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Ocean Resorts Co-op, Inc. is a community consisting of 400 sites.. Rather than owning a lot, people own 1/400 of a share of the entire complex, plus a proprietary leased lot . (For further information see "A Cooperative -- then subhead Definition by pointing cursor to above navigation area) Dwellings consist of stick built houses, mobile home units, mobile homes and some empty lots for recreation vehicles. This complex which consists of nearly 100 acres was originally developed as a campground by the Bryn Mawr Corporation during the 70's. At the end of that decade Bryn Mawr was purchased by what was to become the Dixon Ticonderogo Company. (See Ocean Resorts Origin by locating cursor/pointer over Beginning from the above and choosing from the drop down navigation menu for further information)
This web site has been developed for Ocean Resort Shareholders and those who may have a legitimate interest in the development of our community. Comments, Photos and additional information are always welcome. Carolyn & or John Leaman's e-mail addresses are in the Ocean Resorts Co-0p's directory.
http://www.historyor.com/
OFFICE PHONE 772-464-4803
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PREFACE History is created by many people and events occurring over time. This particular history, while focusing on Ocean Resorts CO-OP, (Hereafter referred to as O.R) does include some of the general area history that preceded the emergence of Ocean Resorts. The idea of creating this history originated with Shirley Burlingham, who was very active in the evolution of Ocean Resorts as well as the emergence of the North Beach Association of North Hutchinson Island which she headed for many of its formative years. Her activities brought her into interaction with many county officials on a first name basis. Shirley did some of the early writing and collection of information for this history. Then, when she and her husband, George, moved to South Carolina, she passed what she had to Bob Steib who agreed to complete the history. Unfortunately, during his tenure he passed away but not before contributing a number of interesting articles in The View-an O.R. newsletter, edited by Bob,--chronicling O.R.'s activities. The gathered material was passed to Barbara McDonald, who in turn passed everything existing to the Ocean Resorts Manager when she also moved. That is where I entered the picture in 2008, when I agreed to pickup the carton of material and proceed with the task. The preceding talents had agreed to research & write about the history of the Island, my volunteering was for O.R. only. However, Shirley Burlingham's -report, -- Treasure Coast Development was a must to be included. My hope is that present and future residents of the O.R. community will enjoy it as much as the Leaman's have in both reading and editing the work.
Some material used from the carton (dubbed "the box" by Shirley) is of unknown origin. A few times when Shirley was asked about certain happenings, she would say, "Look in the box". This got to be quite a joke. Writings were requested from some Ocean Resorts residents and in other cases people were interviewed in order to pick up relevant facts. A few of these interviews were video recorded, for a possible future production
Please recognize that people remember the past according to their own experiences, consequently, some remembrances may differ from others. I apologize for any errors. Although this was not recorded in a scholarly manner with footnotes etc. an attempt was made to be accurate and to give proper credit where material was drawn from published material. Obviously, many people have made contributions and wherever known, credit is given to the contributors. In some cases their works have been modified slightly to avoid redundancy or blended to fit the flow of this document. I am thankful for the help of very many people and will not attempt to name them because the list would be very long and some would certainly be inadvertently left out. Just a great big thanks to all Ocean Resorts residents, and staff, past and present, because all helped to make this history.
Carolyn Leaman THE BEGINNINGS OF THE http://www.historyor.com/ WEB Site
In 2008 Carolyn Leaman agreed to take over the creation of the history of Ocean Resorts. She was given the title Ocean Resorts Historian. She set about interviewing and taking photos of those who were chairman and members of various Ocean Resorts official committees. In addition the manager at that time Norton Field Jr. was interviewed along with photos of his staff: Anne Marie Lester, Office Administrator; Daren Meyers, Maintenance Manager; and Tim Caudill, maintenance technician. Carolyn's assistant and spouse, John Leaman researched and wrote many of the articles, while Carolyn did the editing, photos and publishing of the site. Around 2009, the BOD began to think about a web site for Ocean Resorts. Mrs. Leaman asked that the history be a part of the site and it was readily agreed upon and discussed with Ms. Lester who was WEB Master and creating the official CO-OP WEB site that became www.oceanresortsco-opinc.org. She was developing it using "Do it Yourself Website Builder" software system. In the meantime Carolyn & John had been working diligently to history material ready to hand over to the Ann Marie inclusion on the WEB site she was creating for the CO-OP. In September 2010 the entire hard-copy- bundle was shipped to Ocean Resorts along with a flash drive containing the digital files for Ms. Lester to include in the new WEB site. Upon our return from our summer residence, in October 2010 Ann Marie was contacted regarding installing the history on the site. She was not all that enthusiastic saying she was waiting for approval of the BOD. After checking many times, it became apparent that the history was not going to be posted on the web site. Nothing was ever said for sure, but when the Leamans could get no answers they lost patience and Carolyn decided to go ahead and create the history WEB site using "Do it yourself" program of Register.com-the same program that Anne Marie was using to develop the official ocean resort web site. The idea was that the 2 WEB sites could then readily become one. This undertaking took approximately 50 hours and cost approximately $150. The site was published and word was passed to the shareholders that the Leamans were giving this site as a gift, and stating that they hoped O.R. would then pick up the bill each year thereafter. It was received with great enthusiasm. Later Anne Marie finally received BOD approval to publish the www.oceanresortsco-opinc.org web site. This explains the fact that there currently are two separate web sites each costing approximately $150. That same year Anne Marie resigned as webmaster and Carolyn agreed to take that website responsibility as a volunteer along with the www.historyor.com web site. This responsibility was to be temporary until help for the Office Administrator was hired. Subsequent years of Ocean Resorts turmoil evolved. Norton resigned and a couple months Anne Marie resigned. Daren Meyers took over as manager and hired an office receptionist. When Carolyn approached her about taking over WEB Master duties, she declined saying she was not "techy". Daren Meyers resigned the manager position and returned to being maintenance manager. The BOD then hired First Service to manage the park. Some people were unhappy with the way the service was handling business and demanded and different manager. Thus David Shelsted replaced the initial First Service manager, Gary Crosby. Later First Service was terminated and David Shelsted was retained. The receptionist quit and David was left with a bookkeeper and no receptionist. During this turmoil Carolyn was patient, continuing her duties as WEB Master of both sites and historian. John and Carolyn were asked by the BOD to develop a real estate page on the site whereby Shareholders could list their properties either for sale or rent. John developed the procedure and Rejeanne Perotta agreed to be the listing manager. Carolyn as the WEB Master developed the page and did the posting. As things were settling down under Dave Shelstad's leadership, Carolyn asked several times if the office was ready to take over the responsibility of the web sites. Dave did not want to give the bookkeeper any more responsibility. Carolyn finally decided to resign when the BOD terminated David Shelsted and Daren Myers. Having reached 80 years of age and recently enduring a heart attack, Carolyn sought someone else to take over the duties of Historian, and be WEB Master of both sites. February 29, 2016, Ray Zwart agreed to take on these responsibilities.
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