Hellegers-Hettema Family Tree

RE-DISCOVERING HARBOUR HEIGHTS;.(B SECTION)
Sarasota Herald Tribune
| January 20, 1999 | Copyright

Longtime Harbour Heights resident Oscar Hettema, originally from Passaic, N.J., has seen much of Florida grow from thousands of acres of undeveloped scrub pine to the growing municipalities of today.

In 1962, appointed director of Building, Planning and Zoning by the Charlotte County commissioners, it was he who wrote the first building permit for the General Development Corporation under the new building, zoning and planning regulations.

"That year, we issued less than 100 for the entire year, but for the rest of the '60s, we dispensed that many and more each month."

When the 88-year-old Hettema came to Tampa after World War II to work alongside his father in the building industry, the housing market was just beginning to boom. The two worked side by side, he as foreman and his father as superintendent, for the largest construction company in the area. He attended engineering classes in the evenings at the University of Tampa.

His previous experience as a Navy Seabee had given him extensive training under fire in the building of air strips and bases. Hettema served his country from 1942 to 1945, retiring as a warrant officer. He spent 31/2 years in the North and South Pacific and participated in two Marine landings, one in the southern islands and the other on Okinawa. He accumulated a couple of Bronze Stars along the way.

He had married Alice, now deceased, during the war and, when he returned, he took a position with the Southern Gulf Utility Company in 1946. Subsequently, he served as city manager of Dade City and Winter Haven for 14 years.

In July of 1961, Hettema was asked to come to Harbour Heights as development manager of a company planning to install a water and sewer system. He was picking up the pieces of the now defunct developer, the Charlotte County Land and Title Co., which had declared bankruptcy, leaving more than half of the platted area undeveloped because of changes in state and federal rulings.

Since the 1930s, when retired Air Force Col. Charles Danforth built a home on 2,200 acres of what he described as "the most beautiful spot he had seen anywhere," newspaper ads placed by the developer brought swarms of visitors each week. According to Gertrude Osborne, also a longtime resident who compiled a brief history of the community for the Civic Association, Harbour Heights, "where the land meets the sun," was considered a suburb of Punta Gorda. Hettema remembers that waterfront lots could be bought for $37.50 down and $37.50 per month and those without access to the water for little more than $10 down and $10 per month.

Six miles east of the north bank of the Peace River, Harbour Heights residents lacked both educational and religious resources. Oscar Hettema's children, Roger and Joan, were bussed to Port Charlotte schools, and the first religious services were held in the newly dedicated Civic Building in 1962. Herb Shutts, manager of a local motel, recruited a retired armed forces chaplain, the Rev. Elie Richards, who agreed to hold weekly services for $15 per week in what was called the Peace River Interdenominational Chapel which later became the United Methodist Church.

"There were perhaps a dozen people worshiping that first Sunday but now we number over 115 families," said Hettema, who has been a member of its congregation since its beginning.

Residents shopped in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda until a small grocery store opened in town. Hettema recalls that "the post office was located in Ina Mae Stevens' Hair Salon, which shared its quarters with William Bill' Sheetz' barber shop. To feed the hungry construction workers, a restaurant opened to serve them lunch, but the main social activities for residents took place at Harbour Heights Park around the Civic Center and the former Danforth home which housed a fine restaurant with an imported chef,' " said Hettema.

By now, the complex had added county-maintained tennis courts and a swimming pool to its amenities. In 1997, the former Danforth home, now the Neal Owens congregate meal site, was designated a local historic landmark.

Water sports were the center of Harbour Heights activities and amateur outboard racing regattas took place regularly. The surrounding waters were filled with fish, and the first annual International Tarpon Tournament was held in 1962.

"I recall seeing tarpon brought in that were six- to seven-feet long," Hettema said. "Once Fox Movietone News brought in a helicopter with a fishing boat suspended in a sling that they dropped right into the middle of a school of tarpon. Now we see tarpon occasionally, but our fishing has declined because man has moved in. Once, we could catch all the snook we could eat every night from out our own docks."

Life in Harbour Heights continues its leisurely pace although construction on new homes is increasing. Oscar Hettema realizes that nothing ever stays the same but hopes that any change will be for the better.

• Helen Rosen

CAPTION(S):

Longtime Harbour Heights resident Oscar Hettema has seen Florida grow from thousands of acres of undeveloped scrub pine to the growing municipalities of today.

-- Sarasota Herald Tribune