Family and friends of Dewey Burnsed, as well as many Villagers, attended the grand opening of the Burnsed Recreation Center located in Osceola Hills on Friday.
The center is named for Dewey Burnsed. He was a lawyer and met Gary Morse in the mid 1980’s. They struck up a life-long friendship and Burnsed served as general counsel for the Villages. He died in 2007.
His wife, Lynn Burnsed Reeves, said this was a great honor for her late husband. With a fishing lodge feel, the rec center is styled after Burnsed’s home place in MacClenny, Fla. Filled with lots of family photos, his wife said her husband would have liked the farm and small town feel of this center.
“He was a lawyer,” said Reeves, “but he was a farmer at heart.”
Gary Lester, vice president of Community Relations in the Villages, said in his opening remarks before the ribbon cutting, talked about Burnsed, a man he knew for 20 years.
“He was a great man, but a crummy fisherman.” Lester said when you drive around the Villages and wonder who could have thought up all of this, the answer a lot of times is Dewey Burnsed. He went on to say that Burnsed was from a small town and that is always the thought behind the Villages, keeping that small town feel. He then acknowledged Fruitland Park Mayor Chris Bell and the several Fruitland Park commissioners in the crowd. The ribbon was then cut by Reeves surrounded by Burnsed’s children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Sydney Padgett, one of Burnsed’s granddaughters, was filled with memories of Thanksgiving. The family used to gather at the home place in MacClenny for the holiday. And the inside of the rec center strongly reminded her of those times.
Residents likewise were impressed. Three Osceola Hills couples were admiring all of the thoughtful memorabilia. All had moved into Osceola Hills within the last year. Eileen Bankowski moved there in October and she and her husband are currently organizing the Osceola Social Club. She described the center as “Feeling like you have walked into another era.” She is also excited that the pool is a Family Pool so they can bring the grandchildren when they visit. Diana Walker is glad to have a center that is now so close and Valerie Verikakis said having a rec center in their village will help develop that neighborhood feel.
The center contains four shuffle board and bocce courts, six pickle ball and two tennis courts and also features a family pool and picnic pavilion.
The center will be open Saturday and Sunday for touring. It is located on Morse Boulevard south of 466A.
