Paula Lynn Johnson was born in Mt. Clemens, Mich. on Feb. 16, 1947. She spent her childhood in Rochester and on the family farm in Curran, Mich.

After high school she worked as a corporate secretary, commuting between Detroit and Chicago. Disillusioned by the corporate lifestyle and a brief marriage, she began searching for a new direction. The search led her and a group of friends to the Self-Realization Fellowship Church (founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920), where she married fellow church member Mike Machnik in 1971.

Following the birth of their son, Andy (2/14/72), they travelled in a converted panel truck to California, living a communal lifestyle with friends in a dome house in Mokelumne Hill.

Thelma Proctor is a Florida girl, born and raised in Osprey. She has built her career around the natural and historical resources of her home state, including her current job at Gasparilla Island State Park
It all started at the suggestion of the local Postmistress.

“I needed a job, it was as simple as that,” Thelma explained. “The Postmistress said that there was an opening at the park down the road, Oscar Scherer State Park. She suggested that I apply, so I did.”

BY MARCY SHORTUSE - Downsizing tender houses and catwalks in competition for wider shoulders on the future swing bridge were topics of conversation that prevailed at the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority’s engineering committee meeting held on April 18.

The committee recommended approval of the bridge development report presented by Hardesty & Hanover, after lengthy discussion about cost-saving measures and making a few amendments. They also voted to allow the bridge-building company to continue on to the 60 percent phase of the design plan.

Reports that Hank Wright is finished playing golf are highly exaggerated. The good doctor was on the links Friday, April 13 to compete with the “Wright Team” at the Lemon Bay Golf Course in the 20th Annual Hank Wright Golf Tournament.

More than $170,000 was raised for the clinic at the event this year.