David Ray, Nocatee Community Manager

A number of residents have asked what I have been up to in my short-lived retirement. Well, for starters, I’ve been hitting the Twenty Mile sidewalks and Nocatee greenway trails, training for my favorite race—the Apryle Showers 10K. Months ago, I set myself a challenge: to break an hour in this 6.2-mile race. Not exactly an easy feat for a retired accountant that hasn’t run a race in seven years.

Yes, the Apryle Showers 10K is the only official race of Nocatee, and yes, it brings the community together in more ways than just blocking traffic. But for me, this race means so much more.

It all goes back to a moment years ago when I was working in my office. Courtney from Resident Services walks in, brimming with excitement. “There’s a new resident up front, and she’s amazing. You have to meet her,” she said. Now, in my time as Community Manager, we welcomed over 30,000 new residents. But only one stood out so much that Courtney, or any other employee, felt the need to bring me to meet them personally.

We talked for nearly an hour, and she was just as remarkable as promised. But sadly, just a few short months later, this amazing woman succumbed to cancer. That resident, the only resident so special that Resident Services knew I just had to meet her, was Apryle Schmidt. The “Apryle” in “Apryle Showers 10k”. A very special race, for a very special reason.

Just prior to Apryle’s passing, the Apryle Showers Foundation was established by Apryle and a group of Nocatee residents to honor her and support young adults in the community battling cancer. The Apryle Showers 10K has since become one of its primary fundraisers.

So there I was, standing at the starting line of tis special race on a beautiful Sunday morning, memories of that day meeting Apryle weighing on my heart as I was determined to hit my goal: to finish the Apryle Showers 10K in under an hour. With the sun shining down over Nocatee, I took off, feeling the energy from Apryle, the amazing volunteers, and the Nocatee crowd lining the course.

58 minutes and 55 seconds later, well under my goal, I crossed the finish line. I whispered one final prayer for Apryle and for the volunteers who continue to carry on her legacy. Then, feeling physically drained and emotionally high, I joined the post-race celebration.

Retirement, it turns out, can have some wonderful moments.

Research shows the average person has 29 friends over the course of their lifetime. Through my 16 years as Nocatee’s Community Manager, I have counted thousands as my friend. And what is more important than the friends we have and the love we give.

I met this unusual friend last year on a cruise ship in Norway, while looking for the northern lights. I found much more. He didn’t have much to say, but often, we don’t need words. Sometimes, we just need our friend to be there for us. Thank you to my Nocatee neighbors and friends for always being there for me.

I believe the primary job of a CEO is to leave a place better than when they started. In my case, the start was simple. When I accepted the position of Community Manager at Nocatee 15 years ago there were few residents, no waterparks, no activities, and not even a building for an office. But we had big dreams. Soon, those dreams turned into ideas, concepts, and then actions. And so we began to build a community.

I learned the developer can construct the roads and buildings, but the heart of the community is its people. A small group of dedicated staff with creative ideas worked long hours to design a lifestyle – and the residents embraced it. From there, I truly believe Nocatee attracted residents that wanted this active and involved lifestyle, which then made our events and activities even more successful. And so it continues to this day, as the last communities of Nocatee are finally in sight.

Nocatee has a tagline “Live The Lifestyle” that didn’t come from an advertising agency. It came organically from the residents themselves as they began to describe their community. It is not a slogan, but rather a resident’s outlook on living life to its fullest in this great place that is home.

Equally important, the CEO should have plans and people in place to ensure the future will be even better when they are gone. We have many long-term staff that have been with us for more than ten years. We also have newer staff that fit the specific needs of the community as we stand now and work toward an even more exciting future. We are now staffed with the professionals that can best lead us forward.

Today, I announce my retirement as Nocatee’s Community Manager at the end of the year. I can feel confident that I am leaving Nocatee a better place than when I arrived. I also feel confident in our future and in the staff that will take the lead as we continue to serve our residents.

I want to thank The PARC Group for their commitment to doing things the right way. Having this solid foundation has been essential to build upon. I want to thank the Tolomato CDD Board of Supervisors for the confidence in me and our team of employees. This professional leadership has been a significant key to our success. And finally, I want to thank the residents of Nocatee for their contributions to making Nocatee the number one community and for giving me such a great run for the past 15 years.

Nocatee. Live the Lifestyle.

Every Street Name Tells a Story

I was speaking to a resident when they asked about the origin of their street name: Beartooth Trail. It got me thinking about street names throughout Nocatee. The names for most of the hundreds of streets in Nocatee come from one source – Rick Ray, President and CEO of The PARC Group.

Initially, it is all fun. But after the first 50 or so, it becomes difficult. After the next 200, naming the streets is downright challenging.

Where does Rick go on vacation? Well, the Kelly Pointe streets of Scottsdale and Captiva could give us a clue. All the names in Sienna come from the Region of Tuscany in Italy. Twenty Mile’s Frontierland Trail is straight from Disney. And to answer the initial question, Beartooth Trail in Twenty Mile was named after the famous Beartooth Highway in Montana.

But my favorite street name story comes from a small street in Daniel Park that starts off straight and then bends to the left. It is aptly named Norwood Drive. Any fan of the Buffalo Bills or New York Giants will recall the closing moments of Super Bowl XXV. With eight seconds remaining, the Buffalo Bills attempted a game winning field goal. The kick went wide right. Giants win. Norwood Lane is an alternate reality from the viewpoint of a Bills fan as the kick turns left, not right, and through the goal posts for the Bills’ victory. The name of the kicker? Scott Norwood.

All that to name a single street whose total length is less than a single football field.