This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

n.u|
■ -miiJ*fy"^TJsher Jr. would likely have been classed with the “country kids”, a term Russell Guerin used for the full time residents of the community. It was an experience unique to seashore towns, where the “summer people” who returned year after year became fast friends.
Millie, the firstborn in the family, was actually born in Ansley, but the family moved in with her grandparents J.R and Henrietta Usher at their home on the harbor when Millie was just one year old.
Her parents Mildred O’Farrell Usher ( and later Savard) of Lakeshore and August Usher later moved the family into a house on Oak St. and then again to the corner of Oak and Railroad, where Ina Day lives today. The location was an excellent spot for a gas station and car repair shop that August ran. It was pur-
Millie Usher enjoys the view of the harbor from Russell Guerins dock at Clermont Harbor.
chased from the Schlona family, Ina says, who wanted the land to go to a family who would open a business.
Other businesses were dotted around the neighborhood, Garcia’s Grocery,
Bankston’s Snowball Stand,
Buddy Haverty’s Harley motorcycle shop, and Annabelle Procter’s dress shop, which moved from Forest to Bordage Ave., were some that the two women remember.
Millie began her schooling at the Clermont Harbor Elementary School the first
Stepfather Charles Savard made wine in the backyard most years, said Millie.
id her mother Mildred O’Farrell Usher Savard.
year it was opened and graduated as 8th grade valedictorian there in 1954. Ina was among the last students to attend the school before it closed to send the children to the new Gulfview Elementary School.
Life for the family was good. The home they built on the corner of Oak and Railroad was built with timber from land that their grandparents owned in Ansley. It was hauled by horse and buggy to the railroad and dropped off in Clermont Harbor. Though the home still stands, the design changed over the years. The original family home had a wall of windows at the front and won a design award at the Word’s Fair, Ina said.
Little by little family,
Echo staff photo by Bennie Shallbetter
grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, children and grandchildren gathered around forming a tight knit close community. With friends and familiar summer families filling most of the area it lent an air of safety and a protected environment that allowed children the freedom to roam. Neighbors looked out for neighbors, as they still do, Millie says, and it was easy to feel comfortable and secure.
“This is a place where you can find peace,” said Millie. “I think that is the ultimate goal ... w'hile other people count their money; we count our blessings.
Ina and Millie share a common memory for children spending their days in the close knit community-the feeling of freedom.
“My most outstanding memory was the freedom,” said Ina. “Of roaming the
ntfav grand 1 the f Clermor Church.
Festiv ers came "the year Millie rt Haverty’s where would roa: would ha home mad barrel and filled with ball. Have tained doze bird feeder: would be a 1 mingbirds. 1 ly held Gat They dress attire, attend then held a b,
On the Jui snaked up an street. The gr would blow a \ nal the start c at Poinset Ave. proceed to the with food and the grand Mar blow the whis'i When enough was done, the wl blow and the gi proceed to the r. Floyd Garcia ga for the best decoi cle and Ina’s son I won one year for cle. The parade v at Harold and Lill where Harold woi pieces of his sheet ( Millie, who now the old school hou
HARBOR-Pi
Millie Usher as a teen in Clermont Harbor.