The Way We Were

The Way We Were: Winslow Ira Colbert

The Way We Were: Winslow Ira Colbert

Winslow Ira Colbert of Ortega got her first boat, a wooden Curley boat with a 35mph motor, when she was fourteen years old. Her dad would launch it for her in the morning and the self- described “river rat” cruised up and down McGirt’s Creek, Moon Lake and the St. Johns River to Timuquana Country […]

The Way We Were: Fred Woolsey

The Way We Were: Fred Woolsey

Fred Woolsey is a Jacksonville native. His family lived on Green Street in West Riverside when he was born on February 22, 1936 to Dr. and Mrs. Fred and Helen Woolsey. A year later, he became big brother to Mary. Next door lived the Walton family of five. They had a son, Bob, who was […]

The Way We Were: Agnes Stack

The Way We Were: Agnes Stack

Born in Ohio in 1935, the youngest of 11 children, Agnes Stack was the only one among her six sisters and four brothers who had any musical talent. When she was 4 years old, she made herself a cornstalk fiddle, sat on the back porch, and began singing “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad,” a […]

The Way We Were: Julie Babcock

The Way We Were: Julie Babcock

Some people have a way of touching entire communities, generations of families. Some people have abiding faith, countless talents, and boundless energy. Some people are just natural servants, givers of good in a variety of ways. Julie Babcock (nee Cheves) is one such person. Julie Cheves, “Pronounced like cheese—Cheevz,” she said, was born at St. […]

The Way We Were: Anita P. Morris

The Way We Were: Anita P. Morris

She is a Coast Guard veteran of WWII, a patriot, a woman of faith, a hospital volunteer, an artist, wife, mother, and caregiver. She is and has been all of that and more. She is 100 years old. She is Anita P. Morris. Morris was born Anita Gloria Paone on September 24, 1921 in Utica, […]

The Way We Were: Nina and John Searcy

The Way We Were: Nina and John Searcy

Over the summer, Nina and John Searcy, Jacksonville natives, celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. Their secret to staying together for over six decades was summed up in one four-letter word: love. Both were born and raised in the north end of town. Nina Lincoln was from Springfield. Her family knew of John’s from the time […]

The Way We Were: Dr. Iris Eisenberg

The Way We Were: Dr. Iris Eisenberg

It takes a special kind of woman to devote her life to the care of the community and its patients, remain a lifelong learner to be certain to stay at the top of her chosen field, and through it all maintain a sense of humor and a zest for life and living. Dr. Iris Eisenberg […]

The Way We Were: Saundra & Bob Kidd

The Way We Were: Saundra & Bob Kidd

They are a couple who came to Jacksonville and didn’t leave, who raised a family with sports and church at its center, and whose love has taken them around the globe and back again. They are Saundra and Bob Kidd of Ortega. Saundra Bozeman Kidd is originally from Montgomery, Alabama where she grew up with […]