The Way We Were: Janne and Jody Brandenburg
She admits to being raised “like a brat” in Jacksonville. He grew up on a farm south of Florida City. She spent time in the limelight, in front of cameras, and on TV. He’s become known for his work with the bereaved in the death care industry. Their pairing has been compared to Mary Poppins […]
The Way We Were: Karen Buskirk
Some people give selflessly, not expecting any reward or return. They give because they believe that giving back is the only way to truly effect positive change. Karen Buskirk is one such person. “You can gripe and complain all you want, but if you don’t give back to make the community better, then you’re not […]
The Way We Were: Dr. Christian Berdy
Since 1975, Dr. Christian Berdy has been a well-known Jacksonville periodontist, a specialist in the treatment of gums. His life can be characterized as one of perseverance and selflessness. Berdy’s parents were born in Austria and met in a Jewish refugee center in France in the late 1930s. Berdy was born in occupied France in […]
The Way We Were: Bob and Melody Bachman
Bob and Melody Bachman have history here. But it didn’t begin with them. Bob’s mom, Margaret Ruth Kelly-Bachman, grew up from the age of 3 in a house her dad had built on Alcazar Avenue in Grenada. She was a student at Hendricks Avenue Elementary School when it was still new. Her mom, Bob’s maternal […]
The Way We Were: Hazel Montgomery
Hazel Montgomery has been a permanent Jacksonville resident for nearly eight decades. She was married for 62 years to an Ortega native. “She is sharp, proud of her Ortega heritage, a delightful storyteller, and an all-around fabulous person,” said Marianne Hofheimer, one of her five children. Hazel Jackson Montgomery was born in Albany, Georgia at […]
The Way We Were: Pat and Betty Geer
Pat and Betty Geer met in Jacksonville in the 1960s, raised a family here, and continue to reside locally. They were high school sweethearts at Robert E. Lee. Loyalty to God, school, and country is what they learned and what they taught their children. “Time changes all things,” Betty said wistfully. “But I wouldn’t want […]
The Way We Were: Bill and Mary Dudley Schmidt
It doesn’t happen often. But sometimes, Cupid’s arrow pierces the same heart twice. Such was the fate of Bill Schmidt. He was only 15 years old when he met his first love, his first wife, the mother of his two children. But cancer came. On the day he turned 48, the widower’s heart beat with […]
The Way We Were: Joe Joseph
“I’ve seen Jacksonville change over the past 70 years,” said Joe Joseph. Joe is the first generation of the Joseph family to be born in America, in Jacksonville’s St. Vincent’s Hospital in 1947. His family established themselves in Florida in stages. His great-grandfather immigrated to Tarpon Springs on Florida’s west coast in the late 1890s […]
