'Made in Bonita Springs'

In most cities, there is a core group of residents who seemingly have been there forever.

They were born there or moved to the city at an early age. They went to local schools, got jobs nearby, kept the same friends for decades, have families that set up shop generations ago.

It's not like that in Southwest Florida, particularly Bonita Springs. Here, the question, "Where are you from?" more likely will be answered with the name of another city or state rather than a local street address.

But there are a few Bonita Springs residents who have grown as the area has grown. People such as Jan Cook.

Cook runs a business in a building her grandparents used to own. She met her husband when she was still in grade school, she and her best friend grew up in town together, she remembers playing on Old 41 Road when it was still a dirt road.

"I'm going to have a T-shirt saying, 'Made in Bonita Springs,' " Cook, 41, said. "There's not many of us left. The old ones are dying off, and the younger ones are moving away."

Born and reared in Bonita, Cook has spent her life in the city, save for a few years traveling around the country when she was married to a Kansas City Royals pitcher.

Photo by MICHEL FORTIER, Daily News

Jan Cook hugs her nephew Jon Holzinger, 17, after giving him a haircut Friday at The Strand Hair Salon. A native of Bonita Springs, Cook jokingly claims to have been "born with sand between my toes," and cites her love of the beach as to why she's stayed here so long. "The beach is my second home. If I show up with my bathing suit on, no one thinks twice about it."

In addition to her family and friends, Cook has stayed because she likes the weather and the ocean. As a child, she and her sister, Jill Butters, hung out at Bonita Beach Access 10. She still likes to go there.

"I was born with sand in between my toes," she said. "When I refer to it as my beach, it is because it is my beach."

After her mother died at age 18, Cook's grandmother adopted her and Jill and they lived above her grandparents' business on Old 41 Road — Bibbee's Cash Market grocery store.

"When we were little, we used to play out in the middle of Old 41," Cook said. "You can't do that anymore."

When she reached the sixth grade, Cook met her future husband, Mark Cook, who was a high school freshman at the time. Although she had a crush on him then, it wasn't until almost 20 years later that they would marry.

"We kind of grew up on the same street," Mark Cook said. "Now, you always run into somebody you know — more people with Jan than me. Everybody knows Jan."

Jan Cook has spent nearly her whole life in Bonita Springs, usually taking only trips to see family in West Virginia and Tennessee. When people ask her why she doesn't go on vacation, she tells them she is already in vacationland.

Photo by MICHEL FORTIER, Daily News

Jan Cook has been cutting and styling hair for 23 years. "I've got regulars and I'm doing their grandchildren now," says Cook. "When I started in Bonita, there were four shops. Now there are over twenty."

But there were those three years in her early 20s when she was married to Jose DeJesus. He was a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, and the two met at spring training in Fort Myers. As a professional athlete's life is nothing but travel during the season, Cook got to see much of North America.

"It was great because I had never really left Bonita Springs," she said. "I love New York. It's a lot different from Bonita Springs."

After that ended, Cook finally got the chance at her childhood crush and settled back in the area she knew and loved.

Fifteen years ago, her cousin, Ronda Lyles Lawhon, bought back the building where Bibbee's grocery was long ago, and the two set up a hairstyling business, The Strand. Lyles Lawhon is the owner and Cook manages.

"She's a great people person and does great work," Lyles Lawhon said. "We're best friends and cousins. We've been here for years and years."

Ronda said she has known her husband, Terry Lawhon, for so long, she can't remember how they met. It is the same way with Cook.

"I feel like I've known them forever," Lyles Lawhon said.