York Town News
Surfers make $5,000 donation for York High School Art Department in memory of "Beach Bum" Bill Davies
By Melissa Wood
Mike Mandravelis and Troy Williams stand in front of Liquid Dreams Surf Shop in York Beach to present a check for $5,000 raised by local surfers to York High School art teacher Gary Phipps (center) to help fund the cost of such items as new photography and visual arts equipment. The ceremonial check seen here was created by local students for the occasion.
Photo by Melissa Wood
YORK BEACH - As a young kid, Mark Anastas said he used to think William Davies popped out of the sand to show up for summer every year.
That's how much of a fixture "Beach Bum Billy" was to those at York Beach, coming back year after year after year.
Anastas said the summer after Davies died of cancer in March, 2005, everyone at the beach was asking where Bill had gone to.
"It's like coming down here and not seeing the ocean," said Mike Mandravelis, another close friend of Davies.
Davies' friends continue to honor the guy they describe as a kid a heart, who lived life like it was an endless summer, with the 3B - Beach Bum Billy - Wave Rider Foundation.
On Tuesday, Feb. 26, the foundation donated $5,000 to the Art Department at York High School, which they raised through surf contests, films at the York Beach Cinema and benefit concerts at the Inn on the Blues.
The foundation members, who are also surfers, have also set aside $500 to donate to the York Parks and Recreation Department for new signs or flags for the surf area if voters approve revisions to the surf ordinance that would allow for expansion of the zone when there are big waves and many surfers in the water.
Foundation President Troy Williams said many locals have been very generous. Anastas is the foundation's vice president and Mandravelis is the treasurer.
According to his friends, Davies was not just a "beach bum" but also very involved with the town's youth, working as a substitute teacher, and he was into all the arts, including photography, performing arts and movies. He was also manager and projectionist at York Beach Cinema for many years.
"He dabbled into everything," said Williams, who added that although the foundation wouldn't be able to pay for a proposed new arts wing at the school, they wanted to do something to help with the school's art program.
York High School art teacher Gary Phipps said the donation is really the first of its kind in 30 years.
He, along with fellow York High School visual art teachers Elizabeth Nowers and Maureen Maloney, will be deciding what to do with the funds.
Phipps said they are thinking of buying a 35-millimeter digital camera and drawing tablets for the students.
"It's really an honor," said Phipps, "and it will be very well spent."
