Jean Airey Tribute

Nancy Jean Airey: January 23, 1943 – May 6, 2016

By Bret Shawn Clark, Compiled by Don Bayley

ENGLEWOOD, Fla. – Fam­ily and friends of Nancy Jean Airey gath­ered Sat­ur­day after­noon (July 9, 2016) at the Green Street Church, the site of many of the stage pro­duc­tions of her plays, to pay trib­ute to Airey, a pro­lific writer, musi­cian, his­to­rian, com­mu­nity orga­nizer, men­tor to local authors, web­mas­ter to non-profits and friend to a num­ber of causes which, much like she her­self was to the Engle­wood com­mu­nity, near and dear to her heart.

The gath­er­ing fea­tured those wish­ing to express their thoughts at the pass­ing of a stal­wart Engle­wood res­i­dent, in word as well as song, from the wide array of orga­ni­za­tions and peo­ple whose lives she enriched by her life­time of good deeds and con­tri­bu­tions to the cul­ture of this sleepy sea­side town, includ­ing those from Engle­wood Pio­neer Days, the Sun­coast Writ­ers Guild (together with “Englewood’s Lit­tle “Band” of Writ­ers who per­formed works from one of her plays), Lemon Bay His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety, and Friends of the Elsie Quirk Library.

Gui­tarist and vocal­ist Linda Lou Lewis of the afore­men­tioned Lit­tle Band described what it was like to work with Airey in mix­ing music into her stage plays, adding that Jean Airey was “the best col­lab­o­ra­tive part­ner I ever had.” Roy Ault of the Writ­ers Guild gave a heart­felt thank you to the woman who helped him to become a pub­lished author, while Kari Burgess spoke of her adven­tures in act­ing with Jean as the direc­tor of mate­r­ial that she her­self also authored.

Jean Airey with Carolyn Pope Anderson at the Lemon Bay Historical Society’s Green Street Church Museum.

Erick Phelps, coor­di­na­tor of the Engle­wood Pio­neer Days parade, of which Jean Airey was an inte­gral part, said that one of the things about her that he will miss most was her “prin­ci­pled focus on what needed to be done” for the Engle­wood com­mu­nity, includ­ing events such as Pio­neer Days, the orga­niz­ers of which, accord­ing to Phelps, had to recruit three peo­ple to take over the work she did for the committee.

Her wid­ower, William Airey, told yet another reveal­ing story about his late wife, who years ear­lier had orga­nized a fund raiser for the Heart Asso­ci­a­tion (fea­tur­ing come­dian Paul Lind) at which heart sur­geons from around the coun­try gath­ered, and how Jean, an avid reader with an ever-present thirst for knowl­edge, had stud­ied so much about heart surgery that he half expected her to some­day be called upon do a lit­tle bit of surgery her­self. Even while not­ing that his late wife would not approve of such a fuss being made over her, he thanked the gath­ered assem­bly on her behalf, and let each and every­one know that she very much appre­ci­ated what they them­selves had con­tributed to the Engle­wood com­mu­nity she so loved.

Jean’s book is on sale at Lemon Bay Historical Society events.

In addi­tion to work­ing with the Writ­ers Guild, His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety, Elsie Quirk Library, and Pio­neer Days, Jean Airey has also been asso­ci­ated, in one capac­ity or another, with the annual Cracker Fair, Lemon Bay Play­house, Big Brothers/Big Sis­ters, and EARS, among many other groups, indi­vid­u­als and causes.

Jean Airey was a con­trib­u­tor to Engle­wood Edge, occa­sion­ally under her byline but most often anony­mously pro­mot­ing the His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety activ­i­ties and Pio­neer Days.

She will be sorely missed.

SOURCE: https://www.englewoodedge.com/2016/07/10/nancy-jean-airey-january-23-1943-may-6-2016/#more-73545

 

 

(Click for larger view)

Open Mic Event

Thanks to All For Making Our Open-Mic Night a Great Success!

Jean Evans Joyce writes:

“The Open Mike Event tonight was an unbelievable amount of hometown talent! We had 13 individuals or groups come out to show us their talent. These were all original songs that they wrote and performed. 
Both 1st and 2nd places winners turned around and donated the cash prizes back to Lemon Bay Historical Society for Our Green Street Church. What a wonderful night !!”

Here are just a few pictures from the performance…

 

1st Place….Jack Mosley. Winning $50 cash prize donated by Suncoast Writers Guild.
3rd Place ….Went to youngest performer tonight Luca Gracia. Luca won a Lemon Bay Historical Society t-shirt.
2nd Place ….”Sweet Fever” (Chris Golly, Andrew Garcia and James Salaway) They won a $25 cash prize donated by The Englewood Little Band of Writers.

PRESS RELEASE:

Thanks to All For Making Our Open-Mic Night a Great Success!

When Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for “poetic expression in the American song-writer tradition”, song-writers all over Englewood held their heads a little higher.

On January 24th at 7pm, they got the chance to share their songs for a good cause – namely The Historic Green Street Church and Museum.  This local landmark offers an intimate venue with unique architecture that contributes to great acoustics. The building is owned by the Lemon Bay Historical Society and all proceeds from this event will go toward the building’s preservation and maintenance.

All singer-song-writers were welcome. Songs had to be original and family-friendly. Audience members were encouraged to “vote” for their favorites with cash donations and there were prizes for the songs that raised the most money.

Among the prizes sponsored by local organizations and businesses, was a $50 cash award sponsored by the Suncoast Writers Guild, Inc. “Songwriters are among the many kinds of writers our guild encourages.” Said Kari Burgess, the guild’s President.

In 2009 members of this local writers group formed a band and called themselves Englewood’s Little Band of Writers (ELBOW). They are frequent performers at the Green Street Church, leading community sing-alongs and adding music to original productions.

“There are so many singer-song-writers in our community,” said Linda Lou Lewis, founding member of ELBOW. They are performing at local restaurants, gathering for weekly jam sessions. Some are singing at church or with family and some just sit alone in their living rooms and sing their songs.”

This event was a chance for us all to get together, share and celebrate what we do. It was also a chance for the community to hear some great homegrown “American” music while they help to preserve a piece of Englewood history.

(Photos courtesy Jean Evans Joyce)

Samantha Gentrup‎ writes:
“A fabulous open-mic night to raise money for Green Street Church Historical Building.”
She posted these photos…