Celebrating Pine Islanders: Angee Romero
Angee Romero said the most important thing to know about her is first and foremost, she is a mom a grandmother and a daughter. In fact, she said, she is very family oriented.
“Everyone on the island knows I’m Bamma. That’s what my grandbabies call me,” Romero said.
Romero moved here in 2011. Having been here on vacation and visiting her mother and aunt, she said she met her husband, Capt. Jesse, who is a charter captain who has been on Pine Island for 21 years now. In fact, she said he has always lived on an island in one form or another, from Key West to South Beach to this island. Having visited here more than once, she said, she already loved the island before even moving here.
“Once you visit Pine Island — well, the more you visit, the more you want to stay,” Romero said.
Her belief is that this island has that effect on most people, and in fact, according to Romero, it had a hold on her from the beginning. Her love for the island wasn’t hurt, she said, by the fact that she was born a Navy brat.
“I was born on the water, so I have a love for water,” Romero said, admitting the Atlantic Ocean is her favorite and has always drawn her and her husband together.
In addition to being president of the American Legion Post 136, and working as a pretty locally famous Pine Island mail lady, Romero was also a police officer. She said she has always tried to service the community and if she had to describe the community of Pine Island, she would say it is a giving, family community.
“Pine Island is my other family. We’re a community. I don’t think there’s a stranger on this island. People ask me if there’s anyone I don’t know, and I’d have to say, there isn’t,” Romero said.
Whenever people visit her, she said they often laugh at how much she’s the same person she was as a youngster back home. In the law enforcement industry, she said, she worked in crime, victim advocacy, dealing mostly with women and children, which made it difficult to put herself first in most given situations.
Watching the effect of Hurricane Ian on Pine Islanders also went a long way toward the love she said she’d already felt for the island.
“Me and my husband were homeless. We had 2 dogs and a back-pack and this community just blew me away. We never want to live anywhere else…ever,” Romero said.
After Hurricane Ian, she said, the question the people around her seemed to be asking was, what do we do now? The realization was to resist the inclination to feel sorry for themselves and to help everyone around them, instead.
“Do we go help somebody scoop out some water and maybe lay down tonight and sleep and then we’ll start again tomorrow? We’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out. I would help during the day and then go home at night and cry,” Romero said.
Romero said her greatest wish for Pine Island is for everyone to stay kind, helpful and hopeful.
“I love this island and my husband loves this island. We believe our children are our future. We believe in them and we keep teaching them…and fish on,” Romero said.
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