Old Times 08.13.15

45 years ago

The Calvary Baptist Church Christian Day School, which has been in the planning and organization stage during recent months, has now been officially launched. It will open Sept. 8 with grades one through six. The planned enrollment is 84 students.

Back home after a six-week European tour are trip leaders Sam and Marian Wagster and Lakeview High School students Sallye Adkins, Debby Adkins, Mary Lea Bradford, Jill Pitchford, Lorraine McMurtrey, Phyllis Hawk, Jacque Dennis, Betty Heidt, Craig Cox, Carol Sutton, Donna Beckett, Janet McMillan and Craig Griffith.

40 years ago

Ron Lopsonzski, football coach at West Orange High School, looks more hale and hearty all the time as he takes his twice-daily walks around the Lakeview track. Coach Lopo is enjoying a good recovery from his heart surgery in June and feels ready to “tackle” the beginning of football practice Aug. 15.

J.J. “Bud” Grice, of Windermere, has been named advertising manager of The Winter Garden Times.

35 years ago

The Florida Auto Auction, of Orlando, which has been located on Mission Road in Pine Hills for the past 10 years, has moved to its new $3 million facility just west of the Orange County Services Building in Ocoee.

West Orange swimmers turned in a spectacular performance as the YMCA held the Red Lobster Swim Meet. In the 8-and-under freestyle relay, first place went to boys Harry Lohr, John Barber, Eric Cairns and Chuck McDaniels and girls Julie Conn, Maria Pleus, Judy Bartlett and Dana Broughton.

25 years ago

The Ocoee Police Department is starting a Drug Abuse Resistance Education program at Spring Lake and Ocoee elementary schools, and Cpl. Randy Conyers is in charge of the program.

Kathryn White Snelson (Austin) is opening a new dance studio called Centre for Dance & the Performing Arts in the Winter Garden Regional Shopping Center.

More than $1 million worth of damage was done by an early-morning fire at Giant Recreation World on West State Road 50 in Winter Garden. The four-alarm blaze destroyed the dealership’s showroom and offices, seven campers and a mobile home.

Edwin “Doc” Pounds, a charter member of the Ocoee Lions Club, was named a Melvin Jones Fellow for his commitment to serving the world community. This is Lions Clubs International Foundation’s highest honor.

Col. Tom Ferebee a retired Air Force officer who served as a bombardier on the B-29 Enola Gay, which flew to Hiroshima, Japan, this month in 1945, shared his story with The West Orange Times. When the atomic bomb was dropped, it was “quite probably the most important single event of World War II,” Ferebee, now a Windermere resident, said.