Home-Hunting For Cats And Dogs

When an elderly woman came into Dogs & Cats Forever (D&CF) in Ft. Pierce looking for a companion, she found a sweet, older, formerly stray cat the volunteers called Pretty Boy. She adopted it, and the gray cat with the intense blue eyes kept her company during the last years of her life.

By Elizabeth Holman
Photography By Denise Ritchie & Barbara du Pont

Dastardly Doings In The American Desert

Mary Snyder has always been an avid reader. This you would expect from the person who is the Director of Library Services for Indian River County. However, she admits she went into the library field only after abandoning her childhood dream of becoming a race-car driver. So it is no wonder that her choice in reading tends toward the fast-paced, pressure-packed and tension-driven fiction written by authors such as Robert Crais.

By mary beth vallar

The Lessons I learned From Lassie

Career paths can be guided by opportunity, education, fate, and often just dumb luck. Mine began in the back yards of indulgent neighbors, before the word “liability” crept into our lexicon. No spaniel, poodle or mutt was exempt from my unflagging attention. After school let out, my mother could find me with Barney, an extremely tolerant West Highland white terrier, putting him through his paces or dressing him in doll clothes. As long as I was outdoors, my allergies remained in check, but indoors, the symptoms kept me dogless. The hissing sounds of the vaporizer and the smell of Vicks accompanied my sleep on most nights, and I went for allergy shots each Saturday for two years. Our carpets were ripped up and feather pillows discarded.

by amy robinson

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Photography By Betsy Hansen
Styled By Stephanie Macwilliam

Navigating The Battle With Cancer

When Denise Hudspeth joined the oncology staff at Indian River Medical Center a year ago she wasted no time in scheduling regular support group meetings for those dealing with all types of cancer, as well as their families and friends. The response has been overwhelmingly positive as witnessed by the number of individuals who come to learn about the options and resources available to them, share experiences and encourage one another.

By Ann Taylor
Photography By Denise Ritchie

She'll Never Tell - But We Will

In June of last year, Pauline Adams, owner of the I’ll Never Tell jewelry store on Ocean Drive, introduced a brand-new item – a heart-shaped, red-white-and-blue crystal pin called the “Braveheart.”

Spanish Secrets And Forgotten Books

Moorings residents Barbara Gervais and Judi Honiss possess a passion for reading, and it’s been with them for as long as they can remember. Today they are active members of several book clubs that read mainly fiction with a smattering of memoirs. When Moorings Club Manager Craig Lopes determined that the club was ready for its own literary society, he called upon this pair of dynamic and cultivated readers to organize it.

By mary beth vallar

Learning To ACE It In The Kitchen

When Betsy Harrison’s culinary arts students first arrive in her kitchen at the Alternative Center for Education (ACE), they usually don’t even know how to properly slice a tomato. In no time, however, some are preparing stuffed chicken breasts – with Betsy’s special recipe of ricotta cheese, spinach and a touch of nutmeg – for 140 women at the Fall Card Party at St. Helen Church. And others are whipping up an eggnog pie to serve to Oak Harbor residents at their Christmas luncheon.

By mary beth vallar
photography by denise ritchie

A Passion For Paint: Tales From The Trenches

As one of the country’s best small “art towns,” Vero Beach is brimming with smart, creative and energetic people. Artsy types have been flocking here since the turn of the 20th century, though some didn’t fully blossom until after their arrival. Spending time in our quaint seaside municipality seems to feed the imagination as much as bigger and better known cultural meccas like New York City and Santa Fe

By Deborah Borfitz
Photography By Denise Ritchie

Name Your Poison

No matter where we hang our Stetsons, the subdivision we all share is the Atlantic coastal ridge, sometimes called the rim of the Everglades, a narrow strip of land elevated a little higher than a curb and platted with beach and dunes, turtle grass jungles, mangrove swamps, tidal mud flats, marshes, hammocks, prairies, pastures and piney flatlands. Like any Eden, our idyllic parcel is also favorable to the mythical apple, the poisoned fruit. (The apple, incidentally, is not just mythically toxic. Slice through its equator and you’ll find a pentagram of chambers, each holding a lustrous brown seed veined with cyanide.)

by Evelyn wilde mayerson

See You Later, Baby Gator

Fierce alligator eyes peer above the still, green waters of the marsh. The powerful tail paddles from side to side, propelling the dark, lizard-like body. The dangerous reptile crawls from the water and prowls through tall grass near the muddy shore.

By Carole Crowe
Photography By Denise Ritchie

Putting Its Trust in The Lagoon

“It’s good to be involved with something that’s bigger than you are, something that affects the lives of so many people,” says Higgins. “It’s easy to forget how important it is to preserve natural lands so that our children and their children will still be able to walk through the mangroves, see all of the butterflies, lizards, frogs and other creatures. Sometimes we take it all for granted and we really can’t afford to.”

By Ann Taylor

New Vision Of The Old South

In the midst of the village of Windsor stands a spacious and stately house which quietly and appropriately manifests its Southern antecedents.

By Julia Douglas
Photography By M. James Northen

Never Give Up (Dasie) Hope

“Any given day,” says Sheriff Deryl Loar, “75-100 youngsters are given refuge from the hazards and temptations out there. When they’re at Dasie Hope, I don’t have to worry about them.”

By Evelyn Wilde Mayerson

Meanwhile, Back At The Grove

From the beginning of the Florida citrus business in the 1800’s, attractive young women have graced many of the labels used by growers on their crates.

Produced & Photographed By Jill Douglas
Assisted by Susan Parsons and Elizabeth Holman

In the Swim With Dick Cutrera

“My goal each time I give a swimming lesson is to prevent my student from becoming a drowning fatality,” says Dick Cutrera, a Vero Beach resident and founder of the Dick Cutrera School of Swimming. Dick has been teaching swimming for almost 60 years and has been involved with a variety of water sports since he attended the YMCA in Chicago at the age of 6.

By Julia Douglas
Photography By Denise Ritchie

A Change In Personality

When they saw the oversized lot abundant with impressive oaks, they knew they had found the perfect property. The house itself, however, was another matter.

By Ann Taylor
Photography by M. James Northen

A Story Of Three Bills

At 6366 20th Street in Vero Beach, there is a century-old safe that has endured two fires, a two-story fall and a 1,300-mile move. The safe sits in the back room of Bill’s TV, and it tells a fraction of the story of the Kaser family, who have been residents of Indian River County for over half a century.

By Teresa Lee Rushworth