PEOPLE OF INTEREST
The population of Port St Lucie was but 400 when the Posts arrived in 1969. Bob and Butch Post, center, raised their three children in the small bedroom
community. Their daughters, Kathy, left, and Becky, right, now run the family-owned company, Post Insurance and Financial.
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Port St. Lucie 50th Anniversary
THE PIONEERING
POSTS
BY CAMILLE S. YATES
A leap of faith brought Bob Post and his family to
Port St. Lucie. Faith was a requirement for any
young people who moved to the fledgling development
back in the mid-’60s, when the neighbors
were all retirees.
When the Posts moved to town in 1969, the only business
was the Shell Bazaar on U.S. 1. “There was no grocery store,”
says Bob’s wife, Butch.
ED DRONDOSKI
“People that are here now can’t comprehend what it was
like then,” says Bob. “There were no schools, no clubs and no
stores. The Baptist Church was the only one here. It was like
a little village. If you had needs or wants, you had to go 10
miles north or south. In fact, you could drive from Fort Pierce
to Stuart in 11 minutes because there were no stop lights
south of Virginia Avenue.”
The Posts were one of 12 pioneering families that settled
Port St. Lucie. Named after his Dutch grandfather, Onno
Robert “Bob” Post is a second generation Floridian raised in
>>
Port St. Lucie’s Post family grew and
prospered with the city