Fort Myers-Lee County Garden Council dedicates a Blue Star Memorial Marker

On October 10, 2014, the Fort Myers-Lee County Garden Council, in cooperation with the Lee County Port Authority, dedicated a Blue Star Memorial Marker in honor of the armed forces that have defended the United States. The ceremony took place in front of  the Page Field Base Operations Building at 10:00 AM.

Page Field Base of Operations operated by the Lee County Port Authority

An AT-6 Texan aircraft used to train fighter pilots 

during World War II

The plane was so important to the war effort that it was dubbed, “The Pilot Maker.” The plane is on display  at Page Field to honor the bravery, sacrifice and patriotism of fighter pilots during the war.

Page Field was named after Captain Channing Page, a local World War I flying ace and the first Floridian to receive a commission in the Army Air Corps. The young captain  also received the American Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre.  A war hero and aviation pioneer, Page died in a plane crash in 1920 at the age of twenty-seven. 

Page Field has a long history of service, both to the nation and Southwest Florida. Built as a civil airport in 1927, it was appropriated by the War Department at the beginning of World War II and was used by the US Army Air Force for antisubmarine patrols and conventional bomber training. It was returned to civil control of the State of Florida and then Lee County after the end of the war.  

Guests begin to gather in front of the terminal before the dedication ceremony. 

Mae Jean Nothstine, Mistress of Ceremonies and Fort Myers-Lee County Garden Council officer, spearheaded the effort to have the Blue Star Memorial Marker installed in front of 

the Page Field Terminal.

The Color Guard of VFW Post 8463 participated in the ceremony.

The Posting of the Colors for the Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance by the Color Guard

Mae Jean reciting the Pledge of Allegiance

The audience during the Pledge of Allegiance

Pastor Steve Hess, Retired Chaplain, giving the invocation

The audience during the invocation

Paula Novander, Garden Council 1st Vice-President, discusses the history of the Blue Star Memorial Marker

The National Council of State Garden Clubs, now known as National Garden Clubs, Inc., started the Blue Star program in 1945 to honor the servicemen and women of the U.S. armed forces. The National Council wanted to memorialize veterans by means of the markers, but also to encourage beautification programs through memorial plantings of native trees and shrubs along with the markers. 

The audience, with Berne Davis sitting the 2nd from the left in the front row

Dr. Douglas Renfroe, bass-baritone soloist and Artistic Director of “Voices of Naples,” first relates the history of our national anthem and then sings the anthem.

Color Guard during the National Anthem

The audience during the National Anthem 

Commissioner Cecil Pendergass, (ctr-left) Robert M. Ball, Port Authority Executive Director (ctr-right)  and Debbie Wyatt-Stotter, President, Fort Myers-Lee County Garden Council (right)  among the onlookers  during the National Anthem

Robert Ball, Debbie Wyatt-Stotter and Mae Jean unveiling the marker

Finishing the unveiling
A blue star is the centerpiece of the memorial sign because it symbolizes the blue star on the World War II service flag.  During the war, the service flag  bore one blue star to represent each family member serving in the U.S. military and was prominently displayed in the home.

Robert M. Ball, Port Authority Executive Director, makes the official acceptance of the marker.

Debbie Wyatt-Stotter, President, Fort Myers-Lee County Garden Council, officially dedicates the marker

The Fort Myers-Lee County Garden Council is continuing the Blue Star tradition by dedicating  the Blue Star Memorial Marker to the US military who have served at Page Field Base Operations and also by landscaping the setting in which the marker is placed with diversified indigenous trees and shrubs.

Audience
Debbie is standing behind Kay Holloway and Berne Davis.

Audience

Winnie Stone approaches the podium to place a wreath at the marker.

Winnie Stone speaks about the war years at Page Field.

Her husband was a communications officer during the war.

Dr. Renfroe closes the ceremony with “America the Beautiful.”

Blue Star Memorial Marker with wreath

Berne Davis, the “First Lady of Fort Myers,”
 is a benefactor of the arts and supporter of Garden Clubs at all levels.

Bernadette and David Hamera

Winnie and Jean Shields

Laura Jibben and Debbie Hughes

Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass

Desk in the Base Ops Terminal

The Lobby of the Terminal

The Lobby with war time photos, left wall

The Lobby with wartime photos, right wall

P51-D Mustang replica suspended from the ceiling

Placard for Mustang

Looking out from the Lobby toward the air field

1937 Ford Five-window Coupe

Three-speed manual Ford Coupe in “Dearborn Blue”

Refreshment Table

Patriotic-themed decorations at the refreshment table

Sandy Kavouras, Theo Kavouras and  Debbie Hughes

Dr. Renfroe

Winnie & Laura

Marty Ward, in charge of refreshments, and Periwinkle Garden Club members
Terrilynn Dunford and Edie Marie Rattner

Berne Davis and Winnie Stone

Mitzi Marckesano and Paula

Mae Jean, Paula, Glenda Dawson and Garden Club of Cape Coral

hostesses Kathy Rabassi (behind Mae Jean) and Charlene Anderson (on right.)

Blue Star Memorial Marker

Blue Star Memorial Marker and Wreath

October 10, 2014

Gators in the Garden at the Edison Estates

The theme this year for the annual “Art in the Gardens” outdoor sculpture installation was “Gators in the Garden.” Schools from throughout Lee County participated and entered their alligators, which were lurking in the grass of the Edison Heritage Truck Garden area near the museum. Teachers were awarded funds to assemble the weather-proof, recycled materials for the sculptures, and the art was up to the students. There were supposed to be 25 schools represented, but on the day I went, May 18, there were about 15 sculptures. The exhibit started on April 7 and continued through May 25, so some of the gators must have "high walked" away.

 

The Edison & Ford Winter Estates, the Lee County Art Educators and Lee County Schools collaborated to bring the project to fruition. The outdoor sculpture exhibit, now in its fifth year, was supported by the George M. Cox Trust. In addition, there were informational signs about alligators sponsored by Costco Wholesale and Everglades Day Safari. (The Gator Info was taken from the signs.) The exhibit was free to the public--it wasn’t necessary to pay the usual fee to visit the Estates.

  

 

A larger-than-life-sized Mina Edison sits on a bench near the entry to the exhibition.

 

 

 

“Art in the Gardens” 2013 sign

 

 

 

 

 Four gators by middle school students from Veteran’s Park Academy for the Arts with teacher Jill Antonucci.

Look closely at this gator--he is covered entirely by seashells.

Gator Info: Adult males and females have an olive brown or black color. Young alligators can be easily distinguished by the bright yellow stripes on their tails.
 

 

I don’t know what the “scales” were made of on the alligator on the left, but they gave the gator hide a great texture.
 

This gator is a great example of flower power.

Gator Info: Female alligators can grow up to 10 feet in length, and males have been recorded at just over 14 feet in length. Alligators have osteoderms, bony plates on their backs, that act like solar panels, warming and cooling blood vessels and helping to regulate the reptile’s body temperature. Alligators have 2 sets of eyelids. One set is like a human’s eyelid and the other set is transparent and applied to see clearly underwater.

 

 

The students from Tortuga Preserve Elementary School with teacher Christina Sterrett fashioned this gator from many, many plantings in individual cans.

 

 

This gator shows a novel use for living plants and recycled cans.

 

 

Edison Park Elementary School students and teacher Karen Flanders did this pink gator made up of lots of paper ribbons.

 

 

A close-up of the pink be-ribboned gator

 

Gator Info: Alligators can burst out of the water toward prey at quick speeds but cannot run far. They most often “high walk, ” keeping their legs almost directly beneath them, as opposed to most reptiles which keep their legs to the sides at a diagonal and “slither.” This "high walk" results in greater elevation, allowing them to lift their tails off the ground. From the looks of it, I think this pink gator is “high walking.”

 

 

The alligator from the back.

Wire mesh is fastened to a frame, and each colored strip is laced through the mesh according to the design.

 

 

Alligator Mom and babies done by Tice Elementary School students and teacher Jill Kessler

 

 

Look closely at the bodies of the gators--they’re made of pails of graduating size.

 

 

 Mama and babies from the side

 

Gator Info: Baby alligators, called grunts, make high-pitched barking noises to let their mother know they are ready to break through their egg shell. I had previously learned that you never threaten a baby alligator because its frantic bark will bring its mother running. Uh-oh.

 

 

Alligator and baby fashioned by students from Challenger Middle School and teacher Sandra Rayannic

 

 

 

Alligator close-up

 

 

Baby gator close-up

 

Gator Info: The sex of the babies (about six inches at birth) depends on the temperature of the nest. Males are born from warmer parts of the nests and females from cooler parts. A distinctive characteristic of alligators among the reptilians is that mothers usually remain with their young for up to two years, protecting them from predators.

 

 

Hans Marsh Elementary School students and teacher Robert Sherry did this alligator-mobile.

A close-up of the delicately-made mobile

Gator Info: Adult alligators bellow and roar to each other. The bellow is a loud and throaty noise that can be heard from up to 165 yards (farther than a football field.)

A view back toward the entrance to the exhibit

This bright green gator was done by the students from Skyline Elementary School with their teacher Liz Beemer. Look closely at the gator’s exterior--it is made completely of plastic bottle tops.

 

The gator’s nest

 

Gator Info: Female alligators begin mating in mid-April through May. Breeding takes place during the evening and in shallow waters. To get a female’s attention, males will bellow, rub, touch, blow bubbles; they may raise their heads out of the water, exposing their necks and sometimes even push one another under water to judge each other’s strength. Once mating concludes, females build a nest in late June or early July and lay 35 to 50 eggs. The eggs are then covered with vegetation and develop over a 65-day incubation period.

  
This gator was the most menacing. The ridges on its back are made of a household cast-off: an egg carton turned up-side-down. Its head is the base of a palm tree frond turned up-side-down.

 

Chicken wire covers its body.

 

I could find no sign to identify the school whose students did this gator. The design is simple but was executed very effectively.

 

 

Gator Info: Alligators once numbered approximately four million in the state of Florida. Due to poaching and water management practices, the number declined to more than 10,00 in the 1970s. Today, American alligators are still listed as threatened due to their similar appearance to American crocodiles, which are endangered.Alligators can be differentiated from crocodiles because the alligator jaw is broad and rounded.

 

 

The students of Lexington Middle School with teacher Katharine Bruns did these mosaic-type gators

 

Mosaic gators with bottle noses

Gator Info: Alligators are an important part of the environment for multiple reasons and, therefore, are considered a “keystone” species. They are important because they control populations of prey species; after alligators leave their holes, the burrows become a habitat for other creatures, such as turtles and fish; and alligators are indicators for environmental factors, such as toxin levels in water (measuring mercury using blood samples taken for research purposes) and water levels.

 

 

 

Varsity Lakes Middle School students with teacher Marjorie Resler did this snappy-looking gator in pink with a black and white top hat. A cane would be a nice accessory for this gator.

 

Close-up of this out-on-the-town gator

Gator Info: Alligators can live to well over 70 years due to an excellent dental plan. When one hollow, cone-shaped tooth falls out, another is underneath, ready to grow in its place. Alligators have between 70 and 80 teeth.

This monolith was done by James Stephens International Academy elementary school and their teacher Alisha Koyanis. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but the frogs on the lily pads were wonderful.
 

Top of the monolith

 

Frog on a lily pad

 

 

Gator Info: When it is time to eat, alligators are neither hunters nor gatherers. They are lurkers. They wait for something edible to swim or walk nearby and they lunge at it with incredible speed. When lurking in the water, only the eyes and nostrils are above the waterline. An alligator can sit like this for hours waiting for something edible to wander nearby. When its prey gets close enough, the alligator moves with startling speed. Alligators will eat almost anything they can capture -- fish, turtles, frogs, birds, small mammals, and sometimes even larger mammals like deer. The moral of this story: never underestimate the lightning speed of this seemingly slow and ponderous animal.
 

Kiddie pool and sun chair by the students from Trafalgar Elementary School and their teacher Helen Garcia-Valdez.

 

All the little gators inside the kiddie pool look like they are parts of some kind of cactus plant.

Gator Info: The American alligator usually lives in a freshwater pond, marsh, swamp, river or lake. These smaller bodies of water are believed to attract American alligators because they are calmer bodies of water which makes it easier for the gator to breathe. In calm waters, the gator only needs to keep its nasal disk above water, but in deeper, rough waters the gator has to keep the snout at a steeper angle to breathe.

 

A close-up of a baby gator on a moss basket

 

 

 

This is the back part of the Heritage Garden. I have been to the Estates several times in the last few years, but I have never wandered back to this exquisite garden site. Now I’m doubly glad I came to see the gators.

 

 

Another view of the garden

 

 

“Art in the Gardens” Collaboration Sign