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JACKIE RIPLEYA Carrollwood couple fill their time creating collectibles for themselves and others. He does stained glass, she does dolls.
CARROLLWOOD - There aren't many things retired Chief Petty Officer Don Burt shies away from. In fact, he could probably pen his own self-confidence, self-help book.
Adept at facing challenges head-on, Burt spent 32 years in the Navy, where he saw action in World War II and Vietnam; served on seven aircraft carriers; was part of the crew that put the USS Independence into commission; and just about bit the dust aboard the USS Forrestal.
"And he was just a little soldier when I met him," said 77-year-old Betty Burt, who has learned to do a pretty smart salute during the couple's 50-year marriage.
Since retiring, 76-year-old Don Burt's passion has turned to stained glass, a craft he first began honing 20 years ago.
It's evident everywhere in the Burt household. Walk in the front door and there, atop a table that runs the length of the dining room, is a stained glass village, complete with lighted houses, churches and an electric train.
In the family room are all kinds of stained glass cartoon characters, from Peanuts to Tweety Bird, and a biwing kaleidoscope airplane that competes for attention with a stained glass parrot on its own swinging perch.
It's dizzying.
Some of the larger pieces are reserved for the couple's sunken living room, where translucent stained glass fish seem to float on long vertical windows flanking the fireplace.
"I think he's fantastic. He's done several things for me," said Alice Lanier, who lives in Lutz and knows the Burts through their affiliation with the Order of the Eastern Star. "I can't wait for the arts and crafts festival."
That would be Lake Magdalene Church's annual holiday craft show, where Burt sells his work every November.
He's probably crafted hundreds of pieces over the years. On a recent afternoon, he talked about the third piece he ever did, a large stained glass rendering of a mountain, rainbow and palm trees.
"My teacher thought it was too ambitious," Burt said of the design that takes center stage in the couple's living room.
"Too ambitious" doesn't seem to be in Don Burt's lexicon. After just one lesson he was off and running, creating and selling his stained glass designs.
Self-confidence seems to mark much of what he does, such as what happened the first time he saw Betty. He was stationed in Key West, where she ran a little hamburger place on Duval Street.
"I walked in," he said. "That's all."
Actually there was a little more, corrected Betty.
Each had been married before and each had a daughter, making them a blended family well before the phrase became popular.
The family moved to Tampa in 1952 - a homecoming for Don Burt, who had graduated from what was then Brandon High School.
They settled in Odessa on Garden Lake, raised their two daughters, Patty and Mary, and 14 years ago moved to Carrollwood Village. These days, they share their home with their German shepherd, Jessie.
They're still on the go. When Burt's not working on his stained glass, he's arranging the chapel at Blount, Curry & Roel Funeral Homes, where he works part time.
Betty Burt managed the lunch room for 15 years at Wilson Middle School and then for another 15 at Forest Hills Elementary and Adams Middle. After retiring from the school system, she did a 10-year stint selling jewelry. These days she spends her time with crafts, collecting and tap dancing.
Eager to join the Happy Hoofers, Betty Burt regularly dances in extravaganzas put on by the Order of the Eastern Star. She's currently rehearsing for a November show.
"New York, New York," says an excited Betty Burt. "That's one I'm doing."
And when she's not hoofing it?
"I make dolls," she says, holding up a three-faced doll that changes expression depending on which way the head is turned.
She also makes toy soldiers out of flower pots, a big seller at craft shows.
And she has devoted a whole room to her collection of Avon bottles - 1,000 of them.
"It started with this one," she said, holding an apple-shaped bottle sent to her by her sister-in-law some 20 years ago. Her gaze wandered over rows of bottles of every shape and color, from poodles to ponies. "It just took off from there."
-Jackie Ripley can be reached at 813 269-5308 or ripley@sptimes.com
- What Don Burt likes most about living in Carrollwood: Living two minutes from any restaurant. "If I have to drive more than 60 seconds, I don't want to eat."
- What Betty Burt now spends a lot of her time doing: Practicing her tap numbers and dusting Avon bottles.
- What most characterized Don Burt's high school: Orange groves.
- Don Burt's secretary now that he's retired: Jessie the German shepherd.