Special offer

New Year, Old Memories, New Beginnings

By
Real Estate Agent with TheMLSonline.com

We are in the first hours of 2008.  Last night my family and I rang in the New Year with my mother and good friends of ours in Woodinville, WA.  The end of a year and the start of a new one always brings with it a mixture of excitement for what lies ahead as well as nostalgia for what passed in the Old Year.  So it was for 2007.  It was a year of growth for me; having lost my father a little over a year ago it was also a year to adjust and to cope with loss. 

Loss is a part of life and as such it is always interesting as a year winds its way to an end, to watch on TV or read in newspaper and magazine articles about the lives of celebrities, famous scientists, authors, politicians, etc. who we have lost during that year.  So it was that I learned in December of the passing of Arthur Jones, the founder of the Nautilus exercise equipment back in  August 2007.  

Prior to becoming a realtor, I was a television producer.  Many years ago I produced a program on Arthur Jones; focusing not on his revolutionary exercise equipment, but rather on the elephants housed at his huge ranch, called Jumbolair, in Ocala, Florida.  Arthur had decided to start a haven for African elephants on his 350 acre ranch.  Along with a collegue, we were flown in one of Arthur's  planes to his ranch.  He had a private runway long enough to handle a 747; so the name "Jumbolair" was appropriate for both his love of airplanes (and he owned several) as well as the elephants.  Connecting the runway to the ranch was a covered walkway where a huge gorilla named Mickey was housed.  Yes, besides the 98 elephants he owned, the ranch also was home to an assortment of wildlife, including about 3000 crocodiles and white rhino.  The elephants were the main focus of my program.  As their mothers had been culled when they were still very small, the elephants had to switch from their mother's milk to a diet that they would only have started when properly weaned.  The end result was that the elephants had problems with their teeth and tusks; cavities would form!  During the filmshoot, a  veterinary dentist arrived and we filmed him and his team as they drilled and filled the cavities of a few sedated elephants.

Arthur was an interesting man; someone not to be toyed with.  I have often wondered whatever became of him and  his former young wife, Terri, as well as the elephants.   Just found out that Terri, who was a Revlon model and herself a very accomplished aviator, is remarried and is devloping "Jumbolair" into an aviation related residential development.  Amongst the first owners of this gated aviation estate community is John Travolta.  

I would love to find out what happened to the animals, particularly the elephants and the gorilla, that once lived on the ranch.  It is just fascinating how full circle life takes one and that Jumbolair has gone from being a wildlife haven to a specialized gated community under development. 

As my New Year's resolution involves trips to the gym, I will use Arthur's Nautilus equipment and think back to his dreams that were and the new dreams that Terri is developing.

Here are some photos taken at Jumbolair: 

In the first photo we are busy filming the elephants.  In the second photo I am discussing a detail about our filmshoot with Arthur Jones.

Hilde with Camera Crew Filming Elephants on Ranch

Hilde Webber with Arthur Jones

Comments (0)