| TRAVELS OF DURSMIRG VOLUME IV THE ROGUES OF ST. AUGUSTINE AND OTHER SOCIAL MISFITS Chapter 58 |
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YACHTERS, THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY: TALLY GRAVES
Tally Graves;
Big burley and jovial jolly Tally retired from the FBI and came down to St. Augustine, drawn in by a business
opportunity and the southern climate.
Dropping out of the federal government bureaucracy in his early fifties and just young enough to become a “born-
again-capitalist” Tally was a renegade rogue with the energy and self motivated drive that would make him a
success at whatever he desired.
Tally was self assured and a self-motivated self-made man that was going to be 100% involved by working his ass
off night and day. On call and carrying two cell-phones around the clock soon made determined and focused Tally
into the owner of two McDonald Restaurants. Success was his only objective.
Business success plus an intensely focused goal oriented mind-set drove a wedge into Tally’s marriage and before
long his marriage fell apart.
That didn’t slow Tally down one bit, in fact he seemed to roll with the punches and thrive on his hectic high speed
pursuit of happiness.
The ex-wife and workaholic Tally divided up the proceeds from the sale of their two McDonald Restaurants and then
Tally went on to purchase a Dairy Queen Store on his own.
The location of the Dairy Queen Store on San Marco Avenue directly across the street from the tourist attraction the
“Old Mission” was superb.
The condition of the business was run down and poor but that was a plus for pick-them-up Tally with his visionary
business expertise and high powered physical stamina to turn the looser into a winner.
In less than a month Tally’s Dairy Queen Store was cleaned, polished, and prospering. You could say that this was
luck, but it wasn’t. It was the product of intense attention to detail and ungodly long hours of dedicated effort.
Tally only knew success and he had already been trained into this kind of business with his two McDonald
Restaurants, so he knew exactly what to do next.
Later Tally married his number one most valued employee, Jan.
Jan was a super charged enthusiastic bundle of energy that had the unique ability to inspire and lead the work force
and make them happy to be on her team at the same time.
Tally and Jan were an unbeatable team that stayed together and focused on their business and if you met them you
would be convinced that they were condemned to a workaholic life style for ever-more…not so!
They worked hard and they played hard and they were also focused on getting the most out of their lives.
Tally loved his music with an enthusiastic exuberant passion and enjoyed playing any musical instrument that he
happened to lay his hands on.
This fun loving guy lived to make music, sing and party full blast.
Friday evenings you would find Tally and Jan over at Stompin Ron’s Rock Bottom Boatyard with Ron and Brigid
Barnes where music was made with the jug-band atmosphere that was not always in tune but it was loud. The Friday
night cook-outs and musical jam-sessions were always positively primitive and the beer drank was the cheapest
special of the week but it was served cold which was its only saving grace.
This was the no frills stomp’ in group that consisted of “don’t give a damn” Ron Barnes singing his proverbial lungs
out. He didn’t require an amplifier because he was boom-box loud, not good.
Stompin Ron’s straight faced 100% Irish wife Brigid played her electronic auto-harp while whispering prompts to her
out-of-control husband.
The only in-tune music maker in the group was sober non-drinking John Golden who bought and finished out one of
the welded steel Gazelle sailboats from the boatyard.
He played a homemade stringed washtub contraption.
Dropout eccentric John Golden was the only professional in the group and he used to play full time with the Atlanta
Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra before retiring to St. Augustine…definitely a social misfit who positively qualified
for social misfit status.
Those were the core players at the Rock Bottom Boatyard but enthusiastic fun loving musicians like Tally were
always dropping in to join the festivities and let it all hang.
Any time Jane and I had a party and especially at our annual 4th of July parties that were enormous culminating with
a fireworks display in our waterfront yard the Rock Bottom Boatyard musicians along with Tally would be there to
entertain the group and themselves.
Tally naturally picked up any instrument in sight and played it no matter what it was a harmonica, guitar or ukulele;
he was destined to make music.
Somewhere floating around in Tally’s brain there was a yacht.
You guessed it, he made his next home a real, make no mistake about it floating palace fitted out with more creature
comforts than are found in palatial mansions.
This guy earned his own self motivated way in life and deserved it all.
We always knew that square pegged Tally was a social misfit but now he proved it when he sold his home and
moved permanently aboard his own new motor cruising yacht, a 55- footer and he was always dreaming of bigger
and better. This inner driving desire would motivate Tally to pile up yet a bigger stack of cash.
A doer and a dreamer Tally sailed in his own element aboard his luxurious motor yacht that was his one and only
home…until something bigger and better came drifting along.
I don’t think that Tally really needed to go anywhere with his vessel…he just needed to feel the decks beneath his
feet with the occasional gentle roll or the surge of his floating home tied to the dock and plugged into the world.
Enterprising philanthropic Tally made a special offer to any eager young couple that had the ambition, drive and
desire to make them into millionaires in less than five years.
He offered to bank-roll and finance them, then train them and tutor them into his Dairy Queen Store business.
I approached several young people we knew with this once in a lifetime proposition and the only response I ever got
was a shrug of the shoulders and the statement; “that would be a lot of work”…well yes it would, but then if you don’t
aspire you just don’t.
As the old saying says; “you can lead the horse to water but you can’t make him drink”.
Tally never did find that young couple to mentor but he did sell the business and moved on. He and Jan floated
away to enjoy their lives together.
next chapter
Tally Graves;
Big burley and jovial jolly Tally retired from the FBI and came down to St. Augustine, drawn in by a business
opportunity and the southern climate.
Dropping out of the federal government bureaucracy in his early fifties and just young enough to become a “born-
again-capitalist” Tally was a renegade rogue with the energy and self motivated drive that would make him a
success at whatever he desired.
Tally was self assured and a self-motivated self-made man that was going to be 100% involved by working his ass
off night and day. On call and carrying two cell-phones around the clock soon made determined and focused Tally
into the owner of two McDonald Restaurants. Success was his only objective.
Business success plus an intensely focused goal oriented mind-set drove a wedge into Tally’s marriage and before
long his marriage fell apart.
That didn’t slow Tally down one bit, in fact he seemed to roll with the punches and thrive on his hectic high speed
pursuit of happiness.
The ex-wife and workaholic Tally divided up the proceeds from the sale of their two McDonald Restaurants and then
Tally went on to purchase a Dairy Queen Store on his own.
The location of the Dairy Queen Store on San Marco Avenue directly across the street from the tourist attraction the
“Old Mission” was superb.
The condition of the business was run down and poor but that was a plus for pick-them-up Tally with his visionary
business expertise and high powered physical stamina to turn the looser into a winner.
In less than a month Tally’s Dairy Queen Store was cleaned, polished, and prospering. You could say that this was
luck, but it wasn’t. It was the product of intense attention to detail and ungodly long hours of dedicated effort.
Tally only knew success and he had already been trained into this kind of business with his two McDonald
Restaurants, so he knew exactly what to do next.
Later Tally married his number one most valued employee, Jan.
Jan was a super charged enthusiastic bundle of energy that had the unique ability to inspire and lead the work force
and make them happy to be on her team at the same time.
Tally and Jan were an unbeatable team that stayed together and focused on their business and if you met them you
would be convinced that they were condemned to a workaholic life style for ever-more…not so!
They worked hard and they played hard and they were also focused on getting the most out of their lives.
Tally loved his music with an enthusiastic exuberant passion and enjoyed playing any musical instrument that he
happened to lay his hands on.
This fun loving guy lived to make music, sing and party full blast.
Friday evenings you would find Tally and Jan over at Stompin Ron’s Rock Bottom Boatyard with Ron and Brigid
Barnes where music was made with the jug-band atmosphere that was not always in tune but it was loud. The Friday
night cook-outs and musical jam-sessions were always positively primitive and the beer drank was the cheapest
special of the week but it was served cold which was its only saving grace.
This was the no frills stomp’ in group that consisted of “don’t give a damn” Ron Barnes singing his proverbial lungs
out. He didn’t require an amplifier because he was boom-box loud, not good.
Stompin Ron’s straight faced 100% Irish wife Brigid played her electronic auto-harp while whispering prompts to her
out-of-control husband.
The only in-tune music maker in the group was sober non-drinking John Golden who bought and finished out one of
the welded steel Gazelle sailboats from the boatyard.
He played a homemade stringed washtub contraption.
Dropout eccentric John Golden was the only professional in the group and he used to play full time with the Atlanta
Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra before retiring to St. Augustine…definitely a social misfit who positively qualified
for social misfit status.
Those were the core players at the Rock Bottom Boatyard but enthusiastic fun loving musicians like Tally were
always dropping in to join the festivities and let it all hang.
Any time Jane and I had a party and especially at our annual 4th of July parties that were enormous culminating with
a fireworks display in our waterfront yard the Rock Bottom Boatyard musicians along with Tally would be there to
entertain the group and themselves.
Tally naturally picked up any instrument in sight and played it no matter what it was a harmonica, guitar or ukulele;
he was destined to make music.
Somewhere floating around in Tally’s brain there was a yacht.
You guessed it, he made his next home a real, make no mistake about it floating palace fitted out with more creature
comforts than are found in palatial mansions.
This guy earned his own self motivated way in life and deserved it all.
We always knew that square pegged Tally was a social misfit but now he proved it when he sold his home and
moved permanently aboard his own new motor cruising yacht, a 55- footer and he was always dreaming of bigger
and better. This inner driving desire would motivate Tally to pile up yet a bigger stack of cash.
A doer and a dreamer Tally sailed in his own element aboard his luxurious motor yacht that was his one and only
home…until something bigger and better came drifting along.
I don’t think that Tally really needed to go anywhere with his vessel…he just needed to feel the decks beneath his
feet with the occasional gentle roll or the surge of his floating home tied to the dock and plugged into the world.
Enterprising philanthropic Tally made a special offer to any eager young couple that had the ambition, drive and
desire to make them into millionaires in less than five years.
He offered to bank-roll and finance them, then train them and tutor them into his Dairy Queen Store business.
I approached several young people we knew with this once in a lifetime proposition and the only response I ever got
was a shrug of the shoulders and the statement; “that would be a lot of work”…well yes it would, but then if you don’t
aspire you just don’t.
As the old saying says; “you can lead the horse to water but you can’t make him drink”.
Tally never did find that young couple to mentor but he did sell the business and moved on. He and Jan floated
away to enjoy their lives together.
next chapter
Tally is on
the left and
playing the
banjo. Next
in photo are
Brigid and
Ron Barnes
and John
Golden who
is playing
the gut
bucket.
the left and
playing the
banjo. Next
in photo are
Brigid and
Ron Barnes
and John
Golden who
is playing
the gut
bucket.