Alumni Magazine - Fall 2008 - (Page 22) John hadn’t gone on his regular rounds and his car was missing. They checked the yacht, but it was empty. John Calvert graduated from Tech in 1983 and remained involved as an alum. He proposed to Elizabeth under the famous Harbour Town oak tree, right, 20 years ago. They passed by the tree every day after moving to the resort. Corp. and then A&C Enercom, earning a new label as “quiet and hardworking.” In the late 1980s he met Elizabeth White, a lawyer with a similarly reserved disposition. Twenty years ago they went on a trip to Hilton Head Island and ended up at the quiet, charming Harbour Town. Under the resort’s famous oak tree, John surprised Liz with a marriage proposal. “Liz is John’s perfect soul mate, no doubt about it,” Reynolds says. “Not just husband and wife but super great friends.” In part because of their engagement in Harbour Town, John and Liz felt the place take hold in their hearts. After years of hard work, they first bought a vacation home there. Then, about five years ago, they traded that in for a yacht, which they named Yellow Jacket, and a skiff named Buzz. John and Liz became mainstays in Harbour Town, with John earning the nickname “resort boy” because he never wanted to leave unless it was for a Tech football game. A few years ago they decided to take the next step and buy the marina so they could live on their yacht full time. After making the commitment, the Calverts were extremely happy, friends say. As Liz left UPS to work part time for a Savannah firm, John oversaw Harbour Town, including rental properties, boat tours and the marina. Late last year the Calverts took over managing the resort’s finances from the Club Group, a local real estate business. That was when the only sign of trouble surfaced. Liz noticed some discrepancies in the Harbour Town ledgers, and she and John arranged a meeting with Dennis Gerwing, the Club Group employee who had handled the Harbour Town finances. At the Crazy Crab, the seafood staple in Harbour Town, general manager Marty Pellicci finishes a steak as closing time approaches. He thinks back to the evening of March 3, when he saw the Calverts walking along the marina, headed for that meeting. Most nights, the Calverts came into the Crab for dinner, sitting at the same seats at the end of the bar. Just a few nights earlier, John had suggested they wager on the upcoming season of “Dancing with the Stars” in an NCAA-style pool. Watching John and Liz walk past that evening, Pellicci never thought it could be the last time he’d see them. “Good people,” he says, casting an eye to the end of the bar, where their usual seats remain empty. The Last Person to See Them ennis Gerwing spent 18 years signing paychecks for Harbour Town, managing its finances for the Club Group. Longtime resort employees said they completely trusted the gregarious Gerwing. And, as the Calverts took over the operation, he became a friend and confidant to them as well. So when Liz found some money missing from the Harbour Town books, she and John arranged a meeting with Gerwing for 5:30 p.m. March 3 at the Club Group’s offices at Sea Pine Center, just a half mile from the marina. They took John’s Mercedes to the meeting at the center, which also houses shops and a restaurant that leaks soft jazz into the warm air. John and Liz walked past a bronze alligator sculpture and upstairs to the office. It was the last place they were ever seen. The next morning, Harbour Town employees noticed John hadn’t gone on his regular rounds and his car was missing. They checked the yacht, but it was empty other than the Calverts’ beloved pets, a cat, T.C., and dog, Sadie. When they couldn’t be reached on the phone, employees contacted David White, Liz’s brother and the only close family either spouse has. White hadn’t seen them and called the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office to file a missing persons report. Days later, John’s Mercedes was found in the parking lot of a Marriott hotel on the island, though with no sign of the couple. Investigators interviewed Gerwing, who D 22 Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008
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