TAMPA - Sitting in the middle of hundreds of scurrying, wet kids, blaring music, beating sun, and young legs bobbing in a pool, was Mary Rose, probably the most interesting person in the place.
She was the 72-year-old woman with brown hair, glasses and theblue Sunshine State Games golf shirt.
All day under an umbrella Rose, director of the Games' synchronized swimming, answered rules questions from coaches and kids - until at day's end when she met a reporter looking for something to write about.
Rose smiled as if this stranger was the most special person in the world and said, "St. Petersburg Times? That hits home. I'm from St. Petersburg."
As a matter of fact she went to St. Petersburg High where she competed in "water ballet" with her sister Fran.
She graduated in 1949 but certainly never stopped dancing in the water.
Less than a year after high school she and her sister, then known as the "Dwight sisters," were two of the first mermaids at Weeki Wachee Springs.
"It was pretty easy for us because we were practicing before that for so many years," she said. "In those days they let us improvise a bit and I remember one time I brought a hot dog to feed the fish and it drove them crazy.
"I mean there was a feeding frenzy, and one of them started nibbling on my nose."
And so Rose had started her tales, which kept coming in little bright surprises.
She said between shows at Weeki Wachee, she and Fran were looking for places to practice ballet routines. So they went to the Vinoy Park pool and told the manager, "We won't bother the patrons at all, and besides they'll get a little show for free.' He said, much to our surprise, "Sure!'
"That was in the days before boom boxes, so we brought our big old Victrola and played the music for our show."
During the same period, Fran and Mary also worked a bit at Cypress Gardens, where famous water skier Dick Pope told them that if they taught his skiers synchronized swimming, he would teach them water skiing. And if they learned skiing well enough he would get them in a movie called Easy to Love, to be shot at Cypress Gardens and starring Esther Williams.
"So of course we did," Rose said. "Fran and I are in the movie quite a bit water skiing and swimming, and we even had one line to the leading man, Van Johnson. He walked by and we said, "Good Morning Mr. Floyd.' But it might have been Lloyd. We never knew for sure, but they never questioned on it."
That was 1953 or just before Fran and Mary drove to Miami to try out for the "International Water Follies," which was a very big deal in those days.
So big, in fact, that for the next 15 years, Fran, Mary and her husband, a stand-up comic diver named Eddie she met in the show, traveled around the world performing.
"South Africa, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Australia, Europe, you name it and we performed there," Rose said. "We set up portable pools and diving platforms. It was really something. We performed in front of thousands of people. One time in Australia we had 15,000 for a show.
"You know what? It was so much fun!"
And you can tell it was, by the sparkle in her eye, by the way she still works with kids with such enthusiasm after 24 years of volunteering as the synchronized swimming director for the Sunshine State Games.
Even after teaching thousands of kids at Orlando Aquatics Center; one of whom, Tammy Cleland, won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
"And I was there on the floor when she won," Rose said. "What a moment to be there when she won the gold."
If you see Mary Rose today you might ask her something about her days dancing and teaching in the water.
Chances are she'll be more than happy to tell some stories.
