Port St. Lucie 50th Anniversary
PEOPLE OF INTEREST
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Bob, in a leap of faith, started his own insurance business. Because there
was almost no commercial space, the first office was in his living room
complete with green shag carpet.
city when I saw the Easter egg hunt grow from 50 children to
500 almost overnight,” she says. The club later organized a
Halloween Carnival and Parade. Soon after, the parade grew.
“It was wall to wall kids the entire way,” Butch says. “That
was when we went into shock.”
A BUSINESS IS BORN
In 1979, Bob took another leap of faith and opened O. R.
Post Agency, exclusively representing Nationwide Insurance.
“My first insurance office was on Naranja Avenue in my living
room,” says Bob. “There was no office space available to
rent then.”
But, as Butch explains, “This was just when Port St. Lucie
was about to take off.” She had recently become a real estate
broker. “The real estate market was booming, then,” she says.
“This was when Port St. Lucie started getting on the map.
General Development Corporation (the original developer
of the city) had model homes displayed in the New York
airport. The homes in Port St. Lucie were the alternative to
mobile home park retirement.”
The Posts saw Port St. Lucie grow from a small retirement
community of 400 people in 1969 to 15,000 in 1979. Kathy
says, “The key moment was when we started the girls’ softball
team. That meant we had transitioned from a retirement
community to a family community.” Indeed, politicians were
starting to notice Port St. Lucie. “Those running for office
started to realize that this was a great place to campaign,”
says Butch. “Our Halloween Carnival was packed full of
candidates. We went from being the tail to the dog wagging
the tail.”
The couple struggled in the beginning, but those days are
long gone. “I remember when we paid the secretary, and
we walked out at the end of the pay week with no salary,”
says Butch. Post Insurance graduated from the living room
to a two-story office in the northern section of the city. Bob’s
daughters run the agency now called Post Insurance and
Financial which employs 17 people. They have also added a
second location in the southern area of the city.
Bob laments that he didn’t pay more attention and document
the changes that occurred in Port St. Lucie. He says that
he should have photographed street corners that were once
bare fields. “I can’t imagine at my age that I’d be saying, ‘Gee,
I was a part of history.’ It’s wild that I look back and see what
has happened.”
WHOIS
R.K.DAVIS?
FAMILY
GENEROSITY
RESPONSIBILITY
CAPABLE
SUCCESS
EXPERIENCE
PRIDE
2NDGENERATION
RELATIONSHIPS
Years!
in business has allowed us the ability
to develop many strong and lasting
relationships that we recognize as our
most valuable asset.
www.rkdavis.com
St. Lucie County: 772-461-8335
Indian River County: 772-778-9188
Martin County: 772-463-0300
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