Couple Trades Snow for Sunny Florida

By Liz Mitchell

Linda and Waymon Hearn left Illinois for their retirement dream in St. Augustine, FL, the day after her retirement from a teaching career. 
“We had the cars packed and planned to leave immediately on my very last day of work, but we were too tired,” she laughed in a recent interview.

“We didn’t have anything holding us in Peoria except our kids and grandkids, and we were ready to go,” he added.

“Our grandchildren are precious; they’re 10, 7 and 13 months, and we love them very much. They come to visit whenever they can,” she said.
In describing their trip to Florida, Waymon said, “It was the first time Linda had driven all the way to Florida, but we had to bring both cars. She was so ready to move that she didn’t mind driving the whole way.”

After a long-planned escape from the winter weather, the couple is now in the home they had built. They love the weather, the ocean, the sweet people they have met and everything about their new lifestyle. One of her interests is the variety of flowers she can grow, even in the soft sandy soil. They spend time at their pool and go to the beach every day.

Drawing on her 28 years of teaching and her doctorate in elementary education, Linda is starting a consulting business.  “Teaching fifth grade was wonderful, and I enjoyed it, but I was ready to retire. I miss it, but I don’t want to go back. That was a long time to teach.”

Waymon, retired from 36 years at Caterpillar Tractor, enjoys a part-time job driving for Enterprise. He can easily indulge his love of meeting people. “Just recently I met a Minnesota Viking fan. And I met a man whose wife was in Linda’s sister’s wedding,” he said.
The Hearns had vacationed in Florida for many years and owned a timeshare in St. Augustine before building their own home to prepare for permanent relocation. When deciding on the location, they visited a number of destinations from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale to Kissimmee. Finding many areas too crowded, they found their perfect choice, though the St. Augustine area also is growing.

Florida was an initial retirement choice because of a military friend who was a Jacksonville native. He and Waymon had promised to keep in touch but drifted apart during the years of relocating and raising families.

“I didn’t know how to track him down, but we came to Jacksonville on vacation and called the police department,” Waymon said. “They said they could find him if he was still there, and six hours later they called and said they would give him our phone number. He came to our hotel, showed us around and it was a nice reunion. Then we decided to tour St. Augustine. That was 1977, and we immediately decided this was where we would retire.

“We watched the area build over the years,” he continued. “We used to go to Shoney’s and Morrison’s, and they closed. The bridge was two-lane, and we watched them put the new bridge together.”
Waymon isn’t shy about his love of conversation, and he easily recalls the couple’s meeting when Linda was 12 years old and too young to date.

“I was out of college and was helping take care of the rest of my family. I left my home in Texas and went to Peoria to get a job where my brother was. I used to see Linda walking by our house. One day I gave her a dime and told her to call me when she was old enough, and then she would cross the street when she walked by,” he laughed. 
“A few years later I got drafted and one of my best friends told me to be sure to write Linda.”

She hadn’t forgotten Waymon. By then, she was then old enough to appreciate his flirtation.

Now married for 37 years, they have worked hard to complete their educations, raise two children and excel in high pressure careers.
“We did it all through faith and through helping each other,” he said, explaining their teamwork in managing their busy lifestyles. “I run things around the house - the vacuum cleaner, the washer, the dryer - things like that.”

They now take a cruise each year and travel to Tennessee to see her mother and to Illinois to see his mother and their grandchildren.
“Living here is like a vacation to us; we just love it so much,” Linda said.

Liz Mitchell writes from Beaufort, SC.