The Islander: Featuring Former Mayor and Councilman Dennis Stahl Originally from San Antonio, Dennis Stahl bought his first home on South Padre Island in 2005. In between 2005 and 2012, and many rides from San Antonio to the Island, Stahl sold his primary business, Lonestar Pet Supply. “We owned it from 1986 to 2012. Before we sold that business, my wife had always wanted to retire here.”
Stahl soon started making strides in the community politically after serving as both a councilman, and Mayor of the Island. “After moving down here, my wife wanted me to stay busy, so I got into politics. It was mostly gratifying because we got a lot done. It certainly wasn’t retirement. We were busy and met a lot of our goals.”
Some of the goals included working on the center medians and other improvements. The Silent Water Park was another project that started during his time as a public servant, “We wanted to do the silent water park which is now coming to fruition. I negotiated the lease with the family that owns that property. You know, whenever you’re on the council, something that they may be working on today won’t happen for 4 or 5 years. Some of those projects started, and I worked closely with Barry Patel. He had a lot of great ideas. He’s lived here for 30+ years.”
As for hobbies, Stahl stays active playing golf and takes long walks on the beach while listening to audiobooks. “I do play golf,” but he spoke about having to rest to keep his health in check. “I had a real problem with my heart, and I was going to need a heart procedure. I had served on the council for five years, and it was pretty stressful.”
Looking back at the main reason they moved down to the island, which was retirement. “We just went back to the reason we retired here, was to retire, and the stress of it was so much that I just didn’t think I could do right by my family and for the city.” He added, not giving a lot of explanation to the public, but stepped down 11 months before having corrective heart surgery.
Stahl spoke about recovering and ultimately being slowed down, “I walk about 14-15 miles a week. I walk, listen to books on my iPhone, and try to do it regularly. I enjoy it. It gives me exercise, and it keeps my weight at a proper level. Right now, he’s reading/listening The Russian by James Patterson.
He also enjoys reading Presidential biographies as well as fishing and reading a lot of newspapers. Saying his favorite presidential biography was a 3-part series on the 36th president, Lydon B. Johnson authored by Robert Caro.
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