Edwin
And then, uh…
Carolyn
At church.
Edwin
Got married. Yes.
Carolyn
Met at church.
Edwin
First Baptist [Church of Oviedo], and, uh, we moved to the Oviedo area then in about [19]60—67.
Carolyn
Something like that.
Edwin
Or something like that, and, uh, built a small horse ranch out in the Black Hammock.
Dossie
Hm.
Edwin
And Carolyn [White], uh, had horses, and a pony from the time she was that high, and, uh, always wanted to have one. So then we, um, started that and had, uh, stable there, and, uh, she started riding lessons and trained horses, and had about 50 students a week, didn’t you?
Carolyn
Mmhmm.
Edwin
A long time, and then, it got a little too—more than we wanted, so we moved down, um, to Chapman Road, here in Oviedo, but we’ve been in this area since back in the ‘60s, and, uh, both our boys grew up here and, uh, went to all the schools here, and, um—and they have also stayed in Oviedo, so shows ya it’s a nice place to live.
Carolyn
Yeah, Lars [D.] White is our son.
Dossie
Mmhmm.
Carolyn
He’s Oviedo fire chief, and Don White is our other son, and he lives nearby, but he’s more like standoffish, so [laughs]…
Edwin
[laughs].
Carolyn
So he doesn’t come to the meetings and so on, but he’s still a good person [laughs], but anyway, uh, here we are, and, um, we still love Oviedo. We still have eight acres, and we just love it, and I still teach riding and train horses. Keeps you young [laughs].
Edwin
We were here when, uh, UCF[1] was FTU.[2]
Carolyn
Yeah.
Dossie
Mmhmm.
Edwin
And when they first thought about doing it down—building it down there, and we thought it would end up something like a junior college, or [laughs], you know—now, it’s what? The second largest…
Carolyn
In the state.
Edwin
In the…
Carolyn
United States.
Edwin
Yeah.
Carolyn
Yeah.
Edwin
It’s unbelievable.
Dossie
Yeah[?].
Carolyn
So…
Edwin
But, uh…
Carolyn
Anyway, there’s a lot of traffic on Alafaya Trail now.
Dossie
[laughs].
Carolyn
More than ever, and, um, it’s just grown and everything, but we’ve still stayed the same. We still do what we do, and enjoy it, and—and still love Oviedo. So that’s our story [laughs].
Dossie
[inaudible]. So I’m just going to talk you guys a little bit about the changes you’ve seen in Oviedo, and then…
Edwin
[inaudible].
Dossie
Just go from there, ‘cause you’ve been here since…
Edwin
Well…
Dossie
The ‘60s.
Edwin
Yeah, there were two-lane roads. There was nothing any larger than that, and…
Carolyn
Yeah, Alafaya…
Edwin
Most of ‘em…
Carolyn
Trail was.
Edwin
Were dirt.
Dossie
Dirt?
Edwin
Yeah, the—Chapman Road, leading up to [clears throat] where our…
Carolyn
Mitchell Hammock [Road]?
Edwin
Property is, was just, um—it was like a washboard road, and, uh, Oviedo was much, much smaller than—I can’t even give you the size of it, but, uh…
Carolyn
It was…
Edwin
It has grown [inaudible].
Carolyn
It was a farmers’ town.
Edwin
Yeah, it was…
Dossie
Hm.
Edwin
They grew, uh…
Carolyn
Water…
Edwin
When we built out in the, um…
Carolyn
Black…
Edwin
Black Hammock…
Carolyn
[clears throat].
Edwin
Area, uh, they were growing cabbage, celery…
Carolyn
Watercress.
Edwin
Watercress on large acreage, and that was the main, uh, products back then. So it has grown now, and of course, with the water situation like it is and everything, most of the farming has moved on out where more water is available, and watercress is down near Lake Okeechobee, where they do have enough water to take care of that.
Carolyn
And lots of orange groves around too.
Edwin
Lots of orange groves, which there aren’t a lot of those left. Uh, everywhere there was an orange tree, there’s a house now.
Carolyn
[laughs].
Dossie
[laughs].
Edwin
But, uh, we still love Oviedo, but, um, we sometimes think we liked it better…
Carolyn
We like less traffic [inaudible].
Edwin
[laughs].
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
Less traffic, but we do have more conveniences, because here we are, so far out, and when you came from Orlando to Oviedo then, you felt like you were taking a day’s trip.
Dossie
Oh.
Edwin
But you weren’t, but, uh, it was, um—it was nice out here then, but it’s—it’s changed an awful lot. We do like the conveniences of a mall, and…
Dossie
Mmhmm.
Edwin
Publix right around the corner, and—in fact, Carolyn used to ride her horse from where we are on Chapman Road—rode all in the, uh, shoppin’ center area.
Carolyn
We, uh, ran through Publix.
Edwin
Yeah.
Carolyn
Used to ride right through Publix.
Edwin
Right where the bank was, and…
Carolyn
Oh.
Edwin
Uh, it—it has grown a lot, and we could take—we could go out the back of our property and, uh, take a, um, hayride and go all in through…
Carolyn
Ceme…
Edwin
Where the…
Carolyn
The cemetery.
Edwin
Yeah, the cemetery that was there and the, um—where the shopping center is actually. So we’ve seen it grow a lot. Mitchell Hammock Road is, um, now—what is it? Six lanes?
Carolyn
Yeah [laughs].
Edwin
Yeah, it’s about…
Carolyn
Just[?]…
Edwin
Three each way.
Carolyn
Huge [laughs].
Edwin
And, uh, it was just dirt.
Dossie
[laughs].
Edwin
So it’s brought conveniences. It’s brought a lot of problems, and so on, but you can’t get around it. You…
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
You have to go with the flow.
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
[laughs].
Dossie
Mmhmm.
Carolyn
That’s[sic] about sums it up. Don’t ya think, Ed[win White]?
Edwin
Yeah, unless she’s[3] got…
Dossie
Uh, is there anything else you guys would like to add that you—I haven’t covered? [inaudible] you guys have givin’ me a lot of information already, but if there’s something you think you should add, feel free.
Edwin
Well[?]…
Dossie
Because you came in 1967 to Oviedo?
Edwin
‘Bout ’67, yes.
Dossie
Um, what were you doing as a job then? Were you working as well?
Edwin
She would—actually, we had the horse farm.
Carolyn
Yeah.
Edwin
And…
Carolyn
I was—I had, like, 40 students a week. I was—had a lot of business. I mean, everybody wanted their kids to have lessons, and I had adults in the morning, and I taught kids in the afternoon…
Dossie
Mmhmm.
Carolyn
In group lessons and usually had private lessons in the mornin’. So I’ve been doing this for a long time. Kinda know what I’m doing [laughs] by this stage, and I still enjoy it, and I think it keeps, um, the physical—the physicality of it…
Dossie
Mmhmm.
Carolyn
Keeps us young. I mean, we’re outdoors all the time, and it’s, um—it’s just part of our lifestyle.
Edwin
Yeah.
Carolyn
And we live on a small lake,[4] and, um, it’s really funny, because when we were looking for property, I was so sick of Black Hammock and it being so wet—very wet. If it rained, it rained in the Black Hammock. We were just indulged[?] with rain, and we just got so tired of it, and so finally, we just wanted to get out of there, and get where it’s high and dry, and that’s why we came over to this side of town, versus being down in the Black Hammock, and we were lookin’ for high-and-dry property, and found it. One of my riding students told us that there was property down the street from them, and so we came and looked and bought it right away, ‘cause we just—we really wanted to be high and dry, and so we just, um—my business followed me over here, and, um, still teach and still trainin’. I just don’t give group lessons anymore, which I gave—I used to do a lot of that. So I still enjoy what I’m doing [coughs], and it keeps us healthy. So we still love Oviedo [laughs].
Edwin
During that time, we were boarding horses for the people that lived in town also, so—in Orlando and Winter Springs and, uh, Winter Park, and, uh—so that brought a lot of the kids out ever[sic] day after school. They would come out to ride their horses and take their lessons and so on. So…
Carolyn
And[?]
Edwin
Both our—both our boys loved having all the girls coming out every afternoon…
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
After school [laughs], and it kept the boys at home too.
Dossie
Hm.
Edwin
Because the girls came to them [laughs].
Dossie
And your—both your sons grew up in Oviedo and attended, uh, the Oviedo schools?
Edwin
Yes.
Carolyn
[inaudible].
Dossie
Did they go to Oviedo High School?
Carolyn
Yeah.
Edwin
Yes[?].
Carolyn
And—and the grammar school.
Edwin
Yeah.
Carolyn
Yeah, and, uh, we—we just fell in love with Oviedo, and we just, um, became more a part of it, being uptown now, not back in the Black Hammock, and, uh, so we’ve enjoyed it a whole lot. We enjoy church here and met a lot of friends in church, and you finally just grow into the community. That’s what happened to us, and we still love it, and we still love what we do. We still keep healthy that way. I keep telling him that [laughs].
Edwin
Yeah, it’s—it keeps me going and…
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
It’s making me healthy.
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
[laughs] Uh, and during that time, we were, um—she was taking care of the boarding and the, uh—and I was an IRS[5] agent, so I did that until I retired, and then, um—since I retired, I’m still doing the horses.
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
That’s helping.
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
Not[?] doing me [laughs]…
Carolyn
So…
Edwin
But we’ve met a lot of nice people, and we still run into ‘em occasionally at, uh, the grocery store or something like that, and—so it’s been an interesting life.
Carolyn
Lot of people ask us, “How do you keep so young?” You know, ‘cause we’re physical[sic] good shape, except for my neck [laughs]. So I had an accident, and, um, so I had neck surgery. So the past couple of years has been a little bit rough on me—getting’ over it, but I’ll get over it again. So anyway, we still love what we do. We still love workin’ outdoors. We—we just—I just feel like we’re blessed to have good health.
Dossie
Yeah.
Carolyn
I think when you get our age—I mean, goodness—and you’re still goin’ strong, and you’re still able to do physical work, you know, and I don’t think anything by[?] goin’ out and trimmin’ trees and doin’ all kinds of stuff, ‘cuz we’ve always done it, and livin’ on the lake, we had to keep the lake clean. So if—we’ve got that lake pretty well cleaned by now.
Edwin
[laughs].
Carolyn
[laughs].
Dossie
What lake do you guys live on?
Carolyn
It’s, um…
Edwin
Bath Lake.
Carolyn
Bath Lake.
Edwin
B-A-T-H.
Carolyn
It’s kind of a funny name…
Dossie
[laughs].
Carolyn
Because it’s a smaller lake, but it’s nice, and it’s clear water and everything. So we’ve kept the lake nice and clean, and—and, uh, keep our property up and enjoy it. We—we enjoy our work. So I don’t know how many people can say that at our age.
Dossie
[laughs].
Edwin
And even though…
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
Oviedo is grown so in the traffic and, uh, all the houses [clears throat], we still, on our piece of property, have the deer coming through, um—going from one location to another, and they pass through our property most[sic] every night, and we have the fish out there, and we have all kinds of water birds, and, uh, we, right now are…
Carolyn
We have…
Edwin Going through the, uh, sandhill cranes, which have been coming through our property eighty[sic]…
Carolyn
Eight…
Edwin
Eight years.
Carolyn
Eight or nine years.
Edwin
And they, each year, have a—an offspring, and so this year right now, they have a little one about that big. Well, [laughs] he’s grown…
Carolyn
[laughs].
Edwin
Already in a week, and we have, uh, all sorts of animals around, and right now, there’s a, um, [great] blue heron—two blue heron[sic] that have built a nest in the top of a pine tree…
Carolyn
Down…
Edwin
Down by the lake, and they have offspring in there right now. So…
Carolyn
They’re huge. Blue…
Edwin
There’s always something…
Carolyn
Blue herons.
Edwin
Exciting happening.
Carolyn
They’re beautiful birds. They’re huge too. When, you know, they go up there and they build this humongous nest—I mean, it—thing is probably that big.
Edwin
Yeah, it looks like an eagle’s nest. It’s so huge.
Carolyn
And they—I know they have at least one—maybe they have two babies in there, but they’re quite noisy, and they’re raising them. So that’s our first for that—with the blue herons puttin’ their nest up there. So the blue herons just hang out at our place. We have eagles once in a while that’ll land, and it’s—it’s just interesting. That pretty well sums it up, I think, Ed?
Edwin
Yeah.
Dossie
Well, I thank you guys so much for talking to us and taking out the time to come[?] here.
Carolyn
[laughs].
Dossie
This is really nice.
Carolyn
Thank you for inviting us.
Edwin
Yes.
Schneider
Alright, so we’re here with, um, Ms. Nadine [Davis] Aulin, conducting an oral history interview. Um, the interview is conducted by myself, Sarah Schneider, at the Alafaya [Library] Branch of the Orange County Library System, um, in Orlando, Florida. It’s Friday, March 13th, twe—2015, and, um, the interview will cover topics about Oviedo’s history and the Aulin family’s history, and, um, this is being done for the UCF [University of Central Florida] Public History introduction class, um, for their project on Oviedo’s history. So welcome. Thank you for talking with us today.
Aulin
Well, I’m glad to be here.
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
[laughs].
Schneider
Um, and so could you start off just introducing yourself, um, to the camera. So tell yourself a little—tell us a little bit about yourself, um, where you grew up, and how long you’ve been in Oviedo.
Aulin
Okay, I, um, was born and raised in Orlando. Um, remember Orlando from when it was, uh, 75,000 until now. uh, I married my husband[1] in 1965, and prior to that, I had been to Oviedo many times. my grandparents lived in Chuluota, uh, but I wasn’t, you know, didn’t really know people from Oviedo, but, uh, my husband, uh, went to Vietnam in 1965 through ’66, and during that time, uh, I lived with his aunt, who was, uh, Nettie [Dorcas] Jacobs Aulin. She was married to, uh, Theodore Aulin, who everybody called “The Judge,”, because he was Justice of the Peace.
Schneider
Ah.
Aulin
And, uh, in addition to that, my mother-in-law,[2] at that time, was living and she lived in Oviedo, and we had a close relationship.
Schneider
Uh huh, great, um, and so what was life like in or—in Oviedo when you moved here—in the area?
Aulin
Well, it was sorta cool. Um, the big events happened through the [First] Methodist Church [of Oviedo] or the [First] Baptist Church [of Oviedo]. uh, anything that was going on it was either through that or the—or the [Seminole County Public] Schools. Um, people—it was a big deal to go into Orlando out to eat. You know, you didn’t just do that willy-nilly. You, eh—it was an occasion.
Um, what I loved about that time is, uh, Oviedo had one police officer, and that was, um, George Kelsey, and his family had been here I think as long as the Aulins, uh, and he, uh, took care of the town. He, uh, would sleep, I think, in the early morning and then be around 18 hours a day doing his job, and he did it well. I don’t think we had too much crime. Uh, one of the things is, uh—Aunt Nettie—when I was living with her, we had an armadillo that bothered us, and she called Mr. Kelly[sic]—Mr. Kelsey to, uh, come get rid of that armadillo, and he says, “Well, Aunt Nettie, I’ll—I’ll be there as soon as I can. I just got in bed,” and she said, “Well, he’s out in our yard now, you need to come by now.” [laughs].
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
So he did. He came, and, uh, he says, “Okay. Well, I’m here. Where’s the armadillo?” And we—of course, the armadillo was gone by the time he got there, and she says, “Well, just hang around. you can shoot it,” and he says, “I don’t think I’m gonna be shooting armadillos, Aunt Nettie,” and—because, you know, everybody called everybody “Aunt” or “Ms.” or—you know, it wasn’t just first names, and she was, uh—one of his best friend’s son, er—her son was one of his best friends, and so, of course, he wanted to accommodate her, but he didn’t [laughs]—he wanted to be shooting armadillos in Downtown Oviedo. We lived right across from the Baptist church.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
So that wouldn’t have gone over very well, but that’s just sorta how Oviedo was back in those days—is that everybody knew everybody, and, uh, like the mayor of the time was, uh—oh, gosh, what was his name?[3] He was so nice. Um, it’ll come to me, but anyway, he used to go to the post office every morning and bring me my mail. You know, you’re not supposed to let somebody have somebody else’s mail, but he would bring me my mail, because my husband, being in Vietnam, he would write to me every day, and so this mayor would, uh—gosh, why can’t I think of his name? Um, he would bring me my mail, and, uh, it was just sorta, you know—sorta like, uh, small town, uh, neighborly kinda things that went on, back in those days.
Schneider
Great, great, and did you mention, um—what year did you come to Oviedo?
Aulin
I was, uh…
Schneider
I’m not…
Aulin
We got married in ‘65, and he soon left to go to Vietnam right after that. So, yeah, ’65.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And I was working at the Townhouse Restaurant, and it was like a year old
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
When I started to work there.
Schneider
Wow, uh, huh.
Aulin
And so it’s been an institution…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
For many years now.
Schneider
Yeah, Um, and what kinds of people—what kinds of jobs did people have in town around that time?
Aulin
Well, most everybody worked at either the packin’ house or in the groves, and you know, of course, there was the insurance companies, and there was real estate, uh, people back, at that time. Oviedo was beginning to build up, because the [Florida Technological] University[4] was in the works…
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
And people were moving out this way and buying houses, and, um—but farming and, um, the citrus was[sic] the main jobs, uh, I think, uh, at the time. At some point in time, I went to work for Citizens Bank [of Oviedo],[5] and at that time, it was like the, uh, only—the—the next largest business that wasn’t, uh, uh, the packin’ house…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
You know, and, uh, I think it was the only building, at that time, that had an elevator, and it may still be.
Schneider
Huh.
Aulin
I don’t know. I can’t—I don’t know if there’s any buildings in the actual town that has an elevator, besides that. Maybe they do. I don’t know, but that was sort of a big deal that they had an elevator...
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
To [inaudible], uh, but yeah. There was one—I—I I’m trying to think if there was any other major jobs. Uh, there was your, uh—you know, you had school teachers and that kind of thing, but mostly it was farming.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Something to do with farming.
Schneider
Uh huh, and you mentioned people going to Orlando. that was a special treat. What other kinds of things did people do for fun in town?
Aulin
Oh, back then they, uh—ball games. They were really into, um, the different ball games, so like baseball, football. The Oviedo, um—had just—the [Oviedo] High School had just started over, at, uh, Career Field, and, uh, they had their first football game—a team for the school’s in 1964—maybe ‘63—but it was a very good team. By 1965, they had, uh, uh—were winning a lot of games, and people really supported them, and, eh, little league and—and all that. people were really into that. I remember [laughs] when we came home from, uh, our honeymoon, the—after we took our luggage to his mother’s house—we went to, uh, a baseball game.
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
You know, who does that?
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
[laughs] But, eh, you know, it was the community thing, I think, uh, maybe because the community was so small, but people were active. If, um, you—even if you didn’t have children playin’ ball, you still wanted to go to support them and be there, and, uh, it was just, like I said, small town U.S.A.
Schneider
Uh huh, great. Um, and so what is Oviedo-life like today? What…
Aulin
Well [laughs]...
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
I—I think that, um—I, uh, think that it’s still very neighborly, but more secular. Uh…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
I think there’s, uh—you know, people who live out on this side of town sort of do their kind of thing with their kids and their schools, and on the other side of town, the same thing, you know? I think that, uh, it—I—I think Oviedo still sort of has a reputation of being friendly and has that small town atmosphere kind of thing. Um, I don’t know if you’ve looked on the website. There’s an Oviedo community web—website, and people…
Schneider
Oh, okay.
Aulin
Go in with their gripes and—or their happy things, or…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
You know, whatever. So it’s still, uh—technology’s sorta caught up with us, and...
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
But I don’t think in a negative way. I think that’s sort of a good thing.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
So…
Schneider
Great, um, and has—is there anything else that has changed in Oviedo since you’ve lived here that you—that you’ve noticed?
Aulin
Oh, I’m sure they’re lots of changes that I, you know—of course, they’re building new buildings and tearing down old buildings. Um, citrus has not gained or even [inaudible].
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
[laughs] and citrus is leaving us, and so is, uh, when—when we were first—when I first came here to Oviedo, um, out in Black Hammock, there was celery growing and cabbage and onions, and there was always something growing out there, and Now, there’s really nothing. There’s palm trees, but with the building industry not being too hot, they’re just growing and growing. They’re not being sold, uh, and I don’t even see much sod being sold. Um, uh, we, uh—all that has changed. It’s just not agriculture any more, and, uh, you know, then, uh, it’s modern times. I think people are, um, you know, since we’ve started here, there’s been integration, and so, that’s a big difference in Oviedo. um, people working together of different races and things like that, and I think it’s going pretty well.
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
Um, so…
Schneider
Okay, great. Um, so do you have any other stories—memorable stories about your time living in Oviedo, um, while you’ve been living there?
Aulin
Well [laughs]…
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
There’s been like the—I think it was, uh, one of the packing houses out on, uh, [Florida State Road] 46 caught on fire. This was in the early maybe 70s—maybe late 60s…
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
And, uh, that was a huge deal. I mean, everybody, uh, was going out to see that fire….
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
Uh, but, uh—and of course, there’s been, u, funny things that’s happened, and I—right now, I can’t think of any[laughs], but, uh—you know, personal things—but, uh, eh, Just the change and the times, and the university, like I said, started it all. Uh, people started moving out here and then, because there was now new bedroom communities. Uh, then other businesses, that catered to that, have moved out here. I mean, we’ve got so many food, you know, restaurants and places to get food, and, uh, we don’t—and, you know, we’ve got a [Oviedo] Mall. Who would’ve ever though Oviedo would have a mall, and all these different places? Uh, It’s, uh, a very—like if—if you think back—1965 and today—it’s like two different worlds…
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
Until you get down to the nitty gritty of it and start talking to people that actually live here. They still—still, I think, sorta have the same mindset.
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what I think.
Schneider
Huh. Um, alright. So what family stories have you heard, uh, about Oviedo’s early history? So before you lived here.
Aulin
Well, my, um, mother-in-law, who I, uh, learned so much from, she, uh, came here when she was I think 17—maybe 18 years old—from Lake Monroe, Florida, which is right outside of, uh, Sanford. Uh, she came out here because there was a lady that was running the hotel in Oviedo, that was right where the main red light is, um, in Oviedo. It was sort of east, uh, or south of that, and, uh, since then, of course, it’s burned down, and—but, uh, she came out to actually take care of the lady’s children while the lady ran the hotel. The [?] t turned into—she became like the telephone operator there, and, uh, I think she is noted as the first telephone operator in, uh, Oviedo, because, you know, that was a big deal back then too, and she, uh—that’s where she met her husband.[6] Uh, he worked across the way at the packing house with his, you know—his—the people who owned the packing house were relatives of his. Not that—I—I don’t think it was nepotism that he had a job there. It’s just there were not many other places to work, but, um, she met him there, and she learned how to pack fruit just by sittin’ around. I guess that was their courting days, you know?
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
“Here, let me show you how [laughs] to pack fruit.”
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
But, uh—and she used to tell me, um, or she told me once that, uh, she—when they courted, uh, her husband’s, uh, cousin, would loan him his car, and it was a roadster, and I never quite got the concept of what a roadster is, but I do know that, uh, one of the cars that they rode around in had the rumble seat in the back
Schneider
Ah.
Aulin
And when they would double date, she and her husband always had to be in the rumble seat, but when it was just the two of them, they would—a big date would be him taking her to Lake Monroe to visit her parents [laughs].
Schneider
[laughs] Oh.
Aulin
So—but anyway, they, uh—they—she used to tell me stories about how they dressed, and, you know, her husband, um, was sort of dashing. I think he wore this straw, Panama hat or somethin’, and, uh, she was a great seamstress, so she made all her clothes, and she was seamstress for Oviedo. She, uh, made so many wedding dresses for people, and, uh, I think she sewed for about—oh, gosh. I want to say about 40 years…
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
And she was really great. Uh, she would make you clothes that—as a matter of fact, there was one person in Oviedo that used to take her to, uh, Winter Park, and they would sketch out the dresses in the windows…
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
And then she would come back and make them for this person, and, you know, for hardly any money at all, and in Winter Park, it would cost like, 20 times whatever she charged…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Because they were very nice dresses, but, uh—and she did that up until she was in her ‘60s.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And, uh, everybody loved to have her make them a dress, and she always was—loved to do it, because it was like her calling. It was her art. It was her thing, and, uh, she really enjoyed that very, very much, and, uh, of course, it was the different people that would come there. She had these, um—what do they call them? Dress models?
Schneider
Uh…
Aulin
Uh, and she had one that was—one lady that was sort of heavy, and that’s what she called it—by this lady’s name, and, um, I’m not saying their names, ‘cause their families all—still are here.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And then there’s another one that the lady was quite tall, and she called it that, and then finally she got this little short, fat, one and she called it Nadine [laughs].
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
And she used to make me my clothes, even when we were stationed in Germany or wherever. She’d send me, uh, my clothes, and they would be perfect every time. So, um, she was very, very talented at that, and I, uh, think that, uh—like I said, I think that it was her art, and she enjoyed doing it, and I think a lot of people, uh, of that era enjoyed working. I don’t think you see that so much anymore.
Schneider
Yeah.
Aulin
And I think people, uh, of my father’s age and, uh, Andy’s parents, they just sorta took their job very, very seriously, and it was their thing. It was, you know—they had pride in what they were doing. It wasn’t just—and of course, they had to earn money, and they didn’t earn that much for whatever they were doing, but still it was their—their art. It was their art.
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
So there’s, um—some of the funny stories would be, uh, Andy’s uncle, eh, Theodore, who they all called Fifi, um, he didn’t [laughs] believe in change. So like, if they put in a traffic light or a stop sign where they never had had one before, he never paid—after he got old, he never paid any attention for—to it.
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
And, uh, he was just—and George, the policeman, would just say, “Well, that’s Uncle Fifi. We just have to watch out for him.” [laughs].
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
And there was other people like that. there were what you call “characters” around the town, and—and that’s what people did—is they just sorta said, uh, “Well, that’s who they are,” and, you know, you just have to watch out for them, and I think that’s where the lovely—lovely thing about Oviedo and small towns everywhere, I’m sure.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And so, uh, don’t know what else…
Schneider
Yeah, that’s great, um, and you mentioned the—being a telephone or switchboard operator. Um, so what were the name—what was her name? [inaudible]…
Aulin
Her name was Alice.
Schneider
Alice?
Aulin
Mary Alice Aulin.
Schneider
Okay.
Aulin
Um, yeah. Uh, she did that, and, uh, as a matter of fact, when they did the centennial here, I, uh—they recognized her for that, and, um, it was very nice, um, and that was a nice thing too. I don’t know if you, uh—I’m sure you got information about that, but that centennial thing was really a nice thing that Oviedo did. Uh, brought everybody together, and then people that were new got to know more about what was going on. uh…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
There was, like, memorial celery vase.
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
Have you heard that or seen that? Uh…
Schneider
I haven’t seen it. no.
Aulin
Well, uh, most of us have one that were around at that time, uh…
Schneider
Huh.
Aulin
And that’s when, um, Mr. Neely’s book[7] came out.
Schneider
Oh, okay.
Aulin
Uh, or Miss [Donna] Neely’s. I guess it was Ms. Neely’s. Uh, Dr., uh—what was his name?[8] Doesn’t matter.
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
That’s okay. Uh, [inaudible] another one of those things that will come to you, but, um, that all sorta gelled at the same time for the centennial, and It was a big celebration, and, um, it was very, very, very nice.
Schneider
Mmhmm, nice. Yeah, um, and have you heard any family stories about Andrew Aulin?
Aulin
Oh, yes, he…
Schneider
That you’d like to share.
Aulin
Was, uh—now, the first Andrew Aulin? You know, there’s…
Schneider
Yeah.
Aulin
The first Andrew Aulin, and then there was my husband’s father, Andrew Aulin, and my husband, Andrew Aulin, and none of them have middle names, and, uh, [laughs]…
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
So it’s just…
Schneider
Confusing.
Aulin
Uh, but anyway, the first one, uh—it’s was my understanding that he traveled a lot before he settled down and came to Florida, but, um, one of the places that he traveled to or was in was, um, Oviedo, Spain. There was a big University [of Oviedo] there, and evidently, he was a scholar, and he had gone to, uh, [Uppsala] University in Uppsala, Sweden. he was Swedish, and, um—so when he came to Oviedo and they decided they were gonna make a town, and as a postmaster, they had him choose the name, he chose Oviedo, because this area reminded him of that town—city—I guess it was—and, uh—so therefore, he named it Oviedo, because—and—and also it had the Spanish name and Florida has a Spanish name—is a Spanish name. So he all thought it all sorta fit.
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
And, um, it’s also my understanding—and this is sorta—I’ve heard people sorta joke about it—that he really cared more about reading and his books and doing scholarly things that, uh, he didn’t really care much about his business. He—he had a business, and I heard someone say—I think it was Mr. W. A. Ward’s father, uh, Bill Ward—said, um, that he would like—and maybe it wasn’t Mr. Ward—but anyway it doesn’t matter—it was somebody from that era—said that, uh, you would go into the mercantile store and say, you know, you wanted—I don’t know, um—seven yards of material or whatever, and he’d say, “Well, it’s back over that way,” and he’d go right back to his book [laughs].
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
And, uh—so whether people paid him or not he wasn’t real [laughs]…
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
But I’m sure they all did pay, because it was a different era, again, at that time, but, uh, they said that they[?]—they would often see him sittin’ outside his—his store—just sittin’ there reading a book…
Schneider
Huh.
Aulin
And, uh, he—it’s also my understanding that he, uh, taught, was one of the first like little school situations here. Not that it was really a school. I don’t know about that. I just know that he taught people whatever he taught them, I don’t know if it was Greek or, uh, some, uh—something more than just grade school kind of things. I’m not sure about that. I just know that, uh—that was, uh,—has been told to me several times—was that he, um—and it may be even—there’s a letter written by, uh, Steen Nelson, uh, who…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Nelson and Company.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And, uh, in that letter, there’s a descript—description of, uh, Andrew Aulin, and, uh, I think in there, he mentions him being a scholar, and, um, his store, and naming the town, and—and those kind of things, and I have—I just thought of it. I think I have a copy of that letter that I’ll try to provide for you, if I can find it. Uh…
Schneider
Yeah, that’d be great.
Aulin
Uh, then there’s[sic] other people in town that have a copy of it too, so I’m sure that we can locate it, and that’s sorta interesting too. I don’t know much about Steen Nelson, other than Nelson and Company was originally his business.
Schneider
Okay.
Aulin
And, uh, I don’t know if he became a partner with Mr. [Benjamin Franklin] Wheeler[, Sr.], or if the Wheelers just bought it out, or what.
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
I don’t know that, but, uh, yeah. that’s, uh, how it all started with him.
Schneider
Uh huh, and do, you know, anything about, um, Andrew Aulin’s role as sort of an entrepreneur or stockholder—I think was the word. That I think he was involved in some entrepreneurial ventures with those people. I don’t know if you’ve heard anything about that.
Aulin
Uh, he probably was…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
I mean, because he was very much involved in the very beginning of Oviedo, and if you look at the land, uh, plats from that time, his name’s everywhere.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
So I, um—that part though I don’t really know, but I…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Do know that once upon a time, he owned a lot of land in Oviedo, and then I think, by the time he passed, there—he had sold it or, uh—I know that my mother-in-law used to talk about, uh, there were boom times and not-boom times, and, uh, in the boom times, everybody had money and had high hopes, and then it would all crash, and—but that’s all throughout history. You know, they…
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
That—early 1900s, and on, and in 1929, and then on and on, and so…
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
People would have stuff and then they’d have nothing.
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
And—but, fortunately, back in those times, if you were a farmer, you could always grow your crop, but—as long as you didn’t have a dust bowl, like they did out West, and that kind of thing, but—yeah.
Schneider
Okay, um, and have you heard about anything in terms of Andrew Aulin, uh, growing citrus? Have you heard any…
Aulin
Yes.
Schneider
Stuff about that? Uh huh.
Aulin
He did. He grew, um,—he had orange groves, um, and I—he had, uh, different properties around. I know that on the, uh, south side of town, uh, he had properties, and then down—what we now call Downtown Oviedo, uh—I think he had properties down there that he grew not oranges on. I think it was, um, other kinds of crops. Uh, I’m thinking strawberries and celery. I don’t think celery was the big thing particularly, at that time. I think celery came along a little later, but, uh, yeah, uh, he did, and I—I that part—I’m sorry to tell ya—I haven’t ever delved into it, but I have always liked to hear the character stories, ya know?
Schneider
Uh huh [laughs].
Aulin
[laughs].
Schneider
Yeah, um, and have you heard anything about him as a postmaster, beyond what you were saying? Have you heard any stories about that, or…
Aulin
Nothing other than him naming the town.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And, uh, I don’t know how it came about that he was the first postmaster. Uh, I do know that, uh, prior to that, everybody got their mail from, um, White’s Wharf, but, uh, then I guess they decided they needed a post office in Oviedo.
Schneider
Uh huh, great, and, uh, you mentioned earlier, uh, the Swedish background of the family. Um, do you know anything more about that?
Aulin
Uh, no, other than they’re from a place, um—it’s a big— it’s a big town in, uh, Ov—I mean Spain, uh—Sweden. Um, it’s right on the—the ocean. I, uh, don’t[?]—I have all this stuff at my house, because, um, I have sort of like a history, but I can’t think of it now. Uh, it’s called “getting old.”
Schneider
Did you say before Uppsala? [inaudible]…
Aulin
Well, Uppsala was where he went to university.
Schneider
Oh, okay. That was the university. [inaudible]…
Aulin
Yes, he went to school there, and, um, I can’t think of the name of the town where he was born, but that’s as far back as, uh, we’ve been able to go in his genealogy is to that town. Um, it starts with an M. I can’t think of it, but anyway, uh, he—I think it was a relatively young age when he left Sweden. I mean, um, not as a child, but [inaudible] probably in his early, early 20s, and then he traveled, and I think he even lived for a time in, uh, Ohio, and then, um—but it wasn’t until he came to Oviedo that he met his wife,[9] who was a Lawton, and, uh, her, uh, family was one of the main fam—founding families of, uh, Oviedo.
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
Uh, the Lawtons, uh, and Wheelers, and, uh, Aulins—they were sorta—and they sorta—and the Lees—the Lees also is another…
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
Name. Speaking of Lee, my mother-in-law, when she was a child, went with, uh, her uncle and her father on a, uh, river trip to Rockledge to get some—her uncle was the grocer. So they went on a skiff. She’s always called it that. I don’t know a skiff—from Lake Monroe to, uh, Rockledge, er, you know, by the coast, and, uh, I didn’t even know that the waterway would—would go that far, uh, on the St. Johns [River], but, um, back then, it did for sure, and she talked about how they camped on the way, and—but another person in their party was a gentleman named Thee Lee. I’m thinking his name was Theodore Lee. Uh, uh, I don’t know, but anyway, uh, we called him Thee Lee, and, um, he was a young man and he was—I guess knew her father or the uncle or somethin’. Anyway, he went on this trip with them and he would kill duck or whatever for their supper, and then she would always laugh and she says, “And then, 10 years or so later, I met him, because I was gonna marry his cousin.” So he was…
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
Andrew’s cousin.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And, um—so I—I just thought that was so neat. She was just she had to be under 11 years old, because her father, uh, got killed on the railroad when she was, uh, 11. So she had to be pretty little kid when she went on that trip, but she remembered so much about them killing the geese and roasting them on the fire at night.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And isn’t that an adventure for an 11-year-old? I mean golly.
Schneider
Yeah, wow.
Aulin
Uh, sounds so cool [laughs].
Schneider
Uh huh, awesome. Yeah, and what else have you heard about the Lawtons, and, uh, Lona Lawton, and everybody?
Aulin
Well, um, I just know that, uh, there was a Mr. Lawton, uh, here in Oviedo that, uh, when he—he found out that I was married to—and I worked in a bank—when he found out that I, uh, was married to an Aulin, uh, his wife would send me cookies every once in a while.
Schneider
Aw.
Aulin
And also Andy’s cousin’s wife lived there, uh—worked there, and so they were all—they were very kind to us, uh, just because of the relationship, I guess, and, um, I just thought that that was so cool that he would, uh—that she would do that, and now, I can’t remember which Lawton they were, because, uh, at that time, there was[sic] several older Lawtons living in Oviedo.
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
And, uh—but that was so cool that he—that she would send us those cookies just because we were [laughs]…
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
Aulins. It was just this family ties, I guess, but, um, the—I’m trying to think of some of the—there was, um, a lot of Lawtons. Uh, I think there was like—it was of two different mothers, but there was like a bunch of ‘em. I—I’m wantin’ to say eight, or maybe even more than eight…
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
Children, and, um, so they, um, settled here in Oviedo, and then, uh, I’ve since learned that there’s some Lawtons of that same group that live up in, uh, Northwest Florida.
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
And, uh, I’ve been in contact with their, um, great-grandchildren, um, but, uh, they—they were big farmers, and, um—then also, I think they, uh, were teachers, and, uh, I know that, um, another one of my husband’s aunts was a teacher, and she, uh, married a gentleman and they lived out—and went out to live out in Texas, and that’s where the original Andrew Aulin died. He was in Texas. that’s where he’s buried—is in Texas, because he was living out there with his daughter, and, um—but yeah, they—I think they sort of have a—a legacy of teaching and farming.
Schneider
Mmhmm, yeah. Um, have you heard anything about, uh, Lona Lawton as—and her role as a switchboard operator after the [World] War [I]?
Aulin
Lona Lawton?
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
Or Alice Aulin?
Schneider
Um, I believe it was Lona Lawton that they mentioned in the book.
Aulin
Nah, I…
Schneider
Maybe.
Aulin
What war?
Schneider
Um, I said after World War—World War I?
Aulin
Uh, that would have had to have been Andy’s mother,
Schneider
Oh, okay.
Aulin
Alice.
Schneider
Okay.
Aulin
Mary Alice Aulin.
Schneider
[inaudible].
Aulin
Because Lona Lawton…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Was, um, Andrew’s mother.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And she died before, um, Andy’s mother met him.
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
So I—she met him, um, around 1920.
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
Something like that.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Um, maybe twe—even ’22—something like that, ‘cause she was, uh—well, she was born in 1904, and, um, so she was only like 18 in ’22, so yeah.
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
So Lona had—had died…
Schneider
Ah.
Aulin
Before then.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Uh, and she, uh—I think way before then. I think in the early 1900s.[10] Uh, Andy’s father was the youngest child, and he was born in like 18-something.
Schneider
Oh, okay.
Aulin
Like, uh, 1893, I’m thinking—somewhere in that area.
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
So, yeah, she had been dead a long time.
Schneider
Hm, mmhmm.
Aulin
Um, so it wasn’t her. It was Andy’s mother, and I don’t remember, um, I mean it was after World War I that she, uh, did that because, uh, she was like 18 when she started.
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
And then, at one point, uh, she got married and—but then, at a later time, they came and put the switchboard in her house.
Schneider
Ah.
Aulin
They lived on Graham [Avenue].
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
And then she ran it from there, and then, um, another time, when she lived on Myrtle Street, they’ve[sic] moved it there, and she—but she had the—it, like, blew up in her ear, or…
Schneider
Uh huh [laughs].
Aulin
I don’t know what you’d call it. Uh, it had a short somehow and it made her, uh, almost deaf in one ear from doing that, and that was—I think that was like in the ‘30s…
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
When that happened.
Schneider
And have you heard anything about Andrew Aulin’s experience in World War I, uh, so [inaudible].
Aulin
Yes, I know that he was, um, uh—now, this is Andrew Aulin, Jr.
Schneider
Oh, okay, sorry.
Aulin
Uh, Andy’s father—my husband’s father.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
He was, uh, in, um, France during World War I, and he was, um, gassed. He got injured, uh, or, you know, not wounded, but, uh, harmed or disabled, uh, somewhat, by having, uh, gas, because, you know, that was the war when they did the—did that. he was in the trenches, and one of the funny or odd things, I think, is, um, they don’t eat—eat potatoes very much in the Aulin family, uh, or that part of the Aulin family, because all he got to eat when he was, uh, overseas was potatoes, and he said he hoped he never saw another potato, so…
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
[laughs] Andy’s mother cooked rice every day, and, uh, when I got married, I cooked rice every day for many, many years, and then I finally taught my husband that, you know, life will go on without rice, so [laughs]
Schneider
[laughs] [inaudible].
Aulin
But, uh, rice was the big thing. They ate rice instead of potatoes, and another thing, because of his, uh, eating habits, or lack of, when he was over there, uh, he wouldn’t eat gravy that was white—you know, made with milk.
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
Because that was just—that’s all they got over there—was white gravy. Er, he thought it had no taste. So Mrs. Aulin—even if the gravy didn’t come out dark enough, she would put like instant coffee in it or somethin’ to make it dark.
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
[laughs] And that’s a good trick.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
It makes it taste better, if you just put a li’l coffee in it.
Schneider
Huh [laughs].
Aulin
That’s one of the tricks I’ve learned from her, uh, but yeah. I don’t know of any, uh—I just know that he went over there, uh, and got more or less wounded, and, uh, that whole family, I think, is, uh, been in World War—his—my husband’s oldest—older brother[11] was in World War II and in the Korean War. My husband was in, uh, [the] Vietnam [War], and, um, so they’ve all, you know, served their country.
Schneider
[inaudible].
Aulin
And I, uh, think that’s sorta something that most of the people in Oviedo did. I mean, there was a lot of people in Oviedo that, uh, served in World War II, and, uh, even some of the people that weren’t in the military, they served by, uh, manning the—they had a tower that they watched for…
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
Airplanes and what have you, like a civil defense kind of thing…
Schneider
Okay.
Aulin
And, uh, I know that Andy’s sisters did some of that and the, uh, other girls in town, uh, volunteered to do that, and there was—the tower was downtown, uh, by the red light too…
Schneider
h huh.
Aulin
From what I understand. I think that’s where it was. Have to ask somebody who was here then, but I think that’s where it was from the stories...
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
They tell.
Schneider
Mmhmm, um, and you mentioned some of the founding families of Oviedo. What—is there anything else—any other stories you know about them, or, um—besides [inaudible]…
Aulin
Well, I do know that, uh, it—I think this is sort of funny. Uh, When I came and I was living with Andy’s aunt and she would mention someone or I would mention someone, and she would say something like, “Oh, they’re one of the new people.”
Schneider
Oh [laughs].
Aulin
[laughs] And I would say, “Oh, when did—when did they come to Oviedo?” And she says, “Oh, I think they came in like the 20s.”
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
[laughs] And—she—her family was the Jacobs, and they—her father settled on—at—at Lake Pickett…
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
Way back in the 1800s. Uh, his brother settled on Lake Mills.
Schneider
Yeah.
Aulin
And then his sister was married to, uh, a Kilby, I think, and they settled in, um, Geneva on Lake Harney.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
So it—out of the same family, they all settled on lakes, and then Aunt Nettie married, uh, an Aulin, and so she was like from first—a first family of two different places, and, uh, she used to say—and not only she—when I would first come to Oviedo and I’d be like at my grandmother’s, somebody would say, uh, “Oh, we’d better get back to Oviedo before the creek rises,” or if you were in Oviedo, uh, they would say, “Well, we’d better get back to Chuluota before the creek rises,” and Aunt Nettie explained to me what that was—is that once upon a time there was a—a low bridge, where the regular bridge is going from Oviedo to Chuluota, but it was a low bridge, and if the water got high, you couldn’t go across it, because you couldn’t see the bridge, and, uh, so it was true that if it was raining or something like that and the bridge got overflowed, then you were stuck. You had to…
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
[laughs] stay there. So that’s why they said that. They—and they still say it as far as I know, to this day, “If, you know—if the creek rises, we’d better,” just as a sort of joke or whatever, and, um, I [laughs] always thought that—well, I liked it when I found out what it—what it meant, and there was something else I was gonna tell you around those lines, but, um, every little town has its—its little sayings, and funny things, and, um—but I can’t think of what else I was gonna tell you. Anyway…
Schneider
Uh huh [laughs]. So tell me about, um, you mentioned some of the artifacts that you had, um, so tell me a little bit about what those were or if you have any stories about them.
Aulin
Well, I don’t really have any artifacts. I have some copies of things that…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Uh, have been handed to me, because of my interest in genealogy.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Uh, I have, uh, copies of some pages out of a Lawton, uh, Bible that, uh—these people I’ve met in Northwest Florida—and it has, of course, the names of people that were here, you know, like, uh, Lona, and Narcissa [Melissa Lawton], and those, um, Lawtons, and, um, then I have, uh, different, you know, writings, and newspaper clippings, and, um, things like that. I had some, um, things that belonged to my husband’s, um, father, but I sent them to, uh—or had his grandmother send them—send them to her son—her grandson in Tennessee, because he was interested in that stuff…
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
And not many people, you know, really are, and so…
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
I thought that would be a good thing for him to have, but as far as, uh, actual hold-it-in-your-hand kind of thing, other than copies and—and writings, I don’t— I don’t really have anything.
Schneider
Uh huh, and what were some of the things that were sent? what were some of the, um…
Aulin
Uh, well, I’ve got, uh—we have a copy of, uh, Nar—Narcissa’s diary.
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
A portion of it that she did
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
In World War…
[child cries]
Aulin
I mean in the Civil War.
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
Uh, and that’s very interesting.
Schneider
Wow.
Aulin
And I mean it really takes you back in—in time.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And there—one of the things she writes about is, uh, having to make, uh, shoes for, uh, some of the people that worked there, and she didn’t—obviously, they were slaves, but she didn’t call them that.
Schneider
Hm.
Aulin
It was “our people,” you know?
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
And she had to make them some shoes, and, uh, she talked about the war, and, she, you know—she heard bad news that would come down from Virginia, and she was in, uh—right outside Thomasville, Georgia, is where they lived at that time.
Schneider
Huh.
Aulin
And, uh, it’s really, really a treasure having—having that, uh, but it’s, uh, a copy of it, and it’s, uh—I don’t even know who’s got the original. Oh, I do. I[?] happen to be—the original, uh, got washed away in a flood they had out in Texas, where…
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
Where it was—where it was kept, uh, which is regrettable, ‘cause, I mean, now it’s gone, but fortunately, we all have—or not all of us—but a lot of us have copies of it.
Schneider
Wow[?].
Aulin
So that’s really, really another treasure.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And, uh, then I have these like—I think I had already told you—these copies of that—pages out of that Bible, where they note the family happenings—you know, deaths, births—that kind of thing—weddings, Um, and like—like I said, the Steen, uh, Nelson letter. I’ve got, I think, probably, uh, all the books and things that were written, and—and I have treasures from the, um, centennial, and newspaper clippings, and things like that.
Schneider
Awesome, very cool. Um, so are there any other stories that you want to share about—in general, that you’ve been thinking about? Um…
Aulin
Well, I, you know—I can sit here and tell you stories, uh, about, uh, my mother-in-law [inaudible], but I don’t know if they would have any interest to, um—I mean, it’s just—you would just be interested if you were her granddaughter or something like that, you know? It’s just sorta family things.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
But, um, Aunt Nettie, uh, as I said, you know—she—her husband was the one they called “The Judge.” he was the Justice of the Peace, and, um, she, um, also had, uh—it wasn’t a boarding house, but she had extra rooms in her house, and there was a time when the railroad people were working here or whatever, uh, and, you know, Oviedo used to be really busy with all of the fruit, vegetables being shipped in and outta here—or being shipped out of here.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And, um, so she would, um, let out a room to these people that work for the railroad, and, uh, she used to tell me little saying—like one of ‘em would, uh, put cheese in his coffee, and [laughs]…
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
I’ve never heard of that before, and then she would always say, uh—she was a swe—sweet, old lady. She was so precious, and she would say, uh, “Nadine, you want some cheese in your coffee?” I said, “No, Aunt Nettie. I don’t want any cheese in my coffee.”
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
That’s what the man would say. He would say…
Schneider
Oh.
Aulin
“I want some cheese for her coffee.” [laughs]
Schneider
[laughs].
Aulin
Just little stories like that…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
You know, that doesn’t mean anything to anybody, but…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
Just, uh, you had to know the people. You had to be there, you know, sort of thing. So…
Schneider
Uh huh, great, and, um, so do you have any last words about maybe what impact that your relatives and—have had in the town in the early history or just any other thoughts about Oviedo’s history in general?
Aulin
Well, I [inaudible]—I think that Oviedo has a, uh—a good history, you know? You don’t really think of too many bad things happening in Oviedo. I don’t know—don’t know that I recall anything bad. I did[?]—I know that there’s been some, uh—there used to be a prison camp out on the way to Winter Park, on that road.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And, uh, I think there was an escape, uh—escape there, and I think, uh, that’s when Mr. John Courier[sp] got hurt. Now, this you’re gonna have to talk to other people about, because I don’t really know, but I do know that there’s been things like that that have happened…
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
That are tragic.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
But, um, I—I don’t know any firsthand information about that, and—but as far as Oviedo is concerned, I think that, uh, like I said in the beginning, the—the churches is[sic] what it was all based on, and I think pretty much, it still has that, uh, heritage, that rock, that—that keeps it sorta held together, and I think all that’s important. Uh, we have a lot more churches now than just the Methodist and the Baptist.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And, uh, the, uh, church that’s, uh, mainly black people on the, uh, way out of town…
Schneider
Mmhmm.
Aulin
Uh, I think that’s been there for years and years and years and years, and, uh, I noticed the other day, it’s growing like gangbusters, just like the other churches.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
And that’s really great, and that’s really a good foundation, and I think that they’ve—we’ve maintained that foundation.
Schneider
Uh huh.
Aulin
So that’s a good thing.
Schneider
Great, alright. Well, thank you so much for talking with us. this was really helpful.
Aulin
Oh, well, thank you. I hope that it was. I, uh, enjoyed it. Sorta nice bringing those memories back. Sorry I couldn’t remember some things.
Schneider
No, no. It’s—that’s great.
[1] Andrew Aulin III.
[2] Mary Alice Powell Aulin.
[3] Lee Gary.
[4] Now the University of Central Florida.
[5] Now the Citizens Bank of Florida.
[6] Andrew Aulin, Jr.
[7] Oviedo: Biography of a Town.
[8] Richard R. Adicks, Jr.
[9] Emma “Lona” Leonora Lawton Aulin.
[10] 1904.
[11] Charles Warren Aulin.
Morris
It is November 2, 2011, and I'm talking to Rex Clonts[, Jr.] at his residence. I am Joseph Morris, representing the Linda McKnight Batman Oral History Project for the Historical Society of Central Florida. Mr. Clonts, could you tell us a little about your life?
Clonts
Well, I was born in 1949 in the hospital, in Orange Memorial Hospital in Orlando, to Rex Clonts, Sr., my dad, and my mother, Thelma Lee Clonts. I'm gonna talk a little bit about their life, if that's okay.
Morris
Perfect, sir.
Clonts
My dad came to Oviedo riding in the lap of his mother—he was one year old, age of one—in a Model A Ford, from north Georgia in 1937, I believe. And my mother was born here on Lake Charm in Oviedo. They both passed on rather recently. They—so, basically, both lifelong residents of Oviedo. And after the war [World War II] they married, and I'm the oldest of their five children. Four of us still live right here in Seminole County, and have one sister who lives in Cartersville, Georgia.
Morris
What kind of jobs did your parents do while they lived in Oviedo, sir?
Clonts
Their families were in agriculture. Oh, let me start over. Let me start back just a little bit. My mother's family had—her grandfather had moved down here in the 1880s, and her father—my grandfather—C. S. Lee, was born here on Lake Charm in Oviedo. And his dad was in agriculture, taking care of citrus trees. And so my grandfather was always in the citrus, vegetable, and cattle business. And so my mother was familiar with all those endeavors coming up, and it was natural that she married a farmer—my father. His father also had begun farming shortly after arriving in Oviedo.
Morris
Same type of farming, sir?
Clonts
Both of them were vegetable farmers growing celery.
Morris
Okay, sir.
Clonts
They grew some other crops from time to time, but specialized in celery farming. And so—growing up here—that's what my family did. We had some orange groves, but the majority of the family focus was on the vegetable farming operation. C. R. Clonts Associated Growers was the company that my grandfather started in the early 1940s, and at one time we farmed over 200 acres of celery right here in eastern Seminole County-Oviedo area. You got a mosquito on your cheek. Got him.
Morris
Thank you, sir.
Clonts
Celery farming was extremely profitable, lucrative during the early '30s and '40s. Sort of the heyday of the Oviedo celery industry. So their timing was good. But over—after the war, when all the boys came home from the war, and a lot more celery was being grown in the United States, markets went down. Prices went down. The small farms here in Oviedo weren't as easy to operate—weren't as efficient. And so my father and grandfather purchased land in Zellwood—in the Zellwood muck area on Lake Apopka. And they did that in anticipation of needing to be having a more modern, large, contiguous farm. So they purchased that in the year I was born, in 1949. So when I grew up, we were farming both places. My father was farming both—multiple small farms here around Oviedo—Black Hammock, Mitchell Hammock, the Slavia area—and we were raising vegetables at our Zellwood farm. And that was 650 acres. And as a child, I remember going over, and every year they would clear up another portion of that farm. So they started by farming just 40 acres, and then over about another 10 or 12 years, they cleared the rest of it so that they could farm all 650 acres over there.
When I went off to college, I specifically—I went to school so that I wouldn't be a farmer. I could have stayed home and been a farmer. So I was planning on working in the business world, and just before I graduated realized the one business I could control was coming back here, taking over the family farm. And so I came back and joined actively working full-time in 1971, when I got out of college. And I moved over to Apopka and ran that Zellwood farm. We grew celery, lettuce, carrots, sweet corn, occasionally onions and parsley—several crops over the years, but the staple was always celery, sweet corn, and carrots. And in about 1978, we closed down our last Oviedo farm. Up until that time, we'd been farming both places, but we closed that down, and the last farm land that we were actively farming is now—is in Mitchell Hammock—is now a sod farm along Mitchell Hammock in between Mitchell Hammock and Chapman Roads. So, no longer used for vegetables. Family still owns the land, but we don't farm vegetables anymore.
Morris
Okay, sir. So your family's no longer in the farming business, but they were in the farming business up until 1978?
Clonts
Well, we still were in business here in several ways. We always had orange groves here.
Morris
Okay, sir.
Clonts
And we have cattle ranches.
Morris
Those were my follow-up questions.
Clonts
Yeah. You know, you'd find most people that had been multi-generational in the vegetable business in Central Florida also have had orange groves and cattle, because the three just naturally go together here. And you can, if you're successful in one, you're able to be successful in the other, usually.
Morris
How come they go together like that, sir?
Clonts
Well, vegetables are very seasonal, so, you know, you've got a fall crop and a spring crop, but you got time on your hands during the other portions of the year. So orange grove tends to be more year-round work, but is not as intensive as vegetable farming, so you can sort of work the two together. And then if you've been successful in the vegetable business, usually you reinvest in land, and very often the best use for that land is cattle. Only certain types of land are good vegetable land, but cattle you can graze just about anywhere in Central Florida.
Morris
Okay, sir. Could you give us a little insight into how you grow vegetables—celery in particular, citrus in particular—like the methods of how you would go about it?
Clonts
Celery's, in nature, celery grows, um—stop it.
Morris
Sure thing, sir.
Morris
Okay, sir. Would you like to continue?
Clonts
Yeah. Celery in Central Florida is—the seed is planted in the fall, and it’s planted in seed beds so that you can grow a large number of plants in a small, controlled area. You can herbicide them. You can control the irrigation. And as those seeds—because celery seeds are a very difficult seed to sprout. It’s not much larger than a large fleck of pepper, and takes a long time to germinate to get any substantial size, and so we would start planting seed in August. But because that seed is so tender, we would oftentimes cover those plants.
First of all, laid burlap out as soon as you rolled the seed down out on the ground, and let the seed actually germinate under the burlap where it would be cooler and moister. You kept the ground moist with subsurface irrigation, and actually surface irrigation between the beds to keep that environment just right for those little seeds to germinate. And then you would remove the sacks after the green—after the seeds germinated and started to show the first leaves. And we would grow them in the seed bed for about four months, and then we would transplant those plants, pull them up by the root, knock the majority of the dirt off the root, and pack them in boxes, take them to the production field. And we used a New Holland transplanter, which is a fairly simple machine that, as it’s pulled through the field, opens up a furrow, and it has a wheel with a set of fingers on it, and you can put the plants one at a time in the notches in the wheel, and as it goes around and puts the root in that furrow, it releases that plant. And we would have a bank of six of these wheels on the back of a tractor-drawn machine, and go through the field and transplant—we called it “setting”—the celery plants in the field. And from that point, they got immediately irrigated with overhead irrigation so that the ground got packed good[sic] around the roots, and they got a good start. Then it took anywhere from 75 to 90—and if the weather was cold, maybe 100—days to produce that crop. So growing celery’s four months in the seed bed, and three months in the field. It’s a long cycle, especially when you consider that in the off-time you’re having. Someone usually would gather seed from an arid region like Utah or California. Had our seed grown. So between the production of seed and the planting of seed and the growing of the crop, was just about a year-round endeavor. And we did all our harvesting in March, April, May, and June.
Morris
Why did you transplant it from the seed bed to the production area? What was the difference between—is it soil?
Clonts
No. Well, yes. It did happen to be different soil, but you could take ten acres of seed beds and grow enough plants for 200 acres of field production, and so was much less expensive to take care of that—to do the fungicide, and the weeding, and keeping the insects off of it on ten acres. And then you—when you pull those plants and spread them out where they would get to a large stalk, planted them at the right distance apart, you could have 200 acres of celery out of that. You only had three months to take care of that 200 acres.
Morris
Oh, okay, sir. So it was easier to guard and protect them when they were younger that way?
Clonts
Yeah, much easier, much less expensive to protect them. The transplanting operation was expensive, but it was not nearly as expensive as it would have been trying to put those plants—to put those seeds directly in the field and take care of them the whole seven months it took to grow that. And you could, also when that—the seed beds—that ten acres that that seed bed was on…
Morris
Mosquito’s trying to—he’s gone. He’s just scouting you out, sir.
Clonts
The ten acres that seed beds are on is very—you intensely farm that, and one of the preparations of doing that intense farming—this will keep the mosquitoes out—is that you level that land meticulously. You tried to—you ran a very intricate irrigation system all tile-drained, and you used—your seed bed land was your most prized possession in the celery business. That seed bed—a good seed bed—plot that was the right consistency of soil and the right ability to not only hold moisture, but to get rid of moisture when you had too much rain—to get rid of excessive rainfall—was very important. So celery farmers did a lot of work to try to get their seed bed just perfect and have the right plot of land to do that with.
Morris
So that was pretty common then, between celery farmers?
Clonts
Yeah. Every celery farmer in the state had their own seed beds. And now seed—most celery seed or a good portion of it—is grown in greenhouses. It’s grown in plant trays—in the trays of plants in greenhouses. So it’s got much more of a controlled environment to grow in now, than when we were growing them outside. But still the best plants are the ones grown outdoors. It’s just a lot tougher, a lot more work.
Morris
Okay, sir. Did you ever bleach the plants—whiten them?
Clonts
That was a practice that kind of came to an end in the mid-1940s. Until then, yes. They took the boards and put down the sides of celery, at least a portion of it, and they would bleach it. I remember them doing that as a child—I shouldn’t say that. I remember them talking about it, but I don’t actually remember seeing it.
Morris
Okay, sir. But why did they do that? I personally don’t understand.
Clonts
It was a practice that—I don’t know this for sure—but I think that it allowed celery to be harvested, and stored in root cellars, and carried much longer through the year, than if celery were left green and packed away and stored. You know, a lot of the original celery growers were Upstate New York and Michigan. In the North, when they grew celery, they grew it in the late summer, harvested it, and stored it, and shipped it out little by little during the wintertime. And so people would traditionally take celery, put it in a root cellar back in the—back before refrigeration. And it was very important to try to preserve that as long as you could before so that you had vegetables, and if you stored potatoes, and everything that you harvested in the fall, you stored and ate on it as long as you could. We’re not used to that nowadays. Nowadays you go to a supermarket and they got, you know, just about every vegetable year-round, but that’s just happened in my lifetime. Prior to that and prior to refrigeration in the early part of the 1900s, vegetables were very seasonal. And so you had an excess—you had an abundance at harvest time—you tried to store that as long as you could. And bleached celery would store better than green celery.
Morris
Okay, sir.
Clonts
That’s the reason. That’s the long-winded explanation for bleaching. And because it traditionally had been bleached, even after refrigeration came along in the early part of the 1900s, celery was—had always—people were used to eating bleached celery, so that’s the way it was done. That was phased out, and my understanding is that the military, right before World War II, came out with a report that said green celery was better for you than bleached celery—was more nutritious. And that one report was sort of the tipping point. They had been up until then, for the few years before that, they had been growing bleached and unbleached celery, and after that, bleached celery became a thing of the past.
Morris
Okay. Well, thank you, sir.
Clonts
All right. That’s the long-winded explanation. It’s kind of like, you know, why did all citrus juice come from a frozen concentrate can a few years ago, and now it’s available in a not-from-concentrate carton in the refrigerated section of the store? It’s sort of the same thing. It’s an evolution of technology and what people are used to. And you can’t—people don’t change their habits overnight. It takes a while.
Morris
All right. Gotcha, sir.
Clonts
But all the celery starting in the late ‘40s then, was not bleached celery.
Morris
Did your—so I’m understanding—well, you didn’t grow it that way, but your father and grandfather each did?
Clonts
Grandfathers definitely did. Yes.
Morris
Okay. Well, how, you said earlier that one of the stories you remember—hearing them talk about bleaching the celery. Do you remember any other childhood memories popped into your mind? You know, whether’s[sic] it in agriculture or just at school?
Clonts
Well, when I was—I do remember my father’s—excuse me—my grandfather’s mules. He had obviously started—mules were used a lot, exclusively in the 1800s, and quite a bit in the early 1900s, because in Oviedo most of this celery farming was grown on muck, and that soft, organic land, the heavy tractors of the day wouldn’t stand up. They’d do fine out here on the sand land, or where they were mostly used in the Midwest, but that muck soil was, you had to have good flotation. And they would even take the mules’ hooves and wrap them in sacks, and tie around the hooves to increase the footprint of the mule so that he wouldn’t bog up as much when he went through the field. And at the end of the day, untied those sacks off the bottom of the mules’ feet. And the next day, if it was still soft and wet out there, they’d retie them. That would keep him from bogging up. He’d only sink three inches instead of sinking eight inches.
Morris
And the mule accepted this.
Clonts
The mules accepted it. And you know, back then, if you were going to be a farmer, you had to be able to have a good—you had to know your mules, and be able to train them, and be able to work them. And it was an art to have a good team of mules. So I remember as a kid, the conversation between my dad and my grandfather, where my dad was saying, “What in the world are you doing keeping those mules? You haven’t plowed a field with them in five years now, and we’re not gonna ever use mules again. I don’t know why you’re fooling with them.” And my grandfather saying, “They’re my mules. I can’t just get rid of them.” So until those mules died, which was probably—I was probably six or seven years old—he still had a barn right on the end of Lake Charm at Florida Avenue. Along Florida Avenue there, he had a barn with two mules in it. But I’ve never seen them work the field. I’ve seen pictures. I’ve got pictures of it. In fact, I’ve got pictures of my grandfather with his mule team and his first tractor in the field, and he’s smiling. I think he’s more proud of the mules than he is the tractor.
Morris
He had two mules? Is that like a normal amount, or...
Clonts
Oh, well, they generally used a mule team. They generally used two mule teams farming here. Now, I have no idea how many total teams he had, but probably, you know, two or three teams of two.
Morris
You said your grandfather had worked the fields. Did your father also work as a farmer?
Clonts
Yeah. Yes.
Morris
And growing up, did you do the same?
Clonts
Well, I worked summers, you know, but—so when school got out in the summer, I’d go work with Dad, and work all summer long at the farm. But my dad always told me that, you know, he wanted me to be whatever I wanted to be. You know, don’t—he didn’t expect me to come back to the farm. If I did, it was going to be my decision. He wanted me to make that decision on my own.
Morris
Okay.
Clonts
So as I said, when I went off to college, I went so that I wouldn’t be a farmer, but ended up coming back.
Morris
When you came back, sir, did you work mostly the administrative? Or did you also go back and work the fields as well?
Clonts
No, I worked the fields. I mean, you know, times had changed, but we had a crew of tractor drivers and—but I was the farm manager. I oversaw not only decisions on what we were gonna plant and where we were gonna plant it, but when the planting times were gonna be, and how we were gonna try to space the crop out, what personnel we needed for packing, and shipping, and selling.
Morris
Okay, sir. Can you tell us how it’s changed over the years, like Oviedo and the areas you’ve lived in? Since you were growing up, I’m assuming there’s been a lot of changes between then and now.
Clonts
Well, Oviedo in the 1950s was an agricultural economy. Between the citrus and the vegetables that were grown, the basis for all the economy and all the services here was built around agriculture. That started changing in the late ‘50s, as some of the new equipment that was available had opened up new farming areas in the United States, and competition. For instance, in South Florida, the Belle Glade area opened up, and it was more economical in a lot of ways to grow products down there than it was up here. So, these farms tended to fall on harder times, and the more marginal farms and marginal farmers dropped out, sometimes bought up by other farmers, and sometimes that land was just taken out of production, never to be put in. There was lots of small pockets here in Oviedo that I remember having vegetables in them, that have not have been farmed in thirty years now.
Morris
Now, that started occurring the ‘50s, you said, sir?
Clonts
Well, late ‘50s.
And with the, you know, two things things happened about the time I started to go to—I graduated from high school and left to go to college. One is [Walt] Disney [World] opened up, and the other is that UCF [University of Central Florida] was established in our backyard here. And Disney really was the beginning of Orlando being a tourist destination. It had been a wintertime destination for a hundred years, almost, but it had not been a year-round tourist destination until [Walt] Disney established Disney World here.
UCF, being so close to Oviedo, changed Oviedo in that it brought in not only the teachers, professors, but all of the services that a large university requires, and, of course, the students. And so, it makes Oviedo a little bit more of a bedroom community to that college—doesn’t make it—Oviedo’s not the classic college town, but it is definitely a bedroom community to UCF. My perspective, because I left for college and didn’t come back to Oviedo—I lived in Apopka after that to run that farm, and just moved back fairly recently. I lived in Apopka for 35 years, but had lots of interests here. My family was here so I was, you know, monthly I was in Oviedo. And so I could see Oviedo change without being part of that change, you know, sort of being distanced from that change.
Morris
Okay.
Clonts
And really, not easily described, but a very constant growing and getting less and less dependent on agriculture, more and more dependent on the high-tech industries and moderate. You know, medium manufacturing, light manufacturing, and of course, tourism.
Morris
As a farmer, did you see UCF and Disney World as problematic for your business or for your community in Orlando?
Clonts
No, no. You know, you don’t try to rail against progress. It is—and you adapt to it. So, our family’s operation adapted as needed to those, and one reason why we closed the Oviedo farms down and just concentrated on our Zellwood operation was because that was the more modern farm of the last part of the 20th century, and the Oviedo farm was the farm of the first half of the 20th century.
Morris
Okay, sir. And since then both have farms have been closed down, correct, sir?
Clonts
Yes. We sold our Zellwood farm to the State of Florida as part of a restoration project to clean up Lake Apopka.
Morris
Okay. And that was 1979?
Clonts
No. No, we shut that down, sold that in 1998.
Morris
Oh, okay, sir. And have you been working elsewhere since then, or traveling, or…
Clonts
Yeah. We had citrus groves, and we expanded those after selling out the vegetable operation, but basically downsized. I said I retired when I sold the vegetable operation, because I work so much less now than I did back then. But I still stay busy and enjoy growing oranges. You know, even the citrus business has evolved. When I was on the outside, I didn’t think the citrus business changed very much in, you know, my whole lifetime. And then once I got involved in it, I realized it is evolving. So it’s an interesting business to be in. I really enjoy it.
Morris
How has it evolved?
Clonts
Well, we were, once again, especially around Oviedo, there were lots of small orange groves. You could send a man on a tractor down the road. If your farm was right here, you could send a man out on over to Casselberry or up to Lake Mary on a tractor pulling an implement, have him do work that day, and drive back in the evening to do work on a ten-acre grove. Now, the liability exposure of putting a tractor on the road, you wouldn’t do—you know, you couldn’t make enough money on a ten-acre grove to just cover the liability exposure. So, groves now tend to be large blocks of a hundred acres, 75 to 500 acres. Anything less than that is pretty hard to caretake.
Irrigation systems—groves weren’t irrigated except by portable aluminum pipe. In real dry times in the spring, you would hook portable irrigation pipe to a pump and irrigate down that row—and for two or three hours—and you would shut the pump down, move that pipe through the grove, and reassemble it, and water another strip. Now everything is micro-jet, where there’s a sprinkler under every row, under every tree, year-round, a permanent micro-sprinkler. The irrigation’s mostly done by a timer and moisture sensors in the ground so that you don’t—nothing’s ever touched once it’s installed out there.
Morris
Oh, okay. Because all I ever see of the orange trees, sir, I don’t get to see underneath the ground. I didn’t know what changes had occurred.
Clonts
They’ve all got a sprinkler underneath them now.
Morris
Okay.
Clonts
And we’re planting much closer than we used to. Trees used to be planted on a 25’ x 25’ spacing. Now, generally, you plant on a 12’ x 24’ spacing, so there’s a lot more trees to the acre, and everything’s worked one way down a row instead of two ways, like they used to do it in a grove. Used to be able to drive down two ways.
It’s starting to rain. Do you believe that?
Morris
No.
Clonts
Did you leave your windows down?
Morris
No, sir.
Clonts
Okay.
Morris
No. It must be that one random cloud, right there. That’s the one catch about Florida. You never know when it’s gonna rain, even with the sunny skies.
Clonts
Wow. I’m so surprised at that. I can’t—I wouldn’t have thought it’s gonna rain today, as cool as it was this morning.
Morris
On the plus side, it doesn’t snow randomly.
Clonts
Nah. Well, not very often.
Morris
I think I’ve seen it snow in Florida one time.
Clonts
Yeah.
Morris
But the snow disappeared before it hit the ground, and that was in the late ‘80s.
Clonts
Yeah.
Morris
Have you ever seen it snow in Florida, sir?
Clonts
Yeah. Yeah, about three different times I’ve seen where snow stayed around.
Morris
Really?
Clonts
Yeah, but not—the Christmas freeze of 1983. Snow stayed in shady spots for two days.
Morris
Wow. Would not have expected that from Florida.
Clonts
Yeah.
Morris
You said you still have the citrus industry as the business. Do you still do cattle, or ...
Clonts
Well, the Clonts family never was in the cattle business, but we owned pasture land.
Morris
Oh, okay.
Clonts
And so, we’ve never been involved directly in the cattle business, but we know it well because we’ve always had land that we leased to my cousins and to other cattlemen who ran the cows, kept up the fences, and paid their lease for all that.
Morris
Okay.
Clonts
So, was a way of having a ranch that was active cow ranch without having to be hands-on day-to-day in the business.
Morris
Okay, sir. And I’m assuming that made it a lot easier, then?
Clonts
Oh, yeah. Basically, you’re just a landowner. In the cow business, we’ve just been a landowner and landlord to the cattlemen.
Morris
Okay, sir.
Clonts
And it’s my mother’s brother, Robert Lee, was very involved in the cattle business all his life, so they leased most of our land.
Morris
Okay, sir. Jumping off subject, you mentioned when you went to college. You were old enough to go to UCF, were you not? Or was UCF ...
Clonts
I could’ve gone to UCF, and instead I chose to go to University of South Florida down in Tampa.
Morris
Oh, really? I didn’t even realize that university was as old.
Clonts
Yep.
Morris
So you’re a Bulls fan, then?
Clonts
That’s right.
Morris
My best friends would love to hear that. I, however, went to Florida State [University].
Clonts
Oh, yeah. Well, that’s another good school.
Morris
It’s a good school.
Are there any particular historical events that come to mind, when you think over the course of your life, sir, that stick out?
Clonts
Hm. You know, thinking back into my childhood, I remember one that was—and I don’t remember what the year was, probably was about 1961 or ’62—a jet aircraft flying a training mission out at what was then Sanford Naval Training Center [Naval Air Station Sanford], crashed just a few hundred feet from the edge of what is now Lawton Elementary School, but it was the Oviedo High School, which had all twelve grades at that time. And being in class, and hearing that crash, and all the flames and all the confusion afterwards. The pilot died in that crash. You know, one of those things you never forget. But I have forgotten the year. [laughs] So I guess I do forget it.
Morris
Oh, okay. But you remember the event though, right, sir?
Clonts
I remember the event.
Morris
What grade were you in at that time?
Clonts
It seems like I was in about seventh or eighth grade, something like that. Maybe I was younger than that, because my memory’s still pretty fuzzy. But still it was—I remember the confusion.
Morris
And was it over by the next day? Did you return to classes normally?
Clonts
Oh, yeah. And, you know, it was the talk of the town for months and months, but things got back to normal fairly quickly—not, you know. Military jets were still, at that time, you know—it was the new technology.
Morris
Right.
Clonts
So it wasn’t—we heard jets flying, but, you know, you didn’t see that many jets back then.
Morris
Unless they crashed right outside your school.
Clonts
Unless they crashed next to your school.
Morris
Then it’s hard to miss them. What kind of relationship did the community have with the military—the base—right there? Especially the farmers.
Clonts
Oh, I think it was a good relationship. You know, Florida was—a lot of people who were in the military during World War II, when they got out, ended up coming back to Florida, because Florida had been such a good place for military bases in the ‘40s. Got the climate where you can train year-round, you know. It’s a whole lot better being stationed on a base in Pensacola than it is in upstate Michigan in the wintertime. So Florida had lots and lots of bases that trained soldiers of all types in the 1940s. As I said, a lot of those people got a taste of Florida, and once they were out of the military, and maybe got married, and—you know, said, “I know where I want to go.” And they moved back to Florida.
Morris
Can’t blame them.
Clonts
Nope. It’s been happening ever since.
Morris
It has, sir. It has. It’s still, I think—it’s still known for its military bases being more preferable to work—train—here. Because you have some of them in Jacksonville, some still down in Tampa.
Clonts
Sure.
Morris
Yeah. Is there anything we haven’t covered, discussed today sir, that you wanted to make sure we got to?
Clonts
No, I didn’t have any agenda, and I don’t think I’ve done a very good interview. I think I’ve done a pretty average job at this.
I remember when fire ants had first gotten into Texas—because fire ants are not native to Florida—and, so fire ants in the mid-‘60s were getting into the state from the coastal states, but they had originally come in in Texas and then spread from there, and the [Douglas] DC-3 airplanes would fly on ant bait over the whole state. They would take a grid of eight miles by eight miles, and they would systematically fly at about three or four hundred feet high, dropping ant bait on a hundred percent of the ground surface.
Morris
Ant bait was ...
Clonts
Well, the ant bait was to try to kill fire ants that were coming into the state. Obviously was not successful.
Morris
Obviously. I didn’t even know they weren’t native to Florida. I just kind of figured they were native everywhere.
Clonts
No. [laughs] They seem like it now.
Morris
Yeah.
Clonts
You know, that’s something that I don’t think you’d see happen today. I mean, there’s new pests now coming into the state of Florida, but at the rate of two or three a year. And you know, we’ve got pythons in the Everglades—that the idea of trying to eradicate an insect like that once it’s got established in the state is probably never going to happen again.
Morris
Probably not, sir. Did that cause any kind of panic or worry with the farmers? If they took it seriously enough to be spraying the entire state to try to get out fire ants?
Clonts
Well, fire ants had been—fire ants are a pest, but you just learn to live with them. I mean, fire ants can kill a newborn calf if that calf gets born in the field, and the mother cow drops that calf in an ant pile. I mean, fire ants cause damage to livestock right now. They can kill a newborn calf, but that’s not a high rate of mortality, because it doesn’t happen too often, so it’s not something we try to eradicate anymore. But there was a time when there was a very organized war on fire ants.
Morris
Who organized this war?
Clonts
Well, it was at the request of citizens, but it was the government and Ag departments [Department of Agriculture], and so on.
Morris
Okay. When you say fire ants, you’re talking about the red ones? The black ones had already been here, correct? Or did they both come at the same time?
Clonts
There’s lots of species of native ants here, some of which bite and some which don’t.
Morris
Okay.
Clonts
But the fire ant is the one that, you know, when you step in the mound, you just get swarms of them.
Morris
Right. There’s one in my front yard.
Clonts
Yeah. I take those out every time I see one. I get the ant bait out and kill it. But I don’t try to eradicate them all over the state.
Morris
That would be a little extreme, wouldn’t it? But, is there anything else, sir?
Clonts
No.
Morris
All right, sir, this has been invaluable. I really appreciate it. Thank you for letting me come over and talk to you today.
Clonts
You bet.