Cover Story

MEET CHERRY & DAN HECK

Cherry came to the USA from the UK 10 years ago and has lived here for eight of those years. Daniel came from Peoria, Illinois to Central Florida about 35 years ago and has lived in Harmony for about the last 18 months. Both are retired—Cherry from the Royal Household at Windsor Castle, and Daniel from Tesla Solar Division. Cherry and Daniel were married in the midst of the Covid shutdown on August 19, 2020, performed by a friend and neighbor, Carole Greenwald, with just six guests, outside amongst the trees in the pocket park of the Estates section of Harmony. They are now Mr. and Mrs. Heck.

Dan remembers when he did electrical work out here when Harmony was first being built and he thought, "Wow, this place is so far from everywhere." There was hardly anything here then and Cherry remembers when she came eight years ago, there were no homes in the Estates, very few in the Green neighborhood, no Lakes neighborhood, and nothing near the west entrance either. But Cherry came because she felt it was a unique place to live with the surrounding nature and lakes, and despite a few changes in the intervening years, she is not disappointed by what Harmony has grown to be. Dan is also just as enthusiastically enchanted by what Harmony has grown to be. Whenever asked by anyone outside Harmony about his current home, he can only think to say how happy he is to be here.

They never grow tired of taking golf cart rides to see the wildlife around them, to take photographs and to walk the nature trails, or take boats out on Buck Lake. Both are members of the Harmony Nature and Animal Committee. As far as hobbies, Cherry likes artsy crafty things and photography, and Dan loves to grow plants. But they also enjoy and participate in the other many activities organized in Harmony, like the holiday festivals, the Sunday Artisan and Craftsman market and trivia evenings, to name but a few.

Their children live in England, Florida and California, and have friends and family in Illinois and the UK, and all enjoy coming to visit Harmony. But most of all, besides the nature, Cherry and Dan enjoy the community and the people in it, and the welcoming and caring feel that goes together to make this place feel like home.