By Louise Deegan – Originally published in the 2016 Founder’s Review
Joe was born in a hospital in Wildwood, FL, on August 22, 1945. His parents lived in Oxford. He is the second of five sons. His mother raised them by herself, working as a cook in the cafeteria at Oxford Elementary for eighteen years. They didn’t have a car, but the School Board let her ride the bus to and from work with her boys. Joe’s mother, Mrs. Lillie Savelle Haisten, is 93 years old and still lives in the home where she raised her five boys.
They lived in a two-bedroom house with a pitcher pump on the back porch, an outhouse, and a wood stove, but they had electricity. His mother slept in one room, and the five boys slept in the other bedroom.
The outhouse had a Sears catalogue nailed to the wall for toilet paper. You would rip off a page and rub it together to soften it up. The last outhouse had two holes. He could not figure that out, but it was common in large families.
Joe did what every boy from Oxford did by working in the watermelons, cantaloupes, and tomatoes in the summer.
He became interested in the floral business when he was in the 10th grade. He worked in a flower shop in Wildwood and also worked at Senn’s 5 and 10 Cent Store in Wildwood after school.
In 1963, Joe bought a 1947 Hudson from Mr. Garrett, the Principal of the Oxford School. He recalls getting 20 people in that car at one time. Some were in the “Cooter Hull” or trunk of the car. He paid about $100.00 for it and drove it for a couple of years before selling it to his brother for $50.00.
Joe graduated from Wildwood High School in 1964. He opened his first floral shop in Wildwood called Joe’s Florist in 1965. Jess and Mary Welch ran the shop until her health declined, and Joe took over. He worked with the flowers, and at the end of the month, he paid for the items he used, with a little of his profit going towards the payment of the store. This gave him his first taste of owning a floral shop.
Joe met Virginia “Jenny” Moody at her aunt Belle Marquis’ house in Summerfield. Joe would come up from Wildwood and purchase Leather Leaf ferns from her that she was growing. She owned Marquis Florist in Summerfield. Lake Weir High School was the rival of Wildwood High School. They were at a football game, and Jenny sat with Joe on the Wildwood High School side. He told her she could not cheer for Lake Weir High because of where she was sitting. Wildwood usually won those games.
In Jenny’s family, they had a tradition: no one would sit down at the dinner table until Mr. Moody sat down. If the phone rang, you did not answer it during the meal. Her mother would cook three full meals a day and put the food on the table in bowls. She would wash the pots before eating. They never had sandwiches. There was usually Aunt Belle Marquis, grandmother Minnie Howard, Aunt Blanche Withers, Jenny, Grace, and Bruce. Later, Joe joined the family. After the meal, Joe and Jenny would clear the table and wash the dishes.
Jenny’s father, Bruce Moody, was born in Summerfield, FL, in 1913. His family came to Florida in 1903 from South Carolina. He was into farming and cattle and worked with Dan Wilkes at Wilkes Canning Company on Baseline Road.
Jenny’s father also owned Belleview Hardware. He purchased it from Bob and Fay Hatcher. Bob kept the gas part of the business, and Bruce Moody purchased the hardware portion. Later, he sold the hardware store to Alex Peterman.
Joe and Jenny were married on November 5, 1966, in the Belleview Methodist Church by Rev. Morris McClastian. They will be celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.
In 1966, Joe was going to be drafted into the armed forces, so he volunteered for the Air Force. The first three years, they lived in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where he was stationed at Kincheloe Air Force Base. The last year, he was stationed in Ubon, Thailand.
After he was discharged from the service, he worked for a lady in Melbourne, FL, who ran the Flower Box. Joe and Jenny opened Belleview Florist in 1970 in a side room of the Vin Mar Motel.
At that time, he also worked for Belleview Funeral Home as an ambulance/hearse driver. There had to be two people to go on the calls. When he was called, Jenny would leave the Belleview Hardware store where she worked and go cover the floral shop.
One time, he was driving the hearse for a prominent person’s funeral. When they left the church to go to Pine Level Cemetery in Oxford, he hit the button on the floor for the siren, which was next to the brake pedal, and the driver in front of him had to come back and tell him how to turn it off.
One of Joe’s first memories of Belleview was going with Bert and Beth Brown to Mrs. Sarah Nesmith’s (Beth’s mother’s) house and eating duck for the first time.
Joe and Jenny were married for nine years, and it looked like they were not going to have any children, so an answer to prayer brought a gift from above in the form of a baby girl, whom they named Jennifer Dawn.
Seven years later, Jenny was losing weight but having a hard time getting her jeans to close. On Mother’s Day weekend (the busiest time at the florist shop), Jenny realized something was not right. So after much ado, she made an appointment with the doctor that next week. Bingo! Nine weeks later, Jeffrey was born. Jeffrey is now married and is a professional opera tenor with a master’s degree in music. He studied for two years in Washington, D.C., under Placido Domingo. They go, when they can, to see him perform – in Scotland, Ireland, and London recently.
Jennifer has a daughter, Jordyn, 21 years old and living in Orlando. She also has Emily, who is 10 years old. Jennifer is married to Dave Griffiths, and they live in Belleview.
Joe and his family were active in the Oxford Baptist Church. Now they are active in the First Baptist of Belleview.
Joe said that in 1970, he knew 90 percent of the people. Now he can go to a store and not see anyone he knows.
When he moved to Belleview, he remembers Walt Reeves had the barber shop. There was Smith’s Food Store and Russell’s Thriftway Grocery Store, Greggie McWhite’s gas station, Sandy’s Motel, Belvedere Motel where Checkers is now, Silver Belle Motel, Belleview Motel where McDonald’s is now, Byers Motel where Pizza Hut is now, and the Voice of South Marion opened about the same time.
In those days, there were ballgames, Halloween carnivals, school activities, and church activities, and all the parents would help out. Things have changed.
Joe built a floral shop on Baseline Road in 1977 and moved into it. There he would hire DCT students from Lake Weir High School to work for him. He hired Lisa O’Steen Faison through that program, which was taught by Mrs. Gerri Collins Martin, and Lisa still works at the florist shop.
In 2000, Joe sold the floral shop to Morris and Gwyn Price but still works part-time for them.
Belleview is home, and Joe enjoyed the business he was in. He feels he was blessed to be in that business. He was there for births, proms, graduations, weddings, and deaths. Many people were made happy from the flowers they received from Belleview Florist.
Joe’s other job is as a monitor for the handicapped bus for Lake Weir Middle, with some stops at South Ocala Elementary. He has had this job for 12 years.
He and Jenny are looking forward to retirement again and enjoying their children and grandchildren more.
