Old Timers
When you reach the age of four score and ten, you begin to think, if you're thinking at all, of people who touched your life in your early days in Florida. In 1970, we made the deal to buy what turned into Gold Coast magazine. We spent a lot of time in those first months at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel. It was owned by Leonard Mercer, who had made the deal to purchase a magazine then known as Pictorial Life. Alas, he didn't have the money to pay for it — thus our involvement. At the time, the Galt had a popular entertainer named Blackie Nelson, and next door at the Beach Club, Woody Woodbury was an established star.
Blackie Nelson moved to North Carolina, where he died in Blowing Rock in 2009. Woody Woodbury, however, remained a popular entertainer for years. He's now pushing 103 and still very sharp. We had a brief conversation with him in which he said, "I'm pretty lucky." He had just come from breakfast with five people.
Woody, for those who forget, had a military background. He flew Marine F9 Panther jets in Korea. He was in the same unit as baseball legend Ted Williams and was on the flight where Williams brought his damaged and flaming aircraft in for a dramatic wheels-up landing.
Woodbury is not the only prominent person to pass the 100 hurdle. Joe Amaturo, who died recently, was 102. For some strange reason, his death, which should have been front-page news, was not announced for several weeks, resulting in a modest obituary inside the paper.
Amaturo, who made his fortune in radio, arrived in Florida shortly before we did and was the subject of one of our first articles. We did not know it at the time, but Amaturo had fired the popular manager of his radio station. Years later we learned that Amaturo gave our magazine credit for smoothing his path in an awkward situation. Of course, he went on to become a well-liked figure and one of South Florida's leading philanthropists, particularly generous to Catholic schools.
Amaturo was friendly with another man whose death was not given appropriate coverage in the Sun Sentinel. Monsignor Vincent Kelly, another figure who warranted page-one attention, was not covered at all when he died in late June. Apparently, the paper wants only paid obits.
Monsignor Kelly's funeral Mass at St. John's was not as crowded as expected. The explanation was simply that many people did not know he had died — a serious lapse of journalism on the part of the paper.
Kelly's contribution to Catholic education made him one of the most important priests in recent Florida history. He arrived in Florida in 1970 and took over as principal of St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Over the years he built that school into an athletic powerhouse, which is currently ranked number one in the nation. He also maintained high academic standards. In addition, he was pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Coral Ridge — the location of rival Cardinal Gibbons. He was a visionary who promoted the foundation concept, which has saved many Catholic parishes in the wake of rising education costs.
