If you were ask me which person outside my family had the greatest influence on my life when I was growing up, there’s really only one name that immediately comes to mind.

Eleanor Fletcher.

In my childhood town of Juno Beach, Florida, Mrs. Fletcher was a celebrity who was known around town for her tireless work to save the sea turtles that built their nests on the town’s beach.

Hence the nickname “The Turtle Lady of Juno Beach”.

She was known for helping release the newly hatched baby turtles by digging into the nest and gently scooping them up to let them scramble to the ocean. This always drew a good crowd who marveled at the sight of dozens of baby sea turtles make their way to the water. Mrs. Fletcher also had an air horn she would use to alert nearby boats to stay clear of the turtles.

She was also known for her Children’s Museum where she had specimens of sealife on display, both live and preserved in jars of formaldehyde. Some of the more interesting specimens include an unborn sea turtle with one eye and another one with two heads. I especially remember the aquarium with the politest crab I had ever seen. It held its meal in one claw and picked out small pieces to eat with the other.

She would be commonly seen walking along the beach to check on the turtle nests she had marked with wooden stakes. One time I was at the beach with my family and we saw her on one of her walks and my father went up to her and started talking to her and everyone in my family got to know her.

And eventually she would get to know me.

Eventually she wanted to create a larger scale version of her museum and upon hearing of an abandoned motel just up the road, immediately made plans to move her collection there. This motel had a nearby tunnel that went under the busy street to allow easy access to the beach. But she needed help with moving her collection, and when my father heard about her needing this help, asked me if I’d be interested. I pounced on the opportunity to work with her.

I still remember going to her apartment for our first meeting. When I was there, she asked me what I wanted to drink and gave me a choice of sodas. I don’t remember what the other choices were but I remember choosing a can of Mountain Dew. She told me that it was quite a popular brand among young people like myself.

So began a wonderful friendship that drew me into Mrs. Fletcher’s mission. I would join her on her walks along the beach to check the turtle nests. Often I would help her save entire turtle nests by putting the eggs in a Styrofoam cooler until they hatched. I would also help move some of her specimens to her museum’s future home. There were several times when she participated in some ocean awareness events and brought along some live juvenile green sea turtles as part of her exhibit there.

I think the neatest part of this partnership was the trust she had in me to take care of her captive sea turtles whenever she had to leave town. She gave me the key to the room where she kept the turtles and some of her specimens, and after school I would ride my bike to the abandoned motel to feed the sea turtles and clean the tanks. She also had a captive gopher turtle named Goofus that I would put in its pen outside for some sun along with some hibiscus flowers for it to munch on.

I only stopped working with Mrs. Fletcher when my father was relocated to Oklahoma for two years by his employer Pratt & Whitney. While I was in Oklahoma to finish my high school education, I kept in touch with her by mail and couldn’t wait to see her again upon our return to Florida. And yes, she still remembered me.

By then, her new museum was finally open to the public. But there was something bigger ahead.

Something much, much bigger.

Today the Loggerhead Marinelife Center continues Mrs. Fletcher’s mission by nursing injured sea turtles back to health so they can be rereleased back to the ocean. It is a thriving attraction that lures scores of visitors and leaves them with a deeper appreciation for the ocean and its life.

Just the way Mrs. Fletcher would have wanted it.

Looking back on my work helping Mrs. Fletcher save the sea turtles brings back some of the most pleasant memories from my childhood. I learned so much about the ocean and appreciate it just as much. I could never develop this appreciation in school. I consider myself fortunate to have her as a mentor.

Eleanor Fletcher passed away in 2009 but her mission lives on at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. It’s worth a visit. Click here to visit their website.

This picture of me was taken in 1984 by Eleanor Fletcher herself. I am holding a green sea turtle in my left hand and a loggerhead in my right. The gopher turtles are in the pen in front of me.