Message from our CEO

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tr. Issue 5
Message from our CEO
By Dave Stauffer, Interim Chief Executive Officer
Dining Committee Report
Community Dinner
Veterans at Prairie View
Pet Celebrity
Oak Leaf Profiles
ne o/'my more pleasant projects has been working with one oJ
ottr members who exnressed an interest in establishing a scholarship.fund to assist desen,ing Oalr Hammock employees and their immediate.family ntembers in the pursuit of their educational .financial needs. So
'ar,
lhis ./und is being established.for students attending either the University of Florida or Santa Fe Contmunitlt College, We hat'e established a
brokerage account w'ith l4/achot,ia Bank v,hich *-ill /acilitate the donation
and sale of'equities to.fund these scholarships. This allovts the contributions to be made to our not-.for-proJit entity and they then become tax deductible to the donors.
As you are av)are, many o.f our employees are college students and
many o.f our employees hat,e members of their immediate .family who are
attending one o.f these institutions. Having these young people as part of
our staff is one of the highlights o.f liJe at Oak Hammock.
Holiday Appreciation Fund
Marketing Thanks You
Fossil Dig
Lf yott v,'ould like to participate in this endeavor as a scholarship
donor please see me personally. Also if you w-ould like to additionally
participate on a scholarship committee to assist in reviewing and av'arding these scholarships, let me know your desires in this area as well.
The Firsf Annua [ 0a k?{ammot(
Close to Home Adventures
trrday, {Jecem6er3{st
volunteer Opportunities
Sports and Music at UF
Kathryn Crosby Visit
ftAA rn, in,
tzg,oo (ter ferson
Reservations Required and can be made by calling Katherine ut 5481008 or thefront desk at 548-1000.
Dining Com mittee
By Roanne Coplin , Commirtee
News
Chair
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New survey: A second dining survey is being put together mitted through the suggestion box, a number of people
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to determine what type of dress code is wanted by a major- seem not to be aware of its location. It is located in the fire||
ity of the members and which items shouid be always avail- place lounge near the telephone. Please feel free to submit
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able on the menu. On the first survey, we left the dress your suggestions. Each one is given careful considerarion.
code question open ended and received almost as many
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suggestions as surveys returned. We thus categorized the 5 Menu Review: It was decided that the Dining Co--itt""
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most common themes and will give members a choice of would review all standard menus, while the Social Commitll
one ofthe 5 categories plus the category of"no preference". tee would review all menus for special events. Member
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Since it was clear that the majority want the grill to remain input is carefully considered in the preparation of menus.ll
casual at all times and breakfast in the casual dining room The Social Committee is open to all interested members
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to remain casual, we are only asking about lunch and dinner and the Dining Committee welcomes all members who
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in the casual and formal dining rooms. So that each mem- wish to sit in on their meetings. See channel 7l for meeting
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ber has a say, a separate questionnaire will be placed in the
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mailboxes for each member. A dot will be placed on the
mailboxes with two members, so that the person stuffing Meeting Minutes: Minutes from all PCA committ"", ur"
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the mailboxes will know how many forms to put into each available in a notebook in the library. Please feel free to
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one. We are also giving you an opportunity to request dif- review the minutes and submit any comments to the chairll
ferent dress codes on different days of the week (Sunday, person.
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Monday-Thursday, and Friday and Saturday), as well as for
cool weather and for warm weather on each of these dav Sundalz Buffet: Menus will be published th" W.An".OuV ll
catesories.
before the buffet, so that members can make plans fo
themselves and any guests they may wish to invite. In or-{
Members will also be given a choice of items from der to meet member requests, buffets will range from home||
which to choose to have always available on the grill and style comfort food to more elegant fare and knowing what
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lunch and dinner menus. What ends up on the grill menu will be emphasized on a given Sunday will help members | |
will be the same choices as the always available choices on make plans. Because the omelet station is so popular, this
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the lunch and dinner menus. Both the current choices and will be a standard item at these buffets.
new choices will be included. Any new choices will need
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to replace cuffent choices, as the number of items must be Holidalz Plans: Not only are holiday meals in the works,ll
limited. The choices will be divided into food categories but holiday items will be offered in the Convenience Store.ll
and the top items will be used for the new menus. ln addi- | The Lounge will offer gift-wrapped bottles.
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tion, there will be a separate sandwich menu, which will
expand the number of sandwiches that will be available.
Sussestion Box: While many suggestions have been sub- |
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Library News
The Library Committee is pleased to announce
that Goerings Book Store in Gainesville has set
up a display of new books for children and
adults in one of the display cases (just past
the mail boxes) at Oak Hammock. These books, or any
other books that they have at their store, can be ordered
by calling their store. They will gift wrap and deliver the
books here without any additional charge.
This month, I cannot really say that I MET the night. However, if Bodil doesn't wake up early
pet, but I have seen her. Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen's cat enough to suit Bittsy, the cat pokes her with her front
paws, not so much to say
is named "Bittsy", although Bodil has said that she
sometimes calls her "Bitchy"! She's a full-blown al- "Good morning" as to say
o'Hurry up
ley cat with the usual grey striped markings.
and feed me"!
Bittsy is a pretty
Bodil received the cat from the Oak Hamcat, but very aloof, a real
mock members Bill and Wanda Ebersole who could
loner. What is apparent,
not harbor any more pets. So, Bittsy came to her new however, is that both cat
home at age six and moved to Oak Hammock in
and owner are thoroushlv
March. So far, she has adjust very well to her new
enjoying their lives at Oak Hammock!
life , even managing to sleep in the bed with Bodil at
Occasionally members will share with us glimpses into their lives...PROFILES in achievement,
advenhre, courage or inspiration.
Ben and Amy O'Neal
By Merle Kuns
nterviewing Oak Hammock residents Ben and Amy O'Neal
about their 59 years of life together is like reliving a real-life
adventure story. They have lived in 25 different locations
before settling into their new apartment at Oak Hammock. It all
began for the two of them after Amy received her degree in education from Florida State University and began teaching at the
Kirby Smith Elementary School in Gainesville. A mutual friend
introduced them after Ben returned to the University of Florida
from his lengthy tour of military selice aboard the USS Portland
in the Pacific war zone. It was love at first sight and they were
married in 1945.
Amy was born in Hazelhurst, Georgia but moved to
Alachua, Florida when only two years of age. Ben grew up on a farm near Tifton, Georgia. Following
graduation from High School, Ben had enlisted in the Navy and served as a medic on a heavy cruiser, the
USS Portland. While he was aboard, the ship engaged Japanese forces in seven major battles. These included Midway, Coral Sea and Guadalcanal. When the USS Portland was disabled by enemy bombs,
shells and torpedoes, he took a short term assignment with the tst Marine Division on Guadalcanal while
waiting for his ship to be towed to Sydney, Australia for repair. He was awarded several citations for meritorious service and, after the war ended, Ben enrolled in the University of Florida where he earned his degree in engineering.
Ben and Amy embarked on their first adventure by moving to Silver Springs, Maryland where Ben
had accepted employment in the Calvert Reserve Distillery as a newly-minted chemical engineer. Amy
was pregnant with the first of their two sons. While searching for suitable housing, locating medical care
for Amy, and working through the myriad chores that come with establishing residence in a strange city,
they both decided they would be happier back in Florida. So Ben resigned and they moved to Jacksonville
where Ben spent the next few years working as a Sanitary Engineer with the Florida State Board of Health.
This involved much travel and Ben was often out of town for several days each week leaving Amy at home
alone to care for the growing family which now included two sons
Disenchanted with their present situation, they began to consider other options. Desiring to continue his education, Ben applied to and was accepted by three universities for graduate studies in sanitary
engineering (now known as environmental engineering). They decided on the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences where Ben was awarded a masters degree. Soon after retuming to Jacksonville, Ben accepted the position of Director of Engineering and Sanitation in the Palm Beach County
Health Department.
As Ben approached 10 years of employment with the State of Florida, they decided to withdraw the
funds that had accumulated in his retirement account and open an engineering consulting business in Palm
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Beach.. By this time, Amy had returned to teaching (her first love) which assured them of steady income.
Soon, other professionals bought into the business and it became known as O'Neal, Obst, and Brady offering architectural, engineering, land surveying and planning services.
Embarking on another adventure, Ben and Amy began investing in citrus groves and vacant land in
central Florida. Growing up on the family farm near Tifton, Georgia, Ben had developed a strong spirit of
individualism. He began to feel that his partnership in the engineering firm was too constraining so he disposed of his interest in the firm and they moved to Lake Wales to found the
Polk Engineering and Land Development Company. Their business quickly expanded to include ranching
(running as many as 200 head of cattle) and development and sale of Lake Wales Village Condominiums.
Eventually the Polk Engineering business was sold to their employees and they concentrated on the purchase, development and sale of land in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
Retirement has finally caught up with Ben and Amy and they are embarking on yet another adventure with their move to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Amy has retired from teaching after 27
years of service. During the last five years, all of the property accumulated during their earlier adventures
has been sold. Ben remarks rather wistfully that they no longer have one square inch of land in their own
names. Clearly, life has been good to Ben and Amy and we wish them well on this their latest great adventure.
Cecil N. Smith was born May 25, 1920 in a house near Cartersville, Virginia, and died of pancreatic
cancer on November 18, 2004 at the skilled nursing facility of Oak Hammock at the University of Florida.
He was an agricultural economist who traveled the world. He is survived by his second wife, Mary Anders
"Andy" Adams, four children, Nancy, Patsy, David and Kathy and eight grandchildren. His first wife, Cecile Gaddis Smith, died in 1995 after 49 and a half years of marriage.
The eldest of a family of eight girls and three boys, Cecil was raised on a farm during the Great Depression. He was valedictorian of Hamilton High School and worked his way through college at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg.
He joined the navy rn 1942, rising to the rank of lieutenant and served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. He received the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action as Commanding Officer of a U.S. patrol vessel at Okinawa, for rescuing the survivors of a vessel sunk by a kamikaze
plane.
During the war, while on a temporary stay in Miami, he met Cecile when he visited her church.
They married on January 28,1946, and moved to Charlottesville where they both received master's degrees
from the University of Virginia. They also lived in Berkeley, Califomia, where Cecil earned his Ph.D., and
Blacksburg, Virginia, where Cecil was an associate professor at Virginia Tech, before moving to Gainesville in 1952 where he joined the UF faculty.
After first studying the apple industry, he became an expert on the foliage plant and cut-flower industry. From 1965 to l976he worked on an economic development project in Costa Rica as part of a University of Florida project with the U.S. and Costa Rican goverrrments. He also did consulting work in
Chile, Paraguay, El Salvador,Iamaica, Jordan, Kenya andZimbabwe. After his retirement I 1986, he continued to do consulting work and to travel for fun and education.
Cecil and Andy were fortunate to be able to move to Oak Hammock in April 2004. Cecil helped to
set up the Oak Hammock educational program, where a lecture series on world affairs was named after