By TomL
I like to go back and try to recollect people and events in the past that had added to our newspapers. How far back I’m going I don’t know but here we go!!! I would like to talk about Veterans first then next month more info.
Many years ago I bought the Lady Lake Magazine with a friend and his wife.
I would later hire a great sales person Wendy Netherclift. She is still a great friend her and her significant other who was my biggest client for many years Bob Irwin of Bob’s Coins and Jewelry near the Villages. Wendy retired and Bob retired and now they are living the dream. They are great friends of my wife and I.
Wendy and I tripled the revenue a a year and a half later. The partnership would later be changed and I would become a silent partner. After my non compete was well over I decided to buy a publication in Ocala (not in the same territory) called the Seniors Voice of North Central Florida. I ask my friend if if Lady Lake Magazine was available to buy? My partner friend and his wife contacted me and said they had made arrangements to sell their percentage to me. We came to an agreement and here I was with two newspapers.
In our future we were lucky enough to have some great writer and interview. Robert Balfour was a writer from the Villages papers until he sent me a letter to the editor to run. Of course it was controversial thats why he came to me. Because of my Rogue reputation. It turns out that Robert Balfour was a writer for the Stars and Strips and a personal friend of Ike Eisenhower and his top team. He sent me many pictures that we published of President Eisenhower with Balfour and his team together with some famous Generals we published them. He was a great writer, I printed everything he sent me, it became a column. After many years of writing for our Villages Spectator & Lady Lake papers, he called me one day and gave me some sad news. He had cancer and was not going to have it treated because it would stop his golfing and thats all he had. He said the operation that was available was not a cure and could not play the game he loved GOLF. It was to extend his life. He said I need a favor? I said if it’s within my power I will do it. He said I want to continue to write sending two column instead of one save one for later. After I am gone I would like you to run the unprinted columns one per issue as long as they last. I said I agree, but I said if at any time you are not up to it, don’t send one I’ll run one of the ones that had not run. Robert Balfour sent columns for over a year and one day I got and obit to run from a family member. We ran columns for over a year and a half rerunning some from the past. I remember he said he use to be a spokes person for EZGO Golf carts. I have an old EZGO on my farm it will run through a fresh plowed field. It recently broke. It is hard to find someone who will fix it or work on it. Balfour is missed and was a great writer!!! TomL said that!!!
Another writer I want to mention was Ken Tipper he was in the Royal Navy and would not write about his military experiences. He live in Ocala and started out sending letters to the editor. He came to America got his citizenship and bought a home here. Finally one day he opened up, I think it was Veterans day at the veterans Park. He was telling another Veteran that his ship was sunk in the war. He said he was in the water (Ocean) with hundreds of troops and every once in a while a shark would attack one of the men. He said it was pitch black and when someone cried out everyone knew what had happened. After daylight the next day they were rescued by an American Ship. Many were suffering from exposure but happy to be alive. Ken said one day that he did not like deadlines an was stopping his column, he started a blog and was happy with that. Another interesting story about a veteran.
I interviewed one of the men that put up the flag on Iwo Jima. I need some help with this one. I can’t remember his name.He live in the Villages. He was on a mission to set the record straight, he was the last lone alive and owed it to his comrades. He was there and was the last alive. He felt like he should tell their story. He said the fighting was fierce on Iwo Jima. They were told to raise the flag so that the Japanese would know the US was in control of the Island. A Captain of a Cargo ship was watching the battle from of shore and saw them raise the flag. It inspired him to get a picture. The captain order his crew to get a large flag and go on shore and recreate the Flag Raising. The original men were not there. Some we’re fighting on other parts of the island so they gathered some men and recreated the scene. Later the picture was sent around the world and become famous. If you knew him or remember his name I would be please if you could email it to me tloury@att.net I would like to honor him and his mission! We will try to recollect some more events next month.
