Through the middle of Saint Augustine is a street only two tenths of a mile long.\u00a0 The name of the road is Hypolita Street and on the northwest corner where Saint George Street crosses Hypolita stands the Columbia Restaurant.\u00a0 Somewhere along the two tenths of a mile, was the private home of Jack D. Hunter.<\/p>\n
Jack D. Hunter \u2013 it seems an ordinary name, but Mr. Hunter was so much more than an ordinary man.\u00a0 He was born in 1921 and was one of the countless quiet and extraordinary who would always claim he was only an ordinary participant in World War II.\u00a0 He passed away early Monday morning on April 13, 2009.<\/p>\n
From news reports and articles written about and by Mr. Hunter, he saw more tragedy and misery during his time as an officer in the United States Army.\u00a0 And as with all writers, which he later went on to become, all of his experiences served him well in penning some truly great novels.<\/p>\n
Hunter\u2019s most famous novel, The Blue Max, <\/em>is <\/em>a story of a World War I German aviator which was picked up by Hollywood and made into the movie of the same name staring George Peppard and Ursula Andress.\u00a0 Hunter went on to write 15 or so more novels and served as a writing tutor for local journalists in the Northeast Florida area.\u00a0 He was, without a doubt, a writer\u2019s writer.<\/p>\n And he was one of my heroes.\u00a0 Imagine my surprise when I found out he lived in the same area.\u00a0 I told my wife I would have to try to meet Mr. Hunter in the near future.<\/p>\n Over the course of time, I have been meaning to try to meet with him.\u00a0 As one of my pilot-A&P friends once told me, he had a lot of \u201croundtoits\u201d in his tool box.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s a \u2018roundtoit\u2019?\u201d I asked (Jeff has a lot of really neat tools, some of which I have never seen or heard of before).<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, one of those things I need to do, but I have to get around to it,\u201d Jeff said.<\/p>\n Finding Jack Hunter was one of my roundtoits; unfortunately, this roundtoit didn\u2019t wait long enough for me to get up around to it.\u00a0 Same thing happened with my Uncle Buddy.\u00a0 Some roundtoits just won\u2019t keep.<\/p>\n The lesson a simple \u2013 do now what you have to do while you can.\u00a0 This includes your own writing.<\/p>\n My wife and I enjoy dining at the Columbia every now and then.\u00a0 I often wonder now how many times we may have shared the restaurant with Jack D.\u00a0 Hunter.<\/p>\n -30-<\/p>\n \u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Through the middle of Saint Augustine is a street only two tenths of a mile long.\u00a0 The name of the road is Hypolita Street and on the northwest corner where Saint George Street crosses Hypolita stands the Columbia Restaurant.\u00a0 Somewhere … Continue reading