Endless era ends

By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96) 
Former Beacon Journal printer Bill Gorrell started it all in 1971, when he purchased the 37-room Siesta Plaza Motel on Siesta Key, Florida, adjacent to Sarasota. He turned it into Poor Bill's Motel.

Renters could work off part of their tab by doing carpentry, plumbing, electrical work or painting.

BJ folks gathered as many as eight at a time to drink, play poker and golf while staying at Poor Bill's place. BJ vacation schedules in the Composing Room were choreographed to allow the mass exodus to Siesta Key and Poor Bill's Motel.

Gorrell was famous for his parties -- the Kentucky Derby (first Saturday in May, when John S. Knight flew up from Florida to Louisville's Churchill Downs every year), Thanksgiving and the March climax to the shuffleboard tournament.

Poor Bill's place was across the street from the Sea Castle rentals by the time my late wife Monnie and I first stayed there in 1999. Previously, Sea Castle was called Sun and Sea Lodge because it was on Sun and Sea Drive.

I had called Bill about renting a place with him in the early 1990s, but something came up and Monnie and I never made the trip. When we arrived at Sea Castle in 1999, it was too late to get together with Bill. Born in 1930, Bill died in 1995.

But I had BJ reunions every year on Siesta Key. With former BJ Composing folks Dave White and wife Gina of Sarasota, my favorite makeup printer Terry Dray and wife Cecily of Avon Park, Florida, and newsroom rewrite expert Don Bandy of Bradenton. And former BJ printer Don Pack was the pool guy at Sea Castle, when he wasn't galivanting off to Costa Rica or another country with his girlfriend.

Monnie and I ran into Composing's Bob Lewis and Mike Jewell while strolling on Crescent Beach one year. Bob's 2-bedroom rental property at 7007 Point of Rocks Road was available for 10 days, so Bob and Mike popped down to Siesta Key to take in the sunshine. The four of us went out to dinner together.

Another time, I saw a car with Montgomery County license tags one building east of Poor Bill's former place and checked on the second-floor rental's occupants. It was Composing retiree Hugh Downing and wife Sharon.

Alas, times change.

Terry died in 2009. Don died in 2011. Dave and Gina, after about two decades in their Sarasota home, sold it and bought another one in Venice, south of Sarasota, and have been unavailable in recent years. Dave has about eight dimes that I gave him during each reunion since he was famous for telling newsroom types who were complaining in the Composing Room, "Here's a dime; call someone who cares."

Bob and Mike haven't crossed my path since.

The Downings moved from Medina County to The Villages, a Florida retirement city with 100,000 people and 40,000 golf carts and 90 miles of cart paths for shopping, restaurants, churches and, yes, the 38 golf courses. The Downings drive north to visit their four sons -- Chris in Hudson, Mark in Toledo, Ben in Vienna, Virginia, and Jonathan in Erie, Pennsylvania. Hugh and Sharon, married more than a half-century, have seven grandchildren. Retired printer Carl Nelson's father-in-law also lives in The Villages.

Those were the days, my friend. I thought they'd never end.

But, after four decades, they did.

However, when Paula and I took in my 14th annual Florida winterizing on Siesta Key Jan. 14-28, we arranged a reunion with former Beacon Journal reporter Pete Geiger and his wife, Sandy. They live in Penney Farms, a Christian retirement complex built by store magnate John Cash Penney 38 miles west of St. Augustine, Florida. The Geigers met us for lunch in Orlando at the Garibaldi Mexican Restaurant on Semoran Boulevard.

Pete's BJ career included an investigative team, the business desk, editorial writer, medical writer, automotive writer, religion writer, computer columnist and State Desk reporter.

Since the Geigers spent 13 years in Mongolia teaching English they had some fascinating tales of Mongolia, bordered by Russia and China. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. Mongolia didn't allow missionaries although there is a Buddhist influence despite the Communist government.

The Geigers presented Paula and me with a knitted pad made in Mongolia.

Paula reported for the State Desk in the 1970s when I was her assistant State Desk editor and working alongside Harry Liggett and John McDonald, who left the BJ for Washington, D.C. newspaper work, under the unqiue Nobil-chewing/smoking State Desk Editor Pat Englehart.

In the photo, that's Pete & Sandy on the left and John and Paula on the right.

I also had another reunion, with four people who are graduates, like me, of Monongah (West Virginia) High School, at the home of a MHS alumnus. There were 10 of us, including spouses and girlfriend, and we spent five hours talking about our high school days and beyond.

Maybe Monongah High graduates will provide my annual reunion for the next winterizing on Siesta Key. One era ends and another begins. That's life, my friend.