Charles Dickens in 'A Tale of Two Cities' wrote that it was the best of times and the worst of times - and I often think that the phrase was most apt for my years in Marco.
Certainly living in a spectacular house on the water, with a pool, a state of the art kitchen, dolphins, pelicans, cool breezes, no money problems, and a constant flow of family and friends, would be hard to beat in anyone's language.
We belonged to two golf clubs, one very exclusive one which showed us a lifestyle we had never experienced before. You would park your car near the pro shop and by the time you walked up to the building, they would have your golf clubs on the golf cart, all clubs cleaned and a fresh towel hanging on it. You'd go in the locker room, get your shoes out of the locker which had your name engraved on a brass plate. They too had been cleaned for you after your last game. We belonged to the Yacht Club which meant that during the season when the other restaurants were so crowded you would have to wait for ages for a seat, you could call the Yacht Club and book a time - no wait, no hassle, and amazing food and service.
Dick played golf almost every day, I played an average of four to five days a week, I became the head of the 'lambs' - the new golfers with the high handicaps; then later was chairman of the annual fund raising for charity and broke the record for the amount of money raised.
Nearby Naples was a gorgeous town with fantastic restaurants and shopping, and being on the Gulf Coast, as opposed to the Atlantic coast, had access to pristine white beaches.
Our boat was docked in the back of the house, with open access to the Ocean. South of us was miles and miles of isolated beaches which we could access with the boat and the shells were so thick on the beach, one could literally sit in one spot and fill a bucketful.
It became the 'worst' of times, only because my social drinking slipped into the problem drinking. This 'disease' held me captive for about two to three years and with it came of course, family problems, social problems and bad memories that definitely put a blight on a period when only the best memories should have prevailed. Thank God for recovery - but more about that later.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
More grom Grandpa on the Business side of life
I was going to say that I have been too busy to write - but, alas, that would have been a lie, so I will just say "sorry to have been so long".
We are now Topper, Inc, and we rent an office in Mt. Vernon and start off with our two motels for Topper, Inc. and three for Regal 8 Inns of Calif. Over time we also opened and operated two Quick Penny mini markets, one in Salem and one in Mt. Vernon.
I was able to purchase from Prudential Insurance a fairly new 140 unit motel in Memphis, Tenn, which they had repossessed @ $1,400,000. We got it with nothing down, but we had to spend a minimum of $100,000 in upgrading (carpet, paint, etc.). This property was turned over to Regal 8 Inns of California giving them their fourth location. Topper Inc opened the Billings motel giving us 3 motels.
At this time Leroy Hatfield, who had been with us the longest of any employee other than Dee Smith with Regal 8 Inns and had been our first area supervisor with them, joined us in Topper Inc and managed the Billings motel. Our three motels were all in the cold country (Fargo, North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Billings, Montana so all had indoor corridors and indoor pools. Leroy got Billings off to a very good start, and we then brought him into the main office with the title of supervisor.
In the meantime, Bill Topper had left Regal 8 the same time I did, and his first undertaking was to turn a Selma gas station I had bought into the first of our Quick Penny stores. When that was done, he took on the challenge of building two houses on two of the four lots that I had purchased around a small lake in Mount Vernon. Bill and son Joe built them, doing a very good job, and we were able to sell one to Leroy and the other one to Rick Ripley, the truck driving son of Ralph and June Ripley who also came from Regal 8 Inns to join our company. June did the books for Topper Inc. and and she and Ralph moved to Florida with us. Ralph actually didn't work for us; in Illinois he worked as Treasurer for small town, and in Florida quickly found a job.
Bill, along with Frances, then took over the operation and bookkeeping of Regal 8 Inns of California and they too moved to Florida with us.
The two Quick Penny markets were eventually closed and the buildings sold. I had hoped this would develop into a successful chain, but it was our first failure - proving we were not infallible!!!
We are now Topper, Inc, and we rent an office in Mt. Vernon and start off with our two motels for Topper, Inc. and three for Regal 8 Inns of Calif. Over time we also opened and operated two Quick Penny mini markets, one in Salem and one in Mt. Vernon.
I was able to purchase from Prudential Insurance a fairly new 140 unit motel in Memphis, Tenn, which they had repossessed @ $1,400,000. We got it with nothing down, but we had to spend a minimum of $100,000 in upgrading (carpet, paint, etc.). This property was turned over to Regal 8 Inns of California giving them their fourth location. Topper Inc opened the Billings motel giving us 3 motels.
At this time Leroy Hatfield, who had been with us the longest of any employee other than Dee Smith with Regal 8 Inns and had been our first area supervisor with them, joined us in Topper Inc and managed the Billings motel. Our three motels were all in the cold country (Fargo, North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Billings, Montana so all had indoor corridors and indoor pools. Leroy got Billings off to a very good start, and we then brought him into the main office with the title of supervisor.
In the meantime, Bill Topper had left Regal 8 the same time I did, and his first undertaking was to turn a Selma gas station I had bought into the first of our Quick Penny stores. When that was done, he took on the challenge of building two houses on two of the four lots that I had purchased around a small lake in Mount Vernon. Bill and son Joe built them, doing a very good job, and we were able to sell one to Leroy and the other one to Rick Ripley, the truck driving son of Ralph and June Ripley who also came from Regal 8 Inns to join our company. June did the books for Topper Inc. and and she and Ralph moved to Florida with us. Ralph actually didn't work for us; in Illinois he worked as Treasurer for small town, and in Florida quickly found a job.
Bill, along with Frances, then took over the operation and bookkeeping of Regal 8 Inns of California and they too moved to Florida with us.
The two Quick Penny markets were eventually closed and the buildings sold. I had hoped this would develop into a successful chain, but it was our first failure - proving we were not infallible!!!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Marco Island home
As always, the photos don't turn out the best when going from my photo albums to the blog, but this is the front of our Marco Island home before we had the landscaping completely redone. It's a shame we never took a photo of the finished product with its lawn, and flowers.
The rear of the house was on the water on one of the few inlets that had complete access to the ocean. All the walls at the back of the house had what were known as pocket doors - they were complete sliding glass doors that slide completely into a wall, so that the rooms opened up completely to the pool area. The area itself was completely screened in to be bug-proof. The steps you see here went down to the dock area where we had our boat(s).
This photo was taken from the living room looking over the pool and out to the waterway that went to the ocean. We would see the pelicans go by every morning and night and best of all, the dolphins would come up every evening close to the dock.
The pool area showing the narrower waterway going up our street. This part of the island was fingers of streets going out with every house backing onto a waterway. When we moved there, our cluster of streets didn't have too many houses, there were only three on our street, but we understand that there are no vacant lots now.
Our boat moored on the dock. It's hard to see, but Buddy is sitting on the dock waiting to go on board. He just loved it there and couldn't wait to go on a boat ride with Dick. He used to swim in the pool two or three times a day too - diving in from the side into the deep end and swimming to the steps to get out. Taffy wasn't as happy on the boat and hated going in the pool.
This style of living is something amazing to have experienced and I will always cherish the two years that we had there, and was especially happy to have been able to share it with friends from our old company, ex partners and associates, plus a steady stream of relatives from England, Wales and Canada. Debbie was there a few times, with her parents once, and we had Suzanne and Becky one summer and Debbie and my niece Sarah another month. Debbie and Sarah were both 16 at the time. We also had my mother and both of her sisters for three months - It was the second trip for Aunt Peggy and the first for Aunt Lu.
The rear of the house was on the water on one of the few inlets that had complete access to the ocean. All the walls at the back of the house had what were known as pocket doors - they were complete sliding glass doors that slide completely into a wall, so that the rooms opened up completely to the pool area. The area itself was completely screened in to be bug-proof. The steps you see here went down to the dock area where we had our boat(s). 
This photo was taken from the living room looking over the pool and out to the waterway that went to the ocean. We would see the pelicans go by every morning and night and best of all, the dolphins would come up every evening close to the dock.
The pool area showing the narrower waterway going up our street. This part of the island was fingers of streets going out with every house backing onto a waterway. When we moved there, our cluster of streets didn't have too many houses, there were only three on our street, but we understand that there are no vacant lots now.
Our boat moored on the dock. It's hard to see, but Buddy is sitting on the dock waiting to go on board. He just loved it there and couldn't wait to go on a boat ride with Dick. He used to swim in the pool two or three times a day too - diving in from the side into the deep end and swimming to the steps to get out. Taffy wasn't as happy on the boat and hated going in the pool.
This style of living is something amazing to have experienced and I will always cherish the two years that we had there, and was especially happy to have been able to share it with friends from our old company, ex partners and associates, plus a steady stream of relatives from England, Wales and Canada. Debbie was there a few times, with her parents once, and we had Suzanne and Becky one summer and Debbie and my niece Sarah another month. Debbie and Sarah were both 16 at the time. We also had my mother and both of her sisters for three months - It was the second trip for Aunt Peggy and the first for Aunt Lu.
More about Marco Island lifestyle ahead.
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