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More History of Marco Island

• Marco Island museum leaders to learn from County museum director
• Living history: Old timers reflect on pre-1960s Marco
• 30 years ago today: October 1, 2008

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Fast facts:

This island has been graced with many famous and talented artists for years, but none like the mother-daughter duo of Berry Iverson and Barbara Johnson. Betty was from Minnesota and attended college there, but was self-taught as a painter. She befriended Native American tribes in the area and became immersed in the wildlife of the region.

After coming to Marco in 1970, she turned her attention to the local birds and other animals of Florida, and became well-represented in galleries and international collections. She always tucked the word God into her paintings, feeling that she could never have accomplished anything without divine inspiration.

When Myra Daniels planned to open her art museum in Naples, she asked Betty two years in advance for 30 paintings. It proved a little too much for the painter’s busy schedule, and she turned to her daughter Barbara Johnson for help. Barbara had earned a degree in journalism/psychology, but learned painting with her mother, and the two of them worked together almost symbiotically until Betty passed away in 1999.

Barbara has been a successful realtor on the island for 38 years, but still hopes to pursue another career in wildlife photography someday.

What’s new with our museum?

The building campaign for the Marco Island Historical Museum has raised $3.2 million toward our $4.5 million goal and site preparation will begin this summer, with construction starting by fall. When it is completed, the museum complex will total more than 15,000 square feet and include three buildings connected by galleries and walkways, landscaped with a lagoon and native Florida plants. The showcase of the complex will be the History Museum featuring innovative and interactive exhibits that will bring the Island’s past to life. State-of-the-art security and climate control will make it possible to borrow and display fragile and irreplaceable Calusa Indian artifacts excavated from Marco Island for more than a century ago. For information on how to contribute, please contact Bill and Betsy Perdichizzi at 394 6917.

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Marion Nicolay and Betsy Perdichizzi of the Marco Island Historical Society are compiling this report on a weekly basis for the Eagle. Shirley Beckwith oversees the archiving of photos for MIHS.