A reporter rewinds

Dora Walters has written about and photographed virtually anyone who’s anyone on Longboat Key, but in her new book, she writes about a subject she has seldom featured: herself.

The retired Longboat Observer senior editor has compiled her memories about her childhood, travels in Mexico, early career and pets for her first book “Rewind…Playback: A Collection of Life’s ‘Little’ Memories.”

Walters, who retired in 2013 after a career that spanned six decades, including 28 years at the Longboat Observer, didn’t plan to write a book when she began compiling her stories last year.

“I got tired of watching the squirrels and birds over the feeder,” Walters joked about retired life in Morganton, Ga., where she lives with her dog, Jake, and cat, Lottie. “I just started out writing one day, and then I wrote five stories and then 10, and I honestly didn’t know what I was going to do.”

In addition to writing, Walters is staying busy in retirement. She writes a column in the local newspaper, the Fannin Sentinel from the perspective of Jake and Lottie. She also volunteers at a thrift store that raises money for local children’s causes and is a member of the Blue Ridge Kiwanis Club. She is also active in the local theater and plans to audition for a play if she finds the right role.

Most of the stories in Walters’ book predate her Longboat Key days.

“I was too close to Longboat Key when I first started it,” she said.

But now that she has more distance, having been retired for two years, she plans to write a second book about the interesting people she met on the island during her career.

“I think I was so fortunate to do a job where I met so many interesting people,” Walter said. “The people are what made it special.”

Meet Dora
Dora Walters will hold a book signing for her new book, “Rewind…Playback” at 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, on the porch of the Longboat Observer office, 5570 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

The public is invited to meet (or catch up with) Walters and purchase a copy of her book. Books are $5, and Walters plans to donate $1 from each sale to a to-be-determined charity. For information, email Robin Hartill at [email protected].

Books are also available for purchase on Amazon.

Sneak peek at Walters’ “Rewind…Playback”

A reporter is born
Walters got her first byline when she was in fifth grade after the school bus ceased stopping in front of her house, requiring her to walk an extra mile and a half each way. She enlisted the help of her fifth grade teacher and watched for it each day until it appeared.

“It made the paper! A week later, it made the school board meeting agenda. Common sense prevailed and by unanimous vote, I got my ride back. That’s what I call power of the press,” Walters writes.

Que sera, sera
Walters spent several months in Mexico shortly after graduating from Boston University, documenting how donations were used for a nonprofit’s newsletter. One night, she met a young Mexican psychiatry intern named Dr. Carlos Alberto Jones, whose father was an American railroad man, after he sat down next to her on a bench at Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park.

The two struck up a romance, and Jones took her to a psychoanalyst to determine whether they were compatible. His conclusion: Si, señor.

But because Walter’s nonprofit position was eventually eliminated, she was running out of money, and she would need to marry a Mexican citizen to legally work. Jones was adamant that he would not marry for at least a year, until he could support a wife. So, Walters packed up her suitcase and headed to the bus terminal and cried all the way to the border.

“As they say in Mexico, ‘Que sera, sera.’ What will be, will be. If it was meant to be, we would have found a way,” Walters writes.

What was meant to be: Walters later married Otto, a Swiss artist she met while living in New York City.

Presidential ambitions
On a slow news day, Walters suggested interviewing a Democratic presidential hopeful named Jimmy Carter to her assignment editor at WTVT-TV, during a campaign stop in the Sarasota area.

“Who’s he?” the editor asked.

Walters, Carter and a campaign worker were the only people in the auditorium, so Carter gave her an hour of his time. They talked about his mother, Lillian, who joined the Peace Corps as a senior citizen and the peanut industry in Georgia.

Carter wasn’t upset by the empty auditorium, but he said that the campaign would be a lot of work.

“History may not give Jimmy Carter great marks for his presidency but I would give him great marks for being a gracious gentleman on an embarrassing campaign day,” Walters writes.

Love triangle
Walters, then a WTVT reporter/camerawoman, and Tampa Tribune reporter Pete Schmidt got the scoop on a story that would make headlines worldwide. Dr. Carl Coppolino, of Longboat Key, was about to be arrested by New Jersey authorities for the murder of his mistress’ husband, Col. Bill Farber. After that trial, he would return to Sarasota to face charges that he murdered his 32-year-old wife, Carmela, on Longboat Key.

The charges came after Coppolino’s mistress and Farber’s widow, Marge Farber, went to law enforcement after Coppolino found a new lover, Mary, while playing bridge on St. Armands Key.

Coppolino hired famed defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, who won a not-guilty verdict in New Jersey. He returned to Sarasota for the second trial, which “was when the three-ring circus started,” Walters writes.

“The trial itself had drama. At one point, Coppolino was rushed to the hospital, claiming to be having a heart attack. A proficient hypnotist, there were questions about the validity of his claim. Carmela’s father, a fiery Italian was wont to toss glass ashtrays from the courthouse office at press cameramen as they walked the halls.”

The trial was moved to Naples, and Bailey and his entourage partied every night, confident they would win the trial.

Walters was there when the jury returned its verdict: guilty of second-degree murder.

Bailey leaped to his feet, shouting, “It can’t be. It’s either first degree or acquittal,” before leaving the courtroom en route to Boston for a Red Sox game. Coppolino served 12 years in prison.

Yo quiero Taco Bell
Walters wrote a tongue-in-cheek review of Taco Bell in the voice of her border collie, Mackey, for the Longboat Observer’s first April Fools issue. The review is included in the book.

“Ever since I spent a couple months in Mexico last summer, I have had a craving for a crunchy taco or good chewy tortilla filled with beans, cheese and onions — you know, all that good stuff,” the review states.

Mackey’s conclusion: He was disappointed he couldn’t go into Taco Bell, unlike the restaurants in Mexico, and the food was a bit spicy. Mackey’s favorite item was the double decker taco, which he described as “a wonderful combination of crunchy and soft tacos with a hearty filling.”