Naples real estates broker still going at 90

She used to take clients home for a meal and iced tea, and she never sold something she wouldn't buy herself.

And Pollard always points out a property's flaws.

"I don't think there's a single person I sold anything to (who) didn't become a friend," she said.

Pollard, who turned 90 on Oct. 29, is still an active real estate agent and her own boss. State regulators can't say whether Pollard is the oldest active agent in Florida, but if she's not, she's near the top of the list.

She recently celebrated her birthday with an open house at Pollard & Heidrich Realty Inc.. Pollard didn't want presents for her birthday. She only likes gifts that she can plant or eat.

Pollard went to college on academic and basketball scholarships. She was a management analyst for the Air Force, and after her husband, Herschel, retired and grew ill, she took up a new career -- real estate. She was in her 60s.

"I knew I had to make a living," Pollard said. "We could live, but not the way we wanted to live."

When she got to Naples in 1965, she worked for the school system until she realized she wasn't going where she wanted.

"There wasn't a lot of opportunity for women down here," Pollard said. "I didn't want to take a job where I didn't have any advancement."

So Pollard went out on her own.

She opened her own real estate brokerage firm in 1971. She was a "lady broker" who brought a "woman's touch" to the market, the newspapers said.

Pollard was the second woman in Naples to open her own real estate firm.

"I wanted to be the boss," she said.

In 1971, a three-bedroom, two-bath waterfront home on Vanderbilt Beach was selling for $59,500. And a lot in Pine Ridge was going for $15,000.

She took it day by day. In newspaper ads, she listed her home phone number so she could be reached at night.

She worked alone for the first year.

But now, she has her family working with her.

Her daughter, Cleda Heidrich, 63, is the second half of Pollard & Heidrich Realty Inc. And Pollard's son-in-law and grandson are licensed brokers and operate an engineering firm and a building and development company out of the same office.

"They're mostly taking care of me now," Pollard said.

"That's not true," Heidrich said.

Pollard lives alone, manages her investments and comes into the office one or two days a week.

"She does everything for herself," Heidrich said.

Pollard drives a little, but she's not fond of the hectic Southwest Florida traffic.

"I never dreamed it would be this big," Pollard said of the area.

Pollard moved to Naples when it was a town of 8,000.

She first lived in Old Naples. When it got crowded, she moved to Vanderbilt Beach. And as that area filled up she settled in Bonita Springs.

Pollard's always been on the fringe, she said.

She was buying and selling land in Bonita Springs when 90 percent of brokers were sneering at the area, she said.

When she would drive through town, people wouldn't want to stop.

"It worries me," Pollard said of all the development, "because the more we pave over, the worse the Gulf is going to be."

In her early 80s, Pollard took up painting. She took one art class in college and painted a little, but after her husband died, she became dedicated to it.

Her paintings hang throughout the Pollard & Heidrich office and show memories from her childhood.

Painting helps Pollard keep her active mind occupied.

The Lee County library sends her books. She watches "Judge Judy" and "Jeopardy," and if she's bored, she reads the encyclopedia and the dictionary.

"I never did just like going to the beach," Pollard said. "It seems like a waste of time."

Real estate licenses need to be renewed every two years. To qualify, a broker has to take a 14-hour continuing education course and pass an exam.

"She passes 100 percent every time," Heidrich said.

Heidrich called her mother the best female broker in Naples.

"Well," Pollard said, "why do you say Naples?"