Author: Ann Taylor

Noreen knew what she envisioned would become a reality when the time was right.

It’s been 20 years since a handful of John’s Island neighbors gathered around Ellie McCabe’s dining room table, intent on forming a foundation that would fund the capital needs of agencies serving economically disadvantaged Indian River County residents.

Attention fashionistas and art aficionados: Karen Loeffler and Melinda Cooper are once again co-chairing the Vero Beach Museum of Art’s annual Fashion Meets Art, and the Feb. 26 event promises to be bigger and brighter than ever as this time around the featured speaker is trend-setting author, designer and one of the founding editors of InStyle magazine Hal Rubenstein.

It’s been said that polo is not just a sport, it’s a way of living, and so it is for those who call Windsor home, where a polo field the size of nine official football fields is the scene of many a thrilling match.

With palette and brushes at her fingertips, Krupp lets her imagination soar as various shapes, squiggly lines and vibrant reds, blues and yellows literally dance across her canvases, telling tales she has dreamed about and wants to share.

While Michael “Mike” Mersky may be stepping down as head of Saint Edward’s School at the end of the current school year, you can be sure he’s not slowing down, coasting toward his last day.

Ring, ring, ding, dong, ding — it’s that time of the year again when Salvation Army volunteers can be seen and heard ringing bells outside Publix, Walmart, the post office and other public places, their smiles as big as their hearts

Since they hammered their first nail into place 20 years ago, members of The Moorings Habitat for Humanity volunteer crew have built 68 homes, contributed $8.4 million and thousands of man- and woman-hours, in effect making The Moorings Yacht and Country Club the local Habitat affiliate’s largest community partner.

It didn’t take long for Cathy and Steve to fall in love with the John’s Island lifestyle and start thinking about having a place of their own there one day.

Thanks to her roommate from Skidmore College, Gracia and her husband, Bruce, were introduced to Vero Beach several years ago.

“At the start of every session we would meet in the classroom for a short period of time while the instructor taught us things we needed to know; then we would go out on the water to apply what we learned. I’m so glad we took those lessons!”

“I went along with Dennis, not thinking it would turn out to be anything we would seriously consider,” she muses. “Neither one of us had ever been to Vero Beach, so we had no idea what it was like.”

“I started coming up to Vero Beach to help a longtime friend who was renovating a property he inherited from his parents, and I remember thinking this is a really nice place. There was a wonderful museum, theater and not a lot of traffic. It was charming.”

Born and raised in Taiwan, Wang grew up immersed in a culture that honors the tea arts and social aspects of tea consumption.

Meet ageless artist Barbara (“Everybody calls me Bobby”) Holleman, who has been drawing and painting for as long as she can remember.

Unlike the majority of Windsor’s two-story residences that reflect the private community’s signature Anglo-Caribbean architecture, the Evanses’ single-story home bears a distinctive Latin American flavor.

If ever there was a perfect time of the year for Marion de Vogel to introduce her husband, Willem, to Vero Beach, it was in March, the beginning of “mud season” up North — a time when frost comes out of the ground, snow starts melting and spring rains combine to create a mucky mess.

Life is good for the enthusiastic gardener and energetic business owner whose three-bedroom home and two-bedroom guest cottage are a reflection of the delight she finds in giving her designing impulse free reign

The sold-out event, which benefitted educational programs and attracted new members, was such a success that a second “Fashion Meets Art” is scheduled to take place Feb. 27, with well-known American potter, designer and author Jonathan Adler taking center stage.

Beginning the first weekend in January and running through the end of April, lifelike bronze sculptures can be found there, enjoying their lush tropical surroundings.

When Janet’s parents passed away, the house they had built in 1985 became hers — no strings attached. They had made it clear their daughter and her husband could do whatever they wanted: They could renovate, sell, or tear it down and rebuild; it was up to them.

Cathy’s son Louis, then 9 years old, loved basketball and wanted a coach who would teach him how to play better. Antoine’s son Antoine Jr. known as A.J., at the same age and with the same passion for the sport, was learning from the best — his father.