Myrtle Catherine Scharrer Betz (February 22, 1895 – January 3, 1992) was an American author and conservationist who wrote about life on Caladesi Island in the early 20th century.[3] Betz is known for being the only person of European descent born on Caladesi Island,[4][5] and for rowing across the St. Joseph Sound daily to attend school in Dunedin as a child.[6] In her later life, Betz was influential in Caladesi Island becoming a state park.
Early life
Myrtle Scharrer was born on February 22, 1895, on Caladesi Island, then known as Hog Island, to Henry Scharrer, a Swiss immigrant who first homesteaded on the island in the 1880s, and Catherine "Kate" McNally, an Irish immigrant who worked as a domestic worker for a local family in Dunedin.[7][8] Her mother died in 1902, when Scharrer was seven years old.
During her stay on the island, Scharrer and her father made a living fishing.[8] Her father also grew crops and kept bees on the island, while teaching Scharrer to hunt and fish. By eight years old, Scharrer attended regular schooling on the mainland, maintaining nearly perfect attendance for four years; she later recalled rowing back and forth across St. Joseph Sound.[9] While her father sold fresh produce, fish, honey, and hogs, Scharrer—a self-described "tomboy"—earned money as a fur trapper. She aided her schooling with her father's trove of "scientific" works from Bern, Switzerland.[7][8]
In 1915, at the age of 20, she married Herman Betz; they lived three years together in Miami before moving to St. Petersburg in 1918. The Betz family returned to Caladesi in 1919, and in 1928 they had one daughter.[8][10] In June 1934, six months before Henry Scharrer's death, Betz and her husband moved to the mainland so their daughter could attend school in Dunedin.[9][11]
Betz was on Hog Island when the 1921 Tampa Bay hurricane hit. The hurricane split the island in half, creating Honeymoon Island to the north and Caladesi Island to the south. Betz was among the first to view the new channel dividing the islands, Hurricane Pass. The Scharrer homestead reportedly sustained no permanent damage.[12]
During World War II, Betz was employed by the Dunedin Fish Company.[2] From 1944 to 1945, Betz wrote anonymously in a weekly column in the Dunedin Times called "Pinch-Hitting for the Old Salt."[14]
Later life
Betz lived most of her later life in Palm Harbor. Per her father's wishes, Betz sought for years to turn the Scharrer property on Caladesi into a wildlife refuge, unsuccessfully enlisting state support; prior to the 1960s her efforts were not viewed with favor.[15] Having been sold to City of Dunedin Commissioner Francis L. Skinner in 1946, the 156-acre Scharrer homestead was, along with other properties on the island, purchased by the state and made a state park in 1967, though the original houses and cabins on site burned down in the 1950s.[15] Betz served on an advisory council on matters relating to Caladesi from 1967 to 1971.[16][17]
At age 87, Betz wrote the book, Yesteryear I Lived in Paradise, telling of her life on the barrier island.[18][19]Yesteryear I Lived In Paradise was first published in 1985 in a loose-leaf binding made possible by the interest and generosity of 105 friends of Myrtle Betz. This edition was presented to Myrtle as a surprise gift for her 90th birthday.[20] In 1990 Honeymoon Island State Park celebrated Myrtle Scharrer Betz Day on the island.[21][22]
Death and legacy
Betz died in 1992, at Sun Coast Hospital after suffering from a stroke.[2] She was later profiled in Linda Taylor's book on Florida women exploring nature.[23]
In 1994 a play based on her book about Caladesi Island, The Islander, was presented at the cultural center in Tarpon Springs, Florida.[24] Betz's descendants have also presented about her life in period costumes to people interested in life on the island.[25]
