LIVING LEGENDS Making History While They Lived It
By GARY S. HATRICK
The Heffelfingers never stopped
their community involvement. They believe it is sorely needed today.
Almost everyone wishes they could leave a legacy, something that says, “I have been here.” Of course children are a wonderful legacy, but that legacy often remains within the confines of the bloodlines and does not extend to the greater community. That is not so with Russ and Lee Heffelfinger of Zephyrhills.
Russ, 92, and Lee, 90, arrived in Zephyrhills on April 12 1968. Russ took a job as an insurance adjuster
while also starting his own bookkeeping and tax business.
In 1970, Russ joined the chamber and hit the ground running. “I became president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1972. I was the president again in 1973. I was the first one to serve two terms,” Russ said. “We’re still active today. We’re chamber ambassadors, we won ambassador of the year about seven years ago. I’m an honorary life member of the chamber. Both of us are.”
The President of the Chamber of Commerce was a respected and influential position. They met and knew many people who, to many local people, are just names of streets and buildings, like Zephyrhills Police Chief William Eiland, or Alice Hall, members of the Gall family, and the Geiger family.
Never one for standing still, Russ also helped found the local Elks Lodge and the Kiwanis Club. “It was 1972 or 71 we formed the Kiwanis Club and I was chairman in 72,” Russ said. “In 1986, Bart Mullins and I started working on forming the Elks Lodge, and we were chartered in May of 1987.” Russ said, “Bart was member number one and I’m member number two of the Elks - the only living charter member of the Elks, and we’re still active in the Elks to this day.”
During this time, Lee was not standing still. She was by his side for the organizations that he led, but she had involvement of her own, serving on boards and with organizations, such as being part of the Extension Homemakers, which was part of the Pasco County Agricultural Extension.
She helped Russ in the formation of the Elks Lodge, and she served as Vice President and 3rd President of the Ladies of the Elks.
“When I was chairman in ‘72 of the Kiwanis Club, we decided as a fundraiser we would hold a Senior Citizens Festival,” Russ recalled. “We had a four-day festival and I chaired it. We had a shuffleboard tournament with many teams from the surrounding parks. We had a talent contest - one talent from each park. The contest took three or four hours. Saturday, we had a big parade. I had 17 bands on the street, plus every park had a float in it with a king and queen. I was the first one to bring the Shriners to Zephyrhills. Saturday night, we had the talent from outside, and we had a king and queen festival and crowned the senior queen. Then Sunday, we had a dance with the Zephyrhills High School orchestra for the seniors.”
After 35 years, Russ retired from his insurance work and bookkeeping, but the couple did not remain still. They worked for a craft company making and selling crafts, and they also worked as tour escorts for road tours and cruises, as they watched the city grow and change.
“When we moved here, they had three cops and three doctors,” Russ said, “and no hospital,” Lee added. “No hospital, Russ agreed. “ If you had a cold, you went to Daytona, otherwise, you went over to Tampa, or you had to go to Plant City. Even so, they miss the small-town atmosphere. “It was a quiet little town,” Russ said, “Everybody respected everybody. You respected the law. You got to know your neighbor.”
The Heffelfingers never stopped their community involvement. They believe that community involvement is sorely needed today to try to restore some of the hometown charm.
Russ and Lee live in Gem Estates, living a comparatively quiet life compared to the pillars of the community they used to be. They reflect back to when Gem Estates was once a cow pasture, and Kelly’s Corner RV Park was a hog farm.
Before coming to Zephyrhills, Russ joined the U.S. Army in 1952 and married Lee on June 6, 1953, after which she accompanied him to his duty station, Saalfelden, Austria, for two years, where their first child of four was born. The couple will celebrate their 72nd wedding anniversary on D-Day, June 6. On June 14, Russ will break the record for the oldest living man of his family of which there are five generations living in the Zephyrhills area. They have truly left a legacy. ©
