By Emily J. Minor
    
MANALAPAN — Natalie C. Marcon, a devoted wife and mother whose bright disposition and strong faith carried her through recent years of medical tribulations, died March 1. She was 69.
    Although it was cancer that claimed her life, Mrs. Marcon’s husband, Fred, said his wife had experienced life-changing complications from routine hip replacement surgery about four years ago. Eventually, Mrs. Marcon had more than a dozen surgeries in an attempt to get back to full health.
    Then, about six months ago, she developed pancreatic cancer, he said.
    “The things I loved about her manifested themselves through her illness, her death and her ceremony,” he said. “She was clearly the most caring, giving, God-fearing person I had ever met.”
    Known by the nickname of “Pinky,” Mrs. Marcon was born May 1, 1942, in Chicago. As a young girl, she moved with her family to Miami, but returned to Chicago frequently to visit family.
    She met Fred Marcon in 1958 at the local church carnival during one of those family visits. The next year, she returned to study nursing and the two were married on Aug. 25, 1962.
    Through the early years of her marriage, Mrs. Marcon managed the couple’s home and five children while her husband managed his burgeoning career. Eventually, the family moved from Flossmoor, Ill., to Ridgewood, N.J., outside Manhattan, where Fred Marcon became president and CEO of Insurance Services Office, Inc., which provides analysis for commercial and personal insurance.
    When Fred Marcon retired as CEO of the company in 2003, the couple began splitting their time between Fish Creek, Wis., and Ocean Ridge, he said.
    Then, about four years ago, Fred Marcon said they “found a delightful lot and built this home,” where they lived in Manalapan.
    “It was too bad that she didn’t live to enjoy it,” he said.
    While her final years were indeed a struggle, they were also filled with the peace of family, her husband said. Mrs. Marcon traveled frequently, mostly to spend time with her children and grandchildren.
    Her five children are: Michael, Tony, Michelle, Alison and Mark and live in California, Illinois, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Nine grandchildren also survive her.
    As the end drew near, Fred Marcon said his wife was thinking of the grandkids, remembering promises she’d made. She’d told their granddaughter, Carmen, she would take her to Paris; she’d promised two grandsons a trip to Normandy. Now, says Fred Marcon, he’ll make those trips in her stead. “I promised I would do that,” he said.
    Services for Mrs. Marcon were held last month in Chicago Heights, Ill. The family asks that any memorials be sent to the Catholic religious order of Fraternite Notre Dame, 2290 First Ave., New York, NY10035.

By Emily J. Minor
    
MANALAPAN — Miriam H. Knapp, a renowned sculptor who adored her family, old-school manners and the magic of stage ballet, died March 20 after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer over the summer. She was 77.
Born in Paris to the late Selma and Maxime Levy Hermanos, Mrs. Knapp never lost her love for European charm and manners. A graduate of the Dalton School, Bennington College and Columbia University — where she received a master of arts in French literature — Mrs. Knapp kept homes in both New York City and Manalapan.
    When she died, she had been married to her husband, Dr. Robert Knapp, for 56 years and together they had three children and five grandchildren.
    Jennifer McGrath, who grew to know and love Mrs. Knapp through McGrath’s work as program director for Hearing the Ovarian Cancer Whisper — a prominent fundraising and awareness arm for ovarian cancer research — said Mrs. Knapp always filled every room with charm.
    “She was the most gracious and genuine person I had ever met,” McGrath said.
    Dr. Knapp is known as one of the two co-inventors of the CA-125 test, a procedure used to detect ovarian cancer.
    “The way she treated a stranger, with such poise,” said McGrath, who would often visit the couple’s home on business. “You could tell immediately that she was a woman of integrity.”
    During her sculpting career, Mrs. Knapp worked with a wide range of materials, including steel — which was unusual for that time. “She was kind of out-of-the-box for doing that,” McGrath said.
    And Mrs. Knapp favored massive works, including three famous pieces that are still in prominent display at the State University of New York in Brooklyn, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and the Ritz Carlton Palm Beach in Manalapan.
    The Ritz piece is located just outside the hotel’s spa area, and is quite spectacular.
    Besides sculpting, Mrs. Knapp was a great lover of ballet. A longtime supporter of the Miami City Ballet, Mrs. Knapp had served on the company’s Palm Beach board of trustees for nearly a decade.
    Besides her husband, the couple’s three children survive her: Louise Iyengar, Jennifer Crawford and Michael Knapp. Services were held in New York City, and the family asks that any memorials in her honor be sent to: Miami City Ballet, 2200 Liberty Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139.

By Margie Plunkett
    
Delray Beach’s valet parking system will escape a comprehensive overhaul, but will be tweaked to address issues raised by commissioners and staff.        

     “As far as I’m concerned, from what I understand with the stakeholders downtown, they’re happy with the way it works,” said Mayor Woodie McDuffie at a March workshop meeting.
Commissioners voted to modify some of the requirements of valet licensing at their April 3 meeting, including signage, valet shirt logo, year-round operation and 3-year contracts with annual inceases.
    The valet system has been among several parking factors under consideration, along with metered downtown parking and other ideas contained in the working parking study.
Two charrettes were held this year to collect input on parking from merchants and restaurateurs.
    City parking specialist Scott Aronson presented valet options to commissioners at the meeting, noting that the current system  — operated by restaurants that contract with valet firms  —  includes 10 valet stations. The fees that are charged to motorists were recently capped by the commission at $10. Valet queue fees are $125 monthly for each parking space east of the Intracoastal and $100 on the west of the waterway.
    Restaurateurs have said that the valet stands are loss-leaders that cost an estimated $25,000 to $40,000 to run annually, according to Aronson.
    The parking study recommended re-evaluating queue locations, creating uniformity among valets, improving public access awareness and exploring other options, according to Aaronson.
    Given the options of going out with request for proposals for valet services or the city operating valets, commissioners stayed with the current system.
    The commission voted to make changes after the Parking Management Advisory Board, at its March 27 meeting, voted to recommend several of the “tweaks” to the system, including:
    • Valet-queue signage must include the words open to the public
    • The logo of the lessee — the restaurant company running the queue — must be on the valet shirt.
    • The stand must operate year-round.
    • Parking required under the licensing agreement will be under the name of the licensee.
    • Valets will operate under three-year leases with a 3 percent annual increase in the queue fee they pay, beginning in the spring of 2013.         Aronson’s recommendation differs and would bump the first annual increase up to 5 percent.
    The board declined to recommend that each stand be required to be staffed by two people, opting to leave that to the operator’s judgment — contrary to staff’s recommendation for two.                                  

By Antigone Barton

    If the rewards of life by the sea are immeasurable, a report released last month showed the risks, at least, are calculable.
    Global warming, rising sea levels and storms all add up to odds of flooding that will redraw the map of Florida from the bottom up, according to the report, impacting mainland as well as barrier island communities. And while Palm Beach County may stay drier longer, data from the report show the odds that flooding will affect residents from South Palm Beach to Boca Raton in next two decades.
    Interactive maps released with the Surging Seas report by Climate Central, a nonprofit research and education group, show the estimated effects of rising sea levels to more than 3,000 coastal towns, cities, counties and states in the contiguous United States during the next century, with storms bringing flooding from 1 to 10 feet above mean high tide level.
    More than half of the population in the line of floodwaters live in Florida. Miami Dade is most at risk for flooding, with Broward County right behind it. The next neighbor up, Palm Beach County, however, is not even among the top 10 most flood-prone counties.
    “A small amount of elevation makes a big difference when it’s so flat,” said Ben Strauss, Climate Center director on the Surging Seas project.
    According to the maps, at http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/, Boca Raton, the county’s southernmost coastal town, would feel the greatest impact from storm surges in this area. The reports data predict 1,212 Boca Raton homes would be vulnerable to flooding from a 3-foot storm surge that has a 1-in-6 chance of occurring by 2030. The area faces 1-in-2 odds of such a surge by 2050.
    That is just one factor determining the numbers of people and homes that would be affected — with population density, building height and nearness to the shoreline adding to, or ameliorating, risks.
    A climb up the interactive map illustrates the risks, with 525 homes in Highland Beach — or 15 percent of its housing — threatened with flooding in a 3-foot surge. Delray would have the second highest number of homes facing flooding, with 1,081 homes 3 feet or less above the mean high tide line. Low-density Gulf Stream would have 73 homes in the line of flood waters, while the more crowded neighboring town of Briny Breezes would see flooding 294 homes, or 37 percent of its housing.
    While 150, or 10 percent, of Ocean Ridge homes would be affected by a 3-foot surge, life on the mainland has its own risks, the maps show, with 649 homes in the way of waters rising from canals and the Intracoastal in Boynton Beach within the next two decades. Maps for Lantana and Manalapan show Hypoluxo Island vulnerable on all sides. In Lantana, 290 homes are less than 3 feet above mean high tide, and in Manalapan 21 homes would be affected, according to the maps.
    And while sea walls, such as those that line the entire oceanfront side of South Palm Beach, may offer protection, they present a problem as well, Strauss said.
    “It’s impossible to build a sea wall that will work in the long term.” And, he added, “New Orleans and Katrina showed us, once that is breached, it is harder to move water out.”
    Surging Seas data predict 113 South Palm Beach homes, or 8 percent of the town’s housing, would be affected by a 3-foot storm surge.
    “In the long term, the map of Florida is going to be redrawn,” Strauss said. “In the near term, we’re going to see more and more floods go higher and higher.”
    The response, he said, “It’s a question of what our tolerance for risk is.”
    Homeowners can respond by literally raising their properties with higher foundations, an expensive but not impossible proposition. They also can consider moving their valuables elsewhere, and keeping a pump handy.
    Communities can consider the report’s findings and other data, when planning, he said.  
    In principle, Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council already does, said Michael Busha, the council’s executive director, discouraging further development of barrier islands, investments in new infrastructure that encourages development in barrier islands, and encouraging public beach access.
    On a larger scale, the report may cause individuals and communities to take an active interest in environmental policies that may slow climate change, and sea level rise, Strauss said.
    “But a lot of increase is already baked in the cake,” he added. “We won’t be able to avoid it.”                           

DELRAY BEACH — Barbara Banta Gracey, 89, a long-time Delray Beach resident, devoted mother and grandmother and volunteer for many local causes, died March 9 in Delray Beach.
    Her death came four years to the day after the death of her husband of 59 years, Matthew Gracey.      Born in Newfane, N.Y., on Oct. 14, 1922, Mrs. Gracey cherished time spent with family and friends.   
    She loved St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, her volunteer work at Bethesda Hospital and the Turnover Shop, her friends at Sewing and Supper Club, the Colony Cabana Club, walking on the beach, reading and especially being with each grandchild.
    “In her later years, our mother’s priorities were her grandchildren,” said her daughter, Barbara Gracey Backer, of coastal Delray Beach. “She gave them the gift of her undivided one-on-one attention.  They adored her for it.  What a legacy — the gift of time!”
    Added Mrs. Gracey’s son, Matthew Gracey Jr.: “She was a very devoted mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend as well as giving generously of her time and energy to any number of Delray’s institutions.”
    Mrs. Gracey grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo, N.Y.  Following the death of her parents, she lived with her aunt Florence Boughton, whose family owned the Colony hotels in Kennebunkport, Maine, and Delray Beach.
    Mrs. Gracey was working in the gift shop at the Colony Hotel in Delray Beach where she met Matthew Gracey, who had come to Delray Beach with his family after World War II. Mr. Gracey worked at his family’s nearby company, Gracey Bros. insurance and real estate. They wed in 1948.
    Mrs. Gracey is survived by her children Barbara G. Backer (Ronald); Matthew Gracey, Jr.; all of Delray Beach; and daughter Susan J. Gracey of Little Rock, Ark. She is also survived by grandchildren John G. Backer, Ian T. Gracey, David C. Backer, Katherine G. Backer and Stuart H. Gracey.
    The family wishes to thank the Rev. William “Chip” Stokes and the Stephen Ministers at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for their spiritual care, as well as Mrs. Gracey’s caregivers Beryl, Elpher, Michelle and Rhoda.  
    A memorial service was held March 15 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
    In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church or the American Cancer Society.

Ken Kaleel, 51, served as mayor of Ocean Ridge from 1998 to 2012. He and his wife, Rema, have three children, Jacqueline, Nicholas and Alexandra.  Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

You could say that Ken Kaleel was following a path that led him toward participating in Ocean Ridge politics.
“The truth is, after Rema and I had our baby daughter, Rema would take the baby out in the stroller and the sidewalk ended on A1A and didn’t continue to the inlet. It was frustrating because she couldn’t get to the beach or the inlet. She wrote a letter to the commission, and they approved an extension of the sidewalk,” Ken Kaleel said.
One step leads to another, so to speak…
Certainly, Kaleel is no stranger to community service organizations, boards, committees and such. (See his favorite quote below.) “That was given to me when I was in the Boynton Beach Rotary,” he said. “Those words certainly make sense, and they are easy.”
Involvement in that organization “led to a lot of chairs,” he explained. Along with being a chairman and Paul Harris Fellow with the Rotary, he was the founding chairman of the Devos-Blum YMCA of Boynton Beach, chairman of the trustees of the YMCA of South Palm Beach County, past chairman of the Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce and past chairman of the St. Mark Catholic School.  He was also a past president of the Palm Beach County League of Cities and a board member of the Florida League of Cities.  Currently, he’s on the board of Gulf Stream School, the Bethesda Hospital Foundation and the YMCA of South Palm Beach County.  
In Ocean Ridge, he was appointed commissioner in 1996, was on the Board of Adjustment and the planning and zoning board before that, and became mayor in 1998. With all that going on, challenges blend in to one another.
“There were a lot of changes that took place during my term as mayor and just pushing those things through was challenging. With the Town Hall, Ocean Ridge did not own any land other than the piece that the building sat on. Gathering up the land around the building (which was falling apart), that was a challenge. And the storm water — we had several bouts of flooding where the water was higher than the cars. We knew we had to do something. They were both challenges. The wildlife preserve on A1A and Woolbright — that was another challenge. Now that’s a very nice area that doubles as a storm water drainage basin.”
In addition to the projects, getting people to focus and head down a path was another challenge. That’s why he created Focus 2000.  “It was developed to get several residents and all the boards together in one meeting for a retreat, to develop goals, then, for the following 10 years, we pushed those things forward. It’s been a guiding principle.”
Consensus is essential, he said, and to that end, facts must come out, goals defined, and peoples’ emotions must be dealt with, he noted.
As of early April, Kaleel stepped down as mayor because it was time, he said, but he can see that he might return to government in some form later.
Being mayor made him realize that democracy takes a lot of work, he said. “It’s not something given to you and it has to be respected. You cannot always listen to the loudest voice or voices because there’s a whole chorus of people who are quiet — they feel strongly but don’t sing the loudest and everyone must be represented.
“Listening is very important, but ultimately you have to make a judgment. Sometimes you are right and sometimes you are not. But people tell me that they realize that I’ve thought issues through and looked at both sides. It’s important to think about all aspects and not be narrow minded, that’s for sure.”
— Christine Davis

 Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A. I grew up in Canfield, Ohio. I went to a public school and then on to Ohio State University, where I graduated with a degree in business administration.
I worked after college for a couple of years and then went to the University of Miami School of Law. Growing up in the Midwest, in a small town, instilled a deep sense of family and community values.

Q. What professions have you worked at outside of public service? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A. I am attorney by profession. In the past I have had ice cream stores, drove 18-wheel trucks and worked in sales.

Q. What was your favorite part about being mayor of Ocean Ridge for so many years? What were your major accomplishments while in office?
A. My favorite part of being mayor of Ocean Ridge was the ability to work with people to try and improve the town.
My major accomplishments include the initiation and development of Focus 2000, which set the stage for vast improvements to the town; obtaining the land from National Wildlife on the corner A1A and US 1, which ultimately became a combined stormwater drainage basin and preserve; implementation of the stormwater drainage project; pursued the land acquisition of property surrounding Town Hall; building of the new Town Hall and worked with Palm Beach County to develop the Thompson Street Natural Preserve, which was initially designed on a napkin. There are number of other items that we were able to successfully complete through the efforts of residents and the efforts of past commissioners and town staff and residents. The past 16 years have been an exciting time of change for Ocean Ridge.

Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?  
A. The best advice I can give to a young person selecting a career is to do what you love to do. Follow your passion as long as it makes some economic sense.

Q. How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge?
A. My wife and I were living in Boca Raton when a Realtor introduced me to Ocean Ridge in 1989. As fate would have it, we purchased the home from two professors from Ohio State University represented by the Realtor whose husband I ultimately replaced on the commission.

Q. What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge?  
A. My favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge is that there is no place in Palm Beach County with the diverse small-town feel so close to the ocean and parks. I think we have more natural public space per capita than any other coastal community.
 Further, the people in our town are great! We have a diverse population with older residents and younger families. I have made a lot of friends in Ocean Ridge. It is a wonderful community.

Q. What do you feel is the single most difficult decision the town will have to make in the next five years?
A. Although I believe all of the “heavy lifting” has been completed, the town will still have to deal with the constant pressure of growth on the barrier islands, including the development of Briny Breezes, the consolidation of services such as police, fire and other public services.

Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?  
A. As for inspirational music, I like any music that instills hope and the promise of a better tomorrow. Music that I relax by is Jimmy Buffett.

Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?  
A. I keep the Rotary Four Way Test on my desk: “Is it truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build good will and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?” My next favorite quote that I tell my children is “You are a product of the company that you keep.”

Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. As for an actor to play me in a movie, my wife would want George Clooney. I would want Clint Eastwood. I would probably get Will Ferrell.

With the closing of the Ocean Avenue Bridge in Lantana on March 19, residents along the coast will likely find themselves turning more to the businesses along A1A.
    They will neither go hungry nor be underdressed, nor will they need to cross the water for gas or to pick up a surfboard, have their hair done, get Fifi groomed or work out.
    Here are the businesses that have indicated they will remain open along A1A. The bridge is expected to be closed for at least 22 months.

— Jan Norris

Café Cellini is hidden away in the bottom of The President condo in south Palm Beach, but continental diners seek it out for its elegant atmosphere and classic service.
    The Four Seasons has three restaurants — on the patio is the upscale-casual Bistro, and inside, the main fine-dining room, The Restaurant. Chef Darryl Moiles oversees the contemporary menus there. Street foods from around the world are given Moiles’ treatments at the Atlantic Bar and Grill, an alfresco space overlooking the ocean.
    Malcolm’s is the renamed restaurant at the Omphoy, and a new chef, Michael Wurster of New York, has been named the executive chef.
    The Dune Deck on the beach in Manalapan is an option for breakfast or lunch, with a Greek salad and Greek yogurt as specialties.
    At the Tides Bar and Grill (3550 S. Ocean), grilled sandwiches, burgers and happy hours seaside attract a casual crowd.
    The Ritz-Carlton has recently reopened its signature Angle restaurant, with a small-plate contemporary concept; Temple Orange is the spot for Sunday brunch and Italian dinners, while Breeze, the pool bar, has lighter fare — salads, seafoods and sandwiches.
    Across the street in Plaza del Mar, John G’s holds court in its new location. Favorites of fish and chips, seafood chowder and gazpacho remain on the menu. Thaikyo restaurant serves a blended Asian menu, with bento boxes at lunch and sushi and Thai entrees for dinner. A new addition is the Loggia Café Bistro, where sandwiches and salads are available. The Ice Cream Club in the plaza has frosty treats for all.
    At Hugh & Richie’s Seaside Deli near Briny Breezes, pick up prepared foods or sandwiches, or buy convenience foods to go.
    In Delray Beach, along A1A, find fine dining and cocktails at the Delray Beach Marriott, modern burgers at Burger Fi, New England fans patronizing Boston’s on the Beach, with an expanded menu and stunning bar upstairs; and Italian specialties at the ocean-view Caffe Luna Rosa.
    Latitudes Ocean Grill in Highland Beach’s Holiday Inn serves a Sunday brunch and seafood specialties at dinner.

Beauty and hair:
    Spa enthusiasts can check out the many treatments offered to singles or couples at Eau Spa at the Ritz-Carlton in Manalapan.
    Plaza del Mar has Maurici’s Salon and Spa, with haircuts and a day spa for massages and facials; Tiffany Nail Salon for full-service nail treatments; Posh for Hair, with numerous salon services and treatments available by appointment.
    In Briny Breezes, there’s the Briny Beauty Salon and across the street is Colby’s Barber Shop, an old-fashioned style hair cutter for men.

Sports and fitness:
    Work-outs and fitness classes are offered at The Gym in Plaza del Mar.
    The Lake Worth Pier Bait and Tackle shop has baits and fishing gear for use on the pier or shore.
    Surfing gear and beachwear are available at Nomad’s Surf Shop near Briny Breezes.

Retail:
    Also at Plaza del Mar, find unique jewelry at Jewelry Artisans, specialty clothing at the Cashmere Shop, beach and resort wear at Aqua Beachwear and at Angela Moore’s; contemporary clothing at Chico’s, menswear at Sea Stallion Traders, shoes at Stepping Out Shoe Salon, and upscale women’s wear at Via Condotti and Evelyn and Arthur’s (and its annex).

Services:
    In Plaza del Mar, for dog grooming, look to Milton’s Grooming; Guido the Tailor handles alterations and tailoring, and banks here are First Trust and Suntrust banks. TD Bank is located just north of Briny Breezes.
    Prescriptions can be filled and sundries picked up at the Gulfstream Pharmacy in Briny Breezes.
    The Gulfstream Texaco station next door offers car maintenance as well as a fill-up.
    For postal needs, the Highland Beach Post Office is just down the road on A1A.

Budget cuts put the kibosh on Fourth of July fireworks in Lantana last year, but that won’t be the case this year. Last month, the Town Council approved a $25,000 contract with Zambelli Fireworks Manufacturing to put on a 22-minute display set to music.
    The fireworks, set to go off at 9 p.m. July 4, will be launched on the Intracoastal Waterway from a barge supplied by GLF Construction of Miami. GLF, the contractor working on the $33.2 million Ocean Avenue bridge project, agreed to provide a free barge for the town’s fireworks for two years as part of a lease agreement with the town for using parts of  Bicentennial Park and Sportsman’s Park as a construction staging area.
    While budgetary constraints persist, the town took money out of reserves to do needed spruce-ups and updates on equipment — and for a Fourth of July celebration. Residents complained about the lack of fireworks last year.
    “We hope to have the barge as close to the bridge a possible so that the fireworks can be easily seen down East Ocean Avenue,” Town Manager Mike Bornstein said. “East Ocean will be closed at Oak Street and the plan is to have a band there with vendors and such along the length of the road heading to the parks.”
    There will be another band in the parks on the east end.  
    “Think of the celebration as being oriented east/west with the fireworks on the east
end near the bridge,” Bornstein said.
    The bridge is closed for reconstruction for two years.
  — Mary Thurwachter

St. Mark Catholic School seventh-grader India Roehrich-Hill speaks about what Coach Barulic means to her during the ‘Loving Locks/Bald For Barulic’ event held in honor of CoachChristopher Barulic, who is being treated for cancer.

Roehrich-Hill (foreground) and 8th grader Quinton Shiver (back left) have their heads shaved by stylists Karen DeMino (front right) and Chelsea Jones of Better Cut, West Palm Beach.
Kurtis Boggs/
The Coastal Star

57th Annual Bethesda Ball Chairmen Harry and Deborah Sargeant with Phantom of the Opera stars Davis Gaines and Teri Bibb. More than 500 guests attended the event at The Breakers, which raised $1 million for the Bethesda Hospital Foundation.

Sheree and Daniel Funsch

Tandy and Joe Robinson

Best friends Allison Andrickson, 5, (left) of Boca Raton and Riley Cope, 5, of Delray Beach count their beads during the Delray Beach St. Patrick’s Day parade. Kurtis Boggs/The Coastal Star

Co-chairs Linda and Don Silpe and Jan Willinger  (right) welcome guests to Palm Beach Dramaworks’  Night in Havana — at the Tropicana  gala held at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. Photo provided

Steve and Stephanie Miskew sample wines at the Boca Bacchanal Grand Tasting at Mizner Park. Stephanie Miskew was general chairman of the event, which benefits the Boca Raton Historical Society.  Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Gulf Stream School recently celebrated annual Grandparents’ and Special Friends Day on campus. Grandparents attended classes with the students and attended a special chapel with performances by the students.

Norman and Bonna Baffer with granddaughters Grace and Ava Baffer.

Allan and Ginny Sipp with grandson Kyle Sipp.

Robert and Doreen Alrod with their granddaughter Sierra Jonas.

Ora Sorensen created this year’s Delray Affair poster (left) and drew inspiration from the festival’s origins as South Florida’s Gladioli Festival and Fair.

By Mary Jane Fine

To say that the Delray Affair grew from the ground up but has flowered over the decades would be to tell the story via pun. But it would be entirely true, as well.
Just flip the calendar back to the post-World War II era — 1947, if you will — and picture the Delray Gladioli Festival as it was then, a melding of frivolity and flowers, culture and commerce.

That first-ever fest gathered beaucoup bouquets of gladioli from farms that spanned from Congress Avenue west to U.S. Highway 441. It allowed farmers to display (and sell, of course; that was an important part of it) armloads of flowers. And sell they did. As surely as crocuses announce springtime, Delray’s gladioli festival said, “February.” It said it all through the 1940s, continued saying it into the ’50s.
“It was an exposition that attracted flower buyers from all over the country,” Roy Simon said. A native of Delray Beach, Simon was a gladioli festival volunteer who helped nurse the event into the Delray Affair.
This year’s Delray Affair — the 50th — will line Atlantic Avenue from April 13th through the 15th, the weekend after Easter.
Artist and gallery owner Ora Sorensen is a long-time Delray Affair booster and, this year, a first-time commemorative-poster artist for the event. Her poster gives a proud nod to the past with a stalk of mauve gladioli in the foreground and the Colony Hotel just behind.
“I love the Colony,” Sorensen says on a recent afternoon, in her Atlantic Avenue gallery, where she sits surrounded by the bursting-with-color roses and orchids, hibiscus and bird-of-paradise paintings that are her signature work. “And they make the best martini in town. It gets so crazy here; I like to go there around 5 p.m. and sit at the lobby bar. It’s like going back in time.”
Going back in time can explain how the Affair evolved from what it was to what it now is: an arts-and-crafts extravaganza that attracts 700 exhibitors (up from 24, back in 1962), draws an attendance of close to 300,000 and, over the years, has generated some $21 million in revenue for the city of Delray Beach, according to event organizer Nancy Stewart-Franczak, executive director of Delray Beach Arts Inc.  
Development in the city’s western reaches, combined with a shift in farming from flowers to vegetables, turned the Gladioli Festival into a small Agricultural Expo. It was Roy Simon who suggested expanding on that, taking inspiration from the Winter Park Art Festival. In 1962, community leaders organized a committee and, with then-chair John Bordeman, chose “The Delray Affair” as the name of the bigger, better arts-and-crafts-and-agriculture event.

Volunteers including Bill Wood, Lynn Bialikis, Bonnie Brow and Stormet Norman staff the golf carts on Atlantic Avenue a decade ago. That’s Powers Lounge in the background.

The committee was money-minded, too. By scheduling the festival later in the year, they could effectively extend the tourist season by tempting snowbirds to postpone their homeward migration until after Easter, and extend the tradition of frivolity and flowers, culture and commerce.
Ora Sorensen expresses delight at her role in it all. “I’ve been 20 years in this location and, this year, they picked me, and I think I cried,” she says, “because I feel that Delray is my town. I love Delray.”
She moved to Florida after graduating from high school in Bangkok, Thailand — her father worked there for the U.S. government — and, she says, “I wanted to go someplace hot. I lived in Boca first, for 20 years, then came to Delray. I love its complete and utter charm. It’s like Mayberry.”
In Boca Raton, Sorensen owned a children’s clothing shop, but the notion of something else was always in her mind. “I wasn’t an artist when I opened the gallery,” she says. “I had 12 artists when I opened it, and I just learned to paint from them. I was always drawing, just doodling and drawing. Drawing, drawing, drawing.”
But even after two decades as a gallery owner and considerable success as a painter, Sorensen had always bypassed the poster competition, figuring that its emphasis on Delray landmarks didn’t mesh with her emphasis on flowers. (“Honestly, it’s what people want,” she says, explaining her floral focus. “I started out painting portraits, but people don’t like to buy pictures of strangers.”)
This year, she submitted sketches that combined landmark and flowers, and it proved a winner — with one requested change.
“Silly me,” she says, with a smile. “I submitted a drawing with hibiscus in the foreground.”
The committee, of course, wanted gladioli, and Sorensen was happy to comply.
And happy to be a part of the city’s signature event. The frivolity and flowers, the culture and commerce.
“It’s really just huge,” she says, “and it’s fun.”              

Tom Coady takes a shot during tournament play. Photos by Jerry Lower/
The Coastal Star

By Steve Pike
    
Ron Vaughn smiled broadly and shook his head.
    “I finished third in a tournament last week. Today I can’t get out of my own way,” he said.
    Welcome to the world of shuffleboard. Like any other sport, it can be a fickle mistress. Just when you think you have the game figured out, it throws you a curve. Or in the case of shuffleboard, it blocks you out.
    “Ninety percent of the game is strategy and the other 10 percent is skill,” said Vaughn, treading close to the Yogi Berra-ism that 90 percent of baseball is half-mental.
    “Almost like playing chess,” said Vaughn, one of the area’s top amateur shuffleboard players and a member of the Briny Breezes Shuffleboard Club. The 163-member club, which is open to any owner, resident or guest of Briny Breezes (annual dues $2) plays every day between mid-December and mid-April at the community’s 14-court facility.
    The club’s primary in-season weekly events are Fun Day Tuesdays, in which beginning players learn the basics of the game from resident professional Rose “Sunshine” Miller, and a couple’s tournament every Wednesday.
    It’s not unusual to see each of the 14 green-colored concrete courts occupied during a couple’s event. That’s 64 players not including a few substitute players.
    “You get some mature people out here who physically don’t have good legs but they play very well,” Vaughn said. “Some of the best players in the district are 80-year-old people. They just know what they’re doing.”
    On this particular sunny March Saturday, however, the club held its annual Bill Ingram Tournament, named in honor of one of its late members. A total of 18 club members participated in the doubles tournament, including Vaughn and Tom Coady, who along with wife, Sue, have been renting a home in Briny Breezes the past two years. The Creadys, who spend their summers in Columbus, Ohio, came to Briny Breezes basically because of shuffleboard.
    “We were at Pompano and belonged to a club down there,” said Tom Coady, a 62-year-old retired government employee. “There are district tournaments from here to Hollywood. We played in some of those and that’s how we found out about Briny Breezes and how nice the people are here. So we decided to rent.”

Ron Vaughn laughs while adjusting his cue.  

    Coady and Vaughn played on different teams at the Ingram tournament, but are one of the area’s top amateur doubles teams. The duo last won the Delray Beach Senior Games doubles tournament this past February.
    “I play whenever I can,” said Vaughn, 70, a native of Wausau, Mich., who has spent the past 12 seasons at Briny Breezes. “I’ve only been on the circuit a couple of years but I played for about four years before that.
    “Tom and I play on the circuit (Hollywood to Lake Worth) at least once a week. To play a lot, you have to get out on the circuit. And you have to play against good players. That’s the only way you’re going to get better.”
    Yogi would be proud.        

Wooden carriers hold playing disks in the Briny Breezes shuffleboard courts.

‘Surfing Florida: A Photographic History’  incorporates images and boards at FAU’s University Galleries.
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

Paul Aho started surfing off Ocean Ridge in 1964. His parents owned Henry’s Motel, a block from the ocean. He borrowed boards from Ron Heavyside, who went on to found the Nomad Surf Shop in the county pocket. He was 11 that year.
Aho is pushing 60 now. A former adjunct professor of printmaking at Florida Atlantic University, he’s currently the head of photography and digital imaging at Kentucky’s Paducah School of Art. And, yes, he still surfs.
Now Aho’s two great loves have come together in “Surfing Florida: A Photographic History,” on display at FAU’s University Galleries through May 12.
“Surfing began as a culture for renegade youth,” he said recently, taking a break as assistants scurried about. “You used to see bumper stickers that said ‘Surf, Suds and Sex.’ But now it’s transformed itself into a very popular and publicly embraced occupation, both recreationally and professionally.”

Artist Paul Aho has blended his two loves: surfing and photography.

Working with Galleries director W. Rod Faulds and supported by the Florida Humanities Council, their exhibit documents that transformation.
You’ll see wall panels packed with photos and text, media stations showing video clips from classic Hollywood surfing movies such as Gidget and vintage 8mm and oral histories constructed by Melbourne Beach documentarian Will Lucas. The panels offer the first comprehensive look at surfing in Florida, from Miami to Cocoa Beach, Daytona to the Panhandle and St. Petersburg south.
And, of course, there are surfboards — about 55 historical boards on display.
“This is a history exhibition,” says Faulds, “not an art exhibition. It’s an attempt at telling a story of surfing that’s approached with academic credibility.”
If all goes well, Aho and Faulds hope to expand their research into a large, coffee-table book that captures the sport’s Florida history in detail.
“We have a lot of panels with text, and even some history professors would say there’s too much text,” Faulds concedes, “but it was a struggle to compress because we’re working toward a book.”

Ryan Heavyside (left) and his dad, Ron Heavyside, run Nomad Surf & Sport on A1A near Briny Breezes.

Surfing is generally considered to have arrived in Florida when the Whitman brothers — Bill, Dudley and Stanley — started surfing on Miami Beach in the early 1930s. But Aho suspects it can be traced to the Panhandle after a 1908 article in Collier’s magazine featured Hawaiian surfers.
“There’s something inherently exotic about surfing,” he says. “You’re riding an energy form. Some surfers look at it as almost a religious practice, a whole sense of freedom, a free-form, almost artistic practice.
“I hope people come away with a broader recognition of the contribution Florida has made to shape the surfing lifestyle, and how surfing has shaped Florida.”

More than 500 years of surfing experience is represented in this group of surfing pioneers attending the opening reception. From left: Bill Yerkes, Tom Warnke, George Miller, Cecil Lear, Juan Rodriguez, David Reese, Steve Pezman, Rene Whitman, Dick Catri and Joe Twombley.

As Aho spoke, a student employee majoring in graphic design bustled nearby, helping to put the finishing touches on the exhibit.
Andrew Santoro is 22, a native of Boynton Beach who started skateboarding in 2001. He was 11 that year.
“Working on this project, I’ve learned that there’s a lot more to surfing than just the stereotype of the slacker who doesn’t do anything,” Santoro said. “It’s not as easy as it looks, and it’s got a rich tradition. And surfing is looked on as universally cool. People who walk by the gallery look in and stare, and then they get a big grin on their face.”                             

“Surfing Florida: A Photographic History” will remain on display at the University Galleries in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters at Florida Atlantic University through May 12. The galleries are open 1-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 1-5 p.m. Saturday.Call 297-2966.

Bathers relax on the beach at the old Boynton Beach Hotel, probably around 1920. Images courtesy of the Boynton Beach Library

By Ron Hayes

In the winter of 1899, it was “a quiet place with pleasant surroundings … away from the hurly-burly of large, fashionable hotels. No formality, no stiffness, everything pleasant and sociable.”
And all for only $2 a day!
Now through June 2, that long-gone hotel is a fascinating exhibit at the Boynton Beach City Library, three cases filled with obscure newspaper articles and photographs that resurrect “The Boynton” in all its Florida land-boom glory.
“The Flagler hotel in Palm Beach was so very well known,” says library archivist Janet DeVries, “but Boynton Beach had a hotel that was fairly well-known, too.”
For three months, DeVries searched the archives of the Palm Beach County Courthouse, The Palm Beach Post, the Library of Congress and others, panning for nuggets of historical gold, tiny news items and government records, faded photos and property deeds to tell the hotel’s story.

Maj. Nathan Smith Boynton, who had served on the Union side in the Civil War, came to the area in 1894 and built the Boynton Beach Hotel in 1895.

Nathan Smith Boynton, a Union major in the Civil War, came to the area from Port Huron, Mich., in 1894 and bought 90 acres of oceanfront land.
A year later construction began, and in 1895, The Boynton opened for business, just south of what is now Ocean Avenue. It had 45 rooms, six small cottages, a bathhouse, a dining room and a wraparound porch.
And oh, the water!
“DRINKING WATER UNSURPASSED,” the ads promised. “Medicinal properties shown by analysis of state chemist. A CERTAIN CURE for Kidney troubles.”

The Boynton Beach Hotel was around 5 years old when this photograph was taken circa 1900.

Twelve miles north, the Palm Beach hotels attracted celebrities and millionaires. The Boynton’s most famous guest appears to have been Edgar Guest, “the people’s poet,” whose folksy poetry few people honor today.
In the exhibit’s photographs, The Boynton appears as an unpretentious, two-story, clapboard structure, pleasant and sociable, as the ads promised, but no match for Flagler’s Gilded Age excess.
In one fading photograph, a group of seven young women and a man poses in the sand, the hotel in the background, a friendly dog by their side.
Recently, DeVries hosted a group of schoolchildren, one of whom stared at the photo in amazement and exclaimed: “Gee, I didn’t know they had dogs way back then!”
Alas, way back then didn’t last long. Maj. Boynton died in 1911, at 73.
His son-in-law, Albert E. Parker, later the city manager of West Palm Beach, managed the hotel.
Finally, in 1925, another small advertisement appeared in The Palm Beach Post:
Attention
Contractors and Builders, Tuesday, April 21, will start work on wrecking the building known as the Boynton Beach Hotel in Boynton, Fla. The following materials will be
sold …
A new hotel, bigger and better, would replace it.
A year later, the 1926 hurricane struck, and the Florida land boom went bust. The new hotel was never built, and the old one was a ghost.

The Atwater Cottage, which adjoined the old Boynton Beach Hotel, survives, though much renovated, in Ocean Ridge.

Except for one home in Ocean Ridge.
In 1921, one of the six original cottages adjoining the hotel was bought by a man named Albert Atwater and moved a few blocks south of the hotel. That cottage survives, much renovated, expanded and still privately owned.             


Archivist Janet DeVries will present a lecture and slide show on Maj. Nathan Boynton and his hotel at 6:30 p.m.  April 16, at the Boynton Beach City Library, 208 S. Seacrest Blvd.

By Antigone Barton

    While the ficus whitefly continues to challenge landscapers seeking to preserve privacy hedges, a new pest has arrived with its own set of challenges.
    Not the least of those challenges is confusion, as it shares a last name with its exotic-plant eating predecessor.
    The spiraling whitefly, however, is not to be mistaken for its picky predecessor, as owners of native plants up the coast of Palm Beach County are learning.
    “Some of the worst damage we see is on the gumbo limbos,” says Laura Sanagorski, environmental horticulture agent at the Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service.  “It’s probably their favorite food on our landscape menu.”
    But she adds, unlike the ficus whitefly, the spiraling whitefly is open to variety.
    “It loves our coconut palms, our adonidia palms,” she continues. The list goes on: black olive, sea grapes, live oak.
    And, she adds, it’s not picky where it lays its eggs, either. The extension service continues to discover new hosts for the latest pest.
    The insect is about three times the size of the ficus-eating whitefly, “you can make out its parts, see the wings,” Sanagorski says.
    It has moved up the coast over the last two years, since its arrival, probably from Central America.
With no natural predators in Florida, and an ability to produce from 50 to 400 offspring in their short lives, they have made their presence felt from Boca Raton to Jupiter, according to Brent O’Keefe, route manager for O’Hara Pest Control.
    In addition to the eyesore of bare branches, they leave the sticky substance of their “honeydew” excretions behind on patios, pools and furniture, which then fosters the growth of sooty mold.
    And, says John Schiller, general manager of Environmental Pest Control, they have had a bigger impact on the coast than inland.
    “I think it’s because it’s where the candy store is,” he said.
    The good news is that when they move on, the damage is not lasting.
    “Typically, you won’t lose the tree to it. Once the leaves are gone, they will leave the tree alone,” Sanagorski says. “The tree will push out new growth.”
    They are likely to return without efforts to control them, experts agree. The means of control depends on the plant and degree of infestation, with horticultural oils and soaps effective against smaller infestations, Sanagorski says.
    Imported beetles have proven to be predators, but are unlikely to be available in sufficient numbers to control the insect here, according to Schiller.
    For that reason, they are likely here to stay.
    “There’s no eradicating them,” Schiller says, “just controlling them.”
    Then, of course, Sanagorski says, new pests, drawn to the year-round growing season of a subtropical climate, are sure to arrive.
    “There will be others,” she says, “and hopefully we’ll have this under control before too
long.”                                         

Recognizing whitefly invasion
The spiraling whitefly is larger and less picky than the ficus whitefly. You will see it on a wide range of foliage, including:
• Gumbo limbo
• Banana
• Black olive
• Mango
• Palms
• Copperleaf, cocoplum and wax myrtle shrubs
And new foliage susceptible to spiraling whitefly attack continue to be noted.
 
Look for:
• White spirals on leaves
• Buildup of white waxy substance on underside of leaves
• Black sooty mold that grows on whitefly excrement
 
What to do
• Diversify: The more diverse your landscape, the less susceptible it will be to pests, diseases, even storm damage
• Monitor: Be familiar with your landscape and with the signs of whitefly damage, respond quickly.
• Wash plants where whitefly is spotted with a strong stream of water.
• Use a systemic product to drench the soil surrounding larger plants (preferred).
• You may also spray a topical product directly on leaves to tackle active whitefly.
• Repeat: A one-time treatment may be a temporary fix. Be familiar with the product you use, follow label for safest, most effective use.
• Do not use pesticides on fruit-bearing trees unless product label specifies it is appropriate for that use.

Sources: Palm Beach County Whitefly Task Force (www.pbcgov.com/coextension/horticulture/whitefly), University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Studies

Closet Couture Luncheon to benefit The Lupus Foundation of America, Southeast Florida Chapter will be held April10 at Benvenuto Caterestaurant, 1730 N. Federal Hwy. in Boynton Beach. Guest speaker is Eva Ritvo, MD, author of The Beauty Prescription: the Complete Formula for Looking and Feeling Beautiful. Auctions include beautiful, gently used designer purses and accessories. Tickets: $85. Call 279-8606 or email info@lupusfl.org. Organizers pictured: (l-r) Barbara Murphy, Sandra Powell, Susan Duane and Bettina Young. Photo provided