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From Pastures to Progress as the Mosman Family Marks 50 Years in Coral Springs

Jeanne Mosman in her early days at the Coral Springs Police Department, Scott Mosman at the CSPD turkey shoot, David and Jeanne at the turkey shoot, and David next to his DEMCO van. {courtesy}

When the Mosman family relocated to Coral Springs from Hanover, Massachusetts, in 1974, they chose to make the then-billed “City in the Country” their new home.

When they first arrived here five decades ago, the Mosmans were David, his wife Jeanne, and sons John, 18, Rick, 14, and Scott, 9.

John recalled that his father, David, a painting contractor, needed to move to a warmer climate for health reasons. Jeanne said when her husband first visited looking for a place to live, someone told him about a nascent city called Coral Springs, but also added, “There’s nothing there.”

That was all her husband needed to hear. “He said, ‘Let’s go.’ “

Upon his arrival, David founded DEMCO Painting, which no longer exists. They sold their home up north and bought the first home they looked at in the Ramblewood neighborhood. When the Mosmans set their Coral Springs roots down 50 years ago, the city only had 10-11,000 residents.

Today’s Coral Springs is vastly different from the 1974 version of the same city.

“It’s unbelievable how it’s grown,” said Jeanne, who worked for various city agencies since she arrived. She worked for the Police Department, Water Billing, and Parks and Recreation. “I was quite diversified,” she said.

The city honored Jeanne when she retired after 24 years and awarded her a proclamation on May 4, 1999, signed by then-Mayor John Sommerer, proclaiming the date “Jeanne Mosman Retirement Day.”

To say Jeanne has some fascinating tales to tell about this city’s now-bygone days would be quite an understatement.

One particular incident stands out in her mind. She was working at the front desk of the Coral Springs Police Department when a man entered the premises seeking a permit to keep a lion – yes, an actual lion – he brought in on a leash. And if her memory serves her correctly, she believes he might have been granted that permit. “But I can’t swear to it,” she said.

John recalls very little traffic in Coral Springs’ early days.

“When the lights were out at night, it was dark,” he recalled, adding that only a four-way stop sign stood at the intersection of Coral Springs Drive and Sample Road. The first traffic light was on Riverside and Sample.”

In this city’s days of old, there were only two lanes on Wiles Road, surrounded by cow pastures.

“There were no street lights,” John said. “It was black out there. We raced our cars.”

The three brothers and their mom also recall an annual fundraising event held decades ago by the Coral Springs Police Department at the future site of Coral Square Mall: a turkey shoot.

Scott recalled how participants fire their rifles at targets, with winners coming home with a free turkey. “I won two myself,” Scott said.

When they arrived in Coral Springs, John had already graduated from high school in their native Hanover, about 17 miles south of Boston.

Rick spent his first year in high school at Coconut Creek as a ninth-grader before transferring to the newly built Coral Springs High School, and Scott was in the first graduating class at J.P. Taravella High School in 1983.

The Mosman siblings still make Coral Springs their home. However, John moved to Stuart briefly in the 1980s to learn the pool business. He moved back in 1987 and founded Sawgrass Pools when that toll road opened. Rick, now semi-retired, was a painting contractor like his dad for 36 years. “Before I fell,” he adds.

Scott has worked for American Airlines in Fort Lauderdale for 33 years. In his younger days, he worked for five years at Coral Springs’ first Publix, located on the northeast corner of University Drive and Sample Road.

The Mosman family celebrates their 50th anniversary as Coral Springs residents at Big Bear restaurant. (Left to right: John’s wife Joyce, John, Jeanne, Scott, and Rick Mosman.

The family downsized and moved from Ramblewood to the Coquina Cove section in 1998. Rick lives there with his mom and helps take care of her. Scott and John live west of Coral Springs Drive.

Jeanne is now 88. John is 68, Rick is 64, and Scott is 59. Their father, David, passed away in 2010.

Scott explains why the Mosman family never left Coral Springs. “I love it here,” he said. “Everything you need is here. We grew up with the city.”

And does Jeanne miss New England winters? “Hell no,” she immediately answers with her pronounced Bostonian accent, “but I miss the leaves changing.”

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Martin Lenkowsky

Martin Lenkowsky moved to Coral Springs from NYC in 1982. He has a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College. He has been both writer and editor for a number of South Florida publications since 1983. He considers features writing his specialty.