Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Coral Gables Times
Thursday, June 1, 1961, page 12 (of 20)
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THE CORAL GABLES TIMES
12 THE CORAL GABLES TIMES Thursday, June 1, 1961
When 26 Come Visitin' It's a Party at Fitz-Gibbons'
By HELEN REYNOLDS Times Society Editor Louise (Mrs. T. L.) Fitz-Gibbon, mother of seven and grandmother of 19, will tell you there is never a slack moment around their house. When all the children and grandchildren come to visit her home, 2616 De Soto Blvd., during the vacation periods it takes on the air of a hotel or motel. The drive is jam-packed with station wagons and other various types of automobiles. In fact, not too long ago, a man walked right up to the front door, and said "Where's the pool?" He mistook the home for Venetian Pool, which is right across the street. BIRTHDAY PARTY We called on Louise Wednesday of last week and she was in the midst of preparations for a family dinner-birthday party in honor of her husband, Dr. Fitz-Gibbon. She was baking the birthday cake and had just put it in the oven when we rang the bell. While we were waiting at the large, white, wrought iron screen door we got a glimpse of the circular stairway in the oval-shaped hall and the cool, green, un-carpeted tile floor. We also spied a great green watermelon in the entrance corner. We later learned that the doctor had bought several watermelons from a nearby farm while he had been up to his hunting lodge, at Immokalee, the weekend before. Louise did not realize there were any left. APOLOGIZED When Louise came to the door, we apologized for not calling her first, to warn her that we were on our way. The perfect mother that she is, said "Nonsense, there's nothing to baking a birthday cake, and I was just about to put it in the oven when you rang. Now there's nothing to do until it's time to take it out, so let's chat." We sat in the long cool, breezy living room and Louise proudly showed us a large pot of African violets. "My hobby," she said. "And I have a garden full of them." She told us she had just received a letter from her son Jim who said "his back yard is full of purple violets, with teensy leaves of green. But they are not like your violets, Mom; they are wood violets." African violets have thick pale green wooly leaves as large as the palm of your hand. 11 TROPHIES On the top of the high mantel over the fireplace, we counted 11 swimming trophies. They had been won by the youngest son, Jim. Louise, her eyes sparkling, said "Jim is on the University of Indiana swimming team and they won the state championship this year." Also on the mantel was a towering gold cup won by one of her daughters who was named "Sweetheart" of one of the UM fraternities. Louise is keeping all of the children's keepsakes at their request. She showed us many framed pictures of the children. Some of the shots were individual photographs and some were group pictures. As we chatted, Louise told us of the house, built in the boom days (1925) and a showplace of the Gables. It has had but three owners, the Don Peabodys, who built it, a family by the name of Johnson and the Fitz-Gibbons. When the Fitz-Gibbon family took it over there was a large fish pond in the oval-shaped hall but they had to have it taken out because the children insisted on throwing all kinds of food into it. CHAIR THERE NOW A big comfortable over-stuffed chair fills up the now vacant pond area. Louise said the chair helps to fulfill the seating needs and also that it is used to place the wraps of the guests. The guests at the birthday party will include the doctor's mother, who divides her time wintering with her daughter, Mrs. Walter A. Drummond of 1033 Coral Way, and the Fitz-Gibbons. Others are her daughter, Louise, and her husband, James Bennett Jr., and their four children. Louise, who lives on Devonshire Boulevard, is the only one of the seven children to live in the immediate area. The rest of the children will not be able to attend the birthday party because of the extensive travel involved. Another son Mike attends the University of St. Louis School of Dentistry. Their oldest son, Thomas, who is named after his father, is a Navy Lieutenant stationed at Corpus Christi. He is married and has two sons. Their daughter Jane, and her husband, H. E. Lennon, live in Plantation, Fla., and have two boys and three girls. Another daughter Ann (Mrs. W. J. Taylor) lives in Hartford, Conn., with their six children, three boys and three girls. Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. D. D. Ingram) lives in Jacksonville with their two children, a boy and a girl. WRITING A LETTER to one of her children is Mrs. T. L. Fitz Gibbon, 2616 DeSoto Blvd. She has seven children. In front of her are photographs of several of her 19 grandchildren. (Times photo by Raymond Lang.)
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Gablegrams
by helen reynolds society editor Not many newcomers to Coral Gables are aware that the man Dr. Gilbert Grosvenor, who transformed the "National Geographic Magazine," from a small technical publication into an institution with a circulation of 2,150,000 has a winter home at 3985 Douglas Rd., Coconut Grove. His wife, the former Elsie May Bell, and her sister, the former Marian Hubbard Bell, are the daughters of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. Marian Bell married David Fairchild for whom Fairchild Tropical Garden is named, with her famous husband she traveled all over the world in search of rare trees, flowers and fauna. They, too, were pictured in National Geographic over the years. Mrs. Fairchild still resides at "The Kampong," 4013 Douglas Rd. It faces the bay. The entrance hall has or used to have large tanks of gold fish inserted in the wall (at eye level). In an early issue we will do a feature story on the Grosvenors. ★ ★ ★ Jane (Mrs. Otis) Dunan, 2420 Granada Blvd., was a guest, along with her aunt Mildred, (Mrs. William) Pollard, of Terre Ceia, and Mrs. Fay Kennedy Walton, of Bradenton, here for a visit with Mildred's sister (Betsy (Mrs. George Dunan. Betsy took her guests on a wour-day cruise to Nassau. Betsy says the last time she visisted Nassau was during the war, and things have changed. Betsy and her late husband took trips around the world each summer, enjoying most of them by freighter steamers. ★ ★ ★ When Lt. JG) William H. H. Ginder Jr., stationed at Norfolk, Va., called his mother-in Isabel (Mrs. Frank Williams) to say Priscilla, his wife had just given birth to a baby daughter (May 24), Isabel left next morning by plane for Norfolk. She will be away two weeks. The baby named Kimberly Anne, and weighed five pounds, five ounces. Priscilla was a member of the first deb presentation (1959) at the Country Club of Coral Gables. Her husband was a cum laude graduate of Notre Dame University.
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