Lynn,

I will sure watch for Mr. Porecca this winter and  give him messages from
Conch-L.  We will be on Sanibel January , February and until March 11.   We
are at the Periwinkle Campground and are in the Sanibel Telephone Directory
(Floyd and Ardeth Hardin).  Would love to hear from conch-lers that come
that way.
Back to Mr. Porreca.  He gave me his address and told me where I could buy
his olive book.  I went and bought the book and went by his apartment and he
autographed it.  I took slides of he and his wife (who died just a few years
ago) , him with his sailor's valentines and where he worked on his
valentines. .  He would carry a small sailor's valentine in his pocket to
show people what he did with the wentletraps and would sell them if a person
asked if they could buy one.  A funny story--one day he had a real nice one
and this lady wanted to buy it and he said "40".
She said sure and pulled out 40 cents.  Of course it was $40--a lot of work
there and was a nice one.  I remember he talked about his iris farm even
before I bought the book.  He always said there  are 14 different species of
wentletraps on Sanibel.  He is also known as "Bert".

And now speaking of wentletraps.  Art, Bruce and Mr. Brown--I received my
"The Wentletrap Book" and it is great!  Will take it to the Texas COA so you
all can autograph it!!!!!

Ardeth Hardin Carrollton Tx
[log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: Lynn Scheu <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 1999 11:12 PM
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Olive Sayana


> Ardeth,
>
> How interesting! We take for granted the authors of these books we have
> used for years...that they are gone from us. I know Rowland Zeigler died
> some years back. Thanks for sharing this memory of Mr. Humbert C.
> Porreca with all of us. The book jacket tells us an entirely different
> side of him.  Born in Philadelphia (in 1898? My still-living grandmother
> was born that year too.) and educated there at Girard College, he moved
> to Rochester NY in 1918 to join the James Cunningham Son & Co. who were
> manufacturers of custom automobiles. He was Production Manager in 1954
> when he retired to devote his full attention to the raising and
> hybridizing of irises at his home, The Iris Farm, in W. Henrietta NY. He
> was a noted iris photographer and lecturer on irises as well as a
> successful hybridizer and he introduced many named varieties.
>
> Spending his winters in Florida he devoted that time to fishing,
> photography and beachcombing. His interest in shelling stemmed from the
> July 1949 National Geographic article by Rutherford Platt, "Shells Take
> You Over World Horizons," an inspiration he had in common with Rowland
> Ziegler, though the latter was a becahcomber from childhood. Porreca
> specializes (still?) in "olives, cones, murex, latiaxis and others."
> The jacket text dates from 1969. No mention at all of his sailors'
> valentines. Perhaps he hadn't begun them yet?
>
> Checked Register of American Malacologists...Tucker lists his birth Jan
> 14, 1899. If you are in Sanibel this winter, and see him, do wish him
> the best from Conch-L, and thank him for his very helpful book.
>
> Lynn Scheu
> Louisville, KY
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> Ardeth Hardin wrote:
> >
> > Lynn, you mentioned Zeigler and Porreca's Olive Shells of the World.
Just a
> > note about Mr. Porreca.  He is 101 years old and
> > has been going to Sanibel even before the bridge was built.  He is
sometimes
> > known as the " Valentine Man"  or  " Patches."
> > He made Sailor;s valentines from the wentletraps, horses conchs and
other
> > small shells (one of which is in the Sanibel Shell
> > Museum)-thus the" Valentine Man".  He is known as "Patches"
> > because his wife always sewed patches on his khaki's since he would hunt
the
> > tiny wentletraps on his knees.  I received an
> > E-Mail from my friend who just returned to Sanibel for the winter and I
> > understand he will still be back this year.  If you have ever been to
> > Sanibel in the winter and saw a man clad in Khakis on his hands and
knees
> > near the lighthouse searching for wentletraps, it was surely Mr.
Porreca.
> > He was always generous with information on how to look for the
wentletraps
> > and would give away the larger ones that were not suitable for his
> > "valentines".  I don't think he is searching for the wentletraps anymore
but
> > you might see him sitting on the bench in his khakis there by the
service
> > station as you come off the Causeway onto Periwinkle as last year he
would
> > take walks and then sit on the bench awhile.
> >  I remember he said one time that he had never taken a live wentletrap.
He
> > always had time to talk to and answer questions from the many tourist
who
> > would go up to him and ask questions  and  there were many.
> > He used a butter cup to put the wentletraps in.  A very interesting man.
> >
> > Ardeth Hardin, Carrollton, Tx
> > [log in to unmask]
> > .
>