Just say the name Snookie (Mary) Demarce and anyone who knows this vivacious Minnesotan automatically smiles. When asked her age, she will tell you “76, like the trombones.” And when asked what she is driving these days, she will tell you “Vanessa [a van] and she only plays Van Halen and Van Morrison.”
This perpetual practical joker was born in Tracy, Minn., located in the southwestern corner of the state. Her father grew up on a dairy farm and later ran two bowling centers for many years where young Snookie honed both her bowling skills and people skills working with the public. She would go on to spend more than three decades working as a Delta Airlines flight attendant and kayaking wherever she could take her folding kayak.
Get to know Snookie, who sat down with staff writer Lisa D. Mickey and talked about her longtime involvement at MDC.
Did you grow up helping run the family’s bowling alley?
Yes, my two brothers and I each had a bowling ball in our hands by the age of 7. I became a good bowler and took home Delta Airlines bowling trophies every year. When you grow up in a bowling alley, you have free practice!
Did you leave Minnesota for your education?
Yes, I went to Cottey College [a private women’s college] in Missouri. I only went for two years because I realized I wasn’t a good student. I was a clown in class and I was kind of wasting my parents’ money. In 1969, airlines were hiring like crazy and the jumbo jets came along in 1970. At that time, 5-foot-2 was the shortest you could be as a flight attendant and I’m 5-foot-1. They were hiring so many people that they let that fact slide. I was 20 years old when I started working with Delta Airlines in 1969.
How many years did you work with Delta?
I worked in six of our crew bases for 32 years. I did Dallas to Frankfurt and Dallas to Honolulu for four years. Then I flew out of Boston’s Logan Airport in the summers, then transferred back to Miami, where I was based for 15 years – mainly Miami to New York and San Francisco. In 1984, I decided it would be fun to drive a motor home across America.
Did that happen?
Yes, I bought a 25-foot used motor home. Flight attendants had the freedom to change our bases, so every three months, if you wanted to transfer to another base, you could do that. With that kind of freedom, I sold everything, stored what I couldn’t part with and loaded up that motor home in September 1984. I drove to Key Largo from Miami and lived there for two months before heading west to Albuquerque, N.M. I also bought a used Toyota Corolla and towed it behind the motor home. My plan was to travel from one state to another every six months and see as much as I could see. I got 13 states behind me before I got turned on to Oregon. Delta started flying out of Oregon in 1986, so that became our hub to Asia.
Did you stay in Oregon for a while?
Yes. I flew to South Korea, and to three cities in Japan – Nagoya, Fukuoka and Tokyo — Bangkok, and Taipei, Taiwan. Those were 13-14-hour flights home. I carried a three-legged stool. On those all-nighters, most of the passengers were exhausted and slept all night but I would sit in the aisle and talk to the people who didn’t want to sleep.
It sounds like you really loved your job?
The biggest mistake I ever made was retiring in 2002 at age 52. It’s hard to talk about it. I loved my job and was good at it. When 9/11 happened, Delta, like other airlines, had to cut staff because nobody was flying. I had just transferred to Orlando when 9/11 happened. They offered an early retirement package. On the anniversary of 9/11, I and another flight attendant kayaked down the Potomac River. I had laminated the photos of the 25 flight attendants who died that day and we recited their names every night when we camped. We paddled 109 miles for nine days. We had t-shirts printed up that said, “Let’s roll” on the back, which is what the flight attendants said when they used their beverage carts to try to stop the terrorists. We also had American flags on our kayaks. People were so supportive of what we were doing along the way.
Did that day hit close to home for you?
I never felt scared a single day on Delta. We had a bad crash in the 1980s in Dallas and lost 135 people, which was a shock to everybody. I flew to Dallas to try to help after that crash. We had a person assigned to every family who lost a loved one. It was a family spirit.
When did you kayak around the Korean peninsula?
In July 1990, I took my foldable kayak to South Korea. When I was flying to Seoul, I caught glimpses of Korea. It’s a beautiful country and I wanted to see the Korean coast. Another Delta flight attendant agreed to paddle with me. It took six months to get approval from the Korean government to do the trip. He was tall and dark-haired and I was short and blonde. We sort of stuck out. We had to stop for two nights and wait out a typhoon. We were camping on the beach. The Korean people saw us, picked up our tent and stored it for us and opened up their homes to us.
How long was that paddling adventure?
Only about 112 miles around the peninsula of Korea. We got to see their oyster farming. They used floats and nets and the typhoon really tore them up. We saw a Korean couple and they waved us over. They gave us a live octopus as a gift and smiled from ear to ear. We took it and thanked them. It was riding in the bottom of my kayak and I had hickeys all over my legs from it sticking to me. As soon as we were out of sight, we let that octopus go back into the water.
Where else did you kayak?
I took my kayak twice to Alaska and kayaked 12 days through Glacier Bay [National Park and Preserve] before the cruise ships were allowed to go in there. I joined a group to do that trip and we camped along the way. We flew our boats into Juno and then took a boat to Bartlett Cove. We could hear glaciers splitting off, crashing into the sea and becoming icebergs.
When did you move to New Smyrna Beach?
I lost my home in a flood in Lincoln City, Oregon – the third flood in four years. That was in 1988. I moved to Miami after I lost my home, and later worked out of Orlando in 2002, living in Edgewater.
How and when did you get involved with MDC?
I saw some people at the old water treatment plant and they told me about Bruce Jaildagian’s idea to start Marine Discovery Center. They told me about wanting to protect the Indian River Lagoon. I came back with my kayak in 1999 and paddled by myself from Oak Hill down to Melbourne, Fla., camping on spoil islands. I had friends in Melbourne, so they met me at the end of my trip. We folded up my kayak and I flew back home to Oregon. That experience and the folks I met really turned me on to Marine Discovery Center. After I moved to Florida, I started volunteering at MDC in 2001. I met a lot of really nice people. One night, about 10 of us volunteers took our sleeping bags and slept at the old Connor Library, where MDC was based in the early days. We heard it was haunted, so we wanted to go there. We talked and laughed all night. What orb of light or spirit would want to join that party?
What volunteer duties did you have at MDC?
I worked on the wine & cheese boat tour for a while that MDC used to run. I carried a rubber Pinocchio nose in my pocket and when the passengers weren’t looking, I’d put that on and yell, “Shark!” I also was a sweep on the kayak tours for a while. But the most fulfilling thing I ever did was paddling to raise money for MDC’s Discovery boat.
When was that and why did you do it?
It was 2010 and I was 60. MDC’s pontoons didn’t pass the U.S. Coast Guard inspection and MDC needed money to replace the pontoons on its Discovery boat. I was trying to think of ways to raise money, so I decided to paddle the Indian River Lagoon. Diane and Paul Yeaton drove me to Jupiter, Fla. I got permission to camp at a compound owned by Burt Reynolds. Diane cried when she dropped me off, but I wasn’t scared. I had a flare gun!
Did you have to use it?
Well, I got stalked on that trip. One night I went to bed in my campsite with that gun loaded. I also had a sharp Buck knife and a siren. This guy started following me at a place called Grant Island, where I was camping. I’ve worked with the public for a long time and I know when people are full of it and he was. I tried to get up early the next morning to get going and he showed up. So, I paddled about a mile north and saw kayaks beached on the sand. He was there! So then, I paddled on for another couple of miles and saw a little restaurant on the water. I needed food and coffee, so I tied up my boat and walked up to the building. A lady there said they were not serving dinner yet. It was about 2 p.m., and I told her I had not eaten that day and that I was being stalked. She seated me by the window and got me a salad. I was telling her about this guy when he walked in the door. The woman told him to leave. He gave me a nasty look. I told him I wanted to be left alone. He took his hand and cleared off every table in that restaurant. The sheriff came and I gave him a report. I never saw that guy again. I ran into two other strange guys, but other than those three, for 30 days, people were very kind and generous.
Weren’t you afraid to kayak and camp on those spoil islands alone?
No, because I was prepared for trouble. I read a wonderful book called “The Gift of Fear” and it’s about how strong a woman’s intuition is and how too many women don’t listen to that intuition. I think if any woman listens to her intuition and is prepared, that is the biggest reason to feel safe.
You had a lot of time alone in that kayak paddling the entire length of the lagoon for MDC. What did you learn?
I loved the solitude — I learned how much I like my own company. I learned that you don’t have to have a TV to be entertained, or a table to have a good meal, or a bed to sleep well at night. And I learned there are a lot more good people out there than bad people. It’s too bad the bad people get so much attention.
How were you raising funds for MDC’s boat?
I would talk to people along the way about MDC and our mission. People gave me donations. The manager of Chick-fil-A in Edgewater donated $500. There were also corporate donations for $300 and people pledged money per mile that I paddled. I raised a little over $6,000. That experience made me feel good that I could help.
How was it paddling back into New Smyrna Beach at the end of that 156-mile trip?
I remember the old Water Taxi was still operating and it was full of people who came out to greet me. There were also a lot of local paddlers who met me and paddled in. The way I was greeted after that trip felt like a million dollars.
And you got to be a part of MDC’s growth.
Every time I step on this property, I’m just blown away with what has been done. It’s clear evidence that Bruce’s plan was a noble idea to create something like Marine Discovery Center. When you have a noble idea, it’s wonderful to see how it attracts people and what is possible with the help of volunteers. I never would have imagined how many volunteers MDC has now and all the programs that are now available. It feels great to see an idea expand to this.
You have also been involved with something called P.E.O. International. What is that?
It stands for Philanthropic Educational Organization. I have been involved with them since 2005 and our primary focus all year long is to provide scholarships and grants to Cottey College in Missouri for women’s education. We offer low-interest loans for women going on to get their college degrees and even doctorate degrees.
Are you active in anything else here in Central Florida?
Well, I’m a Raging Granny. It’s for women of a certain age. You don’t have to be a grandmother, but you have to be willing to rage with songs. It started in Canada. We’re called Gaggles and our songs are about social issues.
Is there something on your bucket list that you still want to do?
I want to fly over to Paris for a two-day trip and go see Notre Dame after the fire damage. And I would love to get another motor home and go back out on the road.
Where did this wander lust come from?
I think from my mom and dad. When I got my job with Delta, my mom and dad got six passes a year – and three international passes a year. They never wasted them. Mom and dad lived all over the country before they settled down in Iowa with those bowling alleys and they took us camping every summer to places like Mt. Rushmore and The Badlands.
Why is it important for you to keep giving to MDC?
Because I believe in it and I’m proud to be a part of it. Whenever I walk in the door at MDC, I just burst with pride. It shows what a community can do and it shows that our community cares.
Follow Us!