Ray Speer talked about his father, Paul Preston Speer, to the DeSoto County Historical Society at its regular monthly meeting this month.

Born in 1892 in Georgia, Paul came to Florida to work for the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad which was built from Boca Grande to Arcadia in 1905-1907. Ray said that his father called it the “Cold, Hungry, and Naked.” (The nickname was popular during the tenure of chief executive Robert Bradley, who kept costs and wages low.)