RELATED STORIES

• Bonita's Beach Bob and his Speedo become butt of jokes

More Local news

• Teen girl found passed out on road; man arrested for selling alcohol to minors
• Collier Sheriff's Office finds girl who threatened suicide on webcam
• Community School artwork to benefit Cancer Alliance of Naples

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Share and Enjoy [?]

Next time you’re lying out or enjoying a sunset on Bonita Beach, think about Marge and Dave Ward.

Or when you are sitting in traffic on Bonita Beach Road and wondering why all these people chose Bonita as the hot place to be, think Marge and Dave.

Or as you’re picking up shells on Bonita Beach instead of pieces of broken glass, you could give a quick shout-out to the Wards.

You might even want to write them a note.

“Their legacy will live long, long into the future,” Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah said.

Although most people point to the Bonita Bay Group’s arrival in 1984 as the birth of modern Bonita Springs, the turnaround of Bonita Beach along nearly the same timeline was certainly the vehicle for that change.

And the greatest stewards of the beach over the past 21 years have been Marge and Dave Ward.

“The beach has come a long way since then,” Marge Ward said. “Back then, there wasn’t even a driveway; you just parked in the sand and prayed you could get out.”

After moving from Buffalo, N.Y., to Bonita Springs for warm weather and what they thought were beautiful beaches, the Wards found Bonita Beach difficult to access for the general public and dirty from people who treated the sand like a town dump.

Because they didn’t want the county to clean the beach with money collected from fees charged to beachgoers, in 1985 the Wards founded the Citizens Association of Bonita Beach, a group of volunteers dedicated to cleaning the beach, creating and improving the public accesses and finding new places the public could enjoy the surf, sand and sun.

ERIK KELLAR / Bonita Daily News

Chris Bielski, president of Bonita Beach Improvement Association, left, congratulates Marge Ward, center, and her husband, Dave, founders of the Community Association of Bonita Beach, for their efforts in protecting Bonita Beach at Bonita Beach Park. The couple was honored with a plaque imbedded into a rock commemorating their efforts in the Bonita Springs area, particularly to keep Bonita Beach clean.

“We owe Marge and Dave Ward a debt of gratitude,” Bonita Springs Councilman Bob Wagner said. “These beaches are clean.”

As the Wards pass the torch in their volunteer efforts, the city and the county have been honoring their accomplishments for the past two months.

For Bonita Springs, the celebration culminated Wednesday with the dedication of a plaque embedded in a rock at Bonita Beach Park at the first access along Hickory Boulevard.

“Everything has been terrific and very much appreciated, but it is not just us. We started it, but it was all the people that came out with us that really made the difference,” Marge Ward said. “Everybody that ever worked with us, they are part of it too.”

The plaque rock is located at the turnaround circle of the parking lot of Bonita Beach Park, where Wagner hopes everyone will drive by it when they visit the beach.

“It is one of the dedications that is the highlight of my six year career as a councilman,” Wagner told the group of 25 people who gathered for the event Wednesday.

The rock will not be the last honorarium the Wards have at Bonita Beach. Lee County commissioners are planning to dedicate a park bench somewhere in the vicinity of the plaque, Judah said.

The memorial will be approved in the next two weeks, he said, and the exact location and time of its placement will follow.

“Back in 1985, we were just taking it day by day,” Marge Ward said. “We didn’t know it would turn out like it has.”

CABB has scaled back its efforts to maintain the beaches and accesses in recent years as Lee County Parks and Recreation has become a good steward of Bonita Beach, Marge Ward said.

“It is organized now and very much improved,” she said.