Features

On July 1-2, Williston School of Dance hosted its most prestigious workshop master class to date, as Michael Patrick Gallagher flew in for eight hours of master Irish dance instruction.

Gallagher is a two-time World Champion Irish dancer as well as a longtime “Riverdance” lead.

Gallagher hails from County Donegal, Ireland, and currently resides in Arizona. The school made his acquaintance several years ago when artistic director Sarah Ingley and her son used to travel to Gallagher’s workshops in Georgia.

People often lament that they don’t know how they’ll cope with an extra mouth to feed. Imagine having 160 mouths to feed and every one of them dependent on you for every iota of food they eat.

That’s the daunting task the volunteers at Feisty Acres face seven days a week, 52 weeks a year.

Established in 1988 and incorporated in 1995, Feisty Acres is a cat rescue operation located between Williston and Bronson.

Its founder, Edna Nute, lives on the property and oversees about a dozen volunteers who come to help with the kitty care.

She hadn’t participated in any type pageant until she was 20 years old, but when she heard the prizes included scholarships for college, Rachael Todd jumped feet first onto the runway.

Two and a half years later, not only does she have scholarship money, she is the reigning Miss Florida.

Saturday, Todd, 22, visited the Williston School of Dance to speak to the students about her reign and demonstrate the talent she exhibited in the Miss America pageant in February of this year.

Prayer is a two-way street between God and man and if you do all the talking, you may be missing out on what God is saying to you.

That was the introduction last week by Judge Joseph Smith, as he delivered opening remarks to about 50 people gathered at Heritage Park to mark the National Day of Prayer.

Smith told the assembly that when he gave his life to Christ more than three decades ago, he knew, “I can’t sing–or at least well. I can’t play an organ or piano.”

There’s nothing traditional about Beryl Bayer, although she’s the first to tell you she went to college for the most traditional of reasons–to find a husband.

When that didn’t pan out as her parents expected, Bayer shrugged it off and continued a life full of creativity, service and change.

For 100 days, Ruth Williams, 90, of Orange Lake called Williston Nursing Home and Rehab Center home. Miss Ruth was taken ill suddenly and unexpectedly and after a lengthy stint in the hospital needed some place to convalesce while she regained her strength. “I’m a Christian,” she said the day before she was going home, “and I’ve heard of miracles. I saw them here.” She praised the staff and said the residents were “one solid family” who come from diverse backgrounds.

Imagine, if you will, the land of rivers, lakes and springs long before Juan Ponce de León, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and Hernando DeSoto explored the virgin wilderness we now call Florida.

Imagine the vast wildness of the woods, the azure sky filled with cumulus clouds and the dense undergrowth of the swamps, filled with creatures, both great and small.

That is what Gainesville nature photographer John Moran does every time he picks up his Canon camera and journeys into the exploration of his adopted homeland.

It’s been a long road but Rocky Kuznik has finally arrived with the publication of his first novel The Never Pals. Kuznik signed copies for readers Saturday at the Victorian Tea Room, along with his wife Joydel. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Kuznik has lived in Florida for years and lived in Morriston for a time before moving to Ocala. A self-proclaimed “short story guy” the novel is a witty tale of an odd couple and their relationship.

In life, we learn soon enough that just about the only thing that doesn’t change is the fact that everything changes. But some things don’t change as quickly or as often as others, and Ann Thompson is here to prove it.

“Here” is Williston Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (once known as Oak View Care Center, then as Oak View Rehabilitation, then as Williston Care Center.) But no matter what the changes in name or ownership, for 36 years Ann Thompson has been showing up to take care of people in the big building under the oaks at 300 NW 1st Avenue.