Didn't know they had message boards here

[Beachblonde393]

Well, yeah I had no clue that they had some of these on the Grayton Beach site. Glad I found it now.

Just thought I would say, Van R. Butler is my great-grandfather. His daughter Helen Janice Toole is my grandmother, and her son Stan Toole is my father.

It used to be lots of fun when I was little and there was almost nobody on the beach except for my big family. Now I have people at my school wearing Red Bar shirts.

[GraytonBound]

[Kimmifunn]

Message Boards...Crack...they're both addictive!

[Smiling JOe]

Welcome Beachblonde, I bet you can give us much perspective regarding Grayton, and I hope you continue to chime in.

[Smiling JOe]

Message Boards...Crack...they're both addictive!

I don' know what you are talking about. I gave up crack years ago.

[kathydwells]

I don' know what you are talking about. I gave up crack years ago.

Bleachblonde!!!!

[steele mama]

Well, yeah I had no clue that they had some of these on the Grayton Beach site. Glad I found it now.

Just thought I would say, Van R. Butler is my great-grandfather. His daughter Helen Janice Toole is my grandmother, and her son Stan Toole is my father.

It used to be lots of fun when I was little and there was almost nobody on the beach except for my big family. Now I have people at my school wearing Red Bar shirts.

Is this the little girl next door (JT) that played with my daughter Jancy Steele?

[Miss Kitty]

This is the CUTEST thread in a long time!!! It's a REUNION!

[ShallowsNole]

Welcome! I'm not technically kin to you, but your dad is my cousin's cousin.

[OnMackBayou]

My daughter is very proud to go to Van R. Butler. Can you tell us anything about him? She would love a good story to tell her class. Especially one that comes straight from a descendant.

[kurt]

http://graytonbeach.com/history.html

"The hogs were all over the place, " Butler said. "They would get under the house and have a big time."

In the early '20's, Butler left Grayton Beach to study at the University of Florida, where he earned an education degree. He returned to Grayton Beach in 1926 to start his own homestead and teach, first in Santa Rosa Beach and later at the Point Washington school. Butler got back to Grayton Beach just in time to survive the hurricane of 1926, the same storm that is credited with creating Destin's East Pass and turning Choctawhatchee Bay into a saltwater body. The hurricane also swept out the foundation of Grayton Beach's largest home, giving it the name the Wash-A-Way. The storm blew away a good portion of the dunes, leaving the beach flat and hard enough, Butler said, that he and a friend drove a Model T along the shoreline to see what was left of Destin.


http://graytonbeach.com/butler.html
Van Ness R. "Van" Butler Sr., of Grayton Beach, Fla., passed away peacefully on Aug. 25, 2000, at the age of 96. He was born in Canova, S.D., on Sept. 21, 1903, and arrived in DeFuniak Springs with his parents, Willis H. and Elsie Holmes Butler, and family in 1907.

He is preceded in death by his wife of 58 years, Helen Enzor Butler; brothers, Bert Butler and James Butler; and sisters, Alice Kennedy and Ruth Gardner. Survivors include his son, Van Ness R. Butler Jr. and his wife, Jonnye, of Grayton Beach; daughters, Helen Janice Toole of Grayton Beach and Elsie Gretchen Enfinger of Tallahassee, Fla.; six grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Van grew up in DeFuniak Springs, where he graduated from Walton High School in 1922, and attended Palmer College. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1926 and began a teaching career in Point Washington and Santa Rosa Beach that same year. Van married Helen Enzors, also a teacher, in 1929. Van taught and was principal of what is now Bay Middle School and also the old Cessna Built School in Santa Rosa for over 30 years. He was honored for his educational contributions by having a new elementary school in South Walton named for him in 1996.

Van homesteaded 80 acres of land in Grayton Beach in 1926. In 1936, he inherited additional property in Grayton Beach and began a second career in the summer season selling lots and renting cottages. In 1938, he built a store and recreation hall in Grayton Beach, where many generations of young people gathered to dance and get acquainted. The building is now a popular restaurant known as the Red Bar.

Van helped organize Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative to bring power to South Walton in 1942 and served on their first board of directors. In the 1950s, he worked with C.H. McGee to get the first telephones in South Walton. He also built the first water system south of the bay in 1939. Over the years, he served his community in many roles.

[OnMackBayou]

Thanks Kurt. As usual you really provided some great information.

So, in other words, the bay used to be just another (huge) coastal lake? Wow. And I promise to never disgrace his legacy again by acting goofy at the Red Bar.

[Landlocked]

That's neat info about the bay. Never knew that

[kurt]

Click to read more. http://graytonbeach.com/history.html

The salt content was much lower before East Pass existed - we used to have lots of oysters and other critters that are gone now.

[Smiling JOe]

Click to read more. http://graytonbeach.com/history.html

The salt content was much lower before East Pass existed - we used to have lots of oysters and other critters that are gone now.

even lobsters I am told, though very few people ate the cockroaches of the sea.

[Beachblonde393]

Thank you, y'all are much more welcoming than other message boards I've been on.

Is this the little girl next door (JT) that played with my daughter Jancy Steele?

Well, I do remember Jancy, but I never played with her. That was my older sister Jennifer. I'm Jennifer's younger sister Julie.

Welcome! I'm not technically kin to you, but your dad is my cousin's cousin.

That's cool! Which cousin?


My daughter is very proud to go to Van R. Butler. Can you tell us anything about him? She would love a good story to tell her class. Especially one that comes straight from a descendant.

Well, I have very random memories of "grandpa" as we called him. I mostly remember what his house was like and going to play in his toy room and visiting him before we went to the beach. We would also have lemonade sells in front of his house.

I have heard lots of stories from my dad and grandma, though. His nurse used to bring him down to the beach on the boardwalk before sunset. He would go to watch all the people that were there (mostly the women) lol.

My dad says that one of his favorite foods was pickled pigs feet.

He was also like the only Gators fan in our family. He had a big team blanket on his bed.

We used to go to his house alot to eat fish that we caught and stuff.

I can't remember much right now, but I'll search my head while I try to sleep tonight for more. : )

[OnMackBayou]

even lobsters I am told, though very few people ate the cockroaches of the sea.

I saw a lady send some raw oysters back to the kitchen one time because a fly had landed on them.

[Smiling JOe]

Is this the little girl next door (JT) that played with my daughter Jancy Steele?

Well, I do remember Jancy, but I never played with her. That was my older sister Jennifer. I'm Jennifer's younger sister Julie.

So you are not a Steele, but your name is Julie and you have an older sister named Jennifer? Coincidence? Interesting.

[Beachblonde393]

So you are not a Steele, but your name is Julie and you have an older sister named Jennifer? Coincidence? Interesting.

No, I'm not related to them. They would stay next door to my grandma's house and Jancy and my sister Jennifer played togethor lol.

[Smiling JOe]

So you are not a Steele, but your name is Julie and you have an older sister named Jennifer? Coincidence? Interesting.

No, I'm not related to them. They would stay next door to my grandma's house and Jancy and my sister Jennifer played togethor lol.

You do know Jennifer, Julie, and Joy Steele though?

[KY oyster eater]

I saw a lady send some raw oysters back to the kitchen one time because a fly had landed on them.

Blasphemy!!!!! If flies weren't so important to the food chain I'd say eliminate all those pesky bastidges....and skeeters too.
:idea:

[kurt]

SJ that reminds me I saw "The Fisherman and His Wife" last week and Jenn was great of course.

[Oldtimer]

SJ that reminds me I saw "The Fisherman and His Wife" last week and Jenn was great of course.

And, by the way, Kurt, Jenn said you make a great duck quack! Have you thought about the stage?

[ShallowsNole]

As far as the cousins - that would be Van & Donna. Van Ness' wife, Jonnye, is my late mom's sister.

However, I grew up here with all "the grandchildren" and now many of our kids are growing up here with each other too. I am often asked if I'm kin to the Infingers and we all laugh and say we might as well be, because that's easier than explaining why we aren't.

Also, I'm kin by marriage to the Butlers through the other side of my family too. Van Ness' cousin, Albert, is married to my late dad's sister. (Freaked out yet?) It is truly a small world.

Grandpa Butler once explained to me that he wanted to go to FSU but they wouldn't let him in. See, back then it was all-female (and you've been told how he liked to look at the ladies!).

[kurt]

And, by the way, Kurt, Jenn said you make a great duck quack! Have you thought about the stage?

Life is a stage.

[kurt]

As far as the cousins - that would be Van & Donna. Van Ness' wife, Jonnye, is my late mom's sister.

However, I grew up here with all "the grandchildren" and now many of our kids are growing up here with each other too. I am often asked if I'm kin to the Infingers and we all laugh and say we might as well be, because that's easier than explaining why we aren't.

Also, I'm kin by marriage to the Butlers through the other side of my family too. Van Ness' cousin, Albert, is married to my late dad's sister. (Freaked out yet?) It is truly a small world.

Grandpa Butler once explained to me that he wanted to go to FSU but they wouldn't let him in. See, back then it was all-female (and you've been told how he liked to look at the ladies!).

We are all related. Just start a family tree sometime and you'll see it's never ending.

[kathydwells]

We are all related. Just start a family tree sometime and you'll see it's never ending.

UH OH, you guys probably don't like the idea of being related to me.

[Beachblonde393]

As far as the cousins - that would be Van & Donna. Van Ness' wife, Jonnye, is my late mom's sister.

However, I grew up here with all "the grandchildren" and now many of our kids are growing up here with each other too. I am often asked if I'm kin to the Infingers and we all laugh and say we might as well be, because that's easier than explaining why we aren't.

Also, I'm kin by marriage to the Butlers through the other side of my family too. Van Ness' cousin, Albert, is married to my late dad's sister. (Freaked out yet?) It is truly a small world.

Grandpa Butler once explained to me that he wanted to go to FSU but they wouldn't let him in. See, back then it was all-female (and you've been told how he liked to look at the ladies!).


Whoa cool! lol that is weird. But Jonnye isn't my cousin she's my aunt......i don't i'm really confused.

You probobly remember more things about Grandpa than me then lol if you knew him. He died when i was in 6th grade.

You do know Jennifer, Julie, and Joy Steele though?

okay i think your a bit cofused too, lol.

I'm Julie Toole and my sister's name is Jennifer Toole. When we come to Grayton, we would stay at my grandma's house. Joy and Jancy Steele would stay next door at the Pinkston's. Jancy and my sister Jennifer were close in age and would play togethor, but their not related to us.

[Beachblonde393]

this was also a while ago though.

[kurt]

this was also a while ago though.

If you are a Junior this year, you may be our youngest poster yet that I know about. I was hoping we'd get some local high schoolers on board some day.

[Beachblonde393]

lol yay!

[ShallowsNole]

I should have been more specific, being as there are four generations of Vans... Jonnye is my aunt, and she is your aunt too. Van III is my first cousin, and your dad's first cousin.

In any case, welcome aboard!

[Kimmifunn]

Beachblonde....if you're a junior in high school- I have a 16 year old brother who is going to be a junior this year! We should hook ya'll up. Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match... here's a picture of him- he's to the left of the girl with the bird on her head!

Haha! He would kill me! :laughing1

[Beachblonde393]

hahaha sure

but are y'all really from New York? that would be kind of hard lol

[Kimmifunn]

Oh...Cameron lives in Birmingham. I am the only one in NY. He's in Grayton all the time with the fam. He's actually on Sowal. I think he's Parrothead74. Again...he's going to kill me!

[Parrothead74]

yea thanks for the good picture of me on here. other than the fact that i have no hair anymore... well i would stay and write a longer reply but for some reason i get to go down to sowal right now and pack up some bags of a certain person who moved away a couple of weeks ago and come back tomorow just in time to make it back to school and football practice on monday haha ill be back on later.

[Parrothead74]

o my god look at whitneys face dont you love it. college football in 6 days.. hell yea vestavia football in 5. bye i got pulled over in Mountain Brook today call me when you see this

[Kimmifunn]

Haha! Kurt...here is your other high school poster.

Sorry Cameron...not everyone can be daddy's little girl. Enjoy Sowal while you are there. Don't be such a stick in the mud. Are you driving MY car down? Oh yeah..make sure you pack the dishes...if Patrick didn't do it. :laughing1

[whiteyfunn]

Kimmifunn...Take that pic off right now. Captain Morgan would be so embarrassed! :oops: Nice avatar by the way...

[Kimmifunn]

WLaner! You are going to be part of the LOOOOVE connection! :laughing1 :laughing1 :laughing1

[whiteyfunn]

I do recommend Cameroonie to any girl. He's a great driver and probably the best rapper I've ever heard.

[Kimmifunn]

Cameron is not happy with me...neither is Gus. They got to my apartment and apparently Patrick couldn't do the only 2 things I asked him to do. Run the dishwasher and empty his stuff out of the fridge. And the power was cut off...so no A/C. Gus and Cammyron are showing NO love...

[seagrover]

Kimmifunn...expect a package in the mail soon...muuaahhh!!!

[Kimmifunn]

Ohh I can't wait!

I'll start sending care packages when I start getting paid!!!

[Beachblonde393]

Hey who is gonna go to the Hoover ESPN game? haha my school is the best.

[Kimmifunn]

I heard they were shooting some reality show at Hoover...

[Beachblonde393]

yeah, we surrently have MTV camera's filming a True Life special on the football players

[Kimmifunn]

Oh...that should be cool. Do you go to Spain Park or Hoover? Are they similar...or pretty different?

[Beachblonde393]

I go to Hoover. The difference between Spain Park and Hoover is that we are bigger..........and better.

[steele mama]

Hi Julie. I am Jennifer, Julie, Joy and Jancy Steele's mother. We are the Pinkston's next door to your grandma. I remember you when you were very little and Jancy and Jennifer played together. I can't believe you are so grown up. Jancy started college this year. Yea, the Jennifer/Julie thing is quite a coincidence.

Your cousin Donna Butler and I played together also when we were growing up at Grayton.

Kurt, I am glad you got to see Fisherman...