Elizabeth MacManus' 80th birthday party is a celebration of history.
By BILL COATS
Published July 28, 2003
LUTZ - Friends of Elizabeth MacManus managed to shower her with birthday gifts without shopping for a single one.
But MacManus, who turned 80 July 18, has unusual tastes. The local historian, who has published several books and is planning a museum, asked for gifts of history. Historical artifacts or signed memories would be wonderful, she wrote in an invitation.
More than 135 people came to her party Saturday in the fellowship hall of Lutz's oldest church, First United Methodist.
Barry Newberger, from the pioneer family that named Newberger Road, brought a sculpture of a walking man, welded from railroad spikes in 1968 by another pioneer, the late Carroll Persbacker.
Charles Looper of Seminole Heights brought a first-grade desk that had been discarded from a local school nearly 50 years earlier.
MacManus' daughter, Lou, an Ohio physician, sent a worn cigar press.
MacManus' biggest surprise was a visit from her son, Cameron MacManus Jr., who flew in from Tennessee.
"He's a doctor, and he works a hundred hours a week," she said. "I didn't think he would get the time off."
After spending the night at his sister's home nearby, the son called on his parents unannounced.
"I was in my nightgown eating breakfast, and he kept ringing the doorbell," Elizabeth MacManus said.
Many of her birthday guests submitted written reminiscences.
Shirley Tucker Souto of Land O'Lakes wrote fondly of attending junior high school in Lutz. "Our class is still very close and we stay in contact," she wrote. "This is what makes Lutz so different from other communities. There is love abound!"
"Mom insisted I wear shoes to school," wrote David Stocky, another pioneer. "We lived in the middle of a 40-acre citrus grove, and I would start out with shoes but hide them in the bushes at the fence line and get on the bus barefoot. Then I'd put my shoes on when I got back to the fence and walk home."
Stocky wrote that all this changed in the seventh grade, when a girl told him, "I would like you a lot better if you'd wear shoes."
"I've been wearing the darned things ever since," he wrote.
Paul and Mary Bearss, whose family has lived on Lake Magdalene for 109 years, contributed a historic gold mine: the draft of a history book they plan to publish.
MacManus found it on her gifts table late during the party. "All right!" she exclaimed.
