By Clay Waldron – Originally published in the 2014 Founder’s Review Magazine
When deciding to move to Florida, Ken Winstanley laid out a road map and just pointed to a spot where the family would make their new home. Belleview is where his finger landed, and that’s where they went looking for property. They wanted a small town with charm and found just the right place on the map that fateful day.
The Winstanleys moved from Lancashire, England, in 1963 with their first two children. Jean’s parents had already moved from England and wanted them to join them in the United States. The couple decided to settle in Long Island, NY, where they lived for fifteen years. Ken found a job painting homes just two days after arriving in the US, before he found a job working for a milk company, where he worked for 15 years. Jean worked part-time when she was not taking care of the children. As the family grew, adding three more children, the couple wanted to move to a small town away from the crowds.
They were visiting Jean’s parents in Beverly Hills when they planned the move to Belleview. Once they arrived in Belleview, they found a real estate office at what is now Belleview Pizza. Someone from the real estate office took them to see some properties around town. The first stop was a five-acre parcel on CR-25, and after one look, Ken and Jean knew they had found what they were looking for.
The plan was to build a campground on the property since it already had five cottages and a home on it. They wanted to start a business of their own after moving to Belleview and had always loved camping. After talking to the county about their plans to build a 13-site campground, the dream vanished. Marion County wanted a private sewer plant for the campground along with other red tape, which drove the cost up too high.
So Ken had to find a job, and he went to work for the City of Ocala, where he worked for the next 20 years. He worked for the city’s Public Works Department, moving up the ladder and retiring as a supervisor.
Even though the campground did not work out, Ken still had the five cottages on the property that were built in the 1940s. Ken remodeled the cottages and opened up Rose Garden Cottages. He rented the cottages to local people for about two or three months at a time and did so for five years. Being new to the rental business, they had a steep learning curve to overcome. One of their first renters stayed for a week, then moved out with everything in the cottage.
In 1981, “Jean’s Crafts” opened in one of the cottages. Jean worked at the Fabric King in Belleview from 1978 to 1982 and managed the store. Many customers asked about craft supplies, which Fabric King did not and would not carry. Jean had designed children’s clothing in England and always enjoyed doing crafts and learning about different techniques, so she opened her own craft store to meet the community’s need for supplies.
When the store first opened, her daughter Diane would open the store when she got home from school. Jean traveled to different craft shows from Atlanta to Chicago, buying supplies and getting ideas for the craft store. The store took off and needed more room for supplies, so they expanded in 1983. To expand the store, they built a roof between two of the cottages and moved some walls, making it one building. As business grew, the store expanded once more. This time they removed one of the cottages to make room for the addition. A large classroom was built to teach fabric painting, macramé, and beads. Now that she had a classroom, she brought in other people to teach different types of crafts, painting, and embroidery. In 2000, their daughter Carol took over the craft store so Jean could retire. After 9/11, the business began to suffer, and when Walmart started to sell craft supplies, the store wasn’t doing as well as it had been.
Jean became an active member of the Belleview South Marion Chamber of Commerce and helped with many events. She helped plan the first Light Up Lake Lillian and received $200 from the city for lights. They used paper bags with sand and candles to light up the paths and plastic soda bottles with candles floating in the lake. “We remember the days of replacing bulbs in the back of the chamber with the Bairstows and Fowlers,” said Jean. “We had fun doing it.”
In 1991, she was the chairperson for Founders Day, and she helped start the Nine Mile Pond craft show. She used her contacts at the craft store to help get individuals to participate by setting up booths at the event.
Jean and Ken are members of the Belleview United Methodist Church. The Friends of the Belleview Library have been of interest to Ken for the past 20 years. He has been an active member, serving as president for two years, vice president for two years, publicity chairman for 12 years, program chairman for 8 years, and a board member. He moved some books to Cherokee Park and discovered the Book Nook 20 years ago, becoming interested in their work. Ken is still an active member and helps price all of the new books that come into the Book Nook. When he started volunteering for the Book Nook, they had about 5,000 books, and now they are up to 30,000.
The couple enjoys cruising in their retirement, averaging four trips each year. “We have been to all the ports, and many times we just stay on the boat when it’s docked and avoid the crowds,” said Jean. Ken is on Facebook and likes looking up old classmates in England.
Family events are now held at the old Jean’s Crafts building, which works out great for family get-togethers for the holidays and provides plenty of room for the whole bunch. This includes five children—Roy Winstanley, who still lives in Long Island, and Carol Yeaman, Diane Drake, Steve Winstanley, and Keith Winstanley, all of Belleview—along with all their spouses, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, which makes for a large crowd.
