Barbara Paul Robinson’s life includes a lot of “firsts.” She was the first woman to make partner at the legendary Debevoise & Plimpton law firm, she was the first woman president of the NYC Bar Association. Indeed, she was unsurprisingly an early second-wave feminist, launching Debevoise’s flextime program for child-rearing attorneys in 1967, another NYC first.

Volunteering is a simple way to improve your health, ease feelings of loneliness and broaden social networks. Nature lover and Lemon Bay Conservancy Wildflower Preserve’s volunteer chair, Lucia Schattleleyn, is a lifelong volunteer and considered by those who know her well as an expert on the subject. Three in five Americans surveyed in a recent polling report felt lonely. Researchers attributed these findings to a variety of factors, including a lack of social support, infrequent meaningful social interactions, poor physical and mental health, and an imbalance in daily activities. Furthermore, studies show that volunteering not only helps people feel less lonely, it can also improve physical well-being.
Loneliness often times stems from unwanted solitude. A potential cure? Kindness toward others and our environment. Opportunities to give back are becoming more readily available than they were last year, and the need for volunteers steadily continues to grow. “Volunteering is one of the best, most certain ways that we can find purpose and meaning in our life,” shares Lemon Bay Conservancy member Marian Schneider.

When Boca Grande artists Emerson Wickwire, Linda Wolcott and Nancy Bass sat down together and looked at each other’s proposed art pieces for a show they were putting together, they all had a moment of clarity.
Each one of them was featuring animals in their work.
“We looked at each other and said, wait a minute. Animals. It just sort of happened,” Wickwire said …

ext weekend the Boca Grande Art Center will president their annual President’s Art Show, featuring four past presidents of the long-standing organization. It wll feature works in oil, acrylic, pastel and watercolor …

In the spring of 2020, as the Johann Fust Library Foundation began to plan for the next season, Board Member and Clevelander Deb Nash was enthusiastic about a 2019 documentary that she wanted to share with the Boca Grande community called “Playing with Fire: Jeannette Sorrell and the Mysteries of Conducting.”
The film, directed by two-time academy award winner Allan Miller, tells the story of the Grammy-winning artistic director and founder of Apollo’s Fire: The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. Deb Nash and her late husband Les were passionate supporters of Apollo’s Fire.
Next week, the Boca Grande community will have a chance to see why when the documentary is shown at the Boca Grande Community Center Auditorium.

Jon Meacham may be a Pulitzer prize-winning author and historian, but when he found out that George W. Bush was speaking at a Friends of Boca Grande event in the same week he was, he had a few things to say about it.
Noting the friendly competition, Meacham read the audience a text exchange he had with the former President. “So I wrote, ‘I was just told that I was the best-selling attraction until you wandered onto the scene. I feel like Cheney.”

After conducting an extensive executive search, we are excited to announce that Ron Bolton has joined us as our new Utility Director, effective January 3, 2022. Ron brings over 35 years of experience with Water Distribution, Sewer Collection and Stormwater Management programs.

It was a busy Wednesday morning at the Boca Grande Community Center, as the Historic Preservation Board Meeting was called to order.
The first item on the agenda was the Special Certificate of Appropriateness (SCA) Case 7th Street Boathouse and Marina Alterations (SCA2021-00021).
“This is a non-contributing property that has been previously approved,” read Peter Blackwell, Lee County Planner and Zoning. “Replace the existing boathouse with a new design boathouse. That construction has not occurred yet, and what the applicant is asking for today is a revision to what was previously approved, I believe, in 2018. The main item that concerns staff or that’s relevant to staff review is the exterior elevations on the South elevation. Staff finds that none of these changes are really a change in the character of the building. It’s maritime industrial design either way, and they’re still keeping the metal siding.”