In a word

Blessed adj. [ bles-id; blest ] consecrated; sacred; holy; sanctified divinely or happily favored; fortunate to have, do, or experience something:

He is there at 7:45 am, six days a week, grinding meat. For sausage, for hamburgers. Then he makes sure everything is getting done that needs to be done. By afternoon his knees need liniment to get him through the rest of the day — Monk Whaley is one of the hardest working men I know.

Born in 1934, Monk learned to work at an early age. By the time he was 10 years old, he would go with his father to the ocean to get fish. The family had a fish store, and little by little more groceries were added. His father had a Model A that he had taken everything off but the cab — to turn it into a truck. They drove the truck all around Duplin County, from Deep Run to Chinquapin, delivering fish to those who had no car to go shopping with. The family wanted to expand, but there was no land to be found.

Finally, they were able to buy a building in the 1960s and expanded it to make it a real grocery store. The family worked in the store. His wife Beatrice, son Kenny and daughter Ginger were daily fixtures ordering and stocking enough to have them build an extension on the building.

In 1977, the store caught fire. Monk says “I lost everything I worked for, and my Daddy had passed. I had no Daddy to turn to.” With the work ethic he had always had, he rebuilt the store, and it reopened October 3, 1979. The family business is still one of Beulaville’s largest, and the family friendly service is second to none.

Monk receives visits daily from town folk who have shopped the store for years and the children they had who are now grown and pushing the grocery cars they once rode in. Everyone from the bread man to the police chief will stop by the office and say “Hey,” on their visit to the market.

The staff at Whaleys are a well oiled machine! Whether they are pricing or stocking, just maintaining the store on Tuesday afternoons is amazing! The regime of moving carts, sweeping and mopping the front end and the store is awesome to watch as this crew moves as one to make the cleaning happen!

Monk is famous in his own right, having a recipe for fresh dinner sausage that has won him acclaim locally, and has had him featured as a tourist destination in local publications and on WRAL’s Tarheel Traveler.

The popular sausage recipe is secret, and there is none better. When it is sausage making time, the whole staff gets in on making enough sausage for the meat counter. The meat needs to be trimmed so there is the right amount of fat, cut just right so the seasoning gets into the meat, seasoned with Monk’s seasoning concoction, then mixed manually to be sure all the spices are evenly distributed.

The crew, which includes Miss Paula, who has been cutting meat alongside Mr. Monk since forever, gets a little rest until it is time to grind the meat. Thankfully, there are electric machines to grind the meat and stuff the sausages!

The store is great. Monk is an inspiration as he continues to work every day as he grows closer to turning 90 years-old this year. Since I first met him years ago till now, every time I have asked Monk how he was today, he has told me was blessed. Sometimes he tells me a reason on that particular day that he is blessed, mostly these days, he is blessed because the Lord let him have another day.

The reality is, that every time Mr. Monk tells me he is blessed, I stop and know that I too am blessed no matter where my life has been that day. We are blessed to have Mr. Monk in our community!