ANNA MARIA – Former Anna Maria Elementary Principal Jack Dietrich, 92, is living out his golden years surrounded by family members and friends at his Anna Maria home.
These days, Jack can be found on his front porch, sitting in his favorite rocking chair reminiscing and talking with friends, family members and beachgoers.
Those who know Jack and his late wife, Betty, who passed away at 82 in 2010, likely spent time on the Dietrich’s porch watching Florida State football games and attending other gatherings.
Dietrich has dealt with some health issues in recent years, including a recent cancer diagnosis, but he continues to live at home with help from his son Greg Dietrich, who lives in Bradenton; his daughter Jan Smith, who lives in Bradenton; his daughter Beth Conner who lives in Richmond, Va. and visits regularly; his granddaughters and grandson; the nurses who assist him and longtime friends Rick Lewis, Dale Woodland and Pat and Annie Slowey.
The Dietrich’s beachfront home on Mangrove Avenue was built by Betty’s parents, James Alexander Robbins and Alice Clark Robbins, in the 1920s and served as the family’s Island getaway.
“This house was built with lumber my mom’s family milled at the Willow Mill,” Beth said.
Betty’s father and uncle founded the sawmill in the town of Willow in 1926. Located in north Manatee County, near Parrish and the Hillsborough County line, Willow began fading from existence during The Great Depression and after the sawmill moved to Tampa in 1937.
“Betty’s younger years were spent in Willow,” Beth said, noting her mom’s family later moved to Tampa and then to Bradenton.
Jack was born and raised in Columbia City, Indiana. After high school, he attended college in California for two years before joining the United States Air Force.
“I went to school in California so I could get two years of college to be a pilot. This was during the big band era. I could read music and I would sit in on the drums sometimes,” Jack said, noting he played with big band leader Les Brown when his drummer wasn’t available.
“Around the time of the Korean War, I was in Las Vegas at the fighter pilots’ school and we were waiting to go to Korea. They said the war’s over, you’re going to Florida. The next thing I knew I was in Panama City and I flew jets there for about four years,” Jack said.
While stationed in Panama City, Jack met Betty in 1954.
“My mom went to Panama City to teach after she graduated from Florida State, which was a women’s college at the time,” Beth said.
“She was there when they let in the first men, and the University of Florida was a men’s college,” Greg added.
While dating Betty, Jack visited Anna Maria Island and Anna Maria for the first time. He said there were only about four homes on Mangrove Avenue at the time and Ernie Cagnina’s IGA store, which opened in 1946, was the place to go for groceries.
Jack and Betty got married in 1955 in a Methodist Church in Fort Walton Beach. After Jack left the Air Force, they moved to North Webster, Indiana and bought a Crystal Flash gas station.
“Then I bought Frank’s Pizzeria. In the summer, I made far more money in the pizza business than I did in the gas business,” Jack recalled.
At the same time, Jack was earning his bachelor’s degree in education.
“I took Betty from Florida to Indiana and we were there about six years. She was a Floridian and she froze while we lived there. During our last year there, I worked as a teacher at the North Webster school I graduated from. I taught fifth grade,” Jack said.
An educator’s life
The couple moved the family to the Anna Maria home in 1963 or 1964.
“I taught fifth grade at Bayshore Elementary. The next year I went to Duette, out in the boondocks, and I was there for about a year. It had two rooms, but we called it a one-room schoolhouse. I was the teaching principal. I taught the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades and I had 13 students – probably about four in each grade. You could get into a subject and everybody was interested in it so everybody learned at the same time. I had another teacher and she had first, second, third and fourth grades, and kindergarten twice a week. It was mostly farmers and ranchers who lived out there and every time I got in the car to come home there’d be vegetables in the back of my car,” Jack said.
“It took me about 45 minutes to get from here to Duette,” Jack said of the commute he made in his Chevy Corvair. “Now it takes almost that long to get off the Island.”
After working in Duette for about a year, Jack was transferred to Parrish Elementary where he taught and served as principal.
“The Parrish kids were farm kids and they always behaved. I don’t think I ever had any problems,” Jack said.
Jack was part of the group of men who gathered regularly at the Rod & Reel Pier – a group that was a precursor to the Anna Maria Island Privateers. He and Betty and the kids usually spent their weekends on the beach and they often dined at Pete Reynard’s restaurant in Holmes Beach, which was known for its rotating salad bar.
“Pete Reynard’s was the place to go. The old Sandbar was there too. There wasn’t much going on in those days,” Jack said.
Greg and Beth mentioned Webb’s Drug Store and Key Sundries as other Island businesses they frequented as youths.
In 1967, after about a year and a half in Parrish, Jack was transferred to Anna Maria Elementary in Holmes Beach, where he served as principal until 1970 or 71.
“When I came to Anna Maria Elementary it was a different program with the Island kids. I paddled some of them on the butt, but we’re still friends,” Jack said.
“Everybody on the Island knew me. On weekends, people would call and ask me to open up the school so their kid could get their violin because their grandparents wanted to hear them play, and stuff like that. After four years, they moved me to Ballard Elementary in town,” Jack said.
In the mid-1970s, Jack left Ballard Elementary and, as principal, helped open H.S. Moody Elementary in Bradenton, where he worked until he retired in 1991.
Family and friends
Jan recalled growing up in the family home on Mangrove Avenue.
“My mom would cook dinner at night and dad would have an aluminum rocking chair in the kitchen while mom was making dinner. We always knew there was love in our house. It was a loving and fun family. I had friends who loved coming to our house because it was different than theirs. It was a great place to grow up and I couldn’t ask for better parents. They taught us love, how to have fun and to take responsibility for our actions,” Jan said.
“I’m so grateful he’s my father. He’s a fun guy and we’ve had a blast being around him. He’s humble and he’s never met a stranger. He’s somebody I’ll always look up to and he’s taught me so many things. He was our principal when Greg and I went to Anna Maria Elementary. He was always fair. He loved the kids, he had a good sense of humor and he expected them to take responsibility for their actions,” Jan said.
Regarding the annual football parties her parents hosted, Jan said, “The place was packed. We’d have chairs all the way to the back of the porch. Sometimes we had 20 people watching the Florida State-Florida and Florida State-Miami games. The porch was a fun place and everyone was welcome.”
While sitting on Jack’s porch recently, Rick Lewis said, “I’ve known Jack since the early 70s, when I met Jan and Greg. I was an in-town kid. I grew up on 59th Street. Our bus driver, Ruby Bass, would pick up the Island kids and we were the first bus stop in town. A lot of us are still friends to this day. Jack’s got quite the crew and it gets quite busy here during football season. I’m a Florida fan and we can’t agree on our college teams but we all love our Bucs.”
“He also had time to run the New York Marathon,” Lewis noted.
“I ran the New York Marathon when I was 58. I went there just to see the city from the streets and run through the five boroughs. That was one of the best things I’ve done in my life,” Jack said.
“He was a deacon in the Island Baptist Church, which is now CrossPointe. He was in the Rotary club and served as president for one year. He was also a Gideon, with Anthony Rossi, the founder of Tropicana,” Beth said.
“We put Bibles in hotels and motels and I used to talk to a lot of churches,” Jack said.
“He was also in a play in the Island Players called ‘Sunday in New York.’ He played the pilot, one of the main characters,” Beth said.
“Jim Zerby, the mayor of Holmes Beach at the time, never knew his lines and you never knew what he was going to say,” Jack added.
Jack also raced sailboats.
“I belonged to the Bradenton Yacht Club in Palmetto and I was in the races they had there,” he said.
“One summer in the early 80s we sailed to the Bahamas with a couple other boats – mom, dad, Jan and I,” Greg said. “We had a lot of motor problems and spent a couple days on dry land sleeping in the boat at night.”
When asked about his approach to work and life, Jack said, “I never had trouble with anybody and I was always friendly to everybody. I’m happy and not looking for problems.”
“When he was a principal, his faculty just loved him. He used to have Christmas parties when he was at Moody and a lot of the young teachers would come out here. He always got along with everyone. People still walk by here all the time and wave to him and say hi,” Greg said.
“He has a lot of friends,” Beth added. “He’s friends with the people who patrol the parking, he’s friendly with the people who park out front, he’s friends with the garbage men and people stop by to bring him food.”
As for what the future holds, Jack said, “I’m 92 and I’m still going. Anytime the Lord wants me, I’m ready to go. I have a good life and I’m ready for the next one.”
