Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor
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Tune in to the Ft. Myers Beach – Good Neighbor Podcast, where the spirit of community meets the rhythm of island life. Each episode is a laid-back journey through heartfelt stories, local voices, and the connections that make our beach town so special. Whether you’re a resident or just dreaming of coastal breezes, let us be your guide to all things good in our neighborhood.
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Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor
The Unstoppable 97 year old Betty Jean: Work Hard, Party Hard!!!
Betty Jean isn't just a Fort Myers Beach icon—she's a living testament to embracing life with unstoppable energy at age 97. Her journey from Wisconsin bar owner to beloved beach personality offers a masterclass in aging gracefully through constant engagement and community connection.
Arriving on the island in November 1990, Betty found herself "hooked on the beach" after what was supposed to be a brief family visit. Having operated a neighborhood bar in Wisconsin for 16 years, she quickly immersed herself in Fort Myers Beach's hospitality scene. From the Pink Shell to Jimmy B's (until Hurricane Charlie destroyed it in 2005), through the Fishmonger, Naughty Turtle, Nervous Nellies, and Hurricane Tina's 5 Star Dive Bar—Betty's career traces the evolution of the island's beloved establishments.
What's truly remarkable is her current schedule: She regularly works four to five double shifts weekly, maintaining a pace that would exhaust people decades younger. Beyond work, Betty stays active with bingo nights, yard work, and enjoying live music—living her own philosophy of "work hard and party hard."
The wisdom Betty shares comes from nearly a century of experience: "An old mind is like an old horse—you gotta keep it working." Her perspective on Fort Myers Beach highlights what makes this community special: despite different opinions, when someone needs help, everyone comes together. This spirit of mutual support became especially evident following Hurricane Ian, when residents rallied around each other.
Want to meet more incredible neighbors like Betty? Nominate your favorite local legends and island businesses by visiting CaboWaboJim.com or calling 239-427-4100 and discover why Fort Myers Beach is truly a slice of paradise.
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Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor Podcast, where the sun's always shining and the stories are even brighter. Each episode we bring you closer to the neighbors, local legends and beachside businesses that make Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love. Pull up a beach chair, grab a drink and let's meet the people who make this island feel like home. We want to send out some island love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance, usa and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers. Love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance, usa and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers. They are the businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener, from local stories to the positive vibe of island life. Here's to celebrating all that makes Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love. Here's your host, cabo.
Speaker 3:Well, welcome good neighbors to the Good Neighbor Fort Myers Beach podcast. Today we have Good Neighbor Betty Jean. She's been an icon on the island for years and we're going to learn a little bit about her story. So, without further ado, you said what you got here in 1990?.
Speaker 1:November 1st of 1990. Wow.
Speaker 3:From Wisconsin right.
Speaker 1:From.
Speaker 3:Wisconsin. Where in Wisconsin, milton, milton, wait a second. I know where that is.
Speaker 1:30 miles straight south of Madison.
Speaker 3:Since I was born in Hillsboro, which is by Beaver Dam in Boston, and I think some of my ancestors and relatives lived in Milton.
Speaker 1:I had a bar for 16 years on Lake Tushkanon.
Speaker 3:In Milton.
Speaker 1:In Milton, really Outside of Milton, wow, yeah.
Speaker 3:And how did you get involved in Ephesus?
Speaker 1:Well, I lived in Rockford and worked at Amrock Corporation, which was a big building downtown Rockford, but we had a cottage on Lake Tushkanan that we would go up to on the weekends in the summer and my husband would bartend at the little local bar and I would cocktail. And we did that for two years, three years. And we did that for two years, three years, and then on New Year's Eve day of 1964, the owner, male, got up, went to the bathroom and died. Wow, like you hear, yeah, yeah, I'm just following it right. And when the renewal of the license was due in July, the owner did not want to run it by herself. So she said she would sell it to us, which we did on a land contract, which she practically gave it to us rather than sell, you know, and that's how I got it. And so then we had to move to Wisconsin, right?
Speaker 3:Nothing wrong with that. I was the other way. I was born in Wisconsin and grew up in Illinois, but I still my heart's in Wisconsin. I love it there.
Speaker 1:It's a lot different and but we love it. Uh, no, supper club, fish fries, anything like that it's just a little neighborhood bar right before. Anything was called a dining bar, I guess, but it was just a local in a little um uh subdivision out on the lake. Okay, wow.
Speaker 3:That's all of Wisconsin. There's a bar in every corner, right yeah?
Speaker 1:Well, there was a very popular, well-known supper club I don't know what that's about Called the Buckhorn, okay, that a lot of people came to, yeah, that a lot of people came to and they would eat there because it was over here. And then come the block over after eating for the entertainment at our bar, because we had music every night of the week or we had something both every night of the week, and then another block over there was a sort of a breakfast place and breakfast and lunch place and just a little place.
Speaker 3:So brandy old fashions.
Speaker 1:No, I think Southern Comfort old fashions.
Speaker 3:There you go.
Speaker 1:Until one day I got stupid, so I quit.
Speaker 3:It's probably a good decision, right, good decision, there we go. So how did you end up down in Fort?
Speaker 1:Myers. Well, my parents lived in Fort Myers and my daughter and granddaughter were down here in the Bellevue-Otella area, okay, and my youngest son was also working down here and a stepdaughter was here in Fort Myers Beach. And when I moved down here I bought a house in Ocala well, bellevue and then came down here to see the stepdaughter and she said can you stay for a week and watch the granddaughter while she had to go to a seminar? And I said, yeah, no problem. And then she got back and she says well, I have to go up to Georgia, can you stay another week? Well, by then I was hooked on the beach. I had always lived on water, she said. I felt sort of like dried up up there. So I said, the heck with up there. My daughter moved into the house I bought up there. I sit down here and pay rent.
Speaker 3:Not a bad deal right by the beach right.
Speaker 1:No, I'm not by the beach, I'm up in Iona.
Speaker 3:But you're close to the water right.
Speaker 1:I'm not by the beach, I'm up in Iona, but you're close to the water, right, I'm close to the water.
Speaker 3:So did you start working when you were down here, or how did that work?
Speaker 1:The first of December I started at what then was a little pink pantry at the Pink Shelf, yeah. And then that was in December, the first part of December, because I ran into somebody that says why don't you come work down here for us? And then how did I get to Gleisley Lumber? Anyhow, in February I started at Gleisley Lumber, which is gone now, and then in so that was 71, I mean 91. And then in I think it was June yeah, june of 91 that Jimmy B's opened and I went to work there in the evenings. I worked at the lumberyard in the daytime and Jimmy B's, I worked at the lumberyard in the daytime in Timiti's, and then the manager they had left and they said what are we going to do for a manager? And one of the girls said well, betty had a bar in Wisconsin. She ought to know how to manage the place. You got nominated and I was there until Hurricane Charlie took it out.
Speaker 3:Oh, that was early 2000s, right About 2005. Yep, yep.
Speaker 1:Friday, the 13th. Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:That's fun. And that was the first major hurricane we had in a long time. In a while, yeah, back in the 60s, right, wow. And then where did life take you after, charlie?
Speaker 1:To what was then Channel Mark Okay, over here, you after charlie. To what was then channel mark okay, over here, and uh, and then when uh, tim went out, then I went to what was jimmy b's rooftop above what dusseldorf's, and that was, yeah, and then the town bought that property. I went there the first of the month, whatever, whenever it was, I don't remember the date, but I went there to do my inventory for the month, you know, and the manager called the owner, called me up and said Betty, we aren't opening. Call everybody and tell them there's a water leak and we can't opening. Call everybody and tell them there's a water leak and we can't open, and because they didn't want to broadcast yet, and so, anyhow, that was that.
Speaker 1:And where did I go from there? I think I went to the fishmonger from there, and then they. And then when did I go from there? I think I went to the Fishmonger from there, and then Nauti Turtle opened and they went over there. Then, when it closed, I went to Nervous Nellies and then, when the Oasis opened, or the Nauti Parrot opened.
Speaker 3:I went there Right, back and forth Right just back and forth.
Speaker 1:Right, I got a beautiful resume.
Speaker 3:I'm sure You've seen a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the reason you left it closed, oh there you go. It closed.
Speaker 3:I bet it can work for you. We'll close shortly, don't worry.
Speaker 1:Wow, and now you're at Siricantino's, I'm here three mornings a week and then I work at the Naughty Parrot away to South Island 41 four nights and Sundays when needed and the Sundays are usually optional to the band and I work at the Bel Air Beach Club, which is a timeshare on the beach, as assistant office manager.
Speaker 3:Wow Wednesdays and Saturdays, you just keep busy. You continue to keep going and keep busy.
Speaker 1:I do four, sometimes five doubles a week. Wow.
Speaker 3:Good for you. And you're what A young. How old are you?
Speaker 1:now I'm 97. 97. Soon to be 98. When's your birthday? October?
Speaker 3:October. What day, oh, you're not going to tell me?
Speaker 1:No, I'm a big. Then you have my month, my year, my date.
Speaker 3:All right, all right, all right. I'm a big Sammy Hagar fan. I'm sure you probably don't know who that is, but his birthday is October 13th, so we have a big party on the 13th. Lots of tequila, I'll just remember. Well, in October I'll just drink to your birthday All month. It's a month-long birthday. It's a month-long birthday. I always have a month-long birthday. I always have a month-long birthday. So how would you say working on the beach and being involved with the beach has evolved the person you are or changed your life?
Speaker 1:It's made me the person I am because of all the wonderful people that are here and being around people. When I was in Wisconsin, even though I had a bar, my father ran it in the daytime, my husband was an over-the-road semi-driver, I worked for an attorney, I worked in an office with a paralegal up there and because of that I had a notary's license and when I moved to Florida I just transferred it to Florida and one day we were at Jimmy B's and the manager they got a reservation for several rooms for a wedding and they asked the desk clerk, do you know anybody that can perform the wedding? And they said, well, we have a notary that works for us, that can do it, and that started it all. And several hundred, couple hundred weddings later, wow, and that's one thing. Being around people, yep, People, and they're all so wonderful people.
Speaker 3:And I think that helps keep you young and caring people Right. It's about good people and keeping the good energy around you, and you're just a welcoming person on top of it too.
Speaker 1:I just love being around people because that's what I've been all my life yeah, between working in the big factory and there and just everything. It's been people.
Speaker 3:And I just don't want to be home alone. I don't blame you who does right? Sometimes, when I'm at the beach, I like to be alone, but other than that, I like to be around people. Right To be around people, I agree, I agree. So, talking about Fort Myers Beach, you work an awful lot, right? What do you do when you get a moment of free time?
Speaker 1:When I get done work at night especially after a double which is Monday, thursday, friday and Saturday I go somewhere after work where I can sit and have a beer and listen to music. Live music is great, live music, live music is great Live music. Except on Thursday nights I go to Valerie's and play bingo.
Speaker 3:Oh, are you good at bingo.
Speaker 1:I've been sort of lucky lately, yes, and I just love to play bingo. That's the only gambling I do Really, except getting fools. Oh yeah, that's not even gambling, no, except getting fools at football oh yeah.
Speaker 3:That's not even gambling.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:I don't call that gambling. You stay young in a lot of different ways, right and then.
Speaker 1:I take care of my backyard. Before Hurricane Ian, I took care of Seven Yards, wow. Or the owner that owns Seven Properties around me, wow. But then, after Ian, he hired a full-time Mike that owns the Duplex and he hired a full-time maintenance man. So I don't get to make it. That's my own yard. You can't come in my yard, that's it. You can do your own thing, that's great.
Speaker 1:So Friday mornings that I have free, and sometimes Sundays when I'm not at my other jobs not working real hard, I get paid for it, but then I work really hard in my backyard and don't get paid.
Speaker 3:Isn't that the way it?
Speaker 1:really is, so I'd rather be working.
Speaker 3:It's a little bit easier, right, you can relax. I'm going to work to relax today, it's okay. Wow, so is there something about Fort Myers Beach that we can share with our listeners? You mentioned the people, but maybe that we can share with people that are new to the area or coming to visit to the area?
Speaker 1:I don't know. It's just that it's a very friendly island and, even though we might have different ideas on different subjects, when somebody needs help they all come together for you. Everybody comes helps.
Speaker 3:Community supports community.
Speaker 1:Yes, a very supportive community in every way.
Speaker 3:And we saw a lot of that support through, obviously, hurricane Ian and what happened. Everybody kind of came together to help each other and especially Tina, who fed everybody and had the food wagon out front and helped everybody.
Speaker 1:Everybody helped everybody. But one thing they had at Hertz Arena they had a fundraiser for the beach people and all Leonard Skinner, rude, was there and, um, I forget the other bands, big bands, and I was management, that I was there, I didn't know it. So halfway through the evening, when the bands were changing out, the stage manager came out and he said I need your attention, everybody. And he says we have a 90-year-old lady in the audience, probably knows over 200 people here. She has seven jobs and she's going on, you know. And he says Betty, stand up. I was like I am. And he says Betty, stand up, I'm like I am. And we had moved from where we were supposed to be sitting to another place and they were trying to zero in on me over here and they finally caught me and found me, but then Alan was sitting two rows in front of me, so he got in on the spot too, but it was, you know, made me feel good.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:You've done a lot of good things for the area and the island and the people in the community and we appreciate everything you've done and being a part of what Fort Myers Beach really is.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people.
Speaker 3:So if the beach were to give you a nickname, I'm sure you've got quite a few, but is there a certain nickname that's stuck over the years?
Speaker 1:no, I'm just just betty, just betty, betty boop on the beach. There you go nothing wrong with that betty, I'm just betty, miss betty, very good very good any last as far good.
Speaker 3:Very good as far as I know, right, yeah, as far as you know, I haven't heard anything different. Any last words for our listeners today.
Speaker 1:Just work hard and party hard.
Speaker 3:I love that I love that and eat right, eat good stuff and drink good stuff. Right, I say life's too cheap to drink, gotta have a little party Right. Exactly that's what keeps you young Work hard and party hard, Following your advice.
Speaker 1:And then they always say a body in motion stays in motion. And one thing I do when I'm not busy here or at the naughty, I do word search, and one of them that I did it had little sayings that you had to find in the words and and this has stuck with me too and it said an old mind is like an old horse. You got to keep it working, I love that. So you got to keep working, you got to keep moving, keep moving. Don't be sitting at home on your you know what?
Speaker 3:And you're a prime example of that, and we love you. Thank you, betty, for being such a good neighbor and everything you've done for Fort Myers Beach, and we hope to see you at one of the bars.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't drink on the beach very often, right, because it's eight miles. I mean mean it's four miles back up there in my house. Yeah, you don't want to be diving all the way back there not to drink here and drive back off of the beach because they're the uh local department sits along the road waiting for somebody and being an older person. If, if anything happened, it would be my fault, even if it wasn't.
Speaker 3:So better be smart.
Speaker 1:Party close to home, right, so I drink locally. There you go Closer to home.
Speaker 3:And that's the important part. Yeah Well, Betty, thank you again today and thank you for your time and we love you and thank you for everything you've done.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for all the wonderful people on Fort Myers Beach.
Speaker 2:Thanks for tuning in to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor Podcast, where community meets paradise. If you love what you heard, share it with a friend and keep the good vibes going Until next time. Stay sunny, stay salty and keep being a good neighbor. Also, to nominate your favorite neighbors, local legends, heroes or island businesses to be on the show, go to CaboWaboJim. com. That's CaboWaboJim. com, or call 239-427-4100. We want to send out some island love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance USA and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers. They are the businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener, from local stories to the positive vibe of island life. Here's to celebrating all that makes Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love.