Taking Over for Mom
Here is a sad and happy story at the same time.
For more than 20 years, the late Dora Hunt was known as WFLA's (Tampa) weather watcher “Dora from Inverness.”
Every weekday at 5:30 a.m. she would call into the newsroom and give the temperature at her house in Inverness.
Over the years, Hunt became a friend of the WFLA weather people, especially Leigh Spann.
Sadly Hunt died after a fight with cancer. But, her weather watching legacy continues with her daughter, Angie Stanton, who debuted last week as “Angie from Inverness.”
“I don’t really know how my mom started, but I know it was back when John Winter was the News Channel 8 meteorologist, at least 20 years ago,” Stanton said. “She’d call the studio every (weekday) morning and she’d say, ‘It’s 72 degrees in Inverness’ or whatever the temperature was.”
In 2015, the station “Dora from Inverness” in a news story after her Stage 4 ovarian cancer went into remission.
Stanton said Leigh Spann and a WFLA camera crew came to Florida Cancer Specialists in Lecanto, where Hunt was receiving treatment and ran a story about her.
“Dora was a loyal weather watcher for WFLA for decades,” Spann said in an email. “I love having these weather watchers in outlying areas, so I can get a firsthand look at what's going on out there.”
Spann said during her 2015 interview with Hunt, she was “immediately struck with her sweet demeanor and love of life.”
“There were lots of hugs,” she said, “but I was more impressed that her sweetness didn't stop her from going from doctor to doctor when she felt like the symptoms she had weren't getting the correct diagnosis. What a strong woman to fight for herself that way, and then when that horrible diagnosis came, she fought even harder. I may have only met her in person one time, but I felt bonded to her from our daily emails. How many other people do you get an email from daily?”
Stanton said because of the bond her mother had with Spann and the good things News Channel 8 does, such as their teddy bear roundup for kids in the hospital and their kindness days, she wanted to continue what her mom began 20-plus years ago.
The only difference? "Angie from Inverness" emails her morning temperature report instead of calling the studio.