Santa Rosa Shores Women's Club blossomed from Rosettes

The Santa Rosa Shores (SRS) Women's Club was first organized as the "Rosettes" in September of 1981. The Rosettes were an offshoot of the newly formed Santa Rosa Shores Homeowners Association (SRSHOA). The Rosettes provided refreshments at meetings and special events. Nine women met to organize a group of neighborhood women who were interested in the community and each other. Two ladies, Gerry Mallon and Gladys M. Swenson, wrote the first set of by-laws and the club began.

By the second year, the club grew to 24 members and acquired a new name. That name was Santa Rosa Shores Women's Club. The club has maintained approximately 25 members and member dues are $15 per year, and their fiscal year is from September through June. The first meeting this September 2006 will be an English Tea. The SRS Women's Club meets the first Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the evening at a member's home. The meeting consists of a business agenda, program, usually a speaker and of course food. The topics they plan to cover this year are health and wellness, food and wine paring, recipe exchanges and scrap booking. The officers for 2006-07 are Fran Fletcher, President; Trish Trachy, Vice-president; Shelia Little, Secretary and Karen Leenig, Treasurer. The purpose of this organization is to foster community spirit; promote an attractive atmosphere in which to live; encourage active communications regarding community problems and provide an opportunity for women of the community to become acquainted and share common interests.

Archer Allen

In the beginning, the new organization was basically a social Club. The traditional annual picnic began in June of 1982. The first one was held at the home of Betsye Haddock for members and families. The club sponsored an annual Christmas party every December for years that was attended by members and their husbands for an evening dinner, music and laughter. However, both these social events have been put on hold for a while. Last year they just had a Christmas luncheon in December where the women exchanged gifts.

In 1989, Santa Rosa Shores Women's Club became a civic club as well as a social club. They started a fundraising tradition of the lighting of luminaries in mid December, under the capable hands of Margaret Cunningham and her assistants. But in 2001, they changed the fundraiser to a spring tag sale at the Gulf Breeze Flea Market, with Susan Springer in charge. Through these fundraising projects they have contributed much to the community over the years. They made donations to the public library, Gulf Breeze High School, Midway Fire Department, Manna Food Bank, Favor House and the Gulf Breeze Historical Society. However, due to the community loss from hurricanes, they haven't had a Spring Tag Sale in a while.

Betty Allen Archer/Gulf Breeze News The SRS Women's Club has focused their monies on the purchase of equipment for the Park for the past two years.

Santa Rosa Shores Women's Club continues its close relationship with Santa Rosa Shores Homeowners Association. SRSHOA deals mostly with improvements in the neighborhood. The officers for the Home Owners Association are Scott Vanderveen, President; Don Richards, Vice President; Trish Trachy, Secretary and Marie Strevey, Treasurer.

The Home Owners Association works hard to facilitate repair from the hurricane damages. They publish a quarterly News Letter called "Tideings" that reports both progress and the existence of continuing problems. In the last newsletter Scott Vanderveen, wrote, "There appears to be less debris and trash on people's property that was left from the storms. I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into these efforts to restore our community, and I hope we continue to see this kind of progress in the coming weeks."

Betty Allen Archer/Gulf Breeze News The Navarre Lions Club met on Tuesday, July 18 at Cocodrie's restaurant on Navarre Beach.

The SRSHOA hopes that more people in the Santa Rosa Shores community will get involved in the association so that the neighborhood will continue to grow and problems will continue to decline.

Darlene Richards, who produces the newsletter, chooses the Yard-of-the-Month Winners. The winners for the first three months of 2006 are Jess and Joyce Thompson for January; Robert and Sandra Fritsche for February and William and Sheila Little for March.

I interviewed Trish Trachy who spans both organizations this year, 2006-07. She is Vice President of the Santa Rosa Shores Women's Club and Secretary for the Santa Rosa Shores Homeowners Association. Trish is a licensed mortgage broker with Coldwell B a n k e r Mortgage, working with Coldwell Banker JME Realty. She has been with CBM for six and a half years and with the mortgage business for almost 12.

Trachy

Trish Trachy was born and raised in Clarks Summit, Penn. She held title of Miss Pennsylvania National Teenager in 1978 and various other regional titles in PA. Trish graduated from Marywood College with a degree in Public Relations. She moved to Pensacola in 1984 and Gulf Breeze in 1990. She has been married to husband, Randy Trachy, for almost 2 years. Trish met Randy in the Singles Sunday School class at Gulf Breeze United Methodist Church in 1999 She has a son, Jarrod Vaughn, 19 and stepdaughter, Allison Trachy, 17.

Randy had always wanted to live on the water and they needed protected water for their sail boat. So they purchased a home in Santa Rosa Shores (SRS) in July 2005 but didn't move in until Feb. 2006 because they spent several months redecorating their new home. But they became involved with both SRS organizations even before moving Department on College Blvd. outside of Gulf Breeze and quarterly at the Community Life Center. Their next meeting is July 27, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

One of the projects the two organizations have tackled together is the development of the Swenson Park located in Santa Rosa S h o r e s . M a r g a r e t Cunningham has been the mover and shaker of this m a m m o t h project.

Cunningham

She is an active member of SRS Women's Club who has worked very hard with the county and the citizens of SRS to make this dream of Swenson Park come true. The SRS Women's Club has focused their monies on the purchase of equipment for the Park for the past two years.

Members of the two organizations as well as many others attended the April 8 Dedication of the Park. Coast Community Church sponsored the Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. The weather was good and the turn out was great! The park features a basketball court and gazebo as well as other play ground equipment.

There will be a big old-fashioned picnic in the park on August 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. featuring plenty of food, music and family games. Coast Community Church will furnish most of the food and will manage the games. The community is invited to come, so bring a lawn chair, a side dish if they wish and enjoy the festivities.

When the Rosettes became the Santa Rosa Shores Women's Club and kept their closeness to the Santa Rosa Homeowners Association they set about to make a difference in the community in which they live. I think both organizations have accomplished their goals. They foster community spirit, promote an attractive community, encourage communications about community problems: and provide an opportunity for the people to share common interests.

The Navarre Lion's Club Meets

The Navarre Lions Club met on Tuesday, July 18 at Cocodrie's restaurant on Navarre Beach. The guest speaker was John O'Dillon who heads a group called Independence for the Blind. John is in charge of the Vocational Rehabilitation Program.

This program teaches handicapped youths how to meet the challenges they will face in the future. Lindsey Peileris who accompanied John to the meeting is responsible for public relations for the program. Following the program Ron Gurta, president, Navarre Lions Club presented both John and Lindsey with Lion ball point pens as a memento for being guest speakers at the Navarre Lions Club meeting. Send emails to Betty Archer Allen at betty@gulfbreezenews.com or write to Talk of the Town at Gulf Breeze News P.O. Box 1414, Gulf Breeze, FL32562, subject :

"Talk of the Town."