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
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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]
> .