From alligators to a shipwreck: April Josh Shaffer columns you might have missed

Josh Shaffer is a general assignment reporter on the watch for “talkers,” which are stories you might discuss around a water cooler. He has worked for The News & Observer since 2004 and writes a column about unusual people and places. In April, Josh wrote about unforgettable North Carolinians from a 90-year-old reunited with a piece of his father’s lost ship to a beloved Raleigh bartender.

Here’s a roundup:

April 6: A beloved Raleigh bartender remembered

• Lisa Lewis, who spent 45 years tending bar at Raleigh institutions including The Brewery, Mitch’s Tavern and the Berkeley Cafe, died last week at 63, earning the nickname “Queen of Second Chances” for her generosity to struggling patrons.

April 13: NC’s first mosque honored with historic marker

• Ar-Razzaq Islamic Center in Durham, founded in 1956 as Muhammad’s Mosque #34 and once visited by Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, received an NC historic marker on its 70th birthday, recognizing its role in spreading Islam during the Jim Crow era.

April 20: Tribute to a legendary alligator wrangler

• Jimmy English, a Wilmington-area wildlife removal specialist who used marshmallows as bait and rubber bands to muzzle alligators in Brunswick County, died in November at 88 after decades of relocating critters for nervous homeowners and movie sets.

April 27: A treasure from a long-lost father

• Ted Haviland, now 90, received a medicine bottle recovered from the wreck of the City of Atlanta — the freighter sunk by a Nazi U-boat off the Outer Banks in January 1942, killing his radioman father and 42 other civilian sailors.

This roundup of original Josh Shaffer columns was generated by with the help of AI tools and edited by N&O business editor Dave Hendrickson.

This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 1:14 PM.