MAKING PHOTO BY KATHLEEN BLASE BY KATHLEEN PHOTO Jane Roberts helps people get comfortable in the water.

SWIMMERS’ GUARANTEE The program requires a total of six “It can change your life,” she says, noting Five hours is all it takes to learn to hours—five hours in the water and one one customer who learned to swim after swim, says Jane Roberts, founder and hour of consultation—and consists of six her husband died. “It gave her something operator of SWIMMERS, a unique service fifty-minute lessons that are divided into to live for.” designed to help adults conquer their two or three sessions of one-on-one No matter what their reason for contact- swimming fears. instruction in a private pool. All of the les- ing SWIMMERS, Roberts will accept only Roberts, a swim instructor for more sons are taught in the water and begin as customers who truly want to learn. “The than twenty years, originally developed the simply as taking a walk from one side of only time it doesn’t work is when the per- program in her native England in 1996, but the pool to the other. As the lessons son is being pushed into it by someone brought it to Southwest in June progress, Roberts teaches floating, proper else,” she says. But if the pupil wants to be 2003. After many years of vacationing in breathing and swimming techniques, and there, Roberts guarantees the program. the area, Roberts says she met a number of gently guides her pupils to put their faces “We’ll teach you until you learn to swim,” people who lived in homes with beautiful in the water—the biggest hurdle for most, she says. “We always give that guarantee, pools that they were afraid to use. So when she says. but we’ve never had to use it.” she, her husband Brian, and their son Sam However, when they overcome that hur- For more information, call 239/267- decided to become full-time residents of dle, address their fears, and learn to swim, 9728, e-mail [email protected], or , it seemed only natural Roberts says her pupils earn a confidence visit www.swimmersusa.com. to bring the SWIMMERS concept along. they carry into other aspects of their lives. – Jennifer Workman Lessinger

14 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004 WAVES

inherited it when her husband died in 1999. When Robert Hecksher launched the station in 1952, programming was in blocks—an hour of country, an hour of gospel, an hour of blues, and so on. But in 1954, he went to Atlanta and heard an all- rock station. He brought the format home to Ft. Myers, becoming the first station to play rock and roll in Southwest Florida. Since then, WMYR logged a number of other firsts, and Kathleen Hecksher has been part of many of them. WMYR, 1410 AM, currently broad- casts a Disney-format, pro- gramming, and owns the format in Lee, Charlotte, Hendry, Collier, and Glades counties. “We’ve tried a couple of other formats but we have been extremely suc- cessful with Disney,” she says. With more than 125,000 children under fourteen years old, it’s a huge market, and advertisers like it because parents listen, too. Her sales force is called the “mom squad,” because almost all are part-time employees and mothers. When she’s not working, Hecksher’s hobbies include angel collectibles and gardening at her home on Pine Island. She’s planted an English garden in her front yard. The land has increased dramatically in value over the years but she says she isn’t PHOTO BY ANNE POWERS BY PHOTO tempted to sell. “I couldn’t duplicate what Kathleen Hecksher keeps harmony at WMYR. I have,” she says. TUNED IN looking for a bookkeeper for the radio sta- With more than thirty years in radio, Kathleen Hecksher was born in tion he owned, she laughed. “You can’t Hecksher can do just about any job at the Missouri, but arrived in Southwest own a radio station,” she told him. “They station, from managing to running the con- Florida in time to be in the first graduat- are owned by the government.” trol board. She spends at least five days a ing class from North Ft. Myers High Of course, she learned that Robert week at the station, which is still in its orig- School in 1966. She stayed in the area Hecksher could and did own radio sta- inal location at 2835 Hansen St., working and, despite training as a bookkeeper, tion WMYR, then known as WHEW. nine- and ten-hour days. took a job as a waitress, which is how she She not only went to work for him, she “In radio, you can have a lot of fun,” she found her future path. married him. says. “But it’s a huge responsibility.” When one of her customers said he was Today, she owns the station, having – Anne Powers

WWW.TIMESOFTHEISLANDS.COM 15 ! ears rating y leb Ce Music, Concerts, Jazz, Pop, Classical, PHOTO BY KATHLEEN BLASE BY KATHLEEN PHOTO Dance, Connie Ramos is raising her magazine for success. Theatre, JUST FOR FAMILIES Collier. Besides that, I found an abundance Art Exhibits, Enthusiastic and bright-eyed, Connie of home-schooling families, private Ramos is always brimming with ideas. So schools, day cares, and preschools. Com- Lectures, when she started mulling the concept bining that all together, I found there were about four years ago of a magazine for the something like 125,000 school-age children Films, families of Southwest Florida, she didn’t living in Lee and Collier counties.” necessarily take herself seriously at first. With that in mind, Ramos decided there Workshops Having moved to the area from Miami was a definite need in the region for a fam- when her former husband became manag- ily-oriented publication. in all the Arts, ing editor of The News-Press, Ramos and Several months later, in December her two children, now 11 and 10, were 1999, she gave birth to the first bimonthly Language, eager to become a part of the community. issue of Southwest Florida Parent & Child “Right away when we came, we joined magazine with a 10,000-copy run. “I Discussion & the YMCA,” recalls Ramos. “I was always didn’t start small by any means,” she says. listening to the parents on the sidelines of “But I also just expected to have enough Book Groups, basketball games and soccer games talking ads to cover the costs of the magazine, so about their kids and things they needed that I didn’t have to dive into our personal Youth Programs. help with—a speech condition or a chron- accounts. The first issue, though, actually ic sinus condition or what to get their autis- did make some money. After that, it’s just tic child involved with.” been snowballing into something bigger She initially went to work part-time in and better.” her former field as a dental hygienist, but With continued increases in advertising her desire for something more fulfilling and sponsorship, the publication has dou- fueled a whirl of possibilities in her mind. bled its size, gone to a glossy cover, and “On the other coast there was a parent- now comes off the press every other month ing publication that I used as a resource,” in 20,000 runs. BIG ARTS she says, and she helped her husband with “It’s extremely rewarding,” says a home for all the arts a golf magazine he had started as a hobby. Ramos. “Not necessarily financially, but “He had also worked at the Miami Herald the feedback from the community is. It’s for thirteen years and I had been looking always been in my nature to help and I feel For tickets and Information over his shoulder. Plus, in high school and like I’m really helping.” college, I was on the yearbook and journal- With 525 distribution sites in Lee, Call 395-0900 ism staffs, so I did have the background.” Collier, and now Charlotte counties, the BIG ARTS Some local market research informed magazine is available in Blockbuster Ramos she was on the right track. stores, the front offices of public schools, 900 Dunlop Road, Sanibel “I found in Lee County alone, there were and at scores of toy stores, children’s cloth- something like 60,000-plus kids in the pub- ing shops, and pediatricians’ offices. lic school system and close to 30,000 in – Barbara Linstrom-Arnold

16 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004 Escape, Relax, Restore...

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10 Private PHOTO BY KATHLEEN BLASE BY KATHLEEN PHOTO Treatment Rooms Fun in the sun is a money-maker for Dieter Reichardt.

Award WHERE WORK IS PLAY one near the water. When he learned about Winning “I’m a person who likes the sun,” says an opportunity to buy the boat-rental busi- Hair & Nail Dieter Reichardt, as if that is all the ness at South Seas, it sounded like the per- explanation needed for moving from fect match. He and wife Elka bought the Salon Germany to Southwest Florida. While sit- business in 1998 and moved to Cape ting on a picnic bench overlooking the Coral. Soon after, their daughter Cordula water outside his Sea Wave Power Boat followed them and took over as manager at Rentals office at Bayside Marina at Sea Wave. Captiva’s lush South Seas Resort, it’s hard Under the care of the Reichardt family, to argue with him. Sea Wave grew more than forty percent the Vichy Originally from Herne-Wanne-Eickel, a first year and has continued to increase Shower small area of Germany near Düsseldorf, ever since. Always trying to improve and Reichardt, 46, first came to Florida expand, Reichardt has incorporated a free in 1989. During that two-week visit, training course for those customers who Reichardt and his family toured the state, need it and, in August 2003, added a water- covering 2,300 miles and visiting a number taxi service. His business philosophy is to of island communities. While he was put the customer first and says it is his impressed with all that he saw, it was the nature to help people. “When people have relaxed atmosphere, friendly people and, of a good time, this gives me a good feeling course, abundant sunshine of Florida’s Gulf and touches my heart,” he says. Coast that Reichardt liked most. “Nobody Since moving to Florida, Reichardt can beat the nice weather,” he says. hasn’t had an opportunity to return to his Each year the family returned and after homeland, claiming his business keeps 239-395-2220 a while Reichardt decided to sell the large, him too busy for a vacation, but he doesn’t Toll free 1-877-695-1588 successful car wash he’d owned for more let it get him down. He’s having too much Periwinkle Place than sixteen years and look for a business fun in the sun. www.sanibeldayspa.com opportunity in Florida—hoping to find – Jennifer Workman Lessinger

18 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004 Visitors’ Views An introduction to a few of the many remarkable visitors to Southwest Florida

but he stays so busy with his firm, DAMN Networks, that finding time to escape isn’t easy. “This year was the first I’ve worked in Colonial Roofing the major motion-picture industry,” he says. He had worked a little in music edit- Established 1978 ing with his father, who has been a music editor for film for many years. “My dad has always tried to get me into working Service, Quality with him.” Kasow finally took him up on it with & Integrity the Coen brothers’ film, Intolerable Cruelty. He explains the sequence of events: Residential & “The Coen brothers edit a rough cut,” Commercial Kasow explains. “We used music of a type PHOTO COURTESY OF DANL KASOW OF DANL COURTESY PHOTO we thought would be good in a scene.” The Danl Kasow’s DAMN Networks doesn’t Re-Roofing & Repairs film is then shown in its rough version to give him much down time. a test audience, he says, “so we got a real ability to check out what kind of music we METAL • TILE LOOKING FORWARD wanted there.” The directors then make TO ISLAND TIME changes to the film accordingly. SHINGLES • FLAT Danl Kasow conducts a life many peo- And how does one who’s not Arnold ple only dream of. In August, Kasow, segue from Hollywood into a political Painting and owner of a computer and Internet consult- arena as large as the 2004 Republican ing firm, wrapped up work on a new Coen National Convention? waterproofing brothers film. This year, he’s responsible “I was recommended to the fellow for a giant computer network in Madison who’s running the show,” says Kasow. “I Square Garden for the 2004 Republican have less than a year to design the network 239-458-1000 National Convention. The 25-year-old and programming, and two weeks to set Ft. Myers/Cape Coral up, wire the whole Garden with areas like Internet cafes. We have to build an internal Sanibel/Ft. Myers Beach "People weren’t so messaging system, so that throughout the arena you know you have a message to be 239-403-3600 uptight down there. picked up.” Naples/Bonita Kasow is excited about the project. It was the healthiest “This is the biggest job we’ve nabbed so far. I don’t know who’s going to top this. 941-637-6800 I ever felt." We’re expecting over 50,000 people, Punta Gorda/ including politicians, press, delegates, and Port Charlotte – Danl Kasow CEOs.” While Kasow’s own politics are non- www.colonialroofing.com partisan, an uncle, John Bonacic, serves in LICENSED • INSURED • BONDED does business throughout the United the New York State Senate. Interestingly, States and in Europe, yet his dreams cen- Kasow says, “He had a friend who lived ter on Sanibel Island. down the road from me on Sanibel, who “In the summer of 2000, I was living in was also a New York senator.” New York when I came down. It was a Sanibel is on Kasow’s calendar after breath of fresh air. It was so relaxing with Madison Square Garden. “Absolutely,” he happy people. People weren’t so uptight says. “I love it. I miss it. That’s a pilgrim- down there,” says Kasow, who rented a age I have to make a couple of times a year place for a year. “It was the healthiest I now. After the convention, it’s going to be License #CCC057442 ever felt.” especially relaxing.” He vowed to return often, and he has, – Libby Boren McMillan

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