Gov. Carroll Campbell, martial law was imposed, allowing only civil authorities on the Isle of Palms. This decision caused anger and frustration among many property owners who were anxious to return home and assess the damage. Despite the swell of controversy surrounding her decision, she was re-elected to a second term as mayor, and after serving four consecutive terms, she retired in 2002 at the age of 81.
In 2013, the city council used Charleston County Greenbelt Program funds to purchase a 1-acre lot next to the Island Center to be used as a public park named in her honor.
Ann Graham
Unafraid of fire and flames
Another influential figure on the island was Ann Graham, the first woman to hold the position of fire chief. Coincidentally, she made history as the first woman in the entire state to have that title. Graham, who grew up on neighboring Sullivan’s Island, became interested in firefighting after witnessing two horrendous fires near her home there.
In 1973, when she was just 13, a large fire on Middle Street at Station 22 . destroyed The Breakers, a 50-year-old structure that had once been a dance pavilion. The event prompted her to often stop by the island’s volunteer fire station and talk with the men there while waiting on her school bus.
But she learned there’s more to firefighting than running into a fire, and she was compelled to take a CPR course while a student at Wando High School. A short time later, a fire broke out at the home of her elderly neighbor, and she witnessed firefighters rescue the victim who then received CPR from a nurse at the scene. Graham wanted to assist with the procedure but her offers to help were dismissed because she was a young girl. That set things in motion for Graham to begin her uphill battle to join the all-male Sullivan’s Island Volunteer Fire & Rescue service.
Determined to fulfill each requirement she was told she needed, there seemed to always be an excuse given for refusing her acceptance into the squad. She finally got the nod when Anthony Stith became Sullivan’s Island’s fire chief, and the squad members voted her in. In 1985, Graham began a full-time career at the Isle of Palms Fire Department where she became the island’s first certified firefighter, later earning the rank of captain.
In 1994, she was hired as fire chief, a position she held for 26 years. Graham retired in 2020 after 35 years with the Isle of Palms Fire Department, leaving an indelible mark on improvements in safety and professionalism.
Kathy Carroll
A wearer of many hats
Today’s residents have also benefited from the contributions of scores of women who don’t hold elected or official positions, but whose efforts have nonetheless enhanced our lives. One of those women was Kathy Carroll.
In 1959, when the Isle of Palms was just beginning to see its first full-time residents, Carroll and her family became part of that wave, renting the second floor of a house on 22nd Avenue and joining the many other Navy families who chose to live on the island. As a Navy wife whose husband was often away at sea, she was the backbone of the family but also became very involved in the community, which consisted of only several hundred full-time residents at the time.
Carroll’s passion was her volunteerism with the Ladies Playground Auxiliary, the forerunner of the Isle of Palms Recreation Department, where she served as Auxiliary director. Among the club’s many initiatives, the group held fundraisers to purchase playground equipment rather than ask the newly formed city council for money. Back then, just as now, the Recreation Center was seen as the heart of the community, and the department has expanded its mission today to include a variety of services and programs that benefit island residents, both young and old.
Carroll later earned her South Carolina real estate license and established Carroll Realty with her son Jimmy in 1981. He went on to be elected mayor, crediting his mother with teaching him the fiscal responsibility necessary for the job – a skill she had honed both as a Navy wife and as a community leader.
For more than a century, March 8 has been celebrated across the globe as International Women’s Day to recognize the roles and sacrifices of women in all facets of society. But only one day set aside to laud their contributions is certainly not enough, and in 1987 the U.S. Congress designated the entire month of March to honor the contributions of all women, those both prominent and less known.
The tradition has since spread to other countries. Because after all, half of the human race is made up of women, all who leave their own mark in our lives and communities.
By Mary Coy
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