Myrtle Scharrer Betz
(1895-1992)

Died aged c. 97

Myrtle Scharrer Betz was born in 1895 and is believed to be the only child born on Caladesi Island, located in the Gulf of Mexico two miles west of Dunedin. Growing up as an only child after having lost her mother before the age of six, her father taught her to protect and harvest the resources of the sea and land. After 40 years of fishing in Pinellas waters, her property deed restrictions in 1948 stated that any changes to the property had to be approved by the Audubon Society and Marine Science Center. Today the island is preserved as the Caladesi Island State Park. At the age of 87, she wrote her autobiography, Yesteryear I Lived in Paradise. Myrtle Scharrer Betz died in 1992.

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