15 MINUTES
Mrs. Williams' Fancy Flamingo
BY EVAN _WILLIAMS Florida Weekly Correspondent

PHOTO EVAN WILLIAMS Jessie Williams is the owner of Fancy Flamingo on Peck Street in downtown Fort Myers. She's owned the antique shop for five years.

The shaded doors of Fancy Flamingo Antiques on Peck Street, across from the Fort Myers police station, promise a cool hour of browsing.

Inside those doors, and out of the summer heat as thick as a sauna's, it may take a moment to notice owner Jessie Williams.

Her serene face and delicate, curled white hair appear behind a huge glass desk, from which flow watches and pens, mirrors and armoires, grandfather clocks and busts, along with a catchall of ashtrays, globes, paintings, lamps, suitcases, coiffeurs, and - behind Mrs. Williams head - a sign written in black magic marker.

It says, "A southern lady has pearls, class...and a little SASS!"

Mrs. Williams herself is from Loveland, Ohio - a place she describes as a "ruralish" suburb of Cincinnati, just across the Ohio River from Kentucky. Her husband built houses there; in fact, she said, he built a house where they raised five children. She retired to Fort Myers in 2002 and has owned Fancy Flamingo Antiques for five years.

"I know it's not a real popular location, but we're found.

"We put Peck Street on the map, didn't we, Nancy," she said, referring to friend Nancy Cyphert.

Mrs. Cyphert sat very politely and prettily in an antique wooden chair behind the desk, placing Fancy Flamingo Antique stickers on large paper bags. Then she tied pink ribbon to the bag handles and began curling the ribbon with a pair of scissors. She seemed to agree with Mrs. Williams by a quiet smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

Mrs. Williams notes the items she has collected from the Victorian Period: an armoire, a daybed, framed flowers made of human hair, pictures of pale-skinned ladies in corsets, gloves and hats.

"It was a very pretty period," she said.

She stood up to host a quick tour of the shop. Her deep blue shirt had a sparkly message on it: "My tastes are simple...THE BEST!"

She pointed out a rusting scythe, a tool used to cut wheat (also the Grim Reaper's ominous accoutrement).

A stack of leather postcards from 1907 were displayed in a case that was robbed two years ago, when it used to contain jewelry, Mrs. Williams said. All the postcards were addressed to Miss Louise Meyer, from Ralph.

"I'm lonely without you tonight," was stamped on one. Under it, Ralph had written, "Honestly, I am. Ralph."

"She obviously had an admirer," Mrs. Williams said. "I wonder if he ever married her."

On a black card in the same case was stamped, in gold leaf: "In loving remembrance. Katie C. Schroth. Died Oct. 27, 1881. Age 7 years, 2 months."

"People collect these," Mrs. Williams said. "Kind of a morbid collection, but they do."

She points out the flamingo motif in the front room of her shop. There are flamingo curtains, flamingo sculptures and two huge stuffed flamingos over the door; a security sticker advises, "WARNING: protected by Pink Flamingos."; around them are paintings, ornaments, napkins, hats, figurines, nail files, all filled with the likeness of flamingos.

"We have flamingo soap, we have flamingo everything," Mrs. Williams said.

Her arms stretched to encompass the entire room.

"All this is me," she said. "This is my life."

She occasionally attends a grandchild's graduation in Ohio or works in the garden at her home, where she lives with her husband in Fort Myers Shores - but most of her time, even on the two days when the shop is closed (Sunday and Monday), is spent here.

"It's just a really pleasant, peaceful place to come," she said. "And when you have a business, that's just how it is. You spend all your time with it and you have to love it."

The air conditioning whirred in the empty shop. From somewhere on the top of a shelf covered by antique clocks, Ray Charles sang:

"I've made up my mind

To live in memory of the lonesome times

It's useless to say

So I'll just live my life in dreams of yesterday…"

Mrs. Cyphert identified the song, "Can't Stop Loving You."

"The summers get terribly quiet," Mrs. Williams said. "Business could be better."

However, she notes, Fancy Flamingo Antiques has survived for five years already; besides that, she enjoys the nature of Southern hospitality, she said - "I always greet people with a smile and a hello"- and she doesn't miss Northern winters.

"Snow is beautiful, but I've had enough of it in my life. The palm trees have really taken over - the charm of them. I love it here.

"Now look at these," she insisted, distracted by a nicely aged set of metal candleholders. "Aren't these pretty? I'll get you interested in

antiques - make you appreciate the old."

Mrs. Williams encourages a little wandering in the windowless back rooms of the shop to explore the nostalgia of the aged.

"People say, 'This reminds me of my grandmother,' a lot," Mrs. Williams said, standing next to a Norman Rockwell print, from the March 6, 1959 edition of the Saturday Evening Post. The picture is called "Girl at the Mirror."

Next to that is a painting by an anonymous artist: a choppy, Van-Gogh-esque lake runs out of Northern hills below a flat, dull sky. On the lake, four small sailboats glide in formation. Tiny blue sailors are easy to miss.

Hours later, whether coming home on sunbaked Highway 41 or standing in line at a USave, that painting discovered in Mrs. Williams antique shop still offers a beautiful, nostalgic place to disappear.

Make an unplanned visit to Fancy Flamingo Antiques so you can cool off or find something nostalgic for yourself, Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 am to 5:30 pm.