09/12/2026
Mr. Whistler has washed the Bait Shop's windows for as long as I can remember. He washed the windows at The 4th of May back when I worked there ages ago too. He's definitely immortalized as a village historical figure and will be missed.
Remembering “The Whistling Man”
If you’ve been around St. Simons Island or Brunswick for very long, chances are you knew him — or at least heard him before you saw him.
His name was Ron Chappell, but most folks around the Golden Isles knew him simply as “The Whistling Man.”
Ron was a United States Marine and Vietnam veteran who made his living washing windows throughout the area. He carried his bucket, his squeegee and a strong work ethic from job to job, whistling as he worked. That whistle became his calling card.
There’s a wonderful story from 2015 that says a lot about both Ron and the community that knew him.
Tim Gentry spotted Ron after he had walked across the St. Simons causeway carrying his window-washing equipment. Tim decided something needed to be done and started raising money to buy Ron a bicycle.
But the Golden Isles community had a better idea.
People began contributing, and what started as an effort to buy a bicycle quickly grew into enough money to help put Ron behind the wheel of his own pickup truck.
On September 21, 2015 — Ron’s 61st birthday — he was surprised with a white pickup bearing the name everybody already knew:
THE WHISTLING MAN — WINDOW WASHING
The moment apparently overwhelmed him. Surrounded by the people who had helped make it happen, this proud Marine did something perfectly fitting.
He whistled “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Tim Gentry and his father were Marines as well, and Ron was known to whistle the Marine Corps Hymn while washing the windows at Tim’s office.
The truck certainly made getting from one window-washing job to another easier, but it wasn’t the truck that people remembered.
They remembered Ron.
They remembered his smile.
They remembered his whistle.
They remembered his Marine pride.
And they remembered a man willing to walk across a four-mile causeway carrying his tools because he had work waiting for him on the other side.
Ron Chappell passed away on September 11, 2026, at the age of 71.
There are people who become part of the history of a community without ever holding public office, owning a famous landmark or having their name written in a history book.
They simply become part of the place.
For many people around St. Simons and Brunswick, The Whistling Man was one of those people.
You could hear him before you saw him.
Semper Fi, Marine. Thank you for your service — and thank you for the memories.
If you remember Ron Chappell — maybe he washed your windows, you heard him whistling, gave him a ride years ago, or simply saw that unmistakable Whistling Man truck around town — please share your memory in the comments. Those personal stories are how we keep a little piece of our local history alive.
UPDATE — YOUR MEMORIES OF “THE WHISTLING MAN”
Since sharing our remembrance of Ron “The Whistling Man” Chappell, the comments have told an even better story than we ever could.
People remember hearing Ronnie’s whistle from blocks away. They remember seeing him walking the St. Simons causeway with his bucket and squeegee, cleaning Village storefronts all day, and heading back toward Brunswick still whistling.
They remember giving him rides. They remember him washing cars on Sunday mornings at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, where he was a member. They remember his faith, his kindness and his habit of talking to just about everybody he met.
One woman remembers Ronnie entertaining her six-year-old son with a Donald Duck impersonation and bringing him snacks from the store. That little boy is 30 years old today and still remembers him.
Another remembered hearing Ronnie’s whistle from two blocks away. And remarkably, former coworkers at Rahab’s Rope said Ronnie was still out cleaning windows earlier in the very week he passed away.
Reading these comments, one thing becomes pretty clear:
Ronnie didn’t simply wash the windows of the Golden Isles. For a lot of years, he was part of the view.
And judging from these memories, the Golden Isles is going to sound just a little quieter without him.
Semper Fi, Ronnie. Keep whistling. ❤️
One comment we received after sharing Ronnie’s story added an especially personal touch. Mara Marowski Lockard remembered that “no one was a stranger to Ronnie.” She recalled that while he was washing windows near Palm Coast, shoppers would often stop and talk with him. Those polite conversations sometimes turned into prayerful ones, and Ronnie’s warmth was such that he occasionally came away with a new window-washing customer simply because of the connection he made.
That may say as much about Ronnie as anything else — he wasn’t just remembered for the whistle. He was remembered for the way he treated people.
