From the Publishers
We are on the “Ride of Our Lives”
We met in government class at the Clearwater campus of St. Pete Junior College in 1970. Renee LaFountain, a ballerina, model, a Florida native from Tampa caught my eye right away.
Having graduated high school in Ottawa two years before, I was a 19-year-old Canadian immigrant, living between Palm Harbor and Tarpon Springs in a home at the campground dad decided to build on the banks of Lake Tarpon in 1969. Professor Freeman caught us passing notes and reminded us we were not in high school anymore. I soon learned the summers she had spent in Montreal had predisposed her to liking Canadians. Lucky me.
My mother’s father (our family’s most successful businessman), had advised me that if I ever found something rare, I should try to acquire it and hang onto it as long as possible. Native Floridians are still rare. August 15th is our Golden Anniversary.
Renee was a dance teacher in Tampa and Hillsborough County for over 10 years.
She impacted the lives of hundreds of youngsters in Tampa and Brandon. I was a Publix man and U-Save grocer while in college, then a CPA and management consultant for a few years, before both of us, almost accidentally, became magazine publishers.
We had been producing office guides to Florida and other publications in the mid-1980’s, when we moved to St. Pete Beach for our only child to attend high school at Admiral Farragut Academy.
Renee was soon recruited to found and publish Grille Bits for the Pass-a-Grille community. Paradise NEWS began a few years later. Renee is a Leo and is full of ideas. It was her idea, for example, that St. Pete Beach should be named the “Sunset Capital of Florida,” and that Corey Avenue should have a Sunday market.
In our half-century together Renee and I have worked together most of the time. We have also vacationed together, and I believe if you ask either of us, we’d be willing to do it all over again. We have been producing and sending some of you Paradise NEWS for over 26 years, more than half our married life. It’s been good for us, for our loyal advertisers and it has been good for countless readers – old and new. Sometimes, I wonder about and give thanks for the forces at work in the universe that brought these two soul mates together 50 years ago.
It seems to me, the same power brings us the people we need to publish Paradise NEWS, just when we need them. Our good friend and The Encouraging Word columnist, Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones, author of The Art Of Abundance, would counsel, “Have Faith. Live Boldly. The Ride of Your Life Does Not Begin Down the Road.” That was the credo of Zelda Troiano too, who tragically left us 10 days after turning in the update for our April 2021 Art and Leisure and Events columns. Thanks for five great years Zelda. We miss you already. See Zelda’s tributes on page 46.
Peter & Renee Roos & All the Talented PN People
Hi Peter and Renee,
This is your long lost friend Ellyn Kessler. I miss seeing you both at the Clearwater Jazz Festival and all the very long lost times.