By: Graci Pennington
Every year, people from across the country come to Gulf Shores, Alabama, to vacation on the Gulf Coast and employees at bars and restaurants are always eager to greet them.
“I would rather be a servant in Gulf Shores, than a king anywhere else in the world,” said Stephen Shillito, a waiter at the Original Oyster House in Gulf Shores.
Locals say Shillito has never met a stranger, but he says “I have met strangers. We just don’t stay strangers long.”
The Original Oyster House is known for its lovely view, sitting on a high-traffic corner in the heart of Gulf Shores. Customers can expect the standard beach décor of palm trees, bright flowers and seagulls.
“When I was about five years old, we would go to a restaurant named the Hungry Fisherman in Birmingham,” Shillito said. “I would always get a Shirley Temple and watch the ducks in the pond. Now, I go back there with every table I serve. You’re making memories for the people.”
Jeremy Sullivan, a resident of Gulf Shores, said he feels meeting Shillito is the first step visitors must take to truly appreciate the coastal city.
“When tourists are new to the area the first place we send them is to the Original Oyster House,” Sullivan said. “If you haven’t met Stephen Shillito, you haven’t had the full Gulf Shores experience.”
Shillito grew up in Brompton, Alabama, about 290 miles from Gulf Shores. It’s a small, yet fast growing city located about 15 miles east of Birmingham.
“My dad had a music studio when I was little,” Shillito said. “I would see the guitars on stands, recording devices that had blinking lights and switches. I was at eye level with the control boards, so I had a nice visual. I would get all tangled up in the cords and headphones.”
His mother, Peggy Lowry, said Shillito’s had an inclination for music all his life.
“He grew up around music,” she said. “At night Stephen would come into the kitchen while I was humming to a tune and ask, ‘What are you humming about, Mom?’”
While he was in grade school, his father, Robert, was a music teacher for the Moody Jazz, a school club at Moody High School in Moody, Alabama.
“After school most kids would ride the bus home, but I would stay and go watch the Moody Jazz practice,” Shillito said. “My dad had a Beatles poster hanging in his classroom, and the Rolling Stones iconic lip pictures were pasted all around the intercom speaker. I don’t think the teacher next door liked his décor.”
Shillito attended Lyman Ward Military Academy as a teenager and later graduated from Trussville High School. After his parents divorced, his father moved to the Gulf Shores area to pursue his music.
Shillito always wanted to go to college and when the opportunity to attend the University of South Alabama arose, he took it. However, it wasn’t too long before he realized his passion was in music. He transferred to the University of Montevallo and graduated in 2000 with a degree in music.
For the first five years after graduating from college, he lived seasonally between Gulf Shores and Brompton. In the busier months, Shillito worked at several restaurants and occasionally played music at Papa Rocco’s with his dad. In the winter, he would move back to his hometown to be with his mom.
“My dad managed a hotel in Orange Beach, but after Hurricane Ivan in 2005 destroyed it, he depended on his music to make his living. Hurricane Ivan was extraordinary,” Shillito said.
“I would go to my paying job then leave to go help dad set up. After that I came back to work. In the afternoon, I would hang around town, but I often played with my dad and stepmom on stage.”
Shillito said his father died 14 years ago in 2008, but that even all these years later, the wisdom he shared with his son is “still imparted.”
“He has helped me overcome obstacles in life, often set by my own self and live a fulfilling life with a great purpose,” Shillito said.
In his 30’s, Shillito played in several music groups across the Gulf Coast. Today, he can still hear his father’s voice in his conscious telling him how proud of him he is.
On his days off, Shillito is usually found surfing the web, reading, watching Green Acres and listening to the Beach Boys.
“As I’m looking around right now, I’m not bragging at all, but this place isn’t a destination, it’s destiny,” he said of Gulf Shores. “Every town has a majestic place. I don’t live in a big mansion with fancy cars, but this is my home. I’m scared I would ever have to leave here.”
And because of that, Shillito said he wants to give those who choose to travel there the same impressions.
“I’m too lazy to go see the rest of the world, I let the world come to see me,” he said. I love this place, and I’m glad I got my foot in the sand when I did.”
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