IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Marty McFadden
If Marty McFadden refers to someone as “kind of an odd duck,” you know he really enjoys being around them. He always has his ear tuned to hearing the previously untold story and the inside details that bring the real color and flavor to an area, especially if the area is Boca Grande, which he treasures.
Marty recently retired as president of the Boca Grande Historical Society, serving in that role for seven years. The Historical Society is a mecca for “odd ducks” who love history, enjoy a good retelling of an event, and don’t mind sharing little known details. Marty feels at home among them and privileged to be part of the history inner circle.
The McFaddens – Marty and his wife Gina – come from Chicago, but were enticed by Chicago friends to come for a visit to Boca Grande. That was in the late 1990s, when both Marty and Gina were at the top of their careers. They were traveling the world and doing important work. At 55 they were too young to think about retirement.
Nevertheless, they liked what they saw in the new development happening at the south end of Gasparilla Island, and decided to buy a vacation home in the newly created Boca Bay development. That was in 1999. They would visit for three or four weeks a year, spending nearly all their time at the nearby beach. They partied with friends, but never saw themselves as real members of the community.
Then, in 2013 they were both ready to retire.They wasted no time, moving full time into their home in Boca Bay.
“And we haven’t been back to the beach since!” Marty declare.
The beach umbrellas, the swim suits, the shell collecting gear are still in the house, but never get used. They sold their house in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago three years ago.
Once they moved to Boca Grande full time, they became so busy with volunteering that they never had time for the beach.
“We really felt part of the community and started to pitch in, like everybody else does here,” he said. “So, no more beach, but we certainly did a little bit of partying back and forth, and we very much enjoy it down here. It’s a good group of people.”
Gina became involved in the Boca Grande Woman’s Club and the Boca Grande Art Center primarily. Marty gravitated to the Historical Society and the Friends of Boca Grande Community Center.
With “Friends” he offers his time especially as one of a small group of seven or eight people who help decide what musical acts Friends will bring in. They watch YouTube clips of performers, share their personal assessments of their attractiveness to the Boca Grande music lovers, and give a thumbs up or down to help Debbie Frank, Friends’ Chief Operating Officer, decide who to bring in as performers.
“During COVID,” Marty said, “it was challenging. It was tough to get acts. And then, all of a sudden, we saw that the University of Miami and the University of Central Florida had music departments that were really good, so a lot of the acts were coming from the music schools. And because people weren’t traveling from New York, and other places, they were coming in and bringing this talent here. It was like, Holy Cow, I mean, all the musicians were great. Vocalists were great, and it seemed like the schools in Florida were dedicated to having really good music departments. That was a real source of excellent talent.”
So the pandemic allowed Friends to have some unexpectedly talented acts, and the acts received exposure and income they might never have had if the pandemic had not happened. “That’s a lot of fun. It gives you a good feeling to be involved with it,” he said.
Marty sees this sort of thing happening repeatedly in Boca Grande, primarily because of the dedication and generosity of the people who live here. Another example of this is with the recovery from Hurricane Ian. Because of COVID they had learned to look for great talent in unexpected areas. They also had continued support through on-island assistance programs and positive thinking on the part of lots of people.
“We had 12 musical events this year,” he said, with awe in his voice. “Debbie tries to look ahead a year or two and have things lined up. That helped us have programs earlier than some expected.” He noted that other programs went ahead with less disruption than anticipated because of the spirit of community and responsibility for one another.
“We are so fortunate where we are right now,” he added. “There are still some places off the main roads that are not in good shape, but the Friends were able to keep their schedules up for most of the time. The History Center remained open, and put on a good bill of fare; attendance was good, participation was good. So we were very blessed to have people donating generously.We seem to have a good infrastructure for coming to the plate and really helping where it is needed. It makes you feel good about where you are. It’s been a good year, in that respect.”
Community has always been a strong part of Marty’s life. He is the oldest of seven children. He grew up in Chicago and is still friends with people from his early school days. Gina grew up in New York, but the two met and married in “Chi-town.” They have now been married 48 years.
They never had children, but have 11 siblings between them, 15-18 nieces and nephews, and some 35 grandneices and grandnephews. They recently had a family reunion on Florida’s East Coast and likely will be back in touch throughout the summer. The 4th of July is already planned in New England. “We have good fun, and the family stays close together. Like any big family there are a lot of good laughs, so that’s good,” he said.
Marty served in the Army for a time and when he was discharged he found work as a substitute teacher. It was a rough time for teaching in the big city, but Marty sees it as a period of life-learning. He also has great respect for teachers as a result.
Most of his career Marty worked for Marsh McLennan, a multi-national insurane broker, healthcare consultant.
“It’s a worldwide company now, but when I started there they had like 5,000 employees. Now they have 60,000 or something. I worked with a lot of good people; and had a good time doing it,” he said.
Gina worked for the Options Clearing Corporation, which is dedicated to promoting stability and market integrity by delivering clearing and settlement services for options, futures and securities. She was one of the first people hired, and at retirement was a member of their executive committee.
The experience they gained during their carees has made them valuable members of the Boca Grande community. Marty is excited to see what will come out of the discussions going one regarding the future of the Community Center.
“I think the right people are working on it,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll find a way to bring things to the next level, but just as much of a challenge is getting folks who are jsut coming on to be part of it. We’ve just got to find ways to get those folks interested and taking part whether it’s history or music or whatever.”
He is also looking forward to the future development of the Friends’ music program, as it works to expand and diversify the offerings.
“It started out as jazz only,” he noted, “and now its country, its bluegrass, it’s a bit of rock, a bit of classical, and it’s a lot of fun, a lot of fun. You get to meet a lot of good characters you might never meet otherwise. You have people coming in from Nashville, people from Kentucky, pretty much all over the country.”
Although he is no longer on the Boca Grande Historical Society’s Board, he still loves history and will probably still be hanging out at the History Center every chance he gets.
“I was with the History Center for seven years, and there’s a really good group of people there. They are really hard working, and really dedicated to history,” he said. “I’ve always liked history. I enjoyed it and I liked to read different books about it. I just enjoy putting it all together. I enjoyed looking at what’s going on here and I like talking to a person like Johns (Knight, Jr., new Board president) who can really give you a flavor of what it was like in the past. He’s got a whole experience with three or four generations.” …
And the stories resumed, with Marty getting excited again about the controversies, the challenges, the mistakes and successes that have made Boca Grande what it is today.
But also on his mind is Boca Grande’s history in the making. He was encouraged by the number of young people who took part in the recent PanCAN walk to fight pancreatic cancer. He sees too few people in their 50s and younger being involved in community boards and committees. “We need to get them going,” he insisted.
He has confidence they will step up, as they see vacancies that need to be filled and issues that challenge them. That is what has happened in the past. With a little encouragement from the elder statesmen, like Marty, it will likely be the way of the future, as well.
