By Sam Gilkey
For The News-Gazette

Some retirees get a gold watch after working many years with their company. Linda Goodwin-Nichols got two bus shelters after 22 years on the West 192 Redevelopment District Advisory Board.

The Kissimmee Realtor recently retired from the board and has her name and details about her service at the north side and south side stops near the Vineland Road-State Road 535 intersection.

Goodwin-Nichols said her involvement in a long-running project on U.S. Highway 192 began when she was named chair of the Kissimmee Osceola County Chamber of Commerce’s Beautification Committee.

“The chamber had done a project in downtown Kissimmee in the early 70s,” she said. “The West 192 Resort Area Council had been created and we began looking at a roadway that was not safe, not lighted and was just ugly.”

“We got a $5,000 grant for a study of 192 from the western end all the way to Nova Road east of St. Cloud,” she recalled.

The project was narrowed down to the section between Black Lake Road and Hoagland Boulevard.

“The county told us that 75 percent of the property owners on 192 would have to agree to tax themselves in order to fund the work,” Goodwin-Nichols said. “I think we ended up with over 80 percent of the owners going along with the idea.”

There were more than the expected delays over the 10 years it took to complete what became known as the 192 BeautiVacation Project.

“I didn’t think I would live to see it finished,” she admitted.

Work was done in three phases with the last section, from State Road 525 to Hoagland Boulevard completed in 2006. During her time on the board, Goodwin-Nichols continued to operate her real estate office on West Oak Street. She served eight years on the Kissimmee City Commission and was also appointed interim mayor a few years ago.

“I have no plans to run for public office again,” she said. “I am on the Community Vision Board, a director on the Kissimmee Chamber Board and a board member at Park Place Behavioral Health Care.

“My husband and I travel with friends three or four times a year and we have a trip coming up with our family to Key West and Mexico.”

“Two of my daughters are on the office staff now, but I still spend 14 hours a day with the business.”

Valerie Sewell, the current chair of the advisory board, said she served with Goodwin-Nichols for many years.

"Linda worked very hard on the board,” Sewell said. “She was persistent and used her powers of persuasion in dealing with local and state agencies. Most of all, she is very committed to the community."

The businesses within the West 192 district paid for the shelters.