Cover Article | By Jocklyn Mundy | Photos courtesy of Windermere Photography
Maryann, Tony and Benny
The Davits' love story is woven across continents, shaped by service, tested by challenge, and ultimately grounded in community. For Maryann and Tony Davit, Windermere is not just home; it’s the culmination of a decades-long journey marked by duty, devotion, and extraordinary resilience.
Over 26 years, the Davits lived in 18 houses across 16 moves, navigating the rhythms of military life, raising two daughters, and managing the quiet sacrifices that come with seven deployments. They’ve unpacked boxes on U.S. bases, in European flats, and on tropical islands, built new routines in unfamiliar towns, and even through a complete home renovation during a global pandemic.
Their story is not simply about movement; it’s about momentum. Driven by service, sustained by family, they spent decades building a life that could thrive wherever they were stationed. But when they arrived in Windermere, on a December evening with holiday lights twinkling, they recognized not just a place to live, but a place to belong, a community they now, gratefully, call home.
A College Encounter
Their story begins in the late 1980s at Purdue University. Tony, a Sigma Nu studying civil engineering, was deep in his books one night when a roommate coaxed him into joining a fraternity party. “I was supposed to come down for one beer,” Tony recalls with a grin. That beer led to a four-hour conversation with Maryann, a Gamma Phi Beta and hospitality management major. She was the designated driver that night, waiting for her friends. By the end of the night, something had clicked.
Their connection deepened throughout college. After graduating in 1990, Maryann moved to Orlando to begin her career, while Tony entered active duty as a newly commissioned Air Force officer. That August, they got married, packed a U-Haul, and set off on the first of many relocations. The life they built together would soon stretch across time zones and continents.
A Life in Service
Tony began his Air Force career with dreams of becoming a pilot. A childhood fascination with the Thunderbirds and a lifelong love of aviation made flight feel like destiny. However, when a medical disqualification grounded that plan, he shifted course, entering the Air Force as an engineer officer. With a degree in civil engineering already in hand, the pivot wasn’t just practical; it became the cornerstone of a long and meaningful career in service, leadership, and infrastructure development.
His early assignments were rapid-fire: three bases in just 18 months. One of them, Homestead Air Force Base near Miami, was soon leveled by Hurricane Andrew. “We were given new orders on the spot,” Tony recalls. Their next stop was Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, where Maryann took a leap of her own. She enrolled in nursing school at the University of Arizona, balancing coursework with frequent relocations and the demands of solo parenting during Tony’s deployments. Nursing seemed like a portable career on paper, but the reality of military life made it hard to maintain full-time roles. Even so, Maryann stayed deeply involved, volunteering, coordinating events, and supporting other military families wherever they were stationed.
The Davits’ life unfolded across continents, to Europe, Guam, and beyond. At Aviano Air Base in Italy, they welcomed their first daughter, Katy, not far from where Tony’s family had once lived. “She was baptized in the same church as my parents,” he says, still moved by the connection. A few years later, their second daughter, Emily, was born during a stateside assignment in Illinois, a difference in birthplace that became a source of gentle family teasing.
In Guam, their days were filled with scuba diving and beach weekends. “We’d send beach photos back to our family in Indiana,” Maryann laughs. “Everyone else was shoveling snow, and we were in the sun.” The unpredictability of military life became routine. “You learn quickly that plans are always subject to change,” she says. “It was a crash course in flexibility.”
Haputa Beach, Guam
Through every move, deployment, and detour, the Davits’ resilience and commitment to each other, to service, and to family never wavered. Adaptability wasn’t just a skill; it became a way of life.
Nine Deployments and a Home Front Hero
Tony deployed nine times during his 26-year military career. Maryann, often without extended family nearby, held it all together. “We were constantly restarting,” she says. “Everywhere we went, I had to figure out new doctors, new schools, new routines. At one point, Emily passed an airport and exclaimed, “There’s Daddy!” not realizing he was hundreds of miles away. The moment stuck with Maryann, serving as a reminder of the quiet strength that military families must carry. “You learn to find community wherever you are,” she says.
The Transition to Civilian Life
Tony retired from the Air Force in 2017 as a colonel. That year, he accepted a position with United Airlines in Houston. It was a logical next step, overseeing a network of airport facilities and capital projects. Then Universal Creative came calling. The company, known for its world-renowned theme parks, was specifically recruiting military officers to lead attraction development. Tony was offered a role as Vice President of Attraction Development for Universal Orlando Resort. “It blended everything I’d done; project management, leadership, engineering, but with roller coasters,” he laughs.
Maryann wasn’t so sure. She remembered Orlando from her college years as a congested and commercial city. “Then we found Windermere,” she says.
Discovering Windermere
Their first visit to Windermere came on a December evening in 2019. The streets were lined with holiday lights, and something about the town’s charm clicked immediately. “I remember turning to Tony and saying, ‘We’re living here,’” Maryann recalls. While house-hunting, Tony spotted a “Coming Soon” sign going up in front of a house not yet listed. He called their realtor on the spot, toured it days later, and made an offer. The timing felt almost divine. By January 2020, they had closed on the home.
Weeks later, the world changed.
A Pandemic, and a Full Renovation
Although they had no idea, their introduction to the neighborhood was very timely. A neighbor hosted a Super Bowl party for their son, who was a Kansas City Chiefs fan. “That was the only event we had to meet anyone before lockdown,” Maryann says. “But it gave us our first real glimpse into the community. People were welcoming and kind.” As COVID-19 lockdowns took hold, the Davits decided to gut their new home. “We figured if we were going to be stuck inside, it might as well be the house we really wanted,” Tony says. For nine months, they lived through construction, cooking on an induction cooktop in the laundry room, and baking with an oven perched on a pallet jack.
Tony administering re-enlistment.
A Return to Public Service
When Tony had co-led Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State, overseeing operations for 48,000 active duty personnel and more than 300,000 dependents, in many ways, his responsibilities mirrored those of a city manager, working with mayors, senators, and civic councils to support a population the size of a small metropolis.
So when former Windermere councilman Richard Montgomery approached him about running for Town Council, the idea felt like a natural extension of his experience. Elected in 2021, Tony brought valuable experience and insight into the town's governance. He has taken on some of the community’s most nuanced and debated issues, from the boathouse ownership question to traffic circulation near Town Hall and how best to preserve Windermere’s historic charm while planning for future needs. “I just want to help make decisions now that won’t become headaches for our kids later,” he says.
He’s also proposed broader, regional solutions, such as extending Sand Lake Road to ease congestion through the town core. With his blend of military strategy and civil infrastructure expertise, Tony’s voice has become a valued asset around the council table for the community.
From Universal to MCO
In July 2023, Tony accepted a new role as Chief Operating Officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA), overseeing operations at both Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Orlando Executive Airport (ORL). His background in large-scale logistics, security, and planning made him an ideal fit for the position.
“It was like coming full circle,” Tony says. “Aviation, engineering, leadership, it all came together.”
In addition to managing day-to-day airport operations, he serves on the Greater Orlando Sports Commission board, further cementing his connection to the region. “I enjoy investing in a place where I’ll continue to live, long-term,” he says.
Luke Air Force Base, Arizona
Maryann’s Continued Legacy
Although technically retired, Maryann’s work with Hiring Our Heroes, a nonprofit dedicated to helping transitioning military, veterans, military spouses, and Gold Star families find meaningful employment opportunities, continues to make a lasting impact. For years, she was the family’s logistical backbone, managing the countless details that came with each move: packing, unpacking, researching new towns, finding schools, and helping the family settle at every base. She kept their world turning smoothly, even while pursuing her own education and career, often while solo-parenting during Tony’s deployments.
Now, in Windermere, Maryann has embraced a new rhythm, one that allows her to finally put down roots. Her days are filled with gardening, traveling, cooking (they’re foodies), reading, and staying active with yoga and long walks with Benny, their yellow lab. Her love and talent for decorating shine through in their home, which has become a warm, beautiful reflection of the journey they’ve shared, layered with memories, full of character, and thoughtfully designed.
Next Generation of Leaders
Their daughters have taken different paths, and both are thriving. Katy is a captain in the U.S. Air Force and serves as an ROTC instructor at the University of Maryland. She married Hunter Love five years ago; he also serves in the military and currently works with the National Security Agency. Emily, meanwhile, has built a career close to home as a construction finance analyst for Universal Creative, helping budget and plan the very types of attractions her father once developed. “It’s wild to see her in that world,” Tony says. “She’s taken it and made it her own.” Both daughters, shaped by a childhood of adaptability, purpose, and adventure, are now building their legacies.
A Life Built, A Community Found
With over three decades of marriage behind them, the Davits are grateful for every chapter, but especially this one.
“We’ve always been moving toward something,” Maryann says. “But now, we can just be here. We’re not packing. We’re not waiting for orders. We’re home.”
Tony agrees. “For the first time, we’re not transitioning to the next thing. This is the thing.”
They enjoy evenings on the lake, conversations on the porch, and the kind of friendships that only form when people expect to stay. Windermere, they say, isn’t just beautiful, it’s rooted. It’s the kind of town where people wave to each other, remember your dog’s name, and show up when it matters.
Maryann, Katy, Emily and Tony
Home
Maryann and Tony Davit have worn many hats: military officers, young parents, volunteers, engineers, and community advocates. They’ve navigated high-stakes deployments, tight timelines, and the ever-turning cycle of relocations, always showing up for each other and the people around them.
Now, in Windermere, they’ve found something rare: space to breathe, a sense of belonging, and the joy of staying put.
When asked if they’re finally done moving, Tony smiles. “Let’s just say the U-Haul’s retired too.”
This August, as they celebrate their anniversary, they reflect on the timing and choices that brought them to Windermere. “If that recruiter’s spouse hadn’t understood my resume, I might not have gotten the interview at United. If I hadn’t taken the job at Universal, we never would’ve come to Florida,” Tony says, “it all lined up.”
Today, although they remain busy, life moves at a different pace with the quiet satisfaction of knowing they are finally home.
