Wotitzky, Frank and Helen

 

titzky’s contributions to their community spanned law, government, charity, and social life, and their names became intertwined with the growth and character of Punta Gorda during the mid-20th century

Frank Wotitzky was born in Punta Gorda on October 8, 1916, the son of Edward and Celia Wotitzky, members of one of Punta Gorda’s earliest  families. He grew up in a town that was still small and close-knit, graduated from Charlotte High School. He went on to study at the University of Florida, earning  both B.S. and B.A. in degrees and completing  his LL.B. at the university’s College of, later receiving a J.D. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1940, marking the start of a long legal career that would be intertwined with the civic life of his hometown.

During World War II, Frank served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy. He spent three years on active sea duty, seeing service in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific. After the war he returned home to Punta Gorda and established the Wotitzky Law Firm, a practice that would become one of the area’s enduring institutions. Over the decades that followed, Frank became not only a respected attorney but a community leader. He served as Punta Gorda’s City Attorney from 1949 to 1952 and held leadership roles in numerous local organizations, including the 20th Judicial Circuit Bar Association, the Punta Gorda Jaycees, the Kiwanis Club, and the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club. Known affectionately in town as “Mr. Frank,” he earned a reputation for his professionalism, generosity, and devotion to the civic wellbeing of Charlotte County. Even late in life, his commitment to service remained evident; his will included a bequest to Habitat for Humanity, enabling the construction of another home for a local family.

Helen Brawner Wotitzky was born on Gasparilla Island and raised in the region that would later become modern Charlotte County. After graduating from DeSoto High School in Arcadia, she began her career in county government, working in several DeSoto County offices before moving into the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the newly established Charlotte County. In 1952 she was appointed to complete an unexpired term as Clerk of the Circuit Court and was then elected to a full four-year term, becoming one of the early women to hold a significant county office in the region.

Helen was active in many aspects of Punta Gorda’s community life. She was a devoted member of the First United Methodist Church, where she served for many years as treasurer, and she held leadership positions in a variety of civic organizations, including the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, the Punta Gorda Junior Women’s Club, the March of Dimes, and the Punta Gorda Garden Club.

 

Frank and Helen married in 1951 and built a life rooted in public service, civic responsibility, and deep affection for their community.

Wotitzky, Edward

 

In 1889, Edward Wotitzky, son of pioneer Jacob Wotitzky, came to Punta Gorda from New York City.  Jacob had coaxed his young son to Florida with promising descriptions of warm climate, beautiful scenery, and potential. 

When he came to Punta Gorda, there were only three stores and 15 residences. Soon after arriving, he joined his father in the dry goods business.  While father cared for the store, son Edward sailed a schooner up and down Florida’s coastline, as far as Miami, and through the islands along the west coast delivering and acquiring goods.

In addition to running his many businesses, which included, the store, the town’s main all-year hotel, the Dade, and many residential rental properties, Edward was very civically engaged.  He served as a City Councilman, County Supervisor of Registration (Elections), Justice of the Peace and in several other capacities.  He was also a prominent Mason.

In 1908, he married Celia Hart, pictured with him above, daughter of another pioneer grocer, Gus Hart.   They had two sons, Leo, who became a teacher and then state legislator, and Frank, who became a local attorney and founded the Wotitzky Law Firm.  

Born in 1892 to Nicholas and France Weeks of Bogue Sound, North Carolina, Matt Weeks was part of the contingent from the coast of North Carolina that started coming to the west coast of Florida in the winters in the late 1800s and early 1900s for commercial fishing. 

Week's early love of the sea led him to work on oil freighters, but when he met Mamie Riggs at Charlotte Harbor his seafaring days ended.  He started the Weeks Machine Shop and Boat Works on the Long Dock, later moved to Maud Street, married Mamie and moved to a house on Harvey Street. 

He became a county commissioner and served for 23 years during the 1930s and 40s.  He served with Vasco Peeples at a time when the commission was instrumental in getting new roads and bridges built.  According to an interview with Leo Wotitsky "The county was trying to build some roads and streets, and Matt would go out and supervise construction and do all sorts of things."

Matt and Mamie raised 5 children in Punta Gorda: William, Ralph, Jane, Martha and Wayne. 

 

 

 

 

Arriving in the Charlotte Harbor area 15 years before the start of the Civil War, the Whidden family were truly pioneers. It wasn’t easy to make a living in Florida in the 1850s, so James Whidden began to acquire cattle.  When the Civil War started, James Whidden, along with other local cattlemen, ran the Union blockade of Charlotte Harbor to supply cattle to the Confederacy and then to Cuba when the Civil War ended.   As written in Angie Larkin’s book “In Old Punta Gorda” “The cattle industry was an integral part of Florida’s early growth. In the Punta Gorda area, shipments of beeves were at their high between 1901 and 1908.  Cattle were driven out Marion Avenue to a loading dock west of town and herded onto boats sailing to Cuba.  Roundup time was one of excitement and noise in town.”  Cattle continued to be a major source of income in the Charlotte Harbor area until Cuba imposed an import tax of $2.50 per head on the cattle, reducing the shipments.  The arrival of the railroad in 1886 had opened a new market for the cattlemen to market their beef domestically and continue to prosper.

 

James Whidden’s son, Robert Whidden, had 1,000 head of cattle of his own on 7,000 acres of land. To earn a steady living, he also worked as the ranch foreman for W. Luther Koon, one of the area’s largest cattlemen.  Robert had two children, James Edward and Florence. James was born in 1904 in a frame house in Charlotte Harbor just northeast of where Rolls Landing is now. Even as youngsters, children worked to help the family. Life was not easy.  It was a 9-hour trip from their home in Charlotte Harbor to Punta Gorda via horseback through Fort Ogden where the river was shallow enough to forge.  Rounding up and driving the cattle to market was a time-consuming process. There were no fences in Florida as everything was open range.   Camping out in the open with a saddle for a pillow, the food was pretty plain, and the days were long. Roundups generally started in July when the spring born calves would be marked, branded and dipped.  Steers would be driven to the market. As the cattle industry decreased in the area, several of the Whidden family earned a living fishing during the days that mullet fishing was a primary source of income in Charlotte Harbor.

 

In addition to cattle and fishing, the Whidden family had citrus groves to supplement their income and later generations became developers, developing Whidden’s Industrial Park on Harborview Road. Several generations of Whiddens are buried at the Charlotte Harbor Cemetery so they are still right at home where they rode the range. The 6th generation of Whiddens still reside here in Charlotte County.

 

 

Mrs. Virginia Taylor Trabue

 

Mrs. Virginia Taylor Trabue was the wife of the town's founder, Col. Isaac Trabue.  The daughter of James and Charlotte Scarborough Taylor, she was born in Savannah on December 19 in 1832.  During the Civil War, she lived on the Isle of Mann, off the coast of England, with her mother.  She returned to New York City in 1865 where she met and married Isaac.  They settled in Kentucky where Isaac practiced law.

In 1885, the Trabues came to the land that Isaac had purchased south of the Peace River, and Virginia became one of Punta Gorda's first pioneer women.  Working with her husband to help establish the town that became Punta Gorda, she lived on land with no streets or stores that was covered with palmettos and swamps with alligators, snakes, panthers, and bears.  They lived initially in a dilapidated wooden shack right on the water's edge originally constructed by the Laniers. 

Virginia, an Episcopalian, was very instrumental in the early establishment of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.  She convinced the bishop to start the St. James mission in Punta Gorda in 1892 that became the Church of Good Shepherd. 

Less than 5-feet tall and an avid chess player.  Her and Isaac dedicated a block in Punta Gorda for the growing of pineapples to support an annual chess tournament.  After Isaac died in 1907, Virginia continued to reside in Punta Gorda.  Ever the civic-minded, she dedicated Cross Park - the current location of the Event Center - which had been deeded to her in 1911 to the city.  She is also said to have deeded the city the land for the original City Hall building.

There is a record of her living in Punta Gorda as late as 1920, when on her 88th birthday many of the townspeople came to her home on Cross Street at the time to wish her well.  She had many friends in the town, as evidenced by the cards she sent here when traveling.  The wife of R.K. Seward, owner and founder of the Herald, was a close friend.  

Virginia Trabue died in 1924.  Her grave is in Indian Springs Cemetery. 

Helphenstine, Bob and JoAnn

Bob and JoAnn Helphenstine established what would become an iconic Punta Gorda business, Palm Auto Mall, a multimillion-dollar auto dealership.  They also contributed in many significant ways to the continued development and prosperity of their adopted community.  

Bob and JoAnn moved here from the Jacksonville area in 1955 after purchasing Campbell Chevrolet.  At that time their new dealership was surrounded by cattle fields and woods.  Since the name Helphenstine was so long, they decided to name the business, Palm Chevrolet.  Bob became the salesman working the front of the dealership; JoAnn took over keeping the books and became an indispensable part of the overall operation.  As the area grew, so did their business, from a one-dealership company to Palm Auto Mall, lining both sides of Tamiami Trail with a wide variety of car brands.  After Bob passed away in 2002, JoAnn took over and oversaw even more growth with additional buildings and brands.  Then after 60-plus years in the business, JoAnn sold Palm Auto to Gettel in 2017.

During his life in Punta Gorda, Bob Helphenstine also served on the City Council from 1968 to 1978, participating in talks that led to the development of Fishermen’s Village and helping to oversee many important city projects including the construction of a new sewage treatment plant and expansion of the water plant.  He was a believer in managed growth and thought that “if you weren’t moving forward, you were moving backward.”  Bob also served on the boards of numerous community organizations, including the Edison Community College Foundation, the Charlotte County Vocational Center and the Charlotte County YMCA.

JoAnn has served on many nonprofit boards, as well, like the YMCA and Florida Southwestern State College, and has supported countless local charities and nonprofits.

 

McCann, John (Jack)

John (Jack) McCann was born in Key West, Florida in 1866.  He arrived in what came to be Punta Gorda in 1886 as a captain of Perry McAdow’s schooner “Silver Spray.” In 1892, he married Mary Frances Roe with whom he had three children born in Punta Gorda: Maive, Bertram and Edward.  

Captain McCann obtained fame by taking the former President Teddy Roosevelt in search of the devil fish in March of 1917.  The widely publicized event had resulted in Roosevelt’s catch of a 16 foot, 8 inch manta ray.

McCann was the city’s Marshall and was in charge of the storm warning service for more than 30 years beginning in 1912.  He displayed storm warnings from a 75 foot high steel structure on the bay front.

Captain McCann was also a member of Punta Gorda’s first Board of Trade.  He also had many hobbies including horticulture.  He was the first person to develop a double hibiscus and the first pink and white double amaryllis.

McCann died at his home at 713 West Retta Esplanade in 1944.

Guthrie, William Elza

 

William Elza Guthrie was born in Charlotte Harbor, Florida on December 28, 1895, only eight years after the incorporation of Punta Gorda.  His father, William B. Guthrie, was instrumental in establishing the commercial fishing industry at Charlotte Harbor after arriving with wife, Lillian, from North Carolina. 

Will Guthrie spent most of his life working in the fishing industry, 44 years with the Punta Gorda Fish Company, where he became a senior officer, its secretary and treasurer.  Will’s first career though was teaching at the local school in Charlotte Harbor, where he met his wife, Freddie Lee Roberts, also a teacher, whom he married in 1919.  His concern for schooling led to a 19-year role on the Charlotte Country School Board, sixteen of those years as Chair of the Board.  

Guthrie was also very active civically, as a charter member of the Punta Gorda Rotary and a grandmaster of the Masons Lodge of Punta Gorda.  Thanks to him, we have a written history of the local fishing industry that he wrote for a presentation to the Rotary. 

Will and Freddie made their home and raised six children in Punta Gorda, where Mrs. Guthrie also became very involved in the community, serving among other roles, as President of the Punta Gorda Woman’s Club.  

Will passed away at 67 in 1963.  At his funeral, the pall bearers and honorary pall bearers included a large roster of Punta Gorda’s civic leaders of the day.  

 

 

Goff, Wayne

Wayne Goff was a prominent builder and developer known throughout Charlotte County for his generous contributions to many organizations in the community.  He was instrumental in the startup of the Punta Gorda History Center. 

Wayne was a fourth-generation descendant of the Goff family who were original settlers of Englewood. A 1957 graduate, he was class president and played football, basketball and baseball at Charlotte High School; he remained an active CHS supporter throughout his lifetime. Wayne graduated from the University of Florida, College of Planning, Design, and Construction. He began his career with E. I. DuPont, then formed Goff Construction, Inc. in 1960; it is Charlotte County's first State Certified Class "A" general contractor.

Wayne was a builder/developer of Punta Gorda Isles (1970-1984), and owner and President of Church Growth & Building Consultants. He donated his services as general contractor for many churches, the Performing Arts Center, Habitat for Humanity Punta Gorda, the Punta Gorda History Center and for the construction of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Punta Gorda. He was instrumental in advancing Port Charlotte "U", an adult education school for retired residents, into the Cultural Center of Charlotte County.  He served with First Baptist Churches of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, Peace River Baptist Association, Florida Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Convention, Economic Development Council, Punta Gorda Rotary Club, Englewood Area Historical Museum, Charlotte High School Boosters, and Tidewell Hospice.

Wayne was married to his wife, Donna, for over fifty years. They raised three children: Keith,  Karen and Karla.