Interviewed Alma Weaver Beck Calmes 71 years old
Alma grew was born here in Fort Myers, Florida 12/20/1938, along with her four other siblings. She grew up in Fort Myers also. She graduated from Fort Myers June 2, 1956.
She told me of time when her father built their home from wood and an old hand saw. They had an outhouse for the seven of them to share.
She told me of the times when they were going to church they would all get into the back of her daddy’s old pickup truck and sit on tires with their church clothes on. She told be if and when she sat up front there was a whole in the floor of the pickup truck and she would watch the ground go by as she sat there. US 41 was there when she was growing up but it was only paved up to Sears, after that it was dirt road. She said that if you lived past that area it was known as South Fort Myers.
Alma told me of times when her daddy and mama could not afford to get them any shoes, but one day her aunt Ernie came by before work on her bicycle and took the shoes off her feet and gave them to Alma. She said she would never forget this true show of love by her aunt and when her aunt died a few years ago she still remembered this memory of her childhood.
She told me of a time when she use to get off the bus when going to school and she was walking home even in the rain she would have to take two steps forward and one step back while her brothers were calling for her to hurry because it was raining, she just could not stop taking one step forward and one step back. She attended Edison Elementary school, which is still standing and being used today. She has seen her grandchild and now great grandchild accept awards there for science and invention fairs. She looks up at the old place and remembers when her little feet use to walk those same halls.
She tells me of the times when her daddy insisted she cleaned the chicken for them to eat that night and how much she hated that job. Her older sister was too prim and proper to do it and always wonder why she had to and her sister not.
Her brother and sister never used a toothbrush until Alma got a job at the dime store and earned enough money to purchase everyone a toothbrush even her mother and father. She cared for her three younger brothers as if they were her own. She loved them so very much, each and every one of them. They all seem to stick together like glue growing up. She told me of the times when her father would line them up and ask them to tell her who did something or else every one of them would get a whooping. Not one of the spoke up for they had a packed not to tell on one another.
She also relayed a time when she had a balloon and so excited that she had one and skipped outside while holding her younger brother Jimmy’s hand. Her older sister had been cooped up sick in side and decided to lean out the window and pop the balloon in Alma’s hand just for meanness. Her little brother Jimmy ran inside and told their older sister Iris off as if she was a stranger. To think a little brother sticking up for his big sister to an even bigger sister. She told me that they were the closest growing up, although she loved them all ever her older sister.
Her mother stayed home sometimes but, she had a job at the plastic factory in town and at the commercial laundry. Her daddy worked as a Carpenter’s helper, merchant Marine, wild cotton picker, and then as a grounds Maintenance Man at Fort Myers Country Club.
She met her future husband while attending Fort Myers Senior High School. He also attending and graduated the same school. She told me of a time when she was dating her husband and he would tell her he was coming over to her house, her brother Jimmy would take off his shoes to stink up the room to try to embarrass Alma in front of her boyfriend. She would chase him around with a towel trying to get him out of the room before her boyfriend got there. Jimmy thought it was so funny. She told me that Jimmy was the clown of the family, always laughing and cutting jokes. He always had a smile. Jimmy past a few years ago from cancer and he was buried next to his father. Alma’s mother is still alive at the age of 97. Up until last year she still lived alone with some assistance. Her mother is now a great-great grandmother and up to a few years ago, remembered every grandchild, great grandchild, great-great grandchild. Amazing.
She showed me and told me of the changes she has seen go on through the years while growing and living in Fort Myers her whole life. The stories are never ending and I could listen all day and night. She told me once she got married her husband was shipped off to the Army and she moved with him for a few years to Georgia, but they came back to Fort Myers to raise her daughter and later grandchild and great grandchildren. She loves the mountains though and hopes to relocate up there shortly.
She thinks it’s about time to live some place new, Fort Myers has changed so much over the past 70 plus years and she has seen every change. She currently lives in Cape Coral as has been for the past 15 years; change is past due according to Alma. She has since left her high school sweet heart after forty plus years of marriage and one child later. She still has a love for him that no one could ever replace, but she has remarried and found a new happiness. Her first husband and new husband get along great and are friends; she still talks to and sees her first love on an everyday or weekly basis. She instilled in her daughter the importance of family and therefore speaks with their daughter every single day. This same family importance was passing down to her granddaughter in which made her husband build their house within a mile from hers. She speaks to or sees her granddaughter on a daily or weekly basis also.
She admits that she pretty much raised she granddaughter through the years and eventually her granddaughter moved in full time once in high school. Her granddaughter and she are best friends till this day and no one could ever replace or come close to the bond that they share through memories and stories of their past and her past.
I must say that Alma is a very special woman that grew up in a time that was hard and shined all the way through it and functions very well in the new time and age of 2010. She is awesome on a computer and the knowledge she has gained through all her experiences is beyond words. She has fought through having to use an outhouse to owning several business and homes. She has a legal and real estate background that has taken her far. I believe with her humble beginning and the fight within her it allowed for her to be grounded at all times and keep her down to earth roots even when being successful. Her new plans are to finally move to the Carolinas and open a general store….at the age of 71, WOW, good luck Alma.
Autumn Barionnette
