Folly Beach gains another centenarian as Forrest Neely hits the century mark
by Jenny Peterson | Current Staff Writer
I don’t feel 100,” Forrest said. “I feel as good as I did when I was 40 or 50 years old.”
Forrest joins a special group of centenarians who have reached 100 years of age (or close to it) living on Folly Beach. The Folly Beach United Methodist Church held a surprise celebration following service on June 2.
“We went to church just like usual and the preacher said there was a gathering in the fellowship hall—he didn’t say it was a party. I looked at my daughter and said, ‘You want to go to that?,’” Forrest recalls with a laugh. “There were all these tables set up with food and tablecloths and the whole bit. They sat me in a big chair that was fixed up and they had a bunch of pictures of me from World War II and other places.”
Neely has had an esteemed life and career and he counts himself lucky that he had a wonderful wife and great children to spend it with. Despite his age, his mind is still sharp as a tack.
In 1958, when he was 34 years old, Forrest Neely built a beach house on Folly Beach because his wife and daughter were beach lovers. The family lived on James Island and spent summers on the beach.
“We just loved it down here and moved to the beach when school was out,” Forrest said.
Forrest, who was motivated by the bombing of Pearl Harbor at age 19 to become a naval pilot during World War II, eventually had a career as a home builder and built more than 70 homes in Aiken, SC and the Lowcountry. He took a job as the building inspector on Folly Beach in the early aughts. With his best friend Marvin Estridge, he started Folly Beach’s first beach rescue squad.
Forrest moved to Athens, Georgia for a stint but always kept the Folly Beach house he built—plus another house he purchased at a foreclosure auction in the 1960s for around $12,000—and his ties to the community remained.
His daughter, Mitzi Neely, moved into the original beach house that got several additions and renovations over the years. Forrest moved in with her full-time in 2019 and said he’s having a blast on the beach. He received countless birthday cards for this epic milestone and celebrated with five birthday parties in both the Lowcountry and Georgia.
“We’re still recovering from all these parties,” Mitzi said.
“Everybody I’ve met down here is so nice. I love everybody,” Forrest said. “Every day I cook breakfast and most of the time I cook supper. It’s nice to be able to sit in an easy chair and watch TV. I’m having a ball.”
