Bill Gorrell started a Gorrell Gosh Rush to Siesta Key and his 37-room Poor Bill’s motel he owned, beginning in 1972, along with his wife, Anita. He bought and renamed Siesta Plaza Motel on Sun and Sea Drive.
Bill also managed an adjacent Grey Gull 8-unit motel purchased from Bill Mayrose, former BJ ad saleman, by doctors from Fort Wayne, Indiana and wound up with a 5-building complex under his direction (Poor Bill’s and co-owned the 5th building in a row with the Fort Wayne doctors) before he passed away in 1995.
Mike Williams, responsible for most of the digging through Tower Topics to hand over information for this article to me so that all I had to do was assemble and write, told me:
“I remember Bill Mayrose from classified automotive display. His manner of speech and his looks reminded me of Broderick Crawford of the Highway Patrol TV series.
Taking a clever twist to the guy no one wants to meet with his deadly scythe, Mike calls himself “Grimm’s Reaper.” Advertising makeup whiz Johnny Grimm bellowed instructions and Mike carried them out magnificently, just as Harry Liggett and I did when State Desk editor Pat Englehart shouted with the DeNobil cigar in his mouth when we were Pat’s assistants.
Pat is the overseer #1 responsible for the BJ getting a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the killing of 4 and wounding of 9 Kent State students in 1970, by whipping his reporters and photographers into action.
Hugh Gorrell spent 4 weeks in Florida helping brother Bill move from Akron to Sarasota. To prevent homesickness for the BJ, Bill had a BJ calendar hanging on the wall in his office.
Hell, a cadre of BJ folks even came down to repaint Poor Bill’s motel for him when Bill thought it was looking shabby.
At Bill’s urging his brother Hugh Gorrell, still working at the BJ, rounded up “painters” Ed Fobean, Dave White, Eunie Collins and wife, Lloyd Bigelow and wife and Ruth West and husband Tom West.
With Fobean in charge, they prepared for the paint job with a morning visit to a Sarasota bar. BIG mistake! After drinking from 5 to 11 a.m. they staggered out into the sunshine to make Poor Bill’s sparkle again.
Instead, they stumbled across the street to the multi-floors Sarasota Municipal Building which in their drunker stupor was Poor Bill’s and began painting . . . and panting after the Sarasota mayor’s secretary!
The mayor had the rascals thrown out and declared Bill’s motel “off limits” to decent citizens and tourists.
Hearing about this, Gorrell put this ad in the Sarasota News:
“Wanted. Good, reliable sober God-fearing non-printer painters to paint Off-Limits motel. Contact Bill Gorrell, owner, Siesta Keys Motel.”
Then there was the time that Jerry Van Sickle, master of the BJ Composing Computer throne, and wife Edith showed up to visit Hugh Gorrell, who was ill, at Bill’s motel.
Hugh and Jerry walked the beach and met a “lady of the night” in the bright sunshine but retreated to safer ground. Or so they said.
Jerry and Edith also visited BJ retiree Ted Austgen and Catherine Harris, BJ retiree Wayne Harris’ widow.
Former BJ managing editor Murray Powers once wrote about the BJ Shangri Las just off the Gulf of Mexico shore.
The Tower Topics article included a group photo of Powers and wife Ruth, Gorrell and wife Anita, brother Hugh Gorrell, former BJ proofreader Dick Oblinger and wife Pauline who had moved to Ashland, Ohio, BJ travel writer Ed Schoenleb, Composing’s Elmer “Red” Woodlee (I never knew Red’s first name) and wife Margie, and proof desk’s Florine Morgan and husband Ed Morgan, a former Polsky buyer.
Ed’s wife Elaine was digging up seashells on the beach when the photo was taken.
Murray was a circus fan and the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum is in Sarasota, which borders Siesta Key. They did their clowning around in Sarasota each winter and toured America when the weather warmed up in the north.
Other BJ types there at the time but busy elsewhere were Composing’s Fred Bochert and wife Caroline, formerly in the BJ business office; engraving’s Todd Kittinger and his wife; and Composing’s Dave Cummings, Sr.
Previous visitors, Murray wrote, included associate editor Jim Jackson, BJ courthouse reporter Bill Wallace and wife, Sid Sprague and his wife (his first, who passed away; Sid later remarried his wife’s best friend and moved to Colorado); Charlie Woodlee; Catherine Harris, Wayne’s widow (she was there with Wayne in earlier years); Marjorie Stoner, Art’s widow; and Hildegarde McManigal, Emmett’s widow.
Bob Roberts, living and doing a lot of fishing in Boynton Beach, Florida, visited Wayne Harris and Ted Austgen at their Florida homes.
BJ folks who stayed at Poor Bill’s motel included Florine Bohannon Morgan, with husband husband Ed Morgan after her 1973 retirement from the BJ. Gorrell lost 2 customers who still visited after Florine & Ed bought a condo in Sarasota.
Marie Busch, hubby Jerry, daughter Cindy & Cindy's friend in February 1973.
Lloyd Bigelow, Bill Ferguson and Larry Furman with their families.
Gerry Smith, who wrote a Tower Topics column about her vacation alongside Murray & Ruth Powers, Ed & Elaine Schoenleb, Dick Oblinger and Bill Gorrell's sister Lois.
June Beam, BJ composing room retiree, drove down separately to see them at Flo Morgan's condo in Sarasota, got lost, locked her purse and keys in the car, called AAA to the rescue so that she made her way to Flo's.
Four years later Gerry had a Brown Derby Restaurant meal in Sarasota with Fred & Caroline Bochert, Roger & Fairy Ellis and Bob Kendall, who came from Venice & Bradenton.
Others who migrated to Poor Bill’s for a warm winter break:
Ted Austgen
Bill Ferguson family
Larry Furman family
Lloyd Bigelow family
Bob & Jane Stopher
Edith & Jerry VanSickle
Even before Poor Bill’s BJ folks found Sarasota and Siesta Key an unavoidable lure.
Diane Wright, a 1995 University of Akron graduate who spent 23 years as a BJ Librarian before joining the mass exodus in 2008 that cost the BJ 345 years of service. She came to Siesta Key with her travel companion Stanley Bassak.
Florida Bohannon wrote in the June 1968 Tower Topics, “Ted Austgen and Wayne Harris and wives are having a great time together in Sarasota. Betty takes a dip in the surf twice daily. Ted is doing his share of fishing while Wayne keeps an eye on the "bikinis." Bob Roberts lives in Boynton Beach, where he does a lot of fishing. He visited Wayne and Ted the first week in May.”
I had phoned Bill to make a reservation at Poor Bill’s but the vacation weeks for My Mona Lisa and me didn’t match Bill’s few vacanies.
So we settled for going a few feet across Sun ‘n Sea street to Sea Castle, a 10-unit complex under one room that had different owners for each 2-story rental where watched magnificent sunsets on the Gulf of Mexico from our 2nd-floor deck or stepped out our front door onto the cool Crescent Beach sand February after February (we stayed the entire month).
In my mind was a coal miner’s son romping on the #1 beach in the world among my travels to 64 countries and 44 states. Travel experts agreed with me, usually listing Siesta Key’s beach just off Point of Rocks among the top 10 or 20 in the world.
We became friends with people from other northern states who came every February as we did and had our own Gorrell-like BJ reunion on our second floor Sea Castle deck overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
Dave and Gina White, who had a home in Sarasota and later switched to a home in Venice just south of Sarasota; Terry Dray, who we also visited in his Avon Lake home; Don Bandy, who we visited in his Bradenton home; and Don Pack, who cleaned the Sea Castle pool and many others in the Sarasota area.
And ran into BJ printers Bob Lewis, who owned a home not far from Poor Bill’s on Point of Rocks that he rented out, and Mike Jewell. Bob has a 10-day vacancy spot and invited Mike to join him for some Siesta Key sun and fun. On the beach! What a surprise!
Monnie and I had dinner with Bob and Mike the next evening. Plenty of heartwarming conversation about the glories of working at the BJ under John Shively Knight, the best newspaper owner in American history in my opinion because he treated the paper boys, secretaries, printers, editors and reporters with the same degree of respect.
We were family because JSK made it so, with a major helping hand from publisher Ben Maidenburg, who often gave loans to BJ newsroom people for a down payment on their new homes.
Bob passed away in 2021 while living in his Sarasota rental property that became his permanent home, making Fern a widow. Their children are Robert, Jr. and Kim.
Another time, I saw a car with Montgomery County license tags one building from Poor Bill's and checked on the second-floor rental's occupants. It was Composing retiree Hugh Downing and wife Sharon. They lived 125 miles east of Siesta Key in The Villages and popped away from Sharon’s parents’ home in Bradenton to take in Siesta Key.
Later, we often visited Hugh and Sharon in The Villages and Hugh arranged our weekly Thursday golf tee times that included former BJ State Desk reporter Bob Page, an associate pastor at the Live Oaks Community Church in The Villages.
Terry passed away in 2009, Don Bandy in 2011, Roger Ellis, who vacationed north of Sarasota in Bradenton, in 2001; Lloyd Bigelow in 2018; Hugh Downing in 2016; and Dave White, too.
Hugh and Sharon were married for 56 years. Hugh and Sharon both were from Galion, Ohio but didn’t meet till Hugh showed up in her parents' home in Florida.
Sharon moved to Erie, Pennsylvania after Hugh passed away to be near her son, Mark.
Hugh and Sharon’s other children are Chris, who lives in Hudson, and Ben and Jonathan, who live in Toledo and Vienna, Virginia.
Hugh’s siblings are Barbara Downing Roelle, Bert Downing, Colleen Downing Elliker, James Downing, Judy Downing Johnston and Karen Downing Yochem.
Dave kept about eight dimes that I gave him each time Monnie and I visited in a container that he brought to 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."
After Dave passed away and Paula and I had lunch with Gina at Turtles Restaurant on Siesta Key, I pulled a dime out and handed it to Gina, saying, “In memory of Dave.”
Lloyd retired from the BJ in 1992. Lloyd’s siblings were Elmer Bigelow, Homer Bigelow, Marilyn Bigelow and Lois Bigelow McDonald. His children are Becky Bigelow Hermann of Stow and Candy Bigelow Hale of Akron.
Roger Ellis was treasurer of the Beacon Journal Credit Union from its founding in 1968 until his retirement in 1980. It was his brainchild.
Roger had 27 years at the Beacon Journal, was regularly on the Board of Auditors of Local 182 of the ITU. He was a bowler, a horseshoe fan, loved to fish and wrote a regular column for Tower Topics.
He and his wife Fairy eventually moved to Bradenton after his retirement. Their children are Barbara, Sandy and Warren.
The late Don Bandy, superior rewrite man at the BJ, spent his final years in a home he purchased in Bradenton.
The bonus for wife Monnie and me was nearby jaunts to Myakka City to watch the famous Lipizanner horses perform and a wavy ride on the Myakka Lake airboard to look in on the alligators that are everywhere, including on shore where we often walked through the trees to see them sunning across the river that feeds into Myakka Lake and watching tourists stupid enough to venture within feet of the alligators for a great photo that could have turned them into an alligator meal.
The Lippizanner stallions were saved by General Patton, who “enlisted” them into his Army in World War II to prevent the Russians from killing the Lipizanners because they were “German.”
And hugging the favorite banyan tree in my world travels at Marie Selby Gardens in Sarasota, which had a treasure trove of flora imported from around the world by the wealthy Mrs. Selby that My Mona Lisa and I enjoyed while taking in the spectacular view of Sarasota Bay and its flotilla of watercrafts and dolphins that popped up playfully from time to time when they are not slapping fish against the sea wall to knock them out and become a dolphin meal.
Monnie and I walked the 2.25-mile boardwalk in the Audubon Society’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples (off I-75 exit 111) that BJ travel/nature writer Bob Downing had written about years before. I filed it away in hopes of some day walking amid the thousands of cypress trees, alligators and birds. Which I did.
And took a break about 10 miles south to Snook Haven, where country music resounded including from tamborines by dozens who showed up with their instruments. The sandhills were alive with the sound of music.
And the Sarasota Ringling Clowns Museum where they brought in the clowns via the art masterpieces on display.
Also a side trip to Hawthorne, where Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote “The Yearling” and I accidentally broke one of the typewriter keys because I wanted my finger to touch where Ms. Rawlings’ fingers touched.
And siddled to Tampa to watch my WVU alma mater Mountaineers’ game with South Florida with a Raymond James Stadium sellout crowd in Tampa.
Eventually, both Sea Castle and Gorrell’s chain of motels were leveled to construct a $100 million Hyatt six-story complex with 1,900 to 2,900 square foot condos that cost $50,000 to $150,000 for a Florida winter occupancy.
Neither Monnie and I nor Paula and I EVER paid more than 3 figures for our Sea Castle winters.
Poor Boy’s was razed for an ugly and uninspiring cement-blocks monstrosity.
The new structures increased occupancy but killed the intimacy created by Sea Castle and Poor Bill’s, which encouraged and embraced a family atmosphere.
They razed the buildings but nothing can raze the memories of Poor Bill’s and Sea Castle.
I retired in 1996 after 26 years at the BJ as part of my 43-year newspaper career that took me to the Williamson (WV) Daily News, Glendive (Montana) Daily Ranger (6-week paid honeymoon with my new bride, My Mona Lisa), Charleston (West Virginia) Daily Mail, Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, St. Petersburg (Florida) Times and the BJ.
Paula, who became a clinical psychologist after leaving the BJ for 22 years in California with her son, Patrick, who plays a mean saxophone in New York City when he’s not at his day job, bought another home in The Villages (she had sold her previous home there) which is her primary residence when she isn’t staying at my Tallmadge condo that we bought in 2006 during our 17-year romance.
I later bought Paula’s 50% ownership but keep a 2nd bedroom upstairs for visits by her and others.
Retired printer Carl Nelson often visited his father-in-law at his wife’s dad’s home in The Villages, where every day is playday for the 140,000 residents and is under the umbrella of one family with only sparse segment in tiny incorporated towns.
There is golf with 10,000 tee times daily, live outdoor music and dancing, card games, every sport imaginable geared down for senior citizens.
My 30+ winters in Florida of up to 4 months each time were spent first with my Mona Lisa and then with Paula. By two favorite babes and the beach. Beautiful combination!
When you’re based in Sea Castle and Siesta Key for a month, side trips to see friends are a natural.
Paula and I had a reunion dinner in Sarasota with Kent State graduate and former WKNT news director Bob Carpenter and wife Kaye, who live in Punta Gorda when they aren’t taking cruises.
Bob worked with Paula’s late husband, Jeff Tucker, as KSU broadcasting students at WKSU and Kent’s WKNT.
Sarasota also was a reunion base with former Monongah High School (in West Virginia) classmates at the home of Bill Meredith, Class of 1957. I am Class of 1950.
Carpenter is former executive director of the Punta Gorda Business Alliance and an award-winning public information officer with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.
Paula and I visited the late BJ religion reporter Pete Geiger and his wife, Sandy, when they were living in the (J.C.) Penny Farms retirement complex 38 miles west of St. Augustine and the Atlantic Ocean.
We got together in Orlando, midway between Penny Farms and The Villages.
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 a Washington, D.C. area newspaper, under the unique and inspiring Nobil-chewing/smoking State Desk Editor Pat Englehart.
Pat was the overseer who drove his minions of reporters and photographers to a Pulitzer Prize for the BJ’s coverage of the 1970 Kent State massacre by Ohio National Guard troops sent there to help elect Governor James Rhodes to the Senate, a tactic that killed 4 and wounded 9 but didn’t win the Senate election for Rhodes.
I pretended not to know Rhodes when I encountered him in the BJ men’s room because not being recognized is a slashing wound to celebrities with oversized egos.
And I met Jane Snow, best food reporter in BJ history (sorry, Polly Paffilas, another damn good BJ food writer), and her mother in the Clearwater area a few times when we both were vacationing in the Sunshine State.
Well, it you made it to the end of this opus I’m guessing a lot of memories flashbacked through your mine. It did mine as I spent weeks working on the article and the photo montages.
JSK + BJ spells FUN Agree?
