Capt. Sprott had to borrow gasoline from
the kind-hearted Capt. Johnson to enable
their round trip back to Boca Grande.
The wedding was held on Friday
afternoon at Miami’s 3rd Avenue Baptist
Church. To be able to attend the ceremony,
the best man, John E. Oberne, a business
associate of John’s, had to literally stop the
presses at his wartime busy paper mill under
the pretext of having to replace a “mill wire.”
After the
nuptials were
completed,
as reception
was given at
the nearby
Open Hearth
Restaurant. The
newly-joined
couple spent
the fi rst night of
their marriage at
the Hotel Good
on Miami Beach.
They occupied
the same
honeymoon
suite of rooms
that famous
movie star Myrna
Loy had recently
occupied.
The next
morning, at
5:30 a.m., John
returned to his
ship. The honeymoon was over.
The newlyweds lived one year together
in Key West. At the end of 1943, John was
re-assigned to the Pacifi c Fleet, where he
distinguished himself as a lieutenant and
was promoted to a lieutenant commander.
The couple’s fi rst child, Julie Montell, was
born in 1944 while John was out to sea.
Jane Van Auken arrived after the war in
1948 and John Scott in 1954.
For the next 34 years, John’s postwar
civilian career, marketing commercial
printing presses, required that the family
live far from Boca Grande: First in New
York, then Wisconsin; and fi nally in Georgia.
Throughout the years, Helen longed for
her island relatives and tropical lifestyle.
She often spoke of returning to Boca
Grande, and the family did return on several
occasions, including a two-month winter’s
respite from the frigid North during which
time Jane attended the Boca Grande
School.
In the process, Helen and John’s children
came to appreciate the compelling lure of
Boca Grande. It
had been their
parents’ tropical
isle of romance,
the place where
they had met
and fallen in
love those many
years ago.
Throughout
the years,
Helen and John
remained eager
to return to Boca
Grande. After
John took a
voluntary early
retirement, in
1972, the couple
built a house
on Damfi care
Street on Boca
Grande Bayou.
They became
involved in
community
John and Helen in their later years.
affairs and sailed their sloop, Piquero.
Both often reminisced fondly about
their whirlwind island courtship that had
ultimately culminated beneath the Rear
Range Light on a long ago, starry, moonlit
night. Amongst their family, the range light
became known as the “Love Light,” the
visible symbol of Helen and John’s love.
After being together for over 54 years,
Helen and John passed away within months
of each other, leaving their heirs an island
legacy of romance, devotion, and
personal fortitude.