The Way We Were: Jimmy Kelly
We reap what we sow, the saying goes. There’s a Jacksonville man who’s living proof. Jimmy Kelly, a native Floridian raised in Ortega, is a civic-minded man. He has helped hundreds of kids in our community, and animals, too. The joy he gives always comes back. Kelly was born in late November of 1951 at […]
The Way We Were: Norman Abraham
He has fed mayors, council members, judges, salesmen, construction workers, doctors, hospital workers, bankers, firefighters, policemen, and retirees. When invited to speak at Rotary meetings about his business experience, it’s rarely possible to find a room with a single person who has not been a patron of at least one of his eateries. He is […]
The Way We Were: Anne Coyle
Anne Coyle recognizes the difficulties of today’s COVID crisis, “but it is nothing compared to 1918. That was a time of war and a time of flu,” she said of what occurred more than 100 years ago. The Spanish flu pandemic during WWI hit her mother’s family hard. Coyle’s mother was the eldest of eight […]
The Way We Were: Joe and Joni Bifano
When it comes to true love, the third time is the charm, the saying goes. And that’s how it was for Joseph James Bifano. As a young man working in his hometown of Sheboygan, Wis., on the second floor of J. C. Penney in the boys’ department, there were at least two occasions when his […]
The Way We Were: Sissy Barker
It’s quite the paradox, but amid multiple moves across state lines, Sissy Barker has maintained throughout Jacksonville a consistency in friendships and family, which marks the theme of her life. Born to Sara and Paul Hattaway on Thanksgiving Day 1936 in Augusta, Georgia, Sissy Barker’s real name was Cynthann. She was named for her father’s […]
Keeping the neighborhood clean, one street at a time
If the streets of San Marco and San Jose sparkle more since the Coronavirus pandemic began, you can thank Mel and Hilda Case. Dubbed as “Neighborhood Angels” by some in the San Marco community, the couple spend two to three hours a day, six days a week, picking up trash as they walk for miles […]
The Way We Were: Cyndy Ira Reynolds
A value system instilled by her family and the loyalty of lifelong friends are what have shaped and molded Cyndy Ira Reynolds of Avondale. “I feel like a mixture of so many bright and intuitive and lovely people,” she said. Reynolds is the daughter of Dr. Gordon H. Ira, Jr., the Jacksonville native who had […]
The Way We Were: Carol Cochran Todd
Carol Cochran Todd has seen over seven decades of change across Jacksonville. But there’s been at least one constant thread woven into the fabric of her life here, and that is respect—the respect she witnessed as a little girl, the respect she was taught in school, the respect she holds today for all people. Originally […]
