OAKSIDE OBSERVER

January, 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And many thanks to all who decorated their homes and the Hall so beautifully for the
Christmas season! Walking around the Park after dark was really a treat.
Wow! Another year has passed. Hope your year was more happy than sad and more
healthy than not, and I wish you a very Happy New Year.
Looking back over the years, I found that the more things change, the more they stay
the same. Oakside Mobile Home Park was purchased by Mr. Zack in 1972. The Club
House and the Office were soon built on what was then Crescent Drive, renamed
Crescent Avenue in 1990. The then Court Street became Cameo Street and Laurel
Street was renamed Linnet Street. Bob and Linda Oelkers came to the Park in August,
1994, and Jean Snoke and Pat Dieterick took over in June, 2011.
The photo books over the years show that most of the activities in the Park then,
continue on today. The Canadian flag was presented to the Park on February 11, 1993
with the message we desire that these two flags stand side by side as a symbol of the
cooperation and fellowship and love that exists between our two countries and they
both still stand in the Clubhouse today.
The kitchen was remodeled in 1987 and then, as now, the residents were very active.
There were many photos of the activities, such as the fashion show, talent show, darts,
shuffle board, dinners, and the ladies club. So, as you can see, it is true that the more
things change, the more they stay the same, as we still enjoy all of these activities
today.
The longest owners in the Park are:
Dick and Lois Merrill
Naomi Myers
Dot Parker
Virginia Jackson
Elliott & Jean Arnold
Nancy Mendonca
Dick and LaVonne Johnson

Alma Detweiler
Dick & Audrey Morris
Judy Siebert
Herb Bloom
Dan and Doris Ranck
Joann Johnson

Directories:
Last year, Ladies Club was gracious enough to cover the cost of production. This year
you have options regarding what you would like in regards to the 2017 Directory.
However, it is not free. The following outlines your choices and the associated costs:

1) Revisions only, in color: $5.00 per copy

2) A full directory, NOT in color: $6.00 per copy
3) A full colored directory, similar to last year: $14 per copy
Barb Brown is taking orders, along with cash payment, at the next couple of coffee
hours, or you can see her at 6106 Pleasant St. Any resident who did not receive their
free copy last year, please see Linda Oelkers at the office, as she still has extras.

Coming Up:
Jan. 4
9:00am
5
5:00pm
5/6
10/11 9:00am

Assoc. Mtg/Corporation Mtg/Shuffle Mtg/Blood Pressures

Pot Luck #1
Woodbrook Amateur Tournament Dist. Arms- Lakeland
Area Mixed Doubles Tournament @ Oakside
(lunch 11-12:30)
13
8:30am
1st Blood Drive
19/20 9:00am
4 Park tournament @ Oakside (lunch 11 - 12:30)
21
6:30pm
Pound Auction - no Bingo
26
3 - 5pm
Hoss Collar #2-Shuffling/Pizza/Fun
27
9am-2pm
Set up for Ladies Club Rummage Sale - (No dart baseball)
28
8am-12:30pm
Ladies Club Rummage Sale

Problem resolved:
When Virginia Jackson found that she had bees in residence under her unit, she was
fortunate in that we have our own resident beekeeper. Lawton Coleman has been
involved in beekeeping for about 60 years. He began his career in Michigan, becoming
interested through a friend. He started out with one hive and gradually added to that.
When he and Dorothy moved to North Carolina, they took his hives with them and
ended up with 17 hives. In western N. Carolina, the sourwood trees made for a
premium honey. He now brings his honey to Florida to sell in the park and also has
pecans for sale. In past years, he has brought some hives to Florida, but now has
stopped as he was losing too many bees.
To remove the bees from under Virginias trailer, he had to remove some blocks in order
to reach the them. He first looked for the queen bee because if she is placed in a hive,
the other bees will follow. If he cannot locate the queen, he uses a vacuum hose to
suck the bees into a bee box and then transfers them to hives. He places the bee box
on top of the hive, opens the trapdoor on the bottom of the box, and the bees will then
go down into the box. There are three types of bees: the queen, the males, or drones,
and the working bees, which gather the honey. The queen lays about 1600 eggs a day
and the drones purpose is to fertilize the eggs. The average life of the working bee is 6
weeks.
Lawton took the bees that he rescued from Virginias unit back to North Carolina, where
the weather was considerably cooler, but they will adjust to the change.

Ladies Club:
Vice President Nada Lou Dunn says that January will be a very busy month for the
Ladies Club, starting on January 11 with the Ladies Lunch Out at the Angel Tea Room
in Dade City. On the 25th, they will be taking a tour of the new Wellness Center here in
Zephyrhills. In the meantime, they must make plans for the Rummage Sale, which is
the main money maker for the group. They are looking for donations of articles for the
Rummage Sale, so this is a good time to get rid of all your good junk. The set up for
the sale will be Friday, January 27, so there will be no Dart Baseball that evening. The
Rummage Sale will be held on Saturday, January 28 from 9:00am to 12:30pm.
The Ladies will be going door to door selling raffle tickets for some great prizes, which
will be donated by Marge Bloom, Charlotte Marsh, and Dede Litchfield and also a gift
certificate to a local restaurant. Raffle tickets will also be sold at the door.

Shuffle Courts:
Four Park Tournament Results
Dec. 5
Oakside 16 Betmar 11
Dec. 9
Oakside 8 Betmar 13
Dec. 12
Oakside 16 Sleepy Hollow 11
Dec. 16
Oakside 9 Sleepy Hollow 9
Dec. 19
Oakside 10 Bakers Acres 5
Dec. 26
Oakside 19 Bakers Acres 11
Dec. 30
Oakside 12 Betmar 32

In Four Park Tournament play:

Bruce and Polly Ellsworth 1st place consolation
Don Hoorelbeck and June Wilson 2nd place consolation
Don and Ruth Engelhaupt 4th place consolation
On December 8th and 9th, Eric Brown and his partner, Henry Strong from Forest Lake
Estates took top honors at the Zephyrhills Shuffleboard Club. The pairing at this event
was by drawing lots, and there were 114 players.
Memorial Tournament this year honored Norman Drummond, Roger ONeil, Louise
Barnett, and Don Palmer.
Winners in the Tournament were:
Consolation:
3rd place - Ron Moldovan/Roger Klages
2nd place - Elsie Cleghorn/Ruth Engelhaupt
1st place - Polly Ellsworth/Bruce Ellsworth
Main Event:
3rd place - Roger Vrooman/Bob Perrault
2nd place - Don Hoorelbeck/Maynard Truax
1st place - Harry Holland/Bernie Fox

Dart Baseball:
12/2 Game 1
12/9 Game 1
12/16 Game 1
12/23 Game 1
12/30 Game 1

Men 9 Women 3
Men 4 Women 7
Men 16 Women 14
Men 12 Women 3
Men 8 Women 5

Game 2
Game 2
Game 2
Game 2
Game 2

Men 12 Women 2
Men 12 Women 13
Men 7 Women 16
Men 18 Women 0
Men 3 Women 6

Home runs this month were made by Diana Deavers, June Wilson, Bari Strandi (2),
Elsie Cleghorn, Denise Soyke (2), Rick Turney (2), Bruce Ellsworth, Jim Soyke (2),
Delmar Lowther & Kay Turney. Congratulations to all!

Golf is scheduled on Friday at Silverado @ 1:30 and Sunday at City Course @ 9:30

Christmas Card Delivery:

Many thanks to all of our neighbors who delivered Christmas cards in the Park:
Richard & Linda Lepage, June and John Wilson, Roberta Tooley, Kay & Bill Visser,
Mary & Tom Filip, and substitutes Jim and Gloria LaBar. Total cards delivered were
2728!

OUR NEW NEIGHBORS:

Today I had the pleasure of meeting with Jim Mullins and Patty Izer, the new owners of
6133 Pleasant Street. Jim was originally from Kentucky and then lived in Alabama, and
Patty is from Illinois. Patty moved to Florida to care for her mother, and became the
care giver for two others. Jim came down to be near his son.
Jim and Patty are both fond of dancing, and actually met at a dance. He says he soon
asked Patty to marry him, and they have been married for five years. Jim has 3 sons, 2
daughters, 13 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren. Patty has 2 daughters, 1 son,
3 grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren. None of their children live in the area.
Patty lived in Ralphs Travel Park for 11 years, caring for her mother and Jim has
managed Sterling Heights Park for 13 years. They are both retired and in April will
retire for the second time from managing Sterling Heights. They are looking forward to
moving into their unit here in Oakside. They both like to dance and play Bingo, Jim
loves to play shuffleboard and Patty enjoys puzzles. They have had a therapy dog
named Brandy since July, that replaced a previous dog that died.

Say hello to Harold Gaddie at 6052 14th Street. Harold has been a widower, following
67 years of marriage. Harolds home state is Michigan and he has four daughters and
six grandchildren, five boys and one girl. He has 3 siblings who live permanently in
Florida and another who is a winter resident.

When Harold started thinking about buying a place in Florida, one brother told him that
he had heard that Zephyrhills was a nice place to live. They toured several parks and
were driving through Oakside when they spotted the For Sale sign. They negotiated
and he was sold, especially since the unit had his most important requirement - a
dishwasher!
Harold has lived a very busy and productive life. For twenty five years, he was a
professional fire fighter in Benton Harbor, MI, serving the last eight as chief. Since he
was on a 24 hour shift, he was also working a second job with a 24 hour shift, driving a
semi, and so for 7 years, he was on 24 hour call around the clock. While he was in the
Fire Department and working on the ambulance, he delivered 3 babies.
For seven years in this same period, he had a farm, raising cattle and horses. After he
retired, he worked in a mortuary, and did electric motors repairs. He and his wife and
another couple also bought and operated a laundromat.
Harolds hobbies were remodeling houses and restoring antique cars, both of which he
did for about 10 years. He owned 10 houses at one time, which he rented out and/or
resold.
Yes, indeed, a very busy man.

I spoke to Barton Souerbry and his friend, Joe Cherubin at 6213 Lark Street. Barton
was born near Chicago, IL, and then moved to Kentucky and Joe moved here from
Dallas, Texas.
Barton came to Florida looking for an affordable place in which to retire. He had
checked out several parks before coming to Oakside. He appreciates the low lot rent
and said that his unit was the right price. He then contacted his friend, Joe, and invited
him to come and stay with him. Barton worked for a bakery and Joe was in
manufacturing. Barton may be looking for part time work.
Barton has one daughter, Deborah, and two granddaughters in Lexington, Kentucky
and Joe has one sister and one brother.
They both plan on being active in the Park and enjoy shuffleboard, darts, card games,
and Bingo. They also hope to get their fishing licenses, Barton for salt water fishing,
and Joe for both fresh water and salt water fishing.