Ilona and Malcolm Balfour were instrumental in the creation and maintenance of the Lantana Nature Preserve and were honored by the Town Council for their service. Jim Rassol/The Coastal Star
By Mary Thurwachter
A presentation during the June 8 Lantana Town Council meeting turned the spotlight on one of the town’s most beloved couples, Malcolm and Ilona Balfour. They were recognized for their dedication to the town, especially the Nature Preserve.
Born in South Africa, the Balfours, now in their 80s, celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary recently. Their life hasn’t always been easy (Ilona says her husband often worked multiple jobs to provide for the family), but has been marked with a love of community.They moved to Miami in 1968, where Malcolm, the son of a South African journalist, began writing for Reuters and UPI. One assignment had him covering a ball at the Breakers in Palm Beach, where he ended up dancing with Rose Kennedy.
That news caught the attention of media mogul Generoso Pope of The National Enquirer, which was headquartered in Lantana. Pope hired Balfour, which brought the couple and their two small children to Lantana in 1972. By 1975, they had moved into the house where they still reside on Hypoluxo Island. Nestled between the beach and the newspaper, it was perfect for the young family. Malcolm rode his bicycle to work.
The location also put the Balfours in good position to overlook the Lantana Nature Preserve. It opened at 440 E. Ocean Ave. in 2000 and was practically in their backyard, with a small waterway between.
The preserve hadn’t existed when the family first arrived. The Balfour kids waded through the water to play games on the property.
Ilona and other concerned residents were instrumental in the preserve’s creation. In the 1970s, Ilona and others founded Save Our Parks to make sure valuable town waterfront land wasn’t sold for development.
Other members of Save Our Parks included Rod and Elizabeth Tennyson, Andrea Babkie and Veronica Rauch, Ilona said at the presentation.
Save Our Parks’ first victory came with the creation of Bicentennial Park in 1976. It looked like the town mayor then was going to sell the land to build shops on the waterfront property.
Save Our Parks rallied for a park and won. That same year, the Balfours, caught up in Bicentennial fervor, became U.S. citizens.
Next targeted for sale and development was the town dump, a 13-acre plot between the beach and Hypoluxo Island. Plans called for a luxury home community to be built on the site, but residents, particularly the Save Our Parks crew, lobbied and were ultimately successful in securing a park.
Developers built a luxury senior living home, the Carlisle, on 7.5 acres.
The 6.5 acres beside it became the Lantana Nature Preserve, designed to look much like what pioneers who arrived in 1865 would have seen.
As part of the negotiations with the developer, the Carlisle agreed to pay for maintenance.
That fee has grown over the years. This year, the town will receive $65,000 to care for the park. Carlisle residents are regular park visitors.
“We visited every bar in town to get the local fishermen involved and filled the council chambers with people who wanted a park,” Ilona said.
Ilona is part of local tree lore. Folks say that when the preserve was being constructed, Ilona chained herself to a ficus tree to protect it from destruction as she held a sign that read “Leave my tree Ilona,” a wordplay on her first name. She didn’t actually do that.
“I threatened to tie myself to the tree,” she says. But the ficus wasn’t a native and had to go. It was replaced with a strangler fig. “The birds seem to like it,” she says.
Since it opened in 2000, the Balfours have been active visitors and staunch supporters of the preserve’s wildlife and conservation efforts. Malcolm was a member of the Town Council for nine years. Environmental and preservation issues remain part of his public service record.
By the late 1990s, the town began clearing the debris and grading the terrain to mimic a coastal dune. Nonnative plants were removed and replaced with mangrove seedlings and coastal grasses.
The Balfours, as members of the Friends of the Lantana Nature Preserve, were active visitors and supporters. In the early years, Friends of the Lantana Nature Preserve sponsored educational tours for children to teach them about native plants.
“We’d give them prizes when they correctly identified plants,” Ilona said. “Before Mother’s Day, we gave them each a butterfly plant to take home to their mothers.”
If a bathroom visit was necessary, they marched the children next door to the luxurious Carlisle.
“The kids were more excited about the marble restrooms than the plants,” Ilona remembered.
Former Mayor Dave Stewart, who drove down from his home in St. Augustine to witness the presentation, said the Balfours were dedicated to preserving the small-town feel of Lantana.
“They have done their best to make sure the town was a pleasant, nice place for people to live, work and play,” he said. “They have always tried to do what is best.”
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