The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1955-07-08
9 L M P S E S
OF.
I'll E P A S T
By CAROLYN Lloyd

Ponce de Leon just didn't look
In the right place. It's there. all
rlght-the Fountain of Youth. I
mean. Last week l saw living proof
OF it in the persons of Captain
Harvey Hecker and his wife,
Louise, of New Port Richey,
Florida, who spent the night in
Belhavep, while on leisurely
honeymoon trip up the coast.
What's so unusual about that, you
say. Well, he is seventy-eight
years old and she is seventy, not
exactly the ages usually associated
with honeymooners. In the second
place, they were travelling in
boat that l wouldn't even want to
go out into the Pamlico Sound in.
The details of the trip you may
read elsewhere in the paper; what
interested me was the story of
how they met and the very obvious
fact that here were two people
more vitality alive in their seven
ties than are most people in their
forties.
They met at a dance, of all
places. 1t seems that in New Port
Richey there is an organization
known as the SWITCHBOARD Club.
On two nights a week they play
bingo and dance until midnight.
The manager of this club is a
mere youth of eighty-four. One
night when Louise arrived to play
bingo, she heard a great deal of
talk about a Captain Hecker, who
had arrived that day in 15' Z"
skiff which he had built himself
and piloted from the Ohio River
to Florida. Hearing a strong mas
culine voice call, "Bingo", she
leaned past her partner to get a
look at the man who was causing
so much talk. Her thought was,
"He doesn't look so hot" Later in
the evening they were introduced
by the hostess and from then on
the Captain gave Louise rush
on the dance floor. He even wor-
ried for fear he might be rushing
her too much, but it seems she
treasured him on that matter.
Facetiously, 1 asked if they
jitterbugged, and in all seriousness
they answered that they did not,
but they did do the manbo. Now
the maimbo is no dance for weak
lings; and l was just glad that
they were polite enough not to
ask if l can jitterbug.
That meeting on the dance floor
took place two years ago and they
were married in May of this year.
Mrs. Hecker had been widowed in
1852 and the Captain had been a
''grass widower", he said, for sew
eral years. Both have completely
white hair. Mrs. Hecker wore no
makeup and is not the type who
strives to maintain the illusion of
youth by artificial methods. Their
= syouthfulness is a thing of the
spirit and a joy to behold. The Cap
tain suffers from arthritis and an
ankle wound received during
World War I, but he says that he
just doesn't think about his aches
ana pains much. "Sailoring" is a
new experience for Mrs. Hecker,
but she has adapted herself to it
with ease, and seems to feel no
qualms about the adventurous plan
to travel all the way up the coast,
down the Mississippi, and back to
Florida.
Yes, I'm convinced that if Ponce
de Leon had just looked in the area
of New Port Richey, he would
have found the Fountain of Youth.
In another year or two, I'm plan
ming to get up party of the tired,
arthritic, or just plain jaded and
move down to land where people
do the mambo at seventy-eight. In
fact, there doesn't seem to be much
point in waiting; l could use a
little of that rejuvenating water
right now.