Jan Wilhelm told us he was born in Boca Grande in 1942 and lived here continuously until he graduated from Boca Grande High School in 1960, "enjoying the fishing and the island. We all lived, played and worked together, it was great." After high school Jan went off to college and could only spend summer sessions on the island.

Now in remission Jan goes fishing and his wife, Melinda, known to friends as "Linda" volunteers at Suncoast Humane Society in Englewood. Linda has deep Florida roots of her own. She is part of the fourth generation of her family to live in Florida. Her family still owns "Duck's Nest," possibly the oldest private home in Palm Beach.

The Wilhelms' Early Boca Grande Days

Harold Wilhelm worked in Punta Gorda as a cement contractor before moving to Boca Grande in the 1920s to work cement. He worked into commercial fishing and guiding along with two brothers, George and Percy. The "giant clamshell at the Johann Fust Community Library was built by my Dad," Jan said.

Harold married another Boca Grande native, Joan Riley. Joan's father was John E. Riley, who came to Boca Grande in the early part of the century to work with the then-new railroad and in the phosphate business. Harold continued to be a fishing guide from Boca Grande until the 1970s and remained here until the early 1980s at their last home on the island at 350 Gilchrist. 

Other Links to Boca Grande History

A bound, complete collection of the Boca Grande Journal is available at the Lighthouse Museum and sales benefit the Boca Grande Historical Society and the Barrier Island Park Society. In the introduction Captain Robert Johnson writes of his uncle, Captain Clem Johnson's, newspaper: "It lasted for only one year. But if you had to choose one year . . . 1949 would probably have been the year. . . I think 1949 was in many ways typical of the way Boca Grande was, almost from the beginning."