For 30-some years Bill Becker, news director at Lower Keys–based U.S. 1 Radio 104.1 FM, has provided a soothing, authoritative presence that appeals to Florida Keys listeners. Surprisingly, though his smooth voice and comfortable manner make him a broadcasting natural, working in radio was not his life’s goal.

Love brought Loretta Geotis to the Florida Keys, and another passion led her to the Marathon Community Theatre.Geotis, the theater’s general business manager, came to the Keys in 2002 to join the man who is now her husband. A Midwesterner with a background

Influenced by both her parents’ love of the outdoors and her mother’s creative background, Valerie Fecher picked up a camera and began taking photographs at an early age.Her inspiration to become a shutterbug came from her mother, a painter, who also passed her artistic drive down to Fecher’s sisters.

MARATHON, Florida Keys - Few people are aware that the stone crabs served at the famous Joe's Stone Crab restaurant in Miami are provided by a commercial fishing operation in the Florida Keys - Keys Fisheries in Marathon. And Gary Graves, owner of Keys Fisheries restaurant and manager of the fishing

Culinary artistry is the norm in the Florida Keys, and a select group of gourmet chefs lead the way with their innovative cuisine created using fresh local ingredients and a unique flair. From Key Largo to Key West, these culinary craftsmen set a high standard for food

For Jennifer Hammer, owner of Snook’s Bayside in Key Largo, the restaurant business is both a longstanding passion and a family affair. Her more than 25 years’ experience dates back to her college days, when she alternated bartending and working in a French fine

Sandy Moret has been fly fishing almost all his life. The passion and drive he brings to teaching and advancing the sport is unequaled.Those qualities are what brought him to the Florida Keys to open Florida Keys Outfitters in Islamorada, after a childhood spent fishing in and around Atlanta, Ga.

Forty-year Florida Keys resident Rick Berry may be a Miami native, but he well recalls childhood days spent fishing in the Keys with his father.“When I was a kid I fished with my father every chance I got,” said Berry. “As a teenager, as soon as I could drive, I headed for the Keys almost every weekend to fish the bridges.”

He has performed for audiences around Europe, starred at a famed San Francisco venue and been the first American singer/pianist to play in the American Bar of London’s Savoy Hotel. Nevertheless, Key West keeps calling Bobby Nesbitt home.

The late Harriet Stokes, only the third owner of Largo Lodge since it opened in Key Largo in the late 1940s, remembered the sleepy years of the Florida Keys."I bought Largo Lodge between 1967 and 1968," Stokes said in a January 2007 interview. "The road Largo Lodge is on was a narrow road back then.

It’s a total understatement to say that hospitality industry veteran Diane Schmidt, general manager of the Westin Key West Resort & Marina, gets excited watching her employees and even former employees succeed. Her delight was evident at a recent Florida Keys & Key West Lodging Association

TAVERNIER, Florida Keys - Jerry Wilkinson settled in Tavernier after he and his wife spent 13 years traveling in a recreational vehicle looking for a place to settle down. Since then, driven by his passion to uncover as much history as possible in the Upper Florida Keys town, Wilkinson has become the area's expert

Bill Keogh took a childhood love of the outdoors and turned it into a career. He's the owner of Big Pine Kayak Adventure in the Lower Keys, nestled beside the Old Wooden Bridge Fishing Camp along a winding road near mile marker 30 on U.S. Highway 1 in Big Pine Key.

Karen Thurman, an Oklahoma native, became a resident of the Conch Republic in the same way so many other Key Westers have — she came to visit a friend, fell in love with island life and stayed permanently.“I had a job offer in Fort Lauderdale and moved there sight unseen. I lasted six weeks and realized I didn’t belong there, so I went to Key West for the weekend to visit a friend who

From working on Volkswagens to rehabilitating and releasing injured sea turtles, Richie Moretti has led a diverse and challenging life.Owner of what he says was "a very fast boat," he first came to the Florida Keys from Orlando in 1980 and helped rescue Cuban people during the Mariel boatlift. The following year, he started fishing in Marathon.

Fred Cabanas has been passionate about flying since he was 17 years old, hanging out at Key West International Airport, watching and flying with an aerobatics pilot.He wasn’t too thrilled with an instructor who believed planes should be flown with the wheel side down and the shiny side up, but the fancy maneuvers of the aerobatics instructor caught Cabanas’ eye.“The one before this instructor only believed in straight flying,” said Cabanas, “and then this pilot showed me how to roll them.”