The rolling landscape along the Yadkin River in eastern Davie County has certainly changed over the past 50-plus years. Before it was this town we call home, Bermuda Run began as one man’s vision. In 1970, Bill Satterfield, a homebuilder and retail center developer, set out to create one of the first golf course neighborhoods in North Carolina. The smart and beautiful woman by his side was his wife, Millie.

I first met Millie Satterfield Frazier at a ladies’ social in the Spyglass Hill neighborhood of Bermuda Run. I was immediately drawn to her and the stories she shared about the early days of Bermuda Run.  Millie’s eyes sparkled and she smiled as she remembered the origins of the country club.

Millie confessed she had no desire to move across the Yadkin River, away from the home Bill built for their family – a home she loved - and away from the people she knew in Winston-Salem.

“This was the sticks!” Millie laughed. “And Bill had just built our house over in Rolling Hills, near Calvary Baptist in Winston. My mom lived near there, and the kids were in school… But Bill had a vision.” Millie stood tall and supported Bill’s endeavors.

Millie went on to paint a picture for those of us lucky enough to be seated near her. We heard how she and Bill had meetings with the Haywood family, whose country estate sat where the Bermuda Run clubhouse sits now. Millie described being invited for dinner and being served by the Haywoods’ cook and house staff. Millie said she had wondered if the Haywoods’ daughter was an actress.

“I don’t remember their daughter’s name, but I can still see her elegantly stretched out on their sofa in a fancy robe and smoking a cigarette with one of those long plastic holders. I don’t think she ever spoke to us!”

When they married, Millie’s son and daughter – Mike and Julie - took the Satterfield name.  “Stepdad Bill worked hard and always did things first class,” Mike Satterfield explained. “He had resolve. I remember being told about Bill when he was a kid. His family lived near the old Hillcrest Golf Club, and he would walk over to caddy for the golfers. He would tell everyone he was going to have his own country club one day.”

Before they married, Bill hired Millie to manage his office. Millie said there was no denying Bill’s drive. From plumber’s helper to home builder and then developer of neighborhoods and retail centers, Bill was always planning his next project. A tough negotiator, Bill was sometimes described as ‘brash.’ But he was resourceful and earned the respect of his peers. He also made some important friendships along the way.

“Arnold Palmer and his wife Winnie were friends of ours, “ Millie recalled. Bill was an avid supporter of Wake Forest University and a member of the Deacon Club. A golfer himself, Bill sponsored the up-and-coming golfer Lannie Watkins when Lannie was a student at Wake Forest. And Bill got to know Arnold Palmer, a WFU graduate.

“Arnie came to help with the drawing of the lots in the summer of 1971,” Millie recalled. Bill had negotiated to buy both the Haywoods’ and the Lybrooks’ estates - a total of 690 acres - for $1,000 per acre. He designed and developed the golf course in just over a year. Buyers were offered the opportunity to purchase a buildable lot for $10,000 with membership to the country club included.  Interestingly, the buyers didn’t get to choose their lots. Regardless, 175 lots sold within eight weeks. Buyer names were entered into a lottery to determine which lot they would own.  Arnold Palmer came to lead the drawing. It is rumored that he was given the first lot.

When I asked Millie how the country club got its name, she explained that went back to when the land was being graded for the golf course. “Bill said he was going to plant Bermuda and just let it run.”

After 31 years of marriage, Millie and Bill divorced in 1996. Millie still lives in the house she and Bill built. “I can’t imagine living anywhere else now,” Millie said. “I love my home and my neighbors.”

In 1998, Millie married Tom Frazier, who was also a home builder. The two first knew each other from high school but Tom remembers seeing Millie when he would stop by Bill’s office. The two got to know each other socially through their membership at the YMCA in Clemmons.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Millie and Tom at their home. Tom joked about how he asked Millie out on a date after he separated from his wife in 1997. “I told her we were in the same boat now,” Tom laughed. Their first date was at Paul’s Fine Dining - in a shopping center Tom helped build.

When the two married a year later, Tom asked Millie if she wanted to move. “She wouldn’t think of it!” Tom chuckled. “She said this house was perfect, why go anywhere else?”

Very much in love, and in remarkably good health at 92, I asked what’s the secret to their longevity. Millie pointed out that they still go to the “Y” a couple of times every week. “And fresh fruit,” Millie said. “Every morning for breakfast, I cut fresh fruit for me and Tom!”

Millie and Tom celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary on February 12.