HOMES OF THE TREASURE COAST
40
Sally and David Richeson relax on
the front porch of Twin Oaks. They
have lived in the house for about 40
years and Sally grew up nearby on
South Indian River Drive.
near the back of the house. Susie Kelly, 70, daughter of John
and Maggi Sample, remembers how the house would shudder.
“The house is on a sand ridge and when the trains went by
it would shake,” Kelly said. “We were used to it, but I had
a boyfriend visit and when a train went by he ran out to the
front yard. He thought we were having an earthquake.”
Kelly also remembered her mother’s basket chair on one of
the oak trees. She would swing and wave to friends driving
by, and if it were 5 p.m. invite them in for cocktails.
Barry Goldwater — five-term senator from Arizona and
the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in 1964 — was a
notable visitor at the house, Kelly recalled.
PLENTY OF FUN
Both women agreed that the Indian River Drive of decades
past provided an idyllic upbringing. Children played together
in this wonderland, fishing off docks or taking their
johnboats and sailboats out on the river.
Childhood also involved art lessons from Backus, which
Sally and her younger brother, Bill, did in the early 1950s. He
charged 50 cents a lesson and she remembered having to pay
with a 50-cent piece, not quarters.
“Bill took his first lesson and halfway through it was decided
that he had no talent,” she said. “Bill didn’t mind being
told that, and he and Bean laughed about it over the years.”
The siblings continued to show up for art lessons with their
50-cent pieces. While Sally learned to paint, her brother went
fishing.
Sally also remembered how much Backus loved the
picture-perfect Indian River; a place that continues to capture
the spirit of bygone Florida. Part of that spirit is Twin Oaks,
which still looks out over the river’s blue-green water as it
has for seven decades.
The butler’s pantry in the kitchen opens up to the other areas of the kitchen
as well as the dining room to create an open floor plan. The backsplash
mural was painted by Michael G. Enns, who grew up in Fort Pierce.