Margaret (“Peggy”) Twomey Jones, of Boca Grande and Chatham, Mass., passed away on July 7, 2012 of cancer at her home in Chatham, surrounded by her family.

She is survived by her devoted husband of 61 years, W. Richard (Dick) Jones; her children, Jane Elizabeth Jones (Stan Cygelman) of Winchester, Mass., Susan Patricia Jones of East Harwich, Mass., and Richard Jones (Anne) of Louisville, Ky.; her grandchildren, Kate, Alex and Charlie Rush, Jackie Cygelman, and Rye and Henry Jones; her sisters, Joan Ivers (Jack) of Chappaqua, N.Y., Eileen Twomey of Chatham, Mass.; and her brother, Michael Twomey (Maria) of Boise, Idaho; as well as four nieces, two nephews and numerous cousins.

Sue Hoots was born in the small, coastal town of Ogunquit, Maine. Known by its motto, “Beautiful place by the sea,” the town becomes an artists’ colony every summer. Beginning in the 1890s, hundreds of students flocked to the town to learn from famous teachers each year. Today the town is home to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, with a collection of over 1,600 works of art.

“We lived right on the Atlantic beach,” said Sue. “It was a summer resort area, with art everywhere and a summertime theater. We would spend entire days at the beach when we weren’t in school. It was a typical New England seaside town.”

BY MARCY SHORTUSE - Grant Bell flew into the Fort Myers Airport right over the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby, and the whirlwind didn’t stop for many days.
He was one of many who travelled to Boca Grande to attend the Boca Grande Reunion 4.0, held at P.J.’s Seagrille.
This year’s reunion was attended by approximately 150 people, including Grant, who were all excited about catching up with news from old friends and family members.

BY MARCY SHORTUSE - It started with a bang and ended with a whimper for one iguana on Monday, July 2, as he quickly found out that playing on power lines behind the water district plant is not a productive pastime.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. the call came in to Boca Grande Fire that power lines were down and small fires were occurring there. A large iguana, approximately 3 feet long, had caused the wires on a power pole to short out.

BY LIZA STROUT - Tom Freeman grew up on Gasparilla Island, the son of Joe Freeman, who worked at the port. His first time playing a musical instrument was when he was five. His parents purchased an organ for his mother to learn to play on, and before long, Tom had joined her at the keyboard. He learned quickly.

BY LIZA STROUT - While the sea turtles of Gasparilla Island may have taken the brunt of damage from Tropical Storm Debby, they are already making up for the lost nests.

In an update from Norma Jean Zvrosec of Coastal Wildlife Club, which monitors turtle activity on Gasparilla Island, it is reported that nests have been appearing rapidly on the beaches of the island.

“I think we lost about half of the nests that we had from before the storm,” said Zvrosec. “But we have been finding as many as five new nests every day. We even have two rare green sea turtles that have nested since T.S. Debby.”