The Way We Were

The Way We Were
Destin, in the 60’s, was a sleepy fishing village unofficially about one mile long, from the two-laned bridge to the “boon docks.” Beyond there was called “4 Mile Village.”

Let me try to recall “the world” as I remember it. Note: Please forgive me, dear Reader, if I overlook your family or business. I couldn't drive yet at my age, and was highly limited to the vista from the back seat of my family’s car or from holding hands with my parents. This was also original Destin, now considered west Destin.

For a future edition of this book, please enlighten me and I will include your family, too. When I was young, I remember ,our 6 classroom Destin Elementary, the post office-an Art Deco, red brick building with rounded corners still on the corner of U. S. 98 and what is now Marler Avenue.

Two grocery stores, Odom’s and Jitney Jungle. Three churches (First Presbyterian, St. Andrew’s by the Sea Episcopal, and First Baptist), a Laundromat next to Tropical Togs, two beauty parlors to amuse tourist women while their husbands fished, Destin Beauty Parlor and Harbor Lights florist and Beauty Parlor, that smelled of both flowers and hairspray. The party and fishing boats were owned by us, and the Kellys, Melvins, and most of our relatives were in the business. Accommodations included Aunt Stella’s The Florida Girl motel and boat by the same name. The Marlborough Motel owned by Mr. Vic, the Greek man. Roger Clary’s Silver Beach cottages and Cecil Woodward’s “Jay Villa” pink cottages on the harbor along with the Rob-Roy Motel and Sailfish motel. The Old Spyglass Inn sign and Riviera Motel were on the beach. Kelly Windes had a diner, The Destin Shopping Center, our Tackle Shop, Cleo’s dress shop, (later Gwen’s), a short-lived Green Stamp redemption center, Tony’s pizza parlor, Kelly’s bar and grill at the bridge. There was a Shell station at the bridge and Sylvan Marler’s Texaco gas station. An ice house, and Homer Jones', East Pass Marina fuel dock, Braden’s- by- the Sea Gift shop, Destin’s Bait and commercial fishing, Salty Brunson’s bait and tackle, a tiny library (which is now our Museum) and a thrift store that everyone donated to. I held my mom’s hand to climb up steep, rickety steps in a narror staircase, to an upstairs room of the old wooden Community Center building.

Capt. Curry Horn built the custom cabinets in town when he wasn't running his boat in the summers.
Mr. ? fixed the furnace. Kenny Mauldin fixed radios for captains. Dottie Bingham tutored kids after school in her lime green, "fun house" on stilts, on Benning Drive.

The American Legion was built , and after Vietnam, added real WWII tank out front. Destin was small, with population of about 61,175 for Okaloosa County, we had about 750, I believe, governed from the county seat in Crestview. When you “called the law” that meant a State Trooper of the Florida Highway Patrol. We had Gulf Power electricity, but used well water and had septic tanks in 1969? We all incinerated our own trash in the backyard inside a roll of wire fence or chicken wire. I will never forget the sweet, acrid smell and orange haze when the whole town decided to burn trash on the same day. It make it seem like Halloween.

Some of our roads were only clay, and sand.

Southern Bell? provided phone service, once the flesh colored line was nestled into the bushes of Highway 98, a two lane, from DeFuniak Springs to Destin from the east. Phone numbers had only 6 digits. Ours was TE-7331. Our post office box was 277.

You could go to the city of Ft. Walton Beach 6 miles away to see two movies at the Palm Theater, or one movie at the Tringas Theater, or get a comic book at Jimmy's News Stand. We loved McDonald's. Went to Sears at Christmas. Shopped at Gaylords, Cristos Five and Dime, and Playground Music Center to take lessons from Mrs. Najarian. We went to ballets and plays at the Civic Center. There was Leon's and Smith's for women's apparel. The Greyhound Bus station was where my father sometimes picked up boat parts shipped from Panama City. The three banks in the city were First National Bank, First City Bank, and Eglin Federal Credit Union. The closest grocer was Delchamps. When we got sick or needed a vaccination, it was at White Wilson Medical Center. Mothers gave birth at General Hospital,
and passed Gulfarium on Okaloosa Island on the way.

Imagine all of this was Emma's "stomping ground," just as it was for us.

Looking at a map of Destin, Emma's whole career could be contained in a "diamond," bordered by Calhoun Avenue, Main Street, Holiday Isle and Airport Road.

Her past world in Alberta and Gee's Bend, Alabama was as small, a 2-3 sq. mile "pocket" bordered by a horseshoe in the Alabama River, and Wilcox County Rd 29, and missing ferry which kept it isolated.

Yet, this was a woman invited to a Jimmy Carter's Inaugural Ball with the bravery to fly by herself to Washington, D.C. She was a woman who knew who she was, and who really didn't need Martin Luther King to tell her that she already was "somebody."
(c) 2012 Athena Marler Creamer, All Rights Reserved.