West Pasco Historical Society

Among the visitors to the museum on Feb. 22, 2020, were Shannon and Matthew Buzbee and their granddaughter Reece, of Branford, Florida.

Shannon’s great grandmother, Sweetie (Witt) Johnson, was a student at the Seven Springs school that is now our museum. The school had been inadvertently built on property owned by Sweetie’s father, Henry S. Witt, and his wife Annie Jane Frierson. Annie’s brother Ed Frierson lived in the home for many years with his wife Willie Maude Frierson.

Matthew’s grandfather, Rev. Elmer Buzbee, was the pastor of Anclote Baptist Church in 1951 when the church attempted a merger with Elfers Baptist Church.

The WPHS did a history presentation for New Port Richey Main Street on Feb. 11, 2020, at the Richey Suncoast Theatre. Pictured is Bob Langford, one of our presenters.

The unholy three from the West Pasco Historical Society — Brian Schmit, Jeff Miller, and Bob Langford — will do a presentation at the Richey Suncoast Theatre today (Feb. 11) during a “lunch and learn” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. It may be too late to order lunch, but admission without lunch is free. This presentation will be different from previous ones, as each of the three will show 10 of his favorite old local photos and talk about them. We hope to see you there!

Visitors to the museum on Feb. 8, 2020, included Maxine and John Stewart. They are honoring the Seminole native Americans with the jacket that John is wearing and Maxine created. They are standing beside our model, who is also wearing a Seminole patchwork jacket. Seminoles are thought to have lived in our area, but before this type of clothing was in use.

Brian Schmit, the museum curator, easy to pick out in the picture, met with most of our greeters at the museum today, so we took a picture. Our greeters are all volunteers and you are likely to see two of them when you visit the museum. They are, left to right: Bette Conde, Cheryl Sallah, Jean Becotte, Trishia Rich, Kathy Nerad, June Pearson, Gail Lovejoy, Sheila Fecenko, and Dana Jo Russ. A larger version of this photo is on Flickr here.

Two visitors to the museum on Feb. 7, 2020, were sisters Louise Rose from Indiana and Judy Perry from Bisbee, Arizona. They are holding paintings which we have at the museum. Judy is holding a painting of our museum which she did many years ago when she lived here, and Louise is holding a painting of a stilt house which was done by Jessie Hyde, the great aunt of both women. The women’s grandmother’s uncle was Mathew Kinney, who came to New Port Richey in 1916. He opened up the section later called the Kinney subdivision on Kenwood Avenue, which he probably named for himself. He lived in the home at 5622 Kenwood Ave.

An event for members and other supporters was held at the museum on Feb. 6, 2020, to dedicate the many new exhibits at the museum. Here are some pictures. (We even had a harpist!)

Among the visitors to the museum on Feb. 6, 2020, were Donna (Robson) Tyrrell and Laurie Baker. Donna is the daughter of Frank Y. Robson (1911-1972), who is believed to have been the first medical doctor (M. D.) in New Port Richey. He moved from Tampa to New Port Richey in 1950. Laurie is a member of the Baker family which has been here since the late 1800s.

The West Pasco Historical Society did a presentation on the history of Pasco County at the New Port Richey campus of Pasco-Hernando State College on Feb. 1, 2020. At the event, WPHS President Bob Langford presented a plaque to Dr. Rao Musunuru, thanking him for being the all-time top donor to the historical society. Here are a few pictures from the presentation. Many more photos are on the Flickr photo-sharing site here.