Ann Rutherford of Boca Raton brought her charitable activism
to another level with her book Flags of Freedom, honoring the men
and women who serve in the armed forces. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

What does being an American mean to you?

That’s the question Ann Rutherford asked her son David to ponder as he was shipping out to Afghanistan just after Sept. 11. She handed him a small notebook and asked him to write down his thoughts on the subject while serving with his Navy SEAL platoon.

David did that and more. He passed the notebook around to his fellow SEALs. As they worked together day by day, tracking Osama bin Laden and his followers through the mountains and caves of Afghanistan, the SEALs wrote about being American, and defending America. Fresh memories of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon fueled their writing.

When David came home and returned the notebook to his mom, she felt compelled to share the handwritten personal essays inside. She published them, along with 26 of her own photographs showing Old Glory flying proudly, in a book called Flags of Freedom: A Pictorial Salute to American Soldiers.

“I have taken thousands of photos in my life,” says Rutherford, who lives in Boca Raton’s Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club. “And when I looked at my collection, I noticed there were a lot of American flags. Over a period of 35, 40 years, I took flag pictures, and everywhere we went on vacation I searched for a cemetery or someplace where I could find a flag to photograph.”

Why did she focus on the Stars and Stripes? 

“I guess because I’m a patriot,” she says. “And I didn’t realize how strongly I felt about our country until I started working on the book.”

Rutherford, 67, describes herself as a “doer.” She was a tennis champion growing up in Michigan, winning a statewide tournament at age 13 and later playing throughout the Midwest in the Wightman Cup junior program. 

A car accident at 22 changed her life in an instant, and became the impetus for moving to Florida. It happened when her husband, Charlie, was in law school at Wayne State University.

“We were on our way home from Detroit for Christmas,” she says, “It was icy, and we spun around and hit a cement overpass. I was sitting in the back seat holding our firstborn son, Eric, and the front seat broke loose and crushed my leg. I had a cast on for nine months, trying to take care of a 1-year-old. It was a traumatic experience in our life, so we decided, no more Michigan.”

The Rutherfords arrived in Pompano Beach in 1971, moving to Boca Raton in 1973, when Charlie opened a law practice there. 

They had a second child, David, and became involved in community and charitable organizations. 

Ann started a career as a real estate agent in her 40s and continues to work as a Realtor for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Boca Raton. She still excels at tennis, despite lingering nerve damage from the accident.

As we mark another Independence Day, Rutherford wants Americans to give more credit to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces.

“Whatever you are, Republican or Democrat, it doesn’t matter… If we didn’t have our service people, we wouldn’t have the freedoms we have. I mean, these troops are giving their lives for us,” she says.

 — Paula Detwiller

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school?
A. I grew up in Muskegon, Mich. I graduated from the University of Michigan, where I met my husband, Charlie.

Q. What are some highlights of your life?
A. Sports have played a huge part of my life, tennis in particular.  Winning some state junior tennis championships in Michigan was very exciting. My family and I are event-oriented, so watching my sons in their sports championships and theatrical performances was thrilling. Sharing our family’s successes couldn’t be more rewarding for a mother. 

I also have been very involved in the charity community in Boca for a long time. I am a founder of the Boca Bacchanal Wine Festival for the Boca Raton Historical Society, which is in its 10th year. And, of course, this book, Flags of Freedom, is a very special endeavor for me.

Q. What is your favorite part about living in Boca Raton?
A. Charlie and I have made lifelong friendships and participated with these same friends in helping to shape Boca Raton into one of the most civic-minded communities in the country. 

We have participated in charitable events at Florida Atlantic University, Lynn University, the Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Boca Bacchanal Wine Festival, Saint Andrew’s School, Festival of the Arts, and my favorite charity, Spirit of Giving, of which I am a board member.

Q. What do you consider your greatest accomplishment in life?
A. Being married to Charlie for 44 years, and raising two sons, Eric and David. They are now young adults and have the same compassion for life as my husband and I do.

Q. What did you learn about yourself from writing Flags of Freedom?

A.  The more I worked on the book, the more I came to realize how much the book and its subject — our soldiers, and the freedom they have given Americans to live life as we do — affected me emotionally. My patriotism and the pride I have for my son David for whom the book was created, is unmatched. 

The words written by his SEAL teammates have touched many people with family members who have served their country. I am donating part of the profits from the book to the Navy SEAL Foundation.

Q. Do you have plans to do another book? If so, what would be the topic?

A. I want to do a book on the veterans who have re-entered civilian life after serving their country. Through my photography and character studies, I want to show the struggle they have in this process. Hopefully we Americans will come to realize how important it is to help these veterans reclaim their lives.

Q. If someone made a movie of your life, who would you like to play you and why?
A. I am not worthy of such an idea, but I would probably pick Anne Hathaway, an up-and- coming movie actress who continually lights up the screen in her understated way. My maiden name is Ann Hathaway.

Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A. This is probably unusual, but I like the Nike quote, “Just do it.” That slogan exemplifies my attitude about life — which is to approach life and, in turn, problem-solving as if there is no excuse not to succeed if you give it your best effort.

Q. What was your most humbling moment?

A. When I was 44, I started my real estate career at Arvida Realty, which was comprised of all top producers, and I was a novice. 

I would get stomach pains every day when I walked into the office. It took months before I felt I could handle the pressure and could fit in with the group of accomplished Realtors.

Q. Who or what makes you laugh?
A. I am a member of an investment club named Blush, composed of eight good friends. If the monthly meetings were taped it would be very embarrassing because we laugh more than we invest!     

To purchase a copy of Flags of Freedom: A Pictorial Salute to American Soldiers, visit  http://navysealtributebook.blogspot.com/2011/09/911-anniversary-book.html.

Charles A. McCutcheon

By Christine Davis

BOCA RATON — Charles A. McCutcheon, 83, of Boca Raton, who served as Palm Beach County sheriff and Boca Raton police chief, died at home on June 19.  

His long career in law enforcement began as a patrol officer in Delray Beach in 1954. In 1955, he worked as a deputy constable in Palm Beach County. He joined the Boca Raton Police Department in 1956, and served as a detective, detective sergeant, lieutenant and assistant chief before becoming the fifth police chief for the city in 1970.

Mr. McCutcheon served as chief until 1980, and then joined the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office as undersheriff for Sheriff Richard Wille. In February 1995, Gov. Lawton Chiles appointed him the 13th sheriff of Palm Beach County following Wille’s retirement. McCutcheon served as sheriff until he retired in Dec. 31, 1996.

“How much can you say about someone so near perfect?” Wille asked.  “He was consistent, true and loyal, more than anyone I ever met. He was really concerned about his employees and his friends. He was a great administer and a wonderful friend.”

Chief Rick Jenkins of the North Palm Beach Police Department worked with Mr. McCutcheon for more than a decade. “He was my undersheriff and my mentor,” Jenkins said. “He was a class act, the first police executive to bring higher education to law enforcement. He recognized that education for policing was critical in the 1960s, and he pushed it in the ’70s and ’80s. He’s responsible for professionalizing South Florida policing.”

Mr. McCutcheon’s sons Michael and Patrick followed their father’s lead with careers in law enforcement. Michael was with the Boca police for 28 years. Patrick is a commander at Palm Beach County School District Police Department. 

Born in Washington, Penn., on Sept.  4, 1928, Mr. McCutcheon went into the Army after high school and worked as a surveyor in the Philippines. When he returned, he went to Washington Jefferson College.

“In 1953, he, my mother, and my brother, Michael, came to Boca Raton on vacation and they decided to stay,” his son Patrick McCutcheon said.

“My dad never thought about being a cop before. It’s kind of ironic. He always liked to tell the story that he ran out of money when the car broke down and couldn’t get back to Pennsylvania.”

“A friend of my dad’s was a chief (chief detective Joseph Sobansky) back home, and suggested that my dad check with Hugh Brown (who was then the Boca Raton police chief). My dad met him, and he got my dad a job.”

Mr. McCutcheon received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida Atlantic University and a master’s degree in public information from the John J. College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York.

He was a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy and the U.S. Secret Service School. In 1968, he was one of nine officers chosen nationwide to study law enforcement for a year as a fellow of the U.S. Department of Justice under the Law Enforcement Act.

Mr. McCutcheon was preceded in death by his wife, Joan. 

Funeral services were held on June 23 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Boca Raton. The family has suggested that donations may be made to the Boca Raton Police Athletic League in memory of Charles A. McCutcheon.

Frank J. Devine

By Ron Hayes

DELRAY BEACH — After retiring from a distinguished career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Frank Devine brought his diplomatic skills to Palm Beach County, first as an adjunct professor at Palm Beach Atlantic College, then as executive director of the Delray Beach Property Owners Association.
A former American ambassador to El Salvador, Mr. Devine died June 2. He was 89 and had lived here since 1988, after postings to Colombia, Chile, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, El Salvador and Uruguay, where he met his wife, the former Barbara Ryan.
The couple were married for 49 years, until her death in June 2002.
“He was very proud to have served the United States and the Foreign Service,” said his daughter, Margaret Rose Devine. “He was very loving to his family, and always such a gentleman. Everybody always said he was such a gentleman, and very kind. He had beautiful manners.”
Frank J. Devine was born on June 30, 1922, in Albany, N.Y. He was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the National War College and served with the U.S. Army in World War II.
Mr. Devine began his career in the Foreign Service as the American vice consul in Barranquilla, Colombia, in 1948, and retired in 1980.
From 1981 to 1988 he was the executive director of the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce in New York.
In 1988, he was named Diplomat-In-Residence at Palm Beach Atlantic College, where he taught Latin American business in the Rinker School of Business, as well as Spanish and Latin American culture.
Beginning in 1988, he served for two years as executive director of the Beach Property Owners Association.
In addition to Margaret Rose, of Highland Beach, he is survived by a second daughter, Penelope, of Denver, Colo., and a son, Frank, of Madrid, Spain; two grandchildren, Frank IV and Cooper; and a sister, Marie.
A funeral Mass was celebrated June 9 at St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach.
The family suggests that donations in Mr. Devine’s name be made to DACOR, an organization of foreign affairs professionals, at 1801 F St. NW, Washington, DC 20006.

Ann Boden

By Mary Thurwachter

HIGHLAND BEACH — Even during the final months of her life while battling a long illness, Ann Boden retained her positive and fun-loving outlook, according to her next-door neighbor Judith Krovetz.

“She was a wonderful woman, a beautiful spirit,” Krovetz said. “She was funny and sweet and knew how to tell a good story.”

Mrs. Boden, 74, of Dublin and Lisburn, Ireland, and finally, Highland Beach, died peacefully on June 15.

Mrs. Boden traveled the globe as an Aer Lingus stewardess, and had many stories to share about her experiences, Krovetz said.

“She loved her children so much and they were unbelievably wonderful to her,” Krovetz said.

Those children include Dolores, Conor, Áine, Niall and Caitriona. Other survivors include her grandchildren, Chloe and Karel; her sons and daughters-in law Mark, Lisa, Steve, the late Tanguy; her sister Pat and Jim Sherry; and her sisters and brothers-in-law Dorothy, Imelda, Brian, Terry, Marie, Una and Gail.

Her husband, Oliver, preceded her in death.

A funeral Mass for Mrs. Boden was held on June 19 at St. Jude Catholic Church in Boca Raton.

United by their shared Jewish values of philanthropy and Tikkun Olam, 50 women gathered for the installation celebration. The women are just starting their year-long terms. Eydie Holz, Women’s Philanthropy vice chair for community development (left), and Beth Mishkin, Women’s Philanthropy board member. Photo provided

Ted Smith, Delray Subaru manager (left), and Roy Timothy Young, director and president of Delray Subaru attend the June 28 ribbon cutting of their new Subaru Showroom on Federal Highway in Delray Beach. Pets were invited. Photo provided

Dale Sugerman

By Steve Plunkett

Former Town Manager Dale Sugerman ended the Highland Beach chapter of his career and started a new one the next day 28 miles to the north. Highland Beach commissioners grudgingly approved paying Sugerman and his attorney $215,000 to settle his lawsuit against the town at a special meeting June 26. Sugerman claimed his employment contract was breached and his civil rights violated. “He was totally insubordinate to the commission,” said Commissioner Dennis Sheridan, who took office after Sugerman was suspended and his contract not renewed. “I personally feel he should not get a nickel.” But Mayor Bernard Featherman said they had no alternative.

“We left this in the hands of our attorney and our insurance company,” he said. Town Attorney Leonard Rubin said Highland Beach’s insurance covers $145,000 for the civil rights claim. The town will tap its reserve fund for $70,000 attributed to the breach of contract claim. Sugerman declined to say how much he must pay his lawyer. Rubin said he did not know the specifics of Sugerman’s arrangement, but said lawyers working on contingency typically receive one-third of any money.

On June 27 commissioners in Lake Park ratified a contract with Sugerman making him manager of their town, on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway between Riviera Beach and North Palm Beach. Lake Park Vice Mayor Kendall Rumsey blogged that he was looking forward to Sugerman’s July 2 arrival. “I am confident that he will provide a leadership we can all be proud of!” Rumsey wrote.

The town at the last minute changed the employment agreement, Rumsey said, raising Sugerman’s salary to $120,000 from $110,000 and making a 10 percent pension contribution instead of 6 percent. Sugerman, 60, was the first choice of four of Lake Park’s five commissioners to become town manager.

“I have worked in Palm Beach County as a local government manager since 1994 and therefore am very familiar with all aspects of being a key leader for a South Florida community,” Sugerman wrote in his application, noting he is also a scuba diver, juggler and motorcyclist. “I have no reservations about Dale’s ability to be town manager,” former Boynton Beach City

Manager Kurt Bressner emailed Lake Park. Sugerman was one of Bressner’s assistant city managers until he went to Highland Beach in March 2005. Bressner also was a consultant to Lake Park for its town manager search. Highland Beach commissioners suspended Sugerman for five months — with pay — until his contract expired June 30, 2011, after learning he planned to suspend Town Clerk Beverly Brown for a month without pay.

Brown by mistake emailed him jokes she was forwarding to friends on her official computer about Canadians not being politically correct. Sugerman investigated and found more jokes, some “sexually oriented or defamatory,” that Brown had forwarded at work, including one alluding to President Obama and using the N-word. A retired Palm Beach County circuit judge reviewed the case in April 2011 and sided with Brown’s lawyer and then-Town Attorney Tom Sliney, saying a suspension without pay would be a “draconian’’ penalty.

A written reprimand in Brown’s personnel file for one year was more than adequate, he ruled. Besides paying Sugerman’s $12,000-a-month salary, Highland Beach let him continue to use his leased Nissan Murano SUV during the suspension.

Commissioners hired Kathleen Weiser, a former Punta Gorda assistant city manager, as his interim and later permanent replacement. Sugerman, a Hypoluxo resident, was a finalist to become Lantana’s town manager in April, the same month he and his wife became first-time grandparents.

Last August, his wife posted a picture online of them sitting in front of the Taj Mahal in India. At a May court hearing Sugerman’s attorney said her client was in Europe. While Brown kept her monthly $6,200 salary intact, she had to pay a $6,000 legal bill from fighting the proposed suspension. Sliney told Brown the town should not reimburse her attorney’s fees, she said, because she admitted sending the emails, a violation of town policy. 

Members of the Brotherhood Ride honored the 11 emergency responders who died in the line of duty last year in Florida  by riding bicycles through the state, covering more than 550 miles in eight days. The ride began June 3 in Naples, traveled up the east coast and ended in St. Petersburg on June 10. The Delray Beach Police and Fire Rescue departments escorted the riders. Pictured are: Capt. Tim Garito (left), Curtis Jepson, Mike Twigger, Fred Glass, Chief of Police Tony Strianese, Shawn Beckowitz, Justin Reed, Dan Cramer and Jeff Morse, founder and president of the Brotherhood Ride (kneeling). Photo provided

Soroptimist International President Lorry Herdeen (left), Mark Hansen and community leaders  Cynthia Cummings and  Elke Schmidt attend the June 10 installation dinner for new officers. Photo provided

Randy ‘the Kite Man’ Lowe with one of his collection.  Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Paula Detwiller

Today it’s the 90-foot squid — swaying, nodding, riding the breeze above Delray’s public beach. Tomorrow it might be the 150-foot cobra, snaking through the summer sky. Or the giant cat, pouncing high in the air.

“I love kites, but this is the first time I’ve seen one that big,” says beachgoer Richard Olmedo of Coral Springs. “That’s amazing.”

The collection belongs to Randy “the Kite Man” Lowe of Delray Beach, a retired math teacher and kite-flying hobbyist. 

He owns about 50 of these gigantic kites, purchased from manufacturers around the world at sky-high prices: about $5,000 each for the largest models. He keeps them in a storage container on his property. 

“They crush down into the size of a shopping bag, and I have ’em all labeled and organized so I can find the ones I want very easily,” Lowe says.

When the weather is clear and the sea breeze is right (between 10 and 15 miles per hour), Lowe hauls his kites down to the beach and puts on a show. You’ll find him at the south end, near the Casuarina Road entrance. 

Randy ‘the Kite Man’ Lowe.

The first thing he does is screw a metal stake deep into the sand and attach a line connected to his pilot kite, which looks like a floating orange mattress. Once the pilot kite is up and flying, Lowe carefully lays out the “show kite,” holds it aloft to catch air, and then clips it to the pilot line. This gives him his “anchor in the sky,” keeping the enormous kite where he wants it.

“Most of the kites I have are one-of-a-kind,” he says. A crowd favorite is called the Top Half. It’s the torso, arms and head of an enormous volleyball player reaching for the ball. The ball is a separate kite, flying just beyond Top Half’s reach. Together, these kites get the most second looks. (Is that a flying torso?)

“To me it’s art, you know? I don’t just float kites up there, I always have a theme,” Lowe says. “If I’m flying a whale, I certainly want to have a couple of lobsters on the side, and a crab or a jellyfish or a seahorse. It’s an arrangement.”

Lowe says he’s been flying kites for the last 20 years. During his math-teaching years in Boston public schools, Lowe used his hobby to bring to life math principles, such as the Pythagorean theorem. 

During field trips, he would have students figure out the length of the kite line — the hypotenuse in the imaginary right triangle — after giving them the measurements of the other two sides. “So when we got back into class, they understood what I was talking about:  A-squared plus B-squared equals C-squared.”

Comfortably retired now at 60, married but with no children of his own, Lowe likes to see children react to his colorful, whimsical kites.

“I’ve had kids run all the way down the beach saying, ‘Mom, look at that!’ They are fascinated, and that’s what we need more of. Get the kids off the phones, away from the televisions, and out breathing fresh air.” 

In fact, he’d like to take his kite demonstrations to local schools, either to celebrate special occasions (graduations, football games) or to use them for hands-on learning. 

Since moving to Delray Beach a year ago, Lowe has been hired to entertain at occasional private parties (like the one on Memorial Day at the Delray Beach Club) and has signed a contract with the Boca Raton Resort and Club to fly his kites at their private beach club on weekends. 

He is licensed and insured through the American Kitefliers Association, and promotes his services on his website (www.randythekiteman.com). 

“It’s something to do and I enjoy it,” he says. “I’m just living life, having fun. And I’ve earned every minute of it.”  Ú

Emcee Kait Parker, NewsChannel 5 meteorologist, with outgoing United Way Chairman and coastal Delray Beach resident  Art Menor. Photo provided

Students and instructors give the hang loose sign during
Nomad’s inaugural Summer Surf Camp. Photo provided

Nomad Surf Shop’s much anticipated Summer Surf Camp was cause for great excitement in my family. The camp impressed me with its relaxed approach. My kids (ages 6 and 10) had tons of fun in a non-intimidating and safe environment. A small group size (maximum of 12) catered to all abilities and skill levels. The camp consists of five weeklong sessions.

It was wonderful to watch a new generation of young surfers steadily improve their skills. I saw my children’s confidence and self-esteem grow. What stood out most was the camaraderie among the new friends.

The inaugural Summer Surf Camp was held in June with a small tribe of surfers (and wannabees) along with their skilled, friendly instructor ‘Dre’ and three assistants. 

 Sharon Snow DuBose, 

Ocean Ridge

Landscape Chairman Carol Rice shows a group
what is on the back of her T-shirt as she leads a tour
through the Boca Raton Garden Club for National
Garden Week. Club members also installed officers.

The back of Rice's T-shirt reads ‘Dirt Gardener.’

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The Saint Joseph’s Episcopal School Boys Tennis Team won first place in the Gold Coast Tennis League with a record of six wins and one loss for the Boynton Beach School. Nick Albino and John Tierney were the No. 1 doubles team and went undefeated 7-0. Pictured are Coach Becky Cleveland (left), John Tierney, Henry King, Damon Ditrichs, Pedro Tirado, Nick Albino, Joey Pumilia, Dominic Tarro, and Coach Eric Keiper.

Photo provided

Greg Young (from left), Becky Walsh, Sylvie Bergeron, Headmaster Joseph Zaluski, Maureen Reuter and Heidi Sargeant hold a check for $210,000 at the Gulf Stream School’s year-end Auxiliary Luncheon. The auxiliary supports the school through major events and fundraisers. Photo provided

 A detail of the wallpaper at the Ritz-Carlton’s resort club
lounge shows dapper monkeys sipping martinis. Photo provided

By Mary Thurwachter

What could be more fun than a barrel of monkeys? How about a swanky club lounge that mingles chic mid-century sensibility in a modern day interpretation that incorporates a bunch of adorable monkeys on a playful, but pretty, wallpaper? 

Addison Mizner and his monkey Johnnie Brown
(perched on his shoulder) visit a parrot in Palm Beach
during the 1920s. Photo courtesy of the Boca Raton
Historical Society & Museum

You can find it all at the Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach, where the redesigned resort club lounge was unveiled earlier this year. The lounge, with alluring ocean views, is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily to hotel guests who book rooms and suites on the club lounge floor ($429-$1,299, depending on season), and serves complimentary food and beverages — including a pitcher of top-shelf martinis.

Designer Eric Villency in the Ritz-Carlton’s
club lounge, which he designed. Photos provided

The Ritz recruited New York City design guru Eric Villency to design the resort’s 2,000-square-foot lounge. He used Carrera marble bar tops, a custom-made tufted bar featuring vintage serving ware, stylish light fixtures, posh dining chairs, and, yes, custom-designed monkey mural wallpaper to achieve a retro Palm Beach look.

The Ritz-Carlton’s 2,000-square-foot resort
club lounge that has a mid-century vibe and
monkey-themed wallpaper. 

“We spent a lot of time visiting the vintage shops [in West Palm Beach] — probably almost every one along U.S. 1,” Villency said when talking about working on the three-month room transformation.  “Palm Beach has such a strong historical heritage that we wanted to have elements that had real authenticity. 

Small details create a personal connection and are a great way to create a unique experience.”  

A martini sits in front of wallpaper depicting a monkey
cocktail party in the Ritz-Carlton’s resort club lounge. 

Having spent a fair amount of time in Palm Beach over the years (his late grandmother had a home there), Villency said there are several instances of monkeys being utilized in design motifs throughout Palm Beach history. He wanted to draw upon that part of the local narrative.

“There is an irreverence and lighthearted humor that monkeys evoke (something we played up in our design with sunglasses, parasols and martini glasses) and that dovetailed perfectly with the feel we were trying to create,” Villency said. 

He collaborated with New York City textile designer Kim Wook to create a handsome design using iconic imagery to tell a stylistic and historical narrative. Wook’s pattern, “Monkey Cocktail,” represents the botanical history and “monkey business” of Palm Beach before and after the shipwreck of the Providencia.

Stocked with coconuts, the Spanish ship was on its way from Havana to Barcelona when it ran aground near Palm Beach. Folklore attributes the shipwreck as the catalyst for the coconut palm trees, which have become synonymous with Palm Beach.  

Some have said monkeys were onboard, although that has not been verified. 

“Monkeys were added in (to the room design) as something poppy, recognizable and fun,” Wook said, “but also with character that could be memorable about the Ritz for people going through the club lounge.”  

Mizner and monkeys

The monkey characters, Wook said, came from the story of Johnnie Brown, a spider monkey often seen on the shoulder of Palm Beach architect and Boca Raton developer Addison Mizner. 

Historians say Mizner loved Johnnie and even hand-stitched a silk-lined sombrero, with chinstrap, for him. 

Johnnie is buried in Via Mizner, the first shopping arcade on Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue. The tiny animal cemetery, which also contains the remains of Ruth Sachs’ dog Laddie, has become a popular tourist stop. Sachs and her husband, Morton, bought Mizner’s Worth Avenue villa and lived there 47 years.

Boca Raton’s Fred Eckel, a longtime partner of the late historian Donald Curl, spent years with Curl researching Mizner and his architecture. He said Mizner had many pets and more than one monkey.

“I think he picked it up (having monkeys as pets) in Guatemala when he lived there for awhile,” Eckel said. “He liked exotic pets. He was a colorful person and a good dinner guest. Of course, not everyone wanted a monkey in their house and Mizner would leave them at home then with a maid or someone.”

The Monkey Bar at the Boca Raton Resort & Club
pays tribute to Addison Mizner and the iconic Johnnie Brown.
The bar is closed for the summer but will re-open In November. Photo provided

As to the frequently repeated story of Mizner greeting hotel guests at the Boca Resort & Club wearing a bathrobe and carrying a monkey on his shoulder, Eckel couldn’t say for sure. “I imagine he had the monkey with him morning, noon and night, so he may have been wearing a bathrobe some of the time, but whether he wore it in the hotel, I don’t know.”

Mizner designed the Everglades Club, the Gulf Stream Golf Club, and many homes in Palm Beach and Boca Raton. His legacy included the Boca Raton Hotel (now the Boca Raton Resort & Club), where the trendy Monkey Bar pays homage to Mizner and Johnnie Brown.

The architect and his monkey are also commemorated in an 11-foot bronze monument in Royal Palm Plaza. It shows Mizner with a design pencil in one hand and Johnnie Brown on his arm. 

Of course, the Johnnie Brown moniker can be found in various places throughout the area, including Johnnie Brown’s restaurant on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach in the same spot Elwood’s once occupied.

Going ape for monkeys

Designers and artists have found monkeys appealing for a very long time. Rascally monkeys adorn the walls at Taboó on Worth Avenue, for example. And a naughty, smoking simian painted by Gainesville artist Diane Voyentzie can be found hanging above the piano in The Palm Beach Grille.

Frank Maguire of Quigley-Maguire in Pineapple Grove in Delray Beach said the interest in monkeys in design comes and goes.

“I’ll put one in a room for a little humor,” Maguire said. “It’s kind of a whimsical thing.”

Barbara Sharp

Barbara Sharp, a Sebastian muralist and fabric designer, is more smitten with them. 

She markets her monkey handbags, paintings, note cards and cigar boxes at Details of Delray in Delray Beach.

Barbara Sharp, who is active in the Save the  Chimps
charity (www.savethechimps.org), also creates monkey-
and chimpanzee-themed greeting cards, available at Details of Delray. 

“I’m the Monkey Queen,” Sharp said. Her home is filled with monkey art. “I have monkey rugs, candlesticks, statues, pajamas and even monkey slippers.”

Many of her paintings adorn the wall of the Atlantique Café  in Delray Beach. “Their little (monkey) faces have human characteristics,” she said, and, like so many others, she finds them hard to resist.                                       

This coffee table box painted by Barbara Sharp depicts monkeys 
relaxing at a bar. It is $195 at Details of Delray. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

This leather purse painted with a monkey motif by
Barbara Sharp is $259 at Details of Delray. 

John Connelly III of Gulf Stream. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star 

By Steve Pike

Athletes are often judged on two things: talent and IQ, the latter of which has nothing to do with test scores. Here’s all you need to know about John Connelly III’s golf IQ:

“Spyglass Hill is a hidden secret. It’s a better course than Pebble Beach,” Connelly said as he sat in his Gulf Stream home. “Pebble is just more famous.”

Understand that most golfers see the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links near Carmel, Calif., as the mecca of American golf. Spyglass Hill is just an afterthought. Also understand the Connelly just turned 17. Seems his eye for golf course designs comes as natural as his swing.

“I’d say that’s where he really got hooked on golf,” said his father, John Jr., who owns Nautical Furnishings Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, and who is a member at The Country Club of Florida. 

John Connelly III, a junior-to-be at the Culver (Ind.) Military Academy, along with Gulf Stream’s Caulen Coe, each competed in the prestigious Western Junior Championship, June 18-22 at The Country Club of Florida in The Village of Golf. The “Western,” as it’s known, is the oldest junior tournament in the U.S. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have played in the event, which has been won by such future PGA Tour stars as Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan.

Caulen Coe

Coe was in the hunt for a top 10 finish until a final-round 78 left him with a four-day score of nine-over-par 297, tied for 49th. Connelly shot opening rounds of 83 and 78 and didn’t make the cut.

The Western marked the beginning of the season for Connelly, who has been playing golf since he was 8 years old. He played in the U.S. Golf Association Junior Amateur qualifying tournament following the Western. He also plans to play in the World Series of Junior Golf this month in Stratham, Mass., as well as the Deutsche Bank Open in August in East Falmouth, Mass., not far from where his family has a home on Nantucket Island and a membership at Nantucket Golf Club. Connelly’s mother, Bessie, often plays in tournaments at the club.

Between tournaments, her son practices daily and makes occasional visits to see Martin Hall, well-known swing coach at Ibis Golf & Country Club in West Palm Beach. Connelly has working with Hall for the past six years.

Next month Connelly will travel with his father, mother Bessie (an avid golfer) and older sister, Kelly, a student at Georgetown University, for a golf trip to Ireland, where they will play such fabled courses as Ballybunion and Lahinch.

Then it’s back to Culver Military Academy, which has some surprising connections to Gulf Stream. For example, famed course architect Pete Dye, a part-time resident of Delray Beach and a member at The Little Club, designed Mystic Hills Golf Club, just a few minutes away from Culver’s 1,800-acre campus.

The late Frank Batten, founder of The Weather Channel, was a Culver alumnus and part-time Gulf Stream resident who donated more than $70 million to the school. 

The Connelly family at one time owned Batten’s house on Palm Way before moving into their current home next to The Little Club.

“We didn’t know that at the time,” John Connelly Jr. said. “But around Culver we kept seeing all these plaques and references to Frank Batten and began wondering if it was the same man.”                             

Norman Gardner with a sampling of his sculptures that
depict women with babies in the womb.  Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Jane Fine

The theme here is not a subtle one. Room after room is pregnant with meaning. Nearly every sculpture, every figure, carries a baby within. 

Sculptor Norman Gardner offers a tour of his handsome Townsend Place apartment, a few blocks south of Mizner Park. It is, of course, also a tour of his art and, in the process, a tour of his life and philosophy, honed over 80-plus years of life. 

“We’ll start here,” he says, rising from a comfortable armchair to pause in front of the solid bronze Cat weighing nearly 100 pounds and carrying, in the open oval of its tummy, a polished bronze kitten. Nearby is Mermaid Maternity, inspired by a remembered story of the romance between a mortal man and a sea nymph, done in aluminum-filled epoxy and painted white, its edges trimmed in black. Then there is Sitting Pretty, a small bronze Cubist-style figure, a babe beneath its breasts. And Madonna and Child. And Labor of Love. And . . .

And his 92-page, self-published book, The Undiscovered Art of Pregnancy, subtitled “A Glowing Tribute to Pregnant Women.”

His youngest daughter, Miriam, provided the impetus for this body of work when, five months pregnant, she showed him a sonogram of his soon-to-be next grandchild. 

“One look at that tiny creature, fully formed and wriggling inside my daughter’s belly, melted my heart, liquefied my brain,” Gardner writes in his book, “and launched me on a collision course with destiny that was to transform the remaining years of my art career.”

Destiny has not been kind — he has sold very little in the 13 years since he fixated on what he terms Pre-Natal Art — but he has persisted, refusing to return to his more salable work, work like the small, bronze bullfighter that was snapped up by a New York gallery, some years back, and sold the very next day. No, he remains true to his vision.

“I’m just too obstinate, and I believe in it,” he says. “I’m kind of obsessed with the idea, and having four daughters and nine grandchildren, I have to do it this way because I can’t give birth myself.”

His stainless-steel sculpture, The Births of Venus (yes, plural), does so in his stead. His original piece, an homage to the Botticelli painting of Venus standing on a scallop shell, featured an open space in the goddess’s abdomen — perfect, he decided, for the insertion of a baby. 

“This to me was the Golden Fleece, the Holy Grail, and Life’s Beautiful Beginnings,” he writes in his book, “all wrapped up in one.”

He came to believe, the book notes, that “selective censorship” has discouraged museums and galleries from exhibiting “artworks that reveal unborn babies floating inside their mother’s wombs,” and that “this attitude is a hold-over from the Dark Ages when such explicit depictions of the pregnant condition were considered ‘a source of idolatry and paganistic excess.’ ” 

The book, though, also charts his research into such art, with illustrations ranging from Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of a fetus in the womb to the 35-foot-high Virgin Mother with its cutaway pregnant belly by contemporary British artist Damien Hirst.

Gardner’s sculptures make no attempt at anatomical correctness. They are abstract and graceful with a nod to the Cubists (enough so that one museum curator, he says, in declining to display his work, dubbed it “derivative”).

His fascination with art, with sculpture, dates back to childhood, when he carved toys from wooden crates and won, in first grade, a bronze medal for his drawing of a Model T. He earned his degree in mechanical engineering from New York’s City College in 1949 and, later, after a stint in the Army, earned his master’s degree in fine arts at the Pratt Institute, where he then taught for a dozen years. 

Along the way, Gardner worked at designing everything from guided missiles to toys to product packaging for Avon and Estée Lauder. 

But, always, there was sculpture. He often began with a cardboard model, subsequently realized in stainless steel or bronze. At one point, he says, “I had a very successful career selling art. I sold dozens and dozens of sculptures. I had six galleries in Florida handling my work.”

The work he calls “my masterpiece” is here, a tabletop piece in the dining area. “Everybody and his brother have made ‘The Fall — Adam and Eve and the Apple,’ ” he says. “But not one has bothered to show the baby.” Now, there they all are: the snake entwined around a tree; the apple, balanced on Adam’s hand; the baby, curled into a space in Eve’s Belly. Its title: The Original Son. 

Gardner’s obsession with the pre-natal is rivaled only by his obsession with puns. So a painting in the bedroom he shares with his wife, Katy,  is titled All the Nudes That Fit We Paint, taking off on The New York Times motto “All the News That’s Fit to Print;” two others, Girl Before a Miró and Nudes Defending a Law Case riff on Picasso’s Girl Before a Mirror and Nude Descending a Staircase, by Marcel Duchamp.

The fun is tempered a bit, these days, by the scarcity of sales. He picks up a tiny model, fashioned from cardboard and Elmer’s glue and turns it around in his hand. 

“Now that I’m retired and penniless,” he says, and smiles, “I’m back to cardboard.”  

By Greg Stepanich 

The closing in April of the Caldwell Theatre Co. after money problems forced it to dim its footlights was a blow to more than the company itself and its audiences.

It also was a shock to the whole South Florida theater system, akin to what happened last June with the shuttering of Florida Stage. But while that company’s artistic team, led by Lou Tyrrell, is coming back to life at Delray Beach’s Arts Garage, the Caldwell itself has not regenerated.

Abhorring the theatrical vacuum that left the Count de Hoernle Theatre empty, Entr’acte Theatrix has stepped in to bring theater back to the building on Federal Highway in Boca Raton with 10 performances this month of the Andrew Lloyd Webber rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

Entr’acte was booked into the theater in any case before the Caldwell went under, but could have looked elsewhere after the building was foreclosed on. But Vicki Halmos, Entr’acte’s executive producer, said it was important that her troupe stay put. 

“After thinking about it and talking about it, we said, ‘If we can do something to bring attention— not to the Caldwell Theater Company because I don’t think they have the wherewithal to do it or to save themselves — but certainly to bring visibility to the venue, then we should do it,’ ” Halmos said. 

And she hopes that the community itself will rally around the building in order to save it as a performing space. After all, the bank doesn’t particularly care what’s there as long as it’s paying rent, she said.

“It very easily could turn into something else if people don’t start paying attention,” she said.

Entr’acte is an offshoot of Halmos’ Palm Beach Principal Players, which was founded to give theatrical opportunities to high school and college performers. Entr’acte continues the mission of giving performance chances to those players at later stages of their careers.

Written as a rock record in 1969 by Webber and his longtime lyricist collaborator Tim Rice, Jesus Christ Superstar was considered edgy and even blasphemous at its stage premiere in 1971, but its catchy score (I Don’t Know How to Love Him, Superstar, Everything’s Alright) and its contemporary energy, similar to Hair and Godspell, have helped make it a staple of community repertory for decades.

For Halmos, the show —  currently in revival on Broadway and in production for another revival in London, and done by her Palm Beach players about a dozen years ago —  has a timeless message of establishment-shaking that is as fresh as Tahrir Square. 

“It seemed to be relevant now because of all the uproar going on in the Middle East, and to bring attention to the political aspects of that,” she said. Specifically, to the idea of a rock-the-boat figure who challenged the status quo and made a revolution, Halmos said.

“You see a lot of that going on today, and it’s been going on through history,” she said, and yet it’s also contemporary. “It’s a young man’s story, it’s an idealist’s story, it’s a story for this generation.”

John Justice Parker

Starring in the show are John Justice Parker as Jesus, Anthony Nuccio as Judas and Val Roche as Mary Magdalene. The show is directed by Jessica Kris, and the musical direction will be handled by the veteran Roger Blankenship.

The show runs July 5 through 15, with  performances at 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays. 

Tickets are $25, $15 for groups and children under 12, and $10 for students. Call 877-710-7779 to buy tickets or get more information. 

***                              

Twenty years ago this month, three woodwind players from the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra decided to fill the time between seasons with a summer program of chamber music.

Now in its 21st season, the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival opens July 6 with the first of four weekends of concerts in three different venues countywide. The first concert in July 1992 at Palm Beach State College’s Duncan Theatre came about because there was so little musical activity during the summer.

“There was nothing going on in the summer. It was before Beethoven on the Beach with the Florida Philharmonic, it was before any of that stuff. There was nothing going on,” said bassoonist Michael Ellert, who founded the festival with clarinetist Michael Forte and flutist Karen Dixon. “And so we decided to do something in place of nothing.”

Among the works planned for this season are Bela Bartok’s Contrasts in Week 3 (originally written for Benny Goodman and Josef Szigeti), Schubert’s beautiful song cycle The Shepherd on the Rock with mezzo-soprano Sonia Santiago in Week 2, and Brahms’ beloved Piano Quartet No. 1 (in G minor, Op. 25), in Week 4. 

The first week will offer music by Boccherini and Poulenc, and a major work by the unfairly neglected Franco-Polish composer Alexandre Tansman, who will be represented by his Septet for woodwinds, trumpet, viola and cello, written in 1930.

For personnel and financial reasons, the festival can’t be expanded as is, Ellert said. But early in the coming season, it’s possible the musicians will perform some winter concerts, perhaps as part of an Orpheus Chamber Orchestra-style ensemble.

Changes in schedule at the Palm Beach Opera and other ensembles have left some of the musicians at looser ends than they have been in the past, so the festival musicians are talking about filling up that time with a new venture. 

“We’re trying to figure out if there’s anything we can do in September, October, November, before everything else gets started,” Ellert said.  

The summer concerts are planned for July 6-8, 13-15, 20-22, and 27-29. Friday concerts are at 8 p.m. at the Helen Persson Recital Hall on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach; Saturday concerts begin at 8 p.m. at the Eissey Campus Theatre at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens; Sunday concerts are scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Crest Theatre at Old School Square in Delray Beach.

Tickets are $25 per concert or $85 for all four; students get in free. Tickets are available at the door or in advance. To order, call 800-330-6874, or send an email to info@pbcmf.org.

Greg Stepanich is editor of The ArtsPaper. Email him at gstepanich@pbartspaper.com.

By Paula Detwiller

Variety is the spice of life, so how about spicing up your fitness routine this summer? 

Experts say that when you do the same old workout week after week, your body adapts and hits a fitness plateau. You also run the risk of overusing the same set of muscles, which can lead to repetitive stress injuries.

Cross training, or mixing other forms of exercise into your workout regimen, can fire up new muscle groups, challenge the cardiovascular system and rejuvenate the mind — especially if you do it outside. Here are three outdoor coastal-area fitness classes that will break the boredom, but not the budget.

Steve’s Boot Camp

on the beach

When: 8 a.m. Sundays

Where: Delray public beach, across from the Marriott Hotel

Cost: $10

Don’t let the name “boot camp” intimidate you. Personal trainer Steve Mattingley may look like an Army drill instructor, but if you have an old injury or other physical limitation, he’ll show you how to modify an exercise to do it safely and effectively. And you don’t have to call him “sir.”

The hour-long class is a mix of stretching, strengthening and cardio drills, both on the sand and in the water (provided the ocean isn’t too rough). 

 “The sand gives a little bit, so there’s lower impact on the knees and the joints compared to running on concrete. And when we go into the water — again, there’s little impact on the joints, so you can really work the muscles.”

Regular participant Juani McCormick, 52, says Steve’s boot camp has helped her develop healthier habits, such as not staying out too late, or drinking too much on Saturday nights.

 “It’s very much worth it. I like being outdoors, and it gets my Sunday started on the right foot,” McCormick says. 

For information, contact Mattingley at (954) 593-3861 or see www.A1EliteFitness.com.

Yoga under the sky

When: 9 a.m. Saturdays. Registration at 8:45 a.m.

Where: Sanborn Square, 72 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton (between Mizner Park and Royal Palm Place)

Cost: Free

About 50 people, from teenagers to senior citizens, routinely unroll their mats on the tile-and-stone floor of the Sanborn Square pavilion and let instructor Leslie Glickman guide them through a free Saturday morning yoga class.

 “They love being in the open air, they love no mirrors, they love seeing the trees blooming and the clouds going by,” Glickman says. “There’s nothing like it.”

When the last “namaste” is uttered and the hour-long class ends, many participants carry their bliss with them into nearby shops and restaurants.

“That was my intention,” Glickman says. Last year she submitted a proposal to the city of Boca Raton, suggesting that a free community yoga class could help increase weekend foot traffic downtown. In response, the city launched Saturdays @ Sanborn Fit & Fun Fitness Program, which includes yoga and other classes (see next item).

Questions? Contact Glickman at 306-3626 or leslie@yogajourney.com.

Zumba for the health of it

When: 10:30 a.m. Saturdays 

Where: South Beach Park Pavilion, corner of A1A and East Palmetto Park Road 

Cost: Free

If you like moving to high-energy Latin-inspired music, Zumba (pronounced “zoomba”) is a great way to burn calories and tone muscles. Since January, Boca Raton city employee and part-time Zumba instructor Nicole Gasparri has been leading this lively aerobics class at the Sanborn Square pavilion as part of Saturdays @ Sanborn. 

Beginning July 7, the class moves to the beach pavilion to take advantage of cooling summer breezes.

Don’t worry if you’ve never tried Zumba before. 

“You’ll notice that here, it’s not about getting it right, it’s about fun and having a good time,” Gasparri says. “Everybody’s dripping sweat at the end. We get a good workout!”

To learn more, contact Gasparri at 393-7703 or see www.downtownboca.org/?p=4493

Paula Detwiller is a freelance writer and lifelong fitness junkie. Find her at www.pdwrites.com.