News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 6

6-A Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press, Sat, Jan. 3, "si Wtmm Twice Upon a Time Rocs I Is SftfeJj Local Pioneer Real Frontier Clothiers Forget Some This Part of State I i If tiia II HfJ MR. AND MRS. HORACE UNDERWOOD Underwoods Mark Golden Wedding World War II opened a restaurant at Buckingham Air Field. They later moved into town and opened the Do Drop Inn restaurant.

In 1949 the Underwoods built the skating rink in Russell Park and operated it until 1960. Mr. and Mrs. Underwood, who live at 366 Underwood Drive in Russell Park, have five children: Mrs. Marguerite Pasetti of Pahokee; Mrs.

Bud Un-dewood of Niceville; Owen Underwood of Tampa; and Charles Underwood and Mrs. Ammons of Fort Myers. Open house Sunday will honor Mr. and Mrs. Horace Underwood on their 50th wedding anniversary.

Friends and relatives are invited from 2 to 5 p.m. at the home of their daughter, Mrs. Delores Ammons, at 407 Underwood Drive. Mr. and Mrs.

Underwood were married Jan. 4, 1920 in Union Point, Ga. They moved to Fort Myers in 1928 where he was first employed in construction work on the Edison Bridge. The Underwoods were owners of the Sunshine Dairy and during DEAR ABBY: When are the clothing manufacturers going to realize that not all women are size 10, and 16 years old? I am nearly 60 and wear a size 12 to 14. I have good legs, but I don't care to show them aove the knee! I am at my wit's end trying to find dresses that are appropriate for a woman my age.

I have neither the time nor the ability to sew, and the last time I tried a dressmaker I waited three months for a simple skirt. Can't something be done for the forgotten women? HOPEFUL IN LAWNDALE, CAL. DEAR HOPEFUL: Before you give up, shop in some of the more conservative shops. If you still can't find what you want, wear your old clothes, and when they fall apart, try another dressmaker, and breathe down her neck until she delivers. DEAR ABBY: This is for "MAD AT ME IN A rude woman knowingly pushed ahead of me at a checkout counter.

As she did so, she said, "Since I have more groceries than you, I will go ahead of you." My answer to her was, "And since I have more manners than you, I shall let you." J. C. GAFFNEY, S.C. DEAR Mr. The rude woman was also short on logic.

How did she figure that since she had more groceries than you, you wouldn't object to her going ahead of you? Had she had fewer items, it might have made more sense. DEAR ABBY: My elderly mother recently passed away. When I went to the small town in which she lived to move her things, I could not find her beautiful Limoges plates, a cranberry fruit bowl, and several pieces of Bavarian china. After finishing my task, I bought a little gift and went to call on a woman mother said had been kind to her in her later months. The woman had a very unpretentious home, so I was not prepared for what I saw! I am sure she had thousands of dollars' worth of antiques in her living room.

In a china closet was my mother's cranberry fruit bowl. A shelf on the wall featured mother's Limoges plates (eight of them) and the Bavarian candy dishes were also on display. The woman seemed flustered by my unexpected visit, and she told me my mother had insisted she take these things. In visiting with a neighbor of my mother's, I learned that my mother was on this woman's "routine list." Her week-ends were spent visiting elderly women for an hour or so. She brought a Bible in one hand and a piece of cake in the other.

She'd read the Bible and feed these ailing shut-ins goodies, while all the time she had her eye on a few treasures she subtly managed to acquire. I've told this story to many of my friends, and they all seem to know many of these vultures. I didn't. Sign me, NAIVE IN NEBRASKA DEAR ABBY: All the controversy over why gentlemen prefer blondes can be settled in one simple explanation: "Because they're easier to find in the dark." T. JR DEAR ABBY: I couldn't believe my eyes when I read your advice to that soldier whose mother wanted to meet him on his and Believe me, he doesn't need Mom to help him relax after six months in that war.

My son's and comes up soon, and he is going to Hawaii, and he can't wait to grab that 5' 2" blonde wife of his. And if he wanted me along, I'd try to get that boy to see a head-shrinker. At 52, I'm a pretty good swinger myself. But I swing on my own vine, and my son swings on his. And never the vines shall meet.

JANE IN OAK RIDGE, LA. What's your problem? You'll feel better if you get it off your chest. Write to ABBY, Box 69700, Los Angeles, Cal. 90069. For a personal reply enclose stamped, addressed envelope.

David Thomas Ward at 94 is still fond of macaroni the first dish he learned to prepare while cooking as a chef back in pioneer days. changed the buying habits of the American public and again David Ward suffered financial reverses. Ready to go home he learned there was a need for a postmaster at Little Manatee and he filled that position for several months until a replacement could be found. On their return to Fort Myers, David rented a house in Tice and went to work in George Kingston's groves, now the site of Morse Shores. To increase the income needed for a large family he took up carpentry and had a hand in erecting the Robb-Stucky building, the beautiful Langford home on First Street as well as many other residences in town.

Finally, his fortunes recouped, Ward again turned to ranching on a small scale when he bought five acres from Charles Russell, developer of Russell Park, out on the Orange River near his original spread. From then on that was home for him and his family. As he had the money he acquired more land, until he had 30 acres, planted young groves and truck and stocked a sizable herd of cattle. In between working his own land he hired out as overseer and for years tended the Seminole Park holdings of Sen. Charles Stadler of New York.

The boys became lawyers, David Elmer going to Tampa and Charles Wilson turning to ranching. Buena moved to Pennsylvania when she married and Claire to Tallahassee. Ima Lee married Bill Evans and they live next door to her father. Berniece trained for secretarial work and later served as postmaster at Tice for more then 17 years. In their declining years Mollie and David, completely congenial and attuned to one another, enjoyed spending their leisure hours in the shade of the old camphor tree beside their house.

Animated and vivacious Mollie did all the talking and David, inclining or shaking his head in response to her conversation, was engrossed with whittling. In his boyhood he had a special talent for carving miniature animals and wagons which he was attempting to recapture. Commenting on her husband's equanimity Mollie once declared, "We have never had an argument in all our years of married life." When challenged by a friend as to the absolute truth of that statement, Mollie smilingly replied, "Well-1-1, I never had a chance for an argument David just simply walked away." The Monday after Mother's Day in 1961 life ended for sparkling Mollie at the age of 81 and David, after saying goodbye to the children who had all gathered for the last farewell, went quietly out to the camphor tree where he and his wife had spent so many pleasant hours. To this day it is his favorite spot and on his good afternoons he whittles placidly and relives the memories spanning four generations. Daughter Berniece who now heads up his household says it seems as if he has carved up several cords of wood in the past eight years.

When the family gathered to celebrate their father's 94th birthday in October, David Ward chuckled at the thought that he had reached such a venerable age. "People worry too much about everything," he once said, "and that shortens life. It doesn't pay to cross your bridges until you get there. Most of what you worry about, anyway, never comes to pass." Youthful Singer Visits Cape Cora her life to be as normal as possible and enjoys her friends. She and her parents are visitin" her nne'e Nathan Nahama and Mrs.

Nahama in Cape Coral and were amazed at the growth of the Cape in the nine years since their last visit. She has made only two live performances, one in Concord N.Y. and at the Americana Hotel on Miami Beach at a Decca convention. At the convention a magazine photographer was following her everywhere to record her activities. She was very nervous that night but as she began to sing she looked up just in time to see photographer and ladder go tumbling behind the curtain.

Everyone started to laugh and that relaxed the tension. By JOAN SHULER Karen Wyman is a delightful teenager dark snapping eyes, long dark hair and gleaming white teeth that show up her deep tan. She has just passed her 17th birthday and has already been on the Dean Martin Show, made two appearances on the Ed Sullivan show, and cut one record for Decca. She has always loved to sing and at the age of 13 started voice lessons with Marty Lawrence. It was through her teacher that she got her first TV spot on the Martin Show.

Armed with a kinescope of this show, Lawrence arranged for her to see Ed Sullivan. He was so excited about her that he gave her a contract for four appearances. After her first appearance in June, Sullivan told her she received the largest ovation of any new performer he had had on his show. Her next date was in November and she will be on the Jan. 11 program.

She appeared on the Johnny Carson Show Dec. 18 and, after finishing her commitments for Sullivan, and other TV spots, she will go to France for the musical festival similar to the film festival. She will make another record for Decca in the near future, "Time and Love" and "Goodbye She would like to make a movie. She was born and still lives with her parents in New York City and attends high school in Manhattan. She finishes high school next year and further education will be decided after that.

As a popular teenager she wants By BETTY HAWKINS The legendary woodsmen of the past century were very real to the son of William and Jane Drawdy Ward who lived In the era benefiting from the explorations of such great men as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. Born near Orlando in 1875 only 39 years after the death of the famous frontiersman at the Alamo, little David Ward cut his teeth on the stories of the silvery-tongued Crockett which ran the gamut from wrestling bears to tracking the tricky Creeks in their dark lairs. When the boy was but a year old his mother died and he was given into the care of his maternal grandmother, Nancy Drawdy, an early pioneer from the Georgia country. Growing up hi the wilderness, David received such meagre education as was available, then began a life which was in many ways to emulate that of those two well-known early adventurers. After several seasons of trapping and 'gatoring with his cousin, young David, 17, hired out as cook for the crew -on a dredge in the Alafia River near Keysville and also fed workers at the neighboring phosphate mines.

Skilled only in preparing meals for two over a campfire, the lad was faced with the immediate problem of turning out a volume of food at one time. To solve the predicament, he learned to cook great vats of macaroni to stem the hearty appetites. A conscientious boy, after completing his chores in the galley, he turned to and stood his watch with the night crew. It was while on this shift that he learned he had a unique allergy to moonlight after he suffered the equivalent of. a severe sunburn from being exposed long hours to the dazzling rays of a full moon.

The lacerations were slow in healing and he was excused from further watch duty except on totally dark nights. After several years as a chef he desired to better himself and with a definite liking for farming he went to work at orange groves in Manatee County. He learned the fine art of budding trees and never lacked employment until the devastating freeze of 1894 which shriveled the citrus trees for miles around. Determined to put his knowledge to work he set out for the Caloosahatchee region which was comparatively frost-free and found work in the extensive groves surrounding Alva. He also helped out with the grinding at Alfred Christian's syrup mill during the day and, watchman at night, routed renegades who stole into the camp to filch the skimmines they wanted to make a potent 100 proof brew.

During the six years he remained in the region he made many friends and was welcomed at the table of all he knew including the lighter tender at Olga whose slender fees often provided nothing more than baked sweet potatoes dipped in salt. While in Alva he met pretty Mary (Mollie) Johnson who had grown up in Mulberry, not too far from his childhood home, and was now living with her grandmother, Clifford Ann Cox. Although their acquaintance was brief at the time, their paths were to cross again in years to come. Still anxious to improve his livelihood David pooled his savings with Bob Murphy and J. Aiken Lee and the three men bought a team and wagon and headed for the east coast where better jobs were rumored to be plentiful.

On the contrary work was scarce, pay at best was poor and, their funds depleted, they turned back toward Alva. It was 4 a deserted trail, no food was available and a lone pineapple patch by the pathway provided their only sustenance on the long trip home. Arriving at the crossing David resolved to try his hand at truck farming on Sanibel rather than go back to the groves. The venture was successful and his prize tomato fields produced so abundantly that he was forced to hire help to pack the ground fruit for shipping. Among the workers was a familiar face little Mollie Johnson whom I he had first met in Alva.

Future prosperity was at hand when a vicious gale whipped up in the gulf and washed over the island leaving beds of salt where the lush vegetables had grown. Following his motto of trying again he fell back on his earlier profession as a budder and was hired by Walter Langford to nurture groves at Deep Lake. It was a profitable but lonely life as the only other inhabitants of the desolate region were Seminoles whom hi he seldom saw and he turned to the creatures of the forest "for companionship. He tamed a 7-foot alligator he named Toby to come at his call and eat from his hand. Plagued by grasshoppers and other insects which threatened the tender young growth, he captured 200 wild turkeys and with infinite patience trained them to stay in the groves and devour the offenders, and they, too, became devoted pets.

Other wild animals, sensing his kindness, joined the fold, becoming his protectors, and he repaid their confidence by watching over them. When a vicious marauding panther lunged on an unsuspecting fowl which had strayed from the flock, he leaped on the beast and with bare hands bested it and wrenched the hapless turkey from its jaws. Ever on the alert he stalked three bears that were makinp inroads It. into his friendly menagerie, finally cornering and destroying them. In the offing the Indians admired this man whose strength and courage matched their own and in time they, too, offered their friendship.

In later years, recounting tales of those early days, he said that the fishing alone made up for all the recluse months. "The fish were so hungry and in such numbers," he avowed, "that all I had to do was draw a picture of a frog, tack it to a tree and they jumped right 1 out of the water into the pan waiting below." At the end of three solid years in the 'glades during which time he developed hundreds of acres of groves which he budded from the wild, sour oranges planted by the In-i dians, he bought some land and, before settling down to groving on his own, made a trip back to civilization. In the community of New Prospect across the river from Fort Myers he again met Mollie Johnson whose uncle was farming near Samville and this time recognized his fate. He began courting her, sold out his interest at Deep Lake and married her in August of 1906. With the help of Uncle Willie Cox he built a comfortable home for his bride on 65 acres he purchased on the Orange i River, planted groves and stocked cattle.

Through the en-I suing happy years Mollie bore him six children, Berniece, David Elmer, Charles Wilson, Ima Lee, Buena Frances and Claire. Just before the first world war, the Wards, were enticed into giving up their ranch and moving to Plant City where Mollie's aunt insisted wealth was to be had in growing strawberries to meet the great demand of northern markets. Not wishing to deny his family the opportunity of a more prosperous life, David sold his property and they moved up state. True the crops were luxurious, but the patches were too far from market and he suffered losses by spoilage. In an effort to speed up delivery he bought a Model Ford on one of his trips to the city.

Although he had never driven an automobile before, by some stroke of genius, he wheeled the vehicle through the dense woodland and he and the i tqulpage arrived home safely. Eight months later the declaration of war and rationing Betty Canary Confessions of a Valet To Pets Proves Point Congratulations Birthdays Shirley Herzog, Dianne Prevatt, Carol Silcox, Virginia Welch, Maxene Britt, Carolyn Tate, Bart Foley, Grace MacDonald, Jimmy 1 Matt Coward, Franklin Futch, Fred Jones, Alisse Kosiner, Mike Carner, Lorry Kubach, Florida Boullais and Bill Underhill. Anniversaries Clarice and Clyde Johns, Margaret and Bill Frizzell, Marge and Bill Deason and Mary and Tom Shearer. MASTER CHARGE 936-0397 Artistic Designs By The Orchid Hut I FLORIST they have all been fairly easy on me. I have heard others say they bought a dog for "the boy," or r.

cat because "every little girl should have a kitten." At least I have never stooped to lying and I think parents such as these should face facts. A woman who doesn't like cats doesn't buy one. She furnishes a fluffy angora or a kapok-stuffed calico from the toy department and brings home a doctor's certificate stating once and for all that she's allergic to real ones. For these who say they keep a dog because they miss having the children at home, well, the less said about them, the better off we'll all be. Why do some us have turtles we're always retrieving from under the refrigerator and gerbils that keep us awake half the night with thtir eternal spinning of exercise wheels? It couldn't be because we're all crazy.

Or, could it' Drive Out To Our ORANGES AND GRAPEFRUIT MR. AND MRS. HAROLD TOMPKINS Tompkinses Note 50th Anniversary Novelties and Gifts A woman wrote asking me if we really had pets at our house or if I had "invented" them. You can easily tell she asked that question in a letter and not alter stopping in here for a visit. However, perhaps even a visit might not convince her.

Who knows? She might go away thinking I had also invented the bag of spilled kitty litter in the back hall, the chewed curtains, the clawed table legs and the wall-to-wall rawhide bones and balls. Fortunately, she didn't ask me why we had pets. I have had others ask me the question and I never know how to answer, except to flail my arms about and say, "We're just the kind who does." I had a man tell me that psychologically some people have to keep pets. In his own words, "Pets give their owners a sense of superiority, a feeling of complete mastery over something." I didn't stand toe-to-toe and slug it out with him, but the poor man obviously had never been around animals. Why, I've never had a dog who would consent to spend one evening with a person such as that.

I've had aloof cats and others so possessive they must have thought my ankles had been fashioned for the sole purpose of their slithering around them. I had finches who sang even though the veterinarian and the pet shop owner insisted it was impossible. I have only fond memories of a Great Dane whose favorite trick was standing up under the kitchen table and carrying it across the room. I try to remember the good things about a collie who ate my windowsills. I'll put it as simply as I can.

We have never had a pet who wasn't totally aware of who was the of whom. Speaking as a well-experienced slave to animals, I'd say that, by and large, ORANGE JUICE by CUP or GALLON ESTERO RIVER GROVES MARSHALL BROTHERS, Owner Irlnfl Your Kodak Take A Picture pick An Orange 14 Miles SOUTH of PORT MYERS HIWAY 41 Phone 334-8111 for Time-Ttmpworurt Wtorhtr Forecast BUS TO THE DOG TRACK EVERY NIGHT (except Sunday) BUS LEAVES ON SCHEDULED TIME. the Showmans League of America, and remembers when Buffalo Bill was president of the organization. They retired from Niles, Ohio, to move to Lehigh Acres in 1959. One daughter, Mrs.

Betty Bosley and her family still live in Niles. Another daughter, Mrs. Jessie Marie Enos, lives in Pittsburgh, with her family. The Tompkins have eight grandchildren, and five great grandchildren. Their daughters gave them a 50th wedding anniversary celebration in Ohio, in August when they were home visiting.

More than 100 friends and relatives attended. They belong to the First Christian Church (Disciples of-Christ), where Tompkins is a deacon. He has worked on the Community Card Club since it started about eight years ago. They are both rock hounds traveling to Franklin, S.C., each year to find sapphires, rubies and garnets. Getting to know the highways and the byways of America was a part of life for Mr.

and Mrs. Harold "Tommy" Tompkins of 302 E. Bougainvillea, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary today. His sister, Mrs. Edith Williams of Uniontown, is in Lehigh Acres to help celebrate.

"You might say our life has been a circus," says Tompkins, who worked with circuses and carnivals before he and his Amy were married those 50 years ago. He went into the U.S. Army and served in World War I in France, before coming home to marry his sweetheart. After their marriage he decided to settle down, and ran a bowling alley for six years in Warren, Ohio. Then he worked for Republic Steel as a foreman for 16 years, before the lure of circus life and traveling drew him back into the exciting world of make believe.

He belongs to FROM FORT MYERS BEACH TIME FROM FORT MYERS HOLIDAY INN SHERATON INN TIME 7:00 P.M. 7:20 P.M. NICK'S LIQUORS NEPTUNE INN HOLIDAY INN 7:15 P.M. 7:20 P.M. 7:30 P.M.

Reservations must be made, phone or in person? by 6 PM. to guarantee space. 4.