I grew up, and my parents still live, just across the street from the STrawns...one time, I got Mr. Strawn to let me into the packing house, about 10 years after it shut down... at that time, he was keeping every single pulley, chain, machine, etc. Oiled and ready to roll again...he said he had to, that it was what he was taught. I remember thinking that a good crop might bring the huge machines to life again, but it never happened.

Then, later that year, while my brother was a Firefighter for the Volunteers at Station 41 in DeLeon Springs, they got a call out there for a structure fire. it was the storage "building" for all the wood formerly used to make the boxes...the fire was so hot, it melted my brother's face mask as well as the right front fender of R-41.

I have a lot of happy memories of DeLeon Springs, and I hope that when my son is older, I can take him to the packing house and see what I saw when I was a boy and show him how our area used to prosper by producing and farming. A dying art to be sure.

Andy Ferrari,