It started when she had first moved to the Englewood Beach area from the bright lights of Detroit. She was not smitten with the area, but when she met a young man flagging down a car to get him from Venice to Boca Grande, smitten she was. She told him – Mark Futch – she could only take him to Englewood Beach, but ended up driving him all the way to his intended destination. That was in February of 1975. They were married in May. “I was swept off my feet,” she admits.

At this month’s “Let’s Talk About Florida” book discussion, author Gary Mormino shared comments on his book, “Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams.” Gary shared that one of his great interests is World War II and the impact it had on the subsequent growth of Florida from a small southern state to the third most populous state in the nation, after the two other Sunbelt states, California and Texas. The book analyzes the many changes that occurred between 1950 and 2000 but Florida’s growth and development have continued to a present day population of more than 22 million people.