Stanley Krick

April 30, 2003

by Joseph Vetrano

[START TAPE 1, SIDE A] Joe Vetrano (JV): This is Joe Vetrano interviewing Stan Krick. OK. Play. [Laughter] Stanley Krick (SK): ( )? JV: Yeah. OK, the first question I have for you, Stan, is: give a brief overview about yourself, where you were born, and who were your--, who your parents are. SK: I was born in Big Lake, Texas, Reagan County. My parents were Rubin and Agnes Krick from southern Illinois, a small town called Pinckneyville. I went to grade school in Olney, Illinois; went to high school in Fort Stockton, Texas; went to college at University of Notre Dame, at Colorado School of Mines, at Tulsa University, and Odessa College. I was educated to be a petroleum engineer. I also took sales engineering courses. I worked with Howard Hughes Oil Tool Division as a sales and drilling engineer. I worked with Ingersoll Rand Company as a construction mining engineer. I worked with Douglas Aircraft as a packaging engineer, and ended my working career with M.D. Moody and Sons in Tampa as a sales engineer of construction equipment. JV: OK, thank you. Any immediate family living or still living in the Town n’ Country area? SK: That is a negative. JV: Did you attend the first school that opened in Town n’ Country, and what type of day was it like? SK: I attended no schools in Town n’ Country. Both of my daughters went to Incarnation Catholic Church and--, for grade school. My eldest daughter went to Leto for high school; the youngest went to the Academy of Holy Names. JV: How has education changed in the Town n’ Country area? SK: The education appears to have--. And again, I had limited amount of education knowledge in Town n’ Country. Most of my edu--. Both of my children went to private school, and it appears that we have much more cla--, crowded classrooms and are having teacher problems. JV: Thank you, Mr. Krick. What was your first job in Town n’ Country? Where were you living at the time? SK: My first job in Town n’ Country was a construction mining engineer, sales engineer with Ingersoll Rand Company, and I was living at 7710 W. Elm. JV: Tell me about a typical work--, day at work, and was it like to communicate back and forth? SK: The typical work day: if I was not traveling, I had to tend my territory, included the whole state of Florida, from the panhandle to the keys. I would leave my house on Monday about 5:00 and head to my sales offices, either in Jacksonville, Miami, or Key West. JV: Thank you. How have the traffic and roads changed? SK: We now have super highways that are packed. Previously, we had two-lane, sometimes four-lane that were not that packed. We have major roadway problems today. JV: What church did you attend as a child in the Town n’ Country area, and where do you go now? SK: As a child, I attended Catholic churches in Texas, Illinois, Colorado, and Texas again. Here in Tampa, I have gone to Incarnation Catholic Church for the thirty-six years I’ve been here. JV: Tell me about the swimming club formed by the LaMonte-Shimberg, and what was it like? SK: When you bought your home, you became-- first six months-- paid member of the swim club, which we stayed with for another two years. And it was--. They had a sauna, they had two pools, and they had a meeting room that was available to the public for parties and what have you. The sauna was excellent. JV: Thank you, Mr. Krick. Tell me about your neighborhood and how it has changed in the last twenty-five years. SK: In the last twenty-five years, my neighbors to the west have both moved to Sun City Center. They were retired Air Force, and they have since passed away. My neighbors to the east: I have the Nolans, whose two sons are both doctors working in Naples, and Francis is retired civil service with geophysical engineering. And of course, Mr. Blizard is my other neighbor down there to the west. He owns Skateworld; retired Navy. And across the street is Jim Palermo, whose father-in-law owned the lawn mower shop on Hillsborough Avenue. JV: Did you own or your parents own a house in one of the new subdivisions-- for example, Morgan Woods, Woodbridge, Woodmere, or Spanish Oaks-- developed by the Lamonte-Shimberg? What was it like? SK: My home is the only one that I have ever owned that was in the Town n’ Country area. We are in what is called the Old Morgan Woods area. The home at the time was one of the best subdivisions anywhere in the state of Florida. We had sidewalks; we had curbs. We had paved streets; we had parks. We had our own sewer and water system. And we also had excellent neighbors. We were a little short on peace officers: about 3 for the whole county area out here, where today I think they have 29. JV: Who were your neighbors at the new subdivisions? That doesn’t apply because you lived ( ). SK: Right. JV: Are they still around? That doesn’t apply either. Can you tell me about any changes you have witnessed in the Town n’ Country area over the last twenty-five years or more? SK: The number one change was the canal was not cut when I moved in. It is now cut through here; it is a flood prevention canal. Also, Hillsborough Avenue was two lanes when I came here; it is six lanes now. At the corner of Hillsborough and Memorial, there was a junk yard. It is no longer there; there is a business center there now. We have--, no longer have the volunteer fire department; we have area community service deputies, as well as school resource officers. JV: What local business do you remember, and who owned them? SK: The big business here was the eatery, which was the Ranch House. I do not know the owners there. But they had a fine set of meals. They were the only place out here at the time. The Village Inn, owned by Dan--, Don Sherwood, was the next best place--, next place to go to. It was actually a better--, and more variety than what the Ranch House was. We had a drug store out here; I do not remember the name. We had the U-Save store, which is owned by the Bever family, and it’s still here today. That’s about it. JV: Thank you. Tell me about any local businesses that you patronized as a child or young adult that are still here or gone. SK: The U-Save store is--, was here when we came, and is still here today. We also--. The Shell service station across the street from there is gone; this was known as Peyton Shell. Mr. Peyton lived down in the Westshore area, and eventually when the oil companies took over the stations, he sold out and got out of the business. JV: What do you remember as the worst time living in Town n’ Country? Events such as like a hurricane: what did you do? SK: The--. Shortly after we moved here, there was a major hur--, tornado in the Carrollwood area. We stood out on the porch and watched the funnel go up and down in the Carrollwood area. We had friends from New Orleans that were living there, that their home was totally demolished. And they have since--. They moved right after that, because they had been in the Hurricane Betsy in New Orleans and lost a home there. I do not know what part of the country they’re in nowadays. JV: What do you remember as the best time living in Town n’ Country? ( ). SK: One of the best things in Town n’ Country was the Incarnation Church carnival where we worked there. And of course, my late wife was also very active in the bingo at Incarnation. Our church functions were some of the best times we had in Town n’ Country. JV: How do you feel about the developments in Town n’ Country now, compared to twenty-five years ago? SK: We have some good development in Town n’ Country. I still feel that we have used up too much of our green space. And we will need more action to save our neighborhoods, although they are, on the majority, well taken care of. JV: What was the first hospital in Town n’ Country? Can you recall what it was like when it first opened in 1980? SK: I was the one person that spoke heartily against the idea of the hospital out here, because the original plans called for a motel, a shopping center, and a hospital and a medical building. One of their first emergency room patients was my youngest daughter, who fell out of a tree and broke her ankle. I have since used the hospital several times. My wife had a short stay there before she passed away also. It is a good addition to the community. JV: How has the cultural diversity changed your community? SK: We have probably the most ethnically diversified people in Town n’ Country that are anywhere in the county or the state of Florida. We have many different nationalities, and we are constantly changing. JV: Do you remember the Webb Dairy and what it was like in 1944? SK: I did not get to Town n’ Country ‘til 1967. JV: Do you remember the Sweetwater Ranch and what it was like in 1944? Ah, that’s too late. Do you use the Sweetwater Facility--, Utilities, the sewage and treatment plant formed by LaMonte-Shimberg? How effective was it? SK: The real good thing about the sewer plant was if you had one bathroom, you paid $9.50 a month for sewage. The plants were maintained. We had some odor problems, but we had--, after the county bought them out, we still had the odor problems. During the county’s bailiwick, we dumped over $50,000 worth of perfume in the system, which did not do any good. And I told the county commissioners that they should go to scrubbers that were used in a oil field in Texas to get rid of sulphide gas. JV: What do you remember about the boom in 1970s, when Jack Lakey Construction Corporation and his River Oaks development of H.E. Smith Associates and the Rocky Creek mobile homes--? SK: Well, the Rocky Creek mobile homes- the only thing I can recall on there was: this was an area for people who needed a place to live. I understood it was a nice development, and it was maintained--, it was owned by the county. JV: Tell me what you remember about the old Westgate Library, which was located at the shopping plaza when it opened in 1969? SK: I remember the location, but I wasn’t using it. And my children were using the libraries at their schools. JV: When the library moved to its present location in 1975, how was it different from the old library? SK: The number one thing that made it different was: it was bigger, was more accessible. Again, parking was low. We did not have the parking availability that they had in the previous area. JV: When did you get your library card? SK: My first library card was gotten in ’72 or ’73. And I did not get the new electronic-type card until about three years ago. JV: Was there a Town n’ Country resident who made a difference in your life? One-- SK: Mr. and Mrs. Atterberry, who we had met in New Orleans. They were--, helped at the church carnival. They also were very strong in the use of the civic association. And Harry was--, is--, was a retired Air Force base engineer, and his wife Flo was a retired Army nurse. And they were very, very influential in the life of our family. Gary Huff, one of the first quarterbacks of the Buccaneers, was the Atterberrys’ son-in-law. Another person who was very influential was Tom Parsons. He was my insurance agent. I met him when I first got here, because I had to get--, replace a hub cap. And Tom just wrote me a check for it right away. JV: Thank you, Mr. Krick. Was there--? What about someone from the Town n’ Country area who made a difference in the world- like a celebrity, artist, physician, or researcher? SK: I’ve no idea. JV: OK. Is--? SK: You might be able to say Belinda Womack. ( ). One person who was here in the area--, is no longer here was Ms. Belinda Womack. She is a jazz singer- a very, very fine lady. JV: Thank you. Is there anything you would like to add that I didn’t ask about the Town n’ Country area? SK: I believe that we have the best group of people anywhere here in Town n’ Country. Of course, being any area, you do have a few bad apples in any barrel. But I still believe that we have the finest neighborhood anywhere at all that I’ve ever lived in. I’ve lived in several states and cities. JV: Thank you, Mr. Krick, and appreciate it a whole bunch that you participated in this survey. Thank you very much. [END OF TAPE 1, SIDE A] [END OF INTERVIEW]