Teri in our Office at Home

We closed in the double carport at our home on Lake Martha and opened it as the office of Dan Winters Builder, Realtor, and Developer. I placed my business sign at the end of the paved alley way; 880 Lake Silver Drive which was much easier for the public to see. We installed air conditioning and carpet in both the house and office. Our parents had never possessed these conveniences and we were thankful to be able to afford them at such a young age.

I bartered with Bill Ogden at Standard Office Supply and gave him two lots in Sun Acres in exchange for an executive desk and a secretarial desk and chairs. Teri had this desk in her office at WinWorld more than 40 years later. I think she has it in the office at her home now for a period of time. This desk has since been moved to Marc O’Neil’s home at 606 Sycamore in Cleveland, TN.

Teri spent lots of time with us in the office. When the phone rang, she tried to be the first person to answer it. Before she was two years of age, she could answer the phone “Hello, Dan Winters office”; then hand the receiver to me.  She liked to sit up on the top of my large desk and talk on the phone. She grew up being an active part of the business. Most of the neighborhood children were boys and they were older than Teri, so she was quick to leave them in the play yard to come and inform her parents or Mildred of any activities that she did not approve of. She liked to establish the rules for them to play by.

Mary Nell was a true partner in all our activities. I fully depended upon her for advice, input, council, approval and we discussed every major decision. She was consulted on the design of the houses, the choice or all colors and was fully informed. She assisted in all the accounting and office work including the payroll and taxes. We did most of our own legal work such as contracts, notes, mortgages, and loan closings. It was all self-contained in the carport office of our home.

Mary Nell and I worked and lived in the same area nearly 24 hours every day from then on. I never tired of her being by my side. The office opened directly into the utility room of the house, so she was constantly going back and forth between caring for the children, the housekeeping and the office work. One wall of the office was glass sliding doors that opened onto the concrete double driveway which had a basketball goal and was a great area to ride tricycles of play. The children spent time in the office as they desired. We had a 48-inch-high fence surrounding the back yard and the children could also play on the driveway and the large front yard. It was several hundred feet to where public traffic was on Lake Silver Drive. There was a large open field next door that many years later became the parking lot for the Winter Haven Hospital. Our good neighbors Marty & Lillian had two sons and our children played in their yard and enjoyed the lakefront privileges. We looked after each other’s children. Judge Summerland’s, his daughter Ms. Davis and her sons Parker and Phillip played with our children. Another playmate was Doug Alexander, who was Hamilton’s grandson. We had a great neighborhood. The children all interacted well and had free access to come and go from one yard to the other. We had a large German shepherd dog. The Halabrins had a dog or two. We built a large swimming pool, and all the neighborhood kids enjoyed it as it was the only one available. We built a screened in patio on the rear of the house with terrazzo floor and a large bar-b-que pit and a picnic table. The neighbor children often joined in swimming and eating with our children.

During the Cuba missile crisis, we built a duplex underground fallout shelter with the Halabrins to protect our families in the event of a nuclear attack.

We hired a housekeeper or “Nanny” for our three children. Teri was one year old, Donnie three, and Ed was six. Mildred Davis became an important person in our lives as she continued in that position during these next 42 years

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Santa delivers mail cart and play house

Dec 1969, we went to Mary Sue’s home on the golf course in Indian Rocks, for our Christmas Party. I had previously arranged for the delivery of a three-wheel mail cart to be delivered for Eddie. The cart had been completely repainted and tuned up. I also had Ed Bircheat construct an “A frame” plywood fort/playhouse for the children to play in. He delivered them on a large flatbed truck while we were at Sue’s home. When we arrived home about midnight from Sue’s party the children saw the large playhouse and the mail cart. They could not believe their eyes. Eddie proclaimed, “I believe, I believe in Santa Clause.”

Ed was 14 years of age now and he could drive a mail cart on the city streets. He would go (about 3 miles) to Inwood and pick up his grandmother King and take her grocery shopping. He would sometimes drop the other kids off on his way to school.

Teri and Donnie and the neighborhood kids spent lots of hours playing on the fort. I think they slept in it a few nights. Teri played with her dolls in it also.

Moved to 1319

The Winter Haven Hospital purchased our home on Lake Martha. We purchase a lot on Mirror Terrace in September 1971 and began the construction of our new home. We rented a house on Howard Terrace for about a year and in 1972 we moved to our new home at 1319 Mirror Terrace N.W. in Winter Haven.

We purchased a deluxe Sports Coach Motor Home. We spent 9 weeks touring the Southern and Western United States as a family with our dog Charlie. We drove to California, Los Vegas, Texas, New Orleans, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Kansas City. Ed had turned 16 so he shared in the driving. While in Dallas Teri and Donnie each purchase one square inch of the Texas School depository, the building where the assassin shot President John F. Kennedy.

During the summer of 1973 we took the Godwin family with us on a trip to Mexico City in our Motor Home. This was the same year Ed graduated from High School.

Larry Danley appointed pastor

In 1972 Larry and Jackie Danley were appointed pastor of the West Winter Haven Church of God. Trish was born in 1973.

At camp meeting June 1976 Larry did not get reassigned as West Winter Haven Church of God pastor.