The Way We Were

The Way We Were: Dr. Maria Acosta-Rua

The Way We Were: Dr. Maria Acosta-Rua

Dr. Maria Acosta-Rua and her late husband, Dr. Gaston Acosta-Rua, have never forgotten their past even as they contributed so much to their Jacksonville community. Theirs is truly an international tale, in which they have intertwined their Spanish and American lives to the benefit of both. Gaston Acosta-Rua and Maria Victoria Pol Gimenez met in […]

The Way We Were: Bryan Hickox

The Way We Were: Bryan Hickox

When he was in seventh grade in Manhasset, Long Island, his teacher patiently informed Bryan Hickox that there were only a few avenues for inexhaustible blowhards.  Choosing one of those avenues, Hickox became a national debater and, later, after graduating from Occidental College, he ran radio and television stations in California and Arizona. In the […]

The Way We Were: Philip Stockton May

The Way We Were: Philip Stockton May

In the late afternoon of January 1944, 19-year-old Philip Stockton May was close to the Rhine River in Germany as part of the 87th Infantry Division of the US Army. He described what happened next.  “Our commander decided that we were too close to the road and could be too easily spotted by the Germans. […]

The Way We Were: Marjorie Broward

The Way We Were: Marjorie Broward

She’s prayed in a Sikh temple in India and walked through treetops in a rainforest on an island formerly known as Borneo. She’s had drinks at Raffles Bar in Singapore and dined at the Four Seasons in New York. She’s watched the waters of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans come together at the Cape of […]

The Way We Were: George Sedding Trotter & Ann Allulis Trotter

The Way We Were: George Sedding Trotter & Ann Allulis Trotter

It would not be difficult to imagine George Sedding Trotter, M.D., dressed in a frock coat, his antique medical bag in tow, riding with horse and buggy to care for Jacksonville’s ailing residents. Since beginning his residency and internship in 1959 at St. Vincent’s Hospital, the same hospital where he was born Oc. 27, 1932, […]

The Way We Were: Rogers Baldwin “Tiger” Holmes

The Way We Were: Rogers Baldwin “Tiger” Holmes

  When your list of accomplishments include World War II fighter pilot, big game hunter, helicopter pilot, successful entrepreneur, world champion athlete, friend to United States presidents, husband, father of five, grandfather of eight and great-grandfather of seven plus two more on the way, there doesn’t seem to be much else left to do. Except […]

The Way We Were: Dr. Louis and Patricia Larmoyeux

The Way We Were: Dr. Louis and Patricia Larmoyeux

The Christmas card says it all: “After 50 years of marriage, the gift of love and family continues to fill us with pride and joy! Christmas blessings from our family to yours! Louis and Pat Larmoyeux 2016.” Their secret for a long, loving marriage? Well, read on for the details. Both Louis and Patricia (Pat) […]

The Way We Were: Betty Swenson Bergmark

The Way We Were: Betty Swenson Bergmark

She gazed from her 8th floor balcony at the clear blue sky and the calm St. Johns River, remembering a turbulent time long ago when she danced as bombs dropped from the dark London skies.  “I was still a teenager when I began dancing professionally for the Royal Carl Rosa Ballet in London,” recalled Betty […]