Porco History Dates Back To 1945

  Samuel S. Porco Sr., his wife Laura and sons Anthony, Samuel S. Jr. and Nicholas arrived in FloridaCity from Sewickley, Pennsylvania in 1945.  Sam Sr. was a police officer and his wife Laura was a hospital dietician.  Because of family medical problems their doctor told Sam Sr. he needed to move the family to Arizona or Florida. 

  Sam Sr. came to FloridaCity first to check it out. He farmed five acres with a partner using a mule. Each walked away with $26 for the season. 

  The Porcos opened a grocery store in a small house near where the Community Bank branch is on Palm Drive. Later they moved to the bottom floor of a two story building on Palm Drive across from the Post Office. 

  The family lived on the second floor, as did Sam Nicotra who was single at the time and farming here in the winter months.  Sam Sr. was the butcher, Mom Laura took care of the cash register and the boys stocked the shelves and did other odd jobs. 

  Sam Jr. remembers farm workers coming into the store to buy a loaf of bread and a small jar of mayonnaise so, as a group, they could make tomato sandwiches in the fields.  They generally ran a tab and paid it on Saturday.

  In the mid-50s, Sam Sr. had to give up the grocery store because of a major illness which required several surgeries. Laura and Sam Sr. received a pleasant surprise in 1955 – a fourth son Michael.

  After Sam Sr. recovered he turned to farming on a moderate scale.  With just 15 acres he innovated by “double rowing” his crops.  He grew yellow crooked-neck squash, cranberry beans, and acorn squash.  The boys helped out by weeding and other tasks.  A man by the name of Jacques talked Sam Sr. into growing seed corn which made him one of the first to explore this area of agriculture.

  With the help of a block layer named Kessler Sam Sr. built the family a home at 18720 SW 352 Street. The property is now a charter school.

  The Porcos were close to the Stranos and to Herman Lucerne who was also a Pennsylvanian from the Pittsburgh area.

  The Porco family emphasized the importance of education to their four sons.  Anthony became an optometrist, Samuel Jr., a dentist, Nicholas an optician and Michael retired after a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Air Force. 

  Anthony practiced briefly in Homestead before opening a practice in Perrine, then in Sarasota.

  Sam graduated from FloridaStateUniversity and became a science and math teacher at RedlandMiddle School.  Dr. Bob Crow convinced him to go to dental school.  Sam did and returned to practice briefly with Dr. Crow who mentored almost all local people who became dentists.  Dr. Bob Crow had been himself mentored by Dr. James Archer Smith after Bob’s dad died young.  Sam then opened his own practice in Perrine. 

  Nicholas became a draftsman with the Dempsey Dumpster Co. in Tennessee and then went back to school and became an optician. 

  Michael graduated from the University of Florida and then worked briefly at Community Bank of Florida, then as a police officer and trained as a Texas Ranger before being commissioned in the U.S. Air Force.

  Sam Sr. passed away May 29, 2003.  Mom Laura passed away two years later at the “young” age of 90.

  The Porco’s’ encouragement to their sons was very direct and understandable:  “Be your best at what you do and be kind to people.”

  Bob Jensen is Vice President for Community Liaison at 1st National Bank of South Florida, president of the Florida Pioneer Museum and a retired Navy Commander.