At 87, Jeanne Roozeboom has been a lot of places, lived in a few, but finds Tanglewood “the place to be. I’ve lived here for 28 years and loved every minute of it,” she said of her stay.
She and her husband Everett came to Tanglewood when it was in its infancy.  “There were a couple houses and the clubhouse and pool were under construction. The rest of us were in campers or RVs.” The population at the campground was less than 20 at the time.
“We had looked all over for the right place to buy-in and had spent the previous year in Avon Park,” Roozeboom said. She added that her husband had noticed the new park going in and when the opportunity arose, Everett told her to go check it out.
John J. Greytak, the owner and property manager, was so friendly and the plans looked good. “So, we signed up right away,” she said.
Starting out in the campground area was a good way to begin, she explained. “Somebody had a karaoke machine, so we had a lot of fun with that. We used to sit out and party. Everybody knew everybody back then.”
She marveled that the community was completed in the prescribed time-frame.
“It was just amazing that John was able to complete the 10-year project on schedule, with all but one house sold,” she said.
From her collection of photographs, one can see this community rise out of the white sand left behind where mainly forest had been.
Roozeboom lost her husband to cancer in 2001. She and her companion Mike Lambiase have been together for 21 years and she continues to spend summers in Iowa. “At first, I went back because I was a contracted campground custodian at Lake Red Rock, Iowa,” she said.” Now, it’s more to tend to a small place she still has in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
Over the years, Roozeboom has lived on Alligator Alley, Safari Hunt Drive and now Sawgrass Trail.
From the beginning her passion became petanque, once the idle bocci ball courts were replaced.
“It was busy,” she gushed. “There were four courts and soon four more were added. We had 120 players, so there were five players on a team.”
“It’s still a lot of fun for me today. It’s something anyone can play. You can be on a walker and still play petanque,” she said, smiling broadly.
If you see Jeanne at Monday Morning Coffee, she will probably be sporting her identity lanyard with discs for every year she’s lived in Tanglewood. Well, almost, she lost 2020, but is getting it replaced. The discs dangle from her gold name tag with 20-Year Resident. emblazoned on it.
Now, she is looking forward to reaching that 30-year mark in a couple years.  Click on the photo below to see some of Jeanne’s memories.