1
100
6
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https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/874b525f5ae8dd9a254d791ebd51e153.pdf
43350c88e67fa6cd7d91553b015fdf21
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection
Subject
Museums--Florida
Schools
Elementary schools
Grammar schools
Sanford (Fla.)
Description
The Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection encompasses a broad range of materials and items ranging from the late 19th Century into the present. The collection includes artifacts, photographs, documents, videocassettes, and other historical records pertaining to the history of the Sanford Grammar School, the Sanford community through the years, and the history of teaching and learning within the United States from the 19th century to the 2010s.
The Student Museum has collaborated with the University of Central Florida and established the UCF Public History Center (PHC). All of the Student Museum's collections are presently housed at the PHC. The goal of the PHC is to promote access to history through ground-breaking research connecting local to global, provide cutting-edge hands-on educational programs for students and visitors, and to engage the community in contributing to and learning from history.
Contributor
Student Museum
UCF Public History Center
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Sanford High School, Sanford, Florida
Westside Grammar Elementary School, Sanford, Florida
Sanford Grammar School, Sanford, Florida
Student Museum, Sanford, Florida
UCF Public History Center, Sanford, Florida
Contributing Project
Student Museum
UCF Public History Center
Curator
Marra, Katie
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
Public History Center/Student Museum
External Reference
"Public History Center." Public History Center, University of Central Florida.
"Student Museum." Seminole County Public Schools. http://www.scps.k12.fl.us/studentmuseum/Home.aspx.
Alternative Title
Student Museum and PHC Collection
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/44" target="_blank">Seminole County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Has Part
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/32" target="_blank">General Photographic Collection</a>, <span>Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection, </span>Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/73" target="_blank">Seminole County Public Schools Collection</a>, <span>Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection, </span>Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Rotton, Patrick
Interviewee
Michels, Helen
Location
UCF Public History Center, in Sanford, Florida
Original Format
1 CD/DVD
Duration
42 minutes and 51 seconds
Bit Rate/Frequency
126kbps
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Helen Michels
Alternative Title
Oral History, Michels
Subject
Oral history--United States
Sanford (Fla.)
Elementary schools
Grammar schools
Schools
Students--Florida
Palm Bay (Fla.)
Teachers--Florida
Educators--Florida
Tutors and tutoring--United States
Halfway houses
May Day (Labor holiday)--United States
Social justice--Florida
Segregation--Florida
World War II
San Juan (P.R.)
Description
Oral history interview of Helen Michels, who was born in Palm Bay, Florida, on May 4, 1936. Michels, her parents, and her thirteen siblings migrated to Sanford in 1942. She attended Sanford Grammar School, located at 301 West Seventh Street, and Seminole High School, at 1700 French Avenue. When Michels entered college, she originally began as a lab technician, but changed her major to education. Following college, she taught as a schoolteacher in Hollywood, Melbourne, and Puerto Rico. After witnessing social justice issues while teaching in Puerto Rico, Michels decided to enter into drug therapy work for about 10 years. She then became the director of a halfway house for federal prisons. Upon retirement, she moved back to Sanford. This interview was conducted by Patrick Rotton at the UCF Public History Center in Sanford, Florida, on October 23, 2012.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br />0:01:27 Sanford Grammar School<br />0:05:17 Teachers and school activities<br />0:11:28 Layout of the school<br />0:12:54 School clubs, sports, and extracurricular activities<br />0:15:02 Memories with siblings and classmates<br />0:18:15 Career<br />0:21:38 May Day<br />0:22:50 High school and physical education<br />0:27:54 Pig'n'Whistle<br />0:30:3 Keeping in touch with classmates<br />0:32:47 School memories<br />0:37:01 World War II<br />0:39:50 Closing remarks
Abstract
Oral history interview of Helen Michels. Interview conducted by Patrick Rotton at the UCF Public History Center, in Sanford, Florida.
Type
Moving Image
Source
Michels, Helen. Interviewed by Patrick Rotton. UCF Public History Center. October 23, 2012. Audio/video record available. UCF Public History Center, Sanford, Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/" target="_blank">Adobe Flash Player</a>.
<a href="http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp" target="_blank">Java</a>.
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
UCF Public History Center, Sanford, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/31" target="_blank">Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Has Format
Digital transcript of original 42-minute and 51-second oral history: Michels, Helen. Interviewed by Patrick Rotton. UCF Public History Center. October 23, 2012. Audio/video record available. UCF Public History Center, Sanford, Florida.
Coverage
Sanford Grammar School, Sanford, Florida
Seminole High School, Sanford, Florida
Federal Halfway House, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Creator
Rotton, Patrick
Michels, Helen
Date Created
2012-10-23
Date Modified
2012-10-25
2012-11-18
Format
video/mp4
application/pdf
Extent
117 MB
51.5 KB
Medium
42-minute and 51-second CD/DVD
18-page typed transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Patrick Rotton and Helen Michels.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the UCF Public History Center and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
UCF Public History Center
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
UCF Public History Center/Student Museum
External Reference
"Public History Center." Public History Center, University of Central Florida.
"Exhibits." Public History Center, University of Central Florida.
"Student Museum." Seminole County Public Schools.
"<a href="http://www.seminolehs.scps.k12.fl.us/" target="_blank">Seminole High School</a>." Seminole High School, Seminole County Public Schools. http://www.seminolehs.scps.k12.fl.us/.
Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53015288" target="_blank"><em>Sanford</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="http://youtu.be/mq0CDArmXOI" target="_blank">Oral History of Helen Michels</a>
1st Street
25th Street
7th Street
arithmetic education
art education
Bible
Book of Psalms
cafeteria
can drives
CB
celery
Celery Crate
celery field
Celeryfeds
chemistry
chemistry set
Christmas
citizenship
citizenship education
City of Sanford
class historian
class reunions
communion
current events
Davis, Lavinia R.
Dewey Decimal System
Downtown Sanford
drug therapy
drug treatment
drug treatment company
Easter
Easter Seals
educator
elementary school
federal prisoners
First Street
French Avenue
Girl Scouts of the United States of America
grammar school
gym education
gym teacher
halfway house
Halloween
high school
history education
horse
intramural sports
junior high
justice movement
lab technician
library
marionette
May Day
maypole
Michels, Helen
music education
oral history
P.E.
Page
Palm Bay
Park Avenue
Parks, David
patriotism
pep club
PHC
physical education
Pig 'n Whistle
playtime
Pledge of Allegiance
public library
rationing
reading education
recess
Ritz Theatre
Rotton, Patrick
Ruth, Babe
Ruth, George "Babe" Herman, Jr.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sanford
Sanford Grammar School
savings bond
school
schoolteacher
science education
science teacher
Seabee
segregation
Seminole High School
Seventh Street
social justice
softball
softball team
Southside Elementary School
spelling education
sports program
Star Spangled Banner
Stinecipher, Grace Marie
student
Student Museum and Center for the Social Studies
study hall
teacher
The Plow Penny Mystery
tutor
Twenty-Fifth Street
U.S. Navy
UCF
UCF College of Graduate Studies
UCF Department of History
UCF Public History Center
United States Naval Mobile Construction Battalio
victory garden
war bond
war effort
Welch
World War II
WWII
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/122bd69c4f99aa8ced815097f468da93.pdf
e73adb342c71e1c173c32c8b88afe3a3
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Sanford Collection
Description
The present-day Sanford area was originally inhabited by the Mayaca/Joroco natives by the time Europeans arrived. The tribe was decimated by war and disease by 1760 and was replaced by the Seminole Indians. In 1821, the United States acquired Florida from Spain and Americans began to settled in the state.
Camp Monroe was established in the mid-1830s to defend the area against Seminoles during the Seminole Wars. In 1836, the United States Army built a road (present-day Mellonville Avenue) to a location called "Camp Monroe," during the Second Seminole War. Following an attack on February 8, 1837, the camp was renamed "Fort Mellon," in honor of the battle's only American casualty, Captain Charles Mellon.
The town of Mellonville was founded nearby in 1842 by Daniel Stewart. When Florida became a state three years later, Mellonville became the county seat for Orange County, which was originally a portion of Mosquito County. Citrus was the first cash crop in the area and the first fruit packing plant was constructed in 1869.
In 1870, a lawyer from Connecticut by the name of Henry Shelton Sanford (1832-1891) purchased 12,548 acres of open land west of Mellonville. His vision was to make this new land a major port city, both railway and by water. Sitting on Lake Monroe, and the head of the St. Johns River, the City of Sanford earned the nickname of “The Gate City of South Florida.” Sanford became not only a transportation hub, but a leading citrus industry in Florida, and eventually globally.
The Great Fire of 1887 devastated the city, which also suffered from a statewide epidemic of yellow fever the following year. The citrus industry flourished until the Great Freezes of 1894 and 1895, causing planters to begin growing celery in 1896 as an alternative. Celery replaced citrus as the city's cash crop and Sanford was nicknamed "Celery City." In 1913, Sanford became the county seat of Seminole County, once part of Orange County. Agriculture dominated the region until Walt Disney World opened in October of 1971, effectively shifting the Central Florida economy towards tourism and residential development.
Alternative Title
Sanford Collection
Subject
Sanford (Fla.)
Contributor
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
<a href="https://www.thehistorycenter.org/" target="_blank">Orange County Regional History Center</a>
<a href="http://sanfordhistory.tripod.com/" target="_blank">Sanford Historical Society, Inc.</a>
<a href="http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=108" target="_blank">Sanford Museum</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/44" target="_blank">Seminole County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Sanford, Florida
Curator
Marra, Katherine
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53015288" target="_blank"><em>Sanford</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.
"<a href="http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=48" target="_blank">Sanford: A Brief History</a>." City of Sanford. http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=48.
<em>The Seminole Herald</em>. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52633016" target="_blank"><em>Sanford: Our First 125 Years</em></a>. [Sanford, FL]: The Herald, 2002.
<span>Mills, Jerry W., and F. Blair Reeves. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11338196" target="_blank"><em>A Chronology of the Development of the City of Sanford, Florida: With Major Emphasis on Early Growth</em></a></span><span>, 1975.</span>
Has Part
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/82" target="_blank"><em>Celery Soup: Florida’s Folk Life Play</em> Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/65" target="_blank">Churches of Sanford Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/131" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc. Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/41" target="_blank">Georgetown Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/78" target="_blank">Marie J. Francis Collection</a>, Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/101" target="_blank">Sanford Avenue Collection</a>, Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/79" target="_blank">Goldsboro Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/116" target="_blank">Henry L. DeForest Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/12" target="_blank">Hotel Forrest Lake Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/14" target="_blank">Ice Houses of Sanford Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/42" target="_blank">Milane Theatre Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/13" target="_blank">Naval Air Station Sanford Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/15" target="_blank">Sanford Baseball Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/61" target="_blank">Sanford Cigar Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/10" target="_blank">Sanford Riverfront Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/11" target="_blank">Sanford State Farmers' Market Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Holcomb, Susan
Interviewee
Scott, David
Location
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida
Original Format
1 audio recording
Duration
55 minutes and 53 seconds
Bit Rate/Frequency
196kbps
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of David Scott
Alternative Title
Oral History, Scott
Subject
Sanford (Fla.)
Nursing homes--Florida
Description
An oral history of David Scott, conducted by Susan Holcomb on April 9, 2010. Scott was the son of Grady Scott, who served as Superintendent of the Old Folks Home, formerly located at 300 Bush Boulevard in Sanford, Florida. The property has since been converted into the Museum of Seminole County History. In this interview, Scott discusses the layout and residents at the home, his responsibilities as an employee, growing up in Sanford, and how Sanford has changed over time.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br />0:00:20 Old Folks Home<br />0:02:38 Residents<br />0:05:10 Responsibilities as an employee<br />0:11:31 Dining room and kitchen<br />0:12:43 Willie and Lily<br />0:13:31 Stories about residents, father, and siblings<br />0:18:59 Livestock and agriculture<br />0:21:34 Stories about residents and pet dog named Pooch<br />0:24:04 Laundry room and furnace<br />0:25:43 Life as a teenager<br />0:26:52 How Sanford has changed over time<br />0:27:55 Siblings and education<br />0:30:15 Pasture, orange groves, and freezer locker<br />0:32:53 Agricultural Building<br />0:34:44 Cattle ranchers and the railroad<br />0:38:03 Father's employment history<br />0:39:50 Oak tree memorial<br />0:41:23 Disciplining children and residents with dementia<br />0:44:13 Living room<br />0:44:55 Gender and racial segregation<br />0:45:45 Layout<br />0:54:29 Closing remarks
Abstract
Oral history interview of David Scott. Interview conducted by Susan Holcomb at the <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida.
Type
Moving Image
Source
Scott, David. Interviewed by Susan Holcomb. April 9, 2010. <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/" target="_blank"> Adobe Flash Player</a>
<a href="http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp" target="_blank"> Java</a>
<a href="https://get.adobe.com/reader/" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/43" target="_blank">Sanford Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Coverage
Old Folks Home, Sanford, Florida
Museum of Seminole County History, Sanford, Florida
Creator
Holcomb, Susan
Scott, David
Date Created
2010-04-09
Date Modified
2014-10-02
Date Copyrighted
2010-04-09
Format
audio/wav
application/pdf
Extent
564 KB
188 KB
Medium
55-minute and 53-second audio recording
21-page typed transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Susan Holcomb and David Scott.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a> and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/about-the-museum-of-seminole-county-hi/" target="_blank">About the Museum of Seminole County History</a>." Department of Parks and Preservation, Seminole County Government. http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/about-the-museum-of-seminole-county-hi/.
Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53015288" target="_blank"><em>Sanford</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="http://youtu.be/7hueqmkChCQ" target="_blank">Oral History of David Scott</a>
Transcript
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Today is April 9<sup>th</sup>, 2010. My name is Susan Holcomb. I’m here interviewing David Scott about his time when his dad<a title="">[1]</a> was Superintendent here at the Old Folks Home. David, thank you again for your time today.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Okay. You’re welcome.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>You were telling me about the office here.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yes. This where I’m standing now in front of the fireplace. This was the superintendent’s living quarters. This is where we lived—my mom<a title="">[2]</a> and dad, and my sister, my brother, and myself. We lived here. This was the entrance—the main entrance—the office. That’s where we kept all the records. There was a driveway that came up in the front here and made kind of a turn and people would come up and stop in front of the office. And whatever their business was, we would take care of it here, because we lived right next to the office. So it was real convenient. But this was where we lived. We lived in here. It was good. This has been opened up. The partitions—this has all been opened up into the dining area. That was all closed when we lived here. It looks small now, but it was large then. But it was a lot of fun here. This was back in the late [19]50s-early ‘60s. But my sister and my brother stayed on this side—in the superintendent’s side—and I stayed over in the office where Kim [Nelson] is right now, that was my room. There was[sic] two rooms where the office is—two small rooms. They opened that up and now she’s in—where her office is that was my room where I stayed.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>How about that. So there were two rooms there and you had one of them?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>And how old were you again when you lived here?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>I was around 15—15 years old.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /> </strong>And how many years were you here?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>We were here approximately four years living here. But I got used to the elderly folks, and it was a good part of growing up. It was a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge, and things that I listened to back then—stories and all. They were fantastic. It was just like reading a book, when you talk to some of the people that were here. And it was great.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>That’s interesting. About how many residents were here then? Do you know?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>I would say probably 10-15 in this section. We had the infirmary in the back. Of course it’s not there now. Rachel Lee ran the infirmary with a nurse, and she had her patients, and sick people were there. And there was the colored section where they lived and there was probably eight people living in there. But there would be people coming and going, but most of the time we kept the same ones. They just lived here ‘til something happened to them.</p>
<p>But it was good that this road came around from the front of the office. It came around the building and all the way around that building, and made a loop, and came out over there where you parked your car in the parking lot, and came back out to the road. And the ambulance—if they had to pick up someone from the infirmary or the doctor or whatever, they could make a loop and all the deliveries and everything.</p>
<p>Now when you pull up—we’ll walk to the kitchen here. This was our entrance right here in the kitchen on the superintendent’s side. We parked our cars out there. There was an oak tree. This was all field out there. To your right, on the south side, there was a garage and a chicken coop. It was probably 50 by 50 and we probably had 150 chickens to 200 chickens. Behind that was the wash shed—the infirmary. And the coloreds stayed in their building. We would take—certain days we would go out and gather up the chickens and we would have to slaughter up the chickens. We had fresh chickens and put them in the freezer. We also had pigs and cows and stuff like that. We had plenty of meat, plenty of milk, and it worked out good for everyone here.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>That[?] sounds like it. What were some of the responsibilities you had here, if any?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. Yeah. Back in the day you did your part. I would get up in the mornings, and I’d get dressed and sometimes put on an old pair of pants. Not my school clothes, but I would come over and back up between the little trellises out here. This is the dining room and kitchen here, and I would back up there with the truck. We had a five-gallon pail with leftover milk, scraps. And we would get commodities like cornmeal with bugs in it or something once in a while and I would take all that, throw it in the five-gallon bucket with milk, put it in the back of the truck, drive down the road, and I’d slop the hogs every day. That was my morning chore. So the reason why I said about pants was that sometimes it would spill on ya, so you had to be real careful. But I had to do that and a bunch of little things in the morning. Make sure everything was in its rightful place, kinda do a little walk round—my dad did and I did. It was a family thing. Then we’d walk down to the road and catch the school bus, or drive to school, or someone would pick us up.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>You said you went to Seminole High [School]?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>I went to Seminole High on French Avenue on top of the hill back then in ’59. The road out here—the four lane—was just getting finished. It was two lane. They were just finishing it. That made it nice.</p>
<p>But it was good. In the afternoons, I would come in after school and I’d kinda go through the same process of changing clothes and getting everything. We had a Snappin’ Turtle lawn mower—one of those old mowers with a turtle head on the front—and we would mow grass. That was part of it. We’d mow grass and Will—he was one of the black guys. He was on crutches. He would be at the barn at a certain time, and all the cows would come in, and he’d milk all the cows. I’d go through the orange grove—that was all orange grove on that side then—I’d go down through the orange grove to the barn, and I would bring the milk back, because he couldn’t do it. And I’d carry the milk, bring it back to the kitchen so they would have fresh milk. Usually we’d have two full buckets. That was part of my job in the afternoon. There was[sic] always things to do. Sometimes in the afternoons or on the weekends, I would even go to the infirmary or in the back where the blacks lived—the colored folks lived—and pick them up and take them across—here’s a lake in Lake Mary you could go through the woods and around, and the man that had the lakefront property would let them fish. So we would go fishin’. There’d be four or five that’d want to go over. Sometimes we’d leave ‘em for two-three hours with water and everything and then go back and get ‘em. They’d bring the fish back, clean them, and the kitchen people would cook ‘em. So that’s the way it went.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>So every once in a while you had fresh fish too?</p>
<p><strong>Scott <br /></strong>Oh, yeah. It was great really, really good. It was a good life living out here. I enjoyed it. Kept us all busy and you got to see a lot of people and that’s what it was all about really.</p>
<p>Sometimes I’d be sitting in here—and another part of my duties were, someone pull up—there was a funeral home in Sanford and they’d bury folks in the [Seminole] County cemetery here by the college. They would pull up in the hearse, and I would go to the office, and give them a number, and they would have all the paperwork. Or they would give me a number. I forget how that went back then. I would go over to the cemetery with them and they would have a hole. They had someone—they would drop him off and dig the grave. Sometimes the graves weren’t real deep, because of the water table. But they had a pine box, and I would help them lower the remains—the body—down in to the gravesite and basically, you know, cover it up. And I’d bring back the number or whatever and it would go into the book. But that was just another thing that I did. But yeah. I helped bury a number of people over there. Sometimes the cows would get out of the fence and they’d trample through over there and you could see where they stepped in. it was just a common thing though. It was something to be expected when you had animals like that in a cemetery.</p>
<p>We had a guy that was in the infirmary—Sam McFadden was his name. I was 15 years old and I told him—I said, “Sam, when I turn 18, I’ll take you back to Oviedo.” That’s where he was from. He was a black guy. Really a nice person. He had no legs at all. He was over there probably six-eight years. I forget how many years. So the week I turned 16, and got my regular license, I pulled around, got him down the ramp, picked him up, put him in the passenger seat, and we went to Oviedo. All day long. He hadn’t been over there in years. So I drove him all around Oviedo so he could see people he knew. He would show me where to go and tell me which way he wanted to turn. He had a wonderful day. People gave him money and everything. That probably made his day, you know. He remembered that the rest of his life. He was a real good person. I liked doing things like that. It was part of the experience I got from living over here. He was a great person. Just a little thing I could do to help out.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>That’s fantastic. I bet he did enjoy that.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. But he didn’t weigh much. I could pick him right up, with no legs.</p>
<p>But, uh, this area—this area was the dining room and they would eat their breakfast, dinner, and supper in here. The kitchen was right through there and they would cook everything. Where the books and all are, that was the pantry. That’s where we kept all the food and stuff. And the little walkway out here— where the colored dining room was. They came up, they ate out here, and the other folks in here ate in here.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>So they essentially put the kitchen in the middle.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>The kitchen—right. It’s where it is now. I guess it’s still a kitchen in there. But that’s what that was. I don’t know if they’ve done anything with the little extension out here or not, I think it’s basically for storage now.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>What was—what was that? The storage [inaudible]?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>[inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>No. The dining room.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Got it, got it, got it.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. They would sit on the porch down there. And there was two—there was Willie and Lily. She was ‘bout as big around as she was tall—real short. But they would go down here on [U.S. Route] 17-92—there was big oak trees down there then. They would take their chairs—they had a couple chairs they left down there. I took them down for them, and they would sit there and watch the traffic and wave. People got used to seeing them every day just about. Some people would actually stop and give them money. They’re the same ones that we would take fishing. They loved to fish. It was really great. They enjoyed it. It was something for them to do. ‘Cause you know a place like this you get a certain age, it gets a little boring and a little excitement—you see new people, new cars.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>And somebody stop to chat.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. People would probably knew[sic] them—that knew they were here. You know, there’s a lot of sad things. People that you get acclimated to living in this area with older people. And you’re a teenager, and you hear all the stories, and you like these people. Then they get sick and pass away. It’s kinda hard on you. But it’s an experience that you never forget. It’s good really. It was really good for me. And I remember a lot of the stories. They were great. Like back years ago when Florida had dirt roads and people rode horses and things like that were some of the stories.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>So you heard some of those?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Oh, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Well, that’s fascinating.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>‘Cause some of the people—back in 1960, they were 80 years old, so you know they didn’t have the cars. That’s the way it was. All the women stayed in one section and the men stayed in the other. Sometimes they would get to arguing—well, older people like that is—was—kinda comical. But they would. They would get serious and would start arguing. We had one out here named Beautiful Lee. That was his name. He had a business here in Sanford. We had another here, Mr. Barfield. And they didn’t get along too well. Sometimes you had to straighten them out. My dad—he had his hands full.</p>
<p>When we first got here, the beds were really bad. The mattresses were old and soiled. The first thing he did was go to the [Seminole] County commissioners to get funding to where Echols Bedding Company years ago. Came out to haul the mattresses out and put all fresh mattresses in. And like—the people we buried out there. They were just buried—buried without any nice clothes. And dad got to where—they might’ve got them from Goodwill [Industries International, Inc.] or wherever back then—but they had suits when they were buried instead of being buried in a pine box. It was the little things that mattered. He was good about that.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>So you’re saying your dad went in front of the commission to get the beds?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. When he needed something. Homer Little was on the board of county commissioners back then, and he talked to him about a lot of things. He would go to the meetings and whatever he would bring it up—whatever he really needed. There wasn’t a lot of money, but still yet you know things needed to be done. Because, to be honest with you, it still happens every day. And I hate to see it, but people bring their parents out after they get sick and everything and they can’t help themselves. They bring them out here and sell their house. The kids get their house—get everything. And for the first week or two they’re out here continuously visiting. Then it starts dropping off. Then it’s two weeks. Well, then it’s six months. Then maybe it’s birthday or Christmas. And that’s the way it happens. It happens all the time. It’s sad, but it’s true. I would say 85 percent. Of course, it might be a little different now. I’m sure it is. But it was still sad back then. That’s just the way life is.</p>
<p>But it was nice. We had one man back there next to me—next to my room. And back then, you could smoke. He had emphysema so bad. So they gave him cigarettes for his emphysema that he could smoke that, I guess, helped him or something. Those things smelled so bad. I remember his smoking at night or in the daytime, the whole hallway would smell of his cigarettes. I would have to go to my room and I didn’t like that.</p>
<p>But, uh, it was nice. My brother and sister—they did a lot of work too. There was a little pool right out here in the front—a fishing pond—concrete fishing pond. It’s not there now. My sister, when she was in her teens, would walk up and down take pictures of her walking, because she thought she was something. She had her little small waist and all that then. That’s just the way it was.</p>
<p>I had an old car. I put it in the garage back there that I worked on a little bit when I wasn’t real busy. It was good. The road department was real small down here, and if we needed something from the road department, we could get it and bring it back. It was pretty decent out here. Everyone seemed to work together.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>There’s so many things I really can’t remember. I know with the hogs—we would take them and—Mr. Humphrey was his name—from Lake Mary. He was really big man. He would come over a certain time of the year when it was cool and we would butcher the hogs. They would get so big and so fat from the milk and everything. We would butcher the hogs and then we’d take the hogs up to the freezer and, as needed, we would go there—get the meat—bring it back, and they would cook it. So we always had fresh meat. It was really good. We had beef too. We raised a few bulls and stuff like that once in a while. It was always something. It never stopped.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Doesn’t sound like it. A very self-sufficient organization too, with as many chickens as were out there.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Right. Yeah. We had chickens. We had the pork. Beef. We had eggs. We didn’t buy any eggs. We had like the commodities the corn meal was brought in. The government had left over stuff. And someone hit a deer or something like that, or poached one, they had venison. That’s the way life was back then. We had plenty of vegetables. People would bring stuff like different vegetables out here, and oranges. There was an orange grove all around the place. There was oranges galore. Course, they’re all gone now. Anytime you wanted a real nice orange, just go out and get it. And they did. The people that were able. The rest of them that weren’t able. They looked out for them.</p>
<p>We had a pickup truck that we used. I would use it to go get things when I got my license. I would drive it back and forth in the mornings to feed the hogs—slop the hogs—and stuff. We also had a station wagon that we used. My dad would take the people that live here to the doctor, or to take them to town or something instead of taking them over to the infirmary, if they needed x-rays or something.</p>
<p>There was one black lady. She was really young. I say young—she was probably in her 20s. She was in an accident or got shot or something. I forget what it was, but she couldn’t walk. She was in the infirmary. She didn’t have any money. The county had to take care of her. They took her back and forth to the doctor, kept taking her, not giving up on her. And you know she got to where she could walk. She got out on her own. From what I understand she got married and had kids. But that’s another one of the stories.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>That’s amazing.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. There’s a lot of stories. If I could remember a bunch of them…</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Any time you remember one, give us a call.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah, yeah. We did a lot of things out here. I don’t know. I get to thinking about—there’s a few movies that I have. They’re the old 8mm. if I could ever get them off and transferred them over onto something—one of these days, it shows cars parked out here and where we were living we’d be coming in and out of this door, and the garage, the chickens, the whole area. It’s just a small video, but maybe I could put it together.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Oh. That would be fantastic.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. We had out little dogs and stuff. A little dog out here. I had one. We had a wreck down here on the side of the road, and my uncle had worked for Ratliff’s Towing. So I was over there, and walked down to see the car that had been left down there on the side of the road that had been there a couple days. I heard a little noise and there was a puppy under the seat. But it was part Chihuahua. It was a little, small dog. So I brought it back and named it Pooch. That was my dog. And she had the run of the place. Everyone loved her around here. She had the run of the place. Everyone played with her. She was really smart. The newspaperman would come up and make the circle and throw the paper out and we had—there was no air conditioning in here—we had fans. There was the screen door. She could hit it and open it up and then she’d run out. When I saw him coming up, if she didn’t hear him I’d say, “Paper, Pooch,” and she’d run out and get the paper and bring it back in. She was a smart little dog [<em>coughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. It was basically self-sufficient. We took care of everything here. Laundry and the whole nine yards.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Where was the laundry?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>The laundry was back here behind the garage. There was a building back there. That’s where the maids did the laundry. We had, I think, one or two maids that helped. My mom made out all the menus. She did the menus and helped with the cooking and the cleaning in here too. And the maids did the laundry and all in the back—back here.</p>
<p>And my dad—if you go out the back and you go down, there was a boiler down there, and probably still is. That’s how the heat was in here. We had the big radiant things. They had a furnace down there. Actually, it was coal to start with. And we used to have to go down there at night and fill that thing up to keep it warm in here. Then they changed it over to diesel fuel or kerosene or something. Yeah. It had a coal chute. A truck would back up and dump it down in there. That was another job. There was[sic] always things to do. Always.</p>
<p>But they’d get together—a lot of people would get together, like the folks in the back. They would get together sometimes on Sundays and sing and have a good time down there. We all did.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>It sounds like it. Did they keep you cracking on your homework—your schoolwork?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. Well, I kinda would go against the grain. You know how that goes. I still had to do it. Yeah. You gotta do that afterwards and everything. But on the weekends, being a teenager, you could go somewhere—to the drive-in or the skating rink that used to be up here on 17-92. Course, you didn’t need but a couple dollars. You could get a hamburger, hot dog or whatever, you know, for 25 or 30 cents. It wasn’t very expensive back then. Couple dollars’ worth of gas—you could go everywhere. We’d go—a couple of us would get together—two or three guys—ride around a little bit, go skating, or go to the movies, or hang out. The Movieland Drive-In was here then, years ago. Or the old Ritz [Theatre] downtown. There was a lot to do on the weekends. You could go to the beach.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>There’s not a lot of traffic like there is now. On [Florida State Road] 415, you didn’t run but about 55-60 miles an hour. The old cars would run real fast, but you didn’t run real fast, because you didn’t want to burn it up. You had to save it. But yeah, a lot of things have changed since way back then. Some for the good, some the not so good. Back when I lived in here it’s not like today. Life was simple. It wasn’t expensive. Taxes were cheap, and everyone knew everyone. Now it’s not that way. A lot of people you can’t even speak to them, because you don’t know what language they’re speaking. It’s completely different than what it was back then. But it was really down-to-earth and basic, even though you know it was hard, but it was good. It was really good.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Sounds likes it. Um, you were talking about a brother and sister here at the time too. Were you the oldest or the youngest?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>My older sister, Helen [Scott], her last name is Atkinson now. I was in the middle. My younger brother is Edward Scott. He’s younger than me. Our parents are gone, but we stay in touch. They did a lot of work out here too. We all pitched in.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>And you said you moved to the area when you were six?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yes. I started at Lake Monroe School in 1950, I think. It was just a small school out there. It’s still there. They sold it and a doctor lives in it now. They converted it into a house. Back then, you see guys in first grade that was probably 10 years old, because they were late starting school or they didn’t come to school very often. They progressed on up they were older in the sixth grade. But it was a good school. I had a lot of fun there. Then I went to Sanford Junior High School on Ninth [Street] and Sanford Avenue.</p>
<p>And then from there to Seminole High, out on the hill out there. And then the new Seminole High was built and I started my sophomore year there. Freshman year on the hill and then the new high school. They built the one that’s out there now. And it was all just palmettos and pine trees when they were building that. You just had to go out through there. Yeah. I went to high school there. Back where the college is here—that was just a nothing. It was just a power line road that went through. It went over to Lake Mary. That’s what we would use to go to the lake the back way. And some of us—myself and my brother—we would take our old clunker car. We didn’t have a license, but we would drive the back road through the woods and everything. It was a lot of fun [<em>coughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>The power line road was the one you were talking about taking people fishing?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. You would go down to the road department, and turn left. Then go down, and then you could make a right, and it would take you back out to the cemetery and to Lake Mary Boulevard. It wasn’t much of a boulevard then, because it would dead-end up there before they opened it up and did all that. Or you could go to the road department and make a left, then it would take you down and around. It was just a mud hole on each side. It was a road built up for the power line use and it was a shortcut to Lake Mary. We’d go over there and go swimming or whatever sometimes. But there was nothing back there then. There was a lot of orange trees all around. This out in the front was a pasture. The pasture actually went out and all the way around and ended up almost past the cemetery almost to Lake Mary Boulevard back where the houses are.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>So the orange grove went that far? Or the pasture?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>The pasture did. The orange grove started from the road department—the end of their little road and then all back around this whole place around here was orange grove. This whole place around here was orange grove. Even back on this side, there was an orange grove going back. So there was a lot of oranges.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Sounds like it.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>I think we had five cows. I think Will milked about five cows. Plus, when they would have a calf, we would raise it up for beef or sell it or something or butcher it up. I’m not sure what happened to most of them. I know we always had plenty of meat in the freezer in town. I forget the name of the locker. It was there on Thirteenth Street where we kept everything. But they would cut it, dress it, pack it, freeze it, hang it or whatever we needed.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>You said up on Thirteenth Street was the freezer locker?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>That’s where it was. Back when Sheriff Poppy[sp] was the sheriff here years ago. I don’t know what else you need to know or if there’s anything you can think of.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Um, I had a question about what they call the “Agricultural Building” now. The building back behind that’s part of the museum. That wasn’t here though.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>No. Back where the new building is now?</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>The loop went around the back of this building, because nothing was here. Made the loop and that was the infirmary. That’s where the infirmary was. Rachel Lee was the nurse there.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Okay. But that area is where the infirmary was, but it’s not the building that was the infirmary?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Right. The infirmary was when you walk out this one door here, you go straight across the driveway and that was the infirmary. And then on the other side was where the coloreds lived—in their section there, in the corner down there. And the loop went all the way around the place.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Okay. You were saying earlier about the big tree up front providing shade.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. The camphor tree. I was telling you earlier that I would go out on the porch with all the old men here, and I would sit out on the porch in the afternoon. It was a real good shade, and we would sit out there with the breeze blowing. That’s where I heard most of my stories from all the old folks. The men—they would sit out there, and they would tell me about the history of when they moved to Florida—whenever they’d come. And they rode horses, and they drove Model Ts, and there was a dirt road going to Orlando and all kind of stuff .and I guess that’s where the Crackers come in were popping the whips and stuff. It was interesting. We would sit under that tree, and it was a big tree then, on the porch.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>That’s interesting. Were they—did any of them work in cattle ranching? Any of the stories that you heard?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /> </strong>Oh, yeah. They would move cattle in Florida for miles, especially around the Kissimmee area way back then. It was mostly swamp—a lot of it was swamp. They would talk about some of the things that occurred moving one herd of cows to the next place or wherever. Some of them, like I said, even in 1960—they were up in their 80s, so they knew a lot about this before any of us was even thought of.</p>
<p>They lived a good life, a lot of them. And this was their last place. The last stop was here. They didn’t have anything else to do and here I am—15 years old—and I’m sitting out there just listening, and they loved to tell me their stories. Sometimes I’d hear the same story over two or three times, but it was still interesting.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>I bet so. Any railroaders? I was looking at some video when the railroad marker dedication was, but I didn’t know if anybody here when you were here who was involved in that.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>No. Actually there weren’t. I can’t remember anyone that worked for the railroad that was here years ago, but I do remember a lot of the trains. Growing up, I remember the diesels—when they first started running the diesels and stuff like that. I’ve seen steam engines and stuff. Not a lot of railroad people that I remember lived out here. Basically railroad people—I think the reason for that was when they worked for the railroad, they got a retirement. And see, their retirement took care of them when they got sick and that was basically the reason why they didn’t put them in the Old Folks Home. People that were out here were—they worked all their life and didn’t have anything left—basically, no retirement or anything else so they qualified for the [Seminole] County to take care of them, and that’s where they ended up. Their folks put them in here.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>So they were more the ones who worked for themselves in a way?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Right. Some of them had businesses they were really doing good[sic] through the years. But like I said earlier, when they get to a certain point in their life or they get sick and their family can’t take care of them or don’t want to take care of them, and so they basically take away everything so they ended up here. It’s a cruel way to look at it, but they were actually better off here. They got waited on, they had plenty to eat, they had a nice place to sleep, and whatever, you know. If they really wanted to go visit someplace, their family would come up once in a while and take them out and bring them back so it wasn’t bad. It made it easier on everyone probably.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Um, I had thought of another question. What type of work did your dad do before he got this job?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Uh, my dad [<em>coughs</em>]—he was a used car salesman actually. He was in the Military. He could do about anything, really. Carpenter work or whatever. Whatever it took growing up to make a living, that’s basically what he did. But he was a car salesman. He was in a dealership. Well, I think the guy that he worked for and him were the only two, but they had a real nice car lot and he was selling cars. Buying and selling cars [<em>coughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Interesting. Was it there in Sanford then?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yes. It was in Sanford. Of course, there’s[sic] buildings there now. Where his car lot was—actually years ago, when he first started selling cars was there on Second [Street] and Sanford Avenue. If you know where the post office is downtown, but there’s a lot right there with a big oak tree on it where Larry’s [New & Used] Mart used to be. Well, it wasn’t years ago, but that was a car lot. The tree wasn’t so big back then. They had cars all around on that corner there. Then they moved up like on Ninth [Street] and Sanford Avenue and sold cars up there. But yeah it was interesting. I always loved cars, I still do. I’ve got old cars and trucks. It gets in your blood. But, yeah. That’s what he did.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Uh, you mentioned earlier too—one of the trees out back here on the property on the Old Folks Home was an oak tree?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. There was some oak trees. They were having a fundraiser—or I don’t know what it was—but they wanted to sell oak trees for $100, or whatever it was when they were doing it. And you could dedicate it or whatever to whomever you wanted to for the members that was here, and I got one in memory of my mom and dad, Grady and Flora Scott. But they didn’t put any markers or anything on it, so when you go out there, you think it’s just like another tree planted. I would like to see them one of these days go back in the records to find out who did that and put some little something in recognition of who it’s for. But they haven’t done that, and I’m sure it’s an oversight that never got taken care of.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>I’m sure it is too. I would like to see—if you don’t mind, when we’re wrapping up, if you’d show me which ones they were out there we can get that documented.</p>
<p>Anything else for your childhood that sticks out for you—growing up here or even before you got here—that makes you chuckle now?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Oh, there’s a lot of things [<em>laughs</em>]. I was a middle kid. I’ve got a younger brother and an older sister. I was the one that was in between. Growing up, if you got in trouble in school, you got tanned a little bit by the principal. Then you got home your mother did it. Then when your dad got home he took care of it. So it was one, two, three. And you didn’t do that anymore. I basically raised my kids the same way—in a way that I would set them down when they got in trouble and we would talk about it and we’d determine the punishment. It would be kinda up to them. They turned out really, really great. Hopefully my grandkids will be the same way. But it’s not like it was. It’s a little harder. There’s not a lot of “Yes, sir,” “No, sir” stuff anymore.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Not a whole lot. No.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>My two boys still say, “Yes, sir” to me. They’re in their 40s. There’s a lot of things that I try to instill in people, especially the younger generation—my kids, my grandkids, or whatever. Because I’ve seen so many people that’s passed on—I’ve been with them when they’ve passed on. Even at a young age, like I was out here, and you miss them.</p>
<p>But when you see a person that’s 80 years old or 60 years old or whatever, and they’re sick and you’ve been knowin’ this person for a long time—it doesn’t matter if you know them or not. But when you see them there and they don’t recognize you hardly but they try—don’t think of that person as what you see. Think of that person that you knew. That same person’s still inside there. Talk to them just as if they were 20 years old or 30 years old, or when you knew them and times were good. Talk to them the same way as when you knew them, because they’re still the same person. I don’t care if they weigh 60 pounds with cancer and they’re 80 years old and they’re dying. They’re still the same person as they were when they were 15 years old or 25, and out here dancing and having a good time. And that’s what I like to see people think of instead of, you know. I don’t want to be around them. That’s the wrong attitude to take. The person’s still in there. That’s the way I look at it.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>That’s great advice.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>It works for me.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>There’s a lot true in that.</p>
<p>Um, yeah. We could walk around there to the trees and then we’ll see what we can make note of here.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Sure.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Back out this way, right?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yes. This was the living room.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>This was the living room?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>This was where they sat around and watched TV. Like I said, my room was down there on the end where Kim’s office is. And where your office is, that was two rooms too I think.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Yeah. It probably was.</p>
<p>So the—and then, were the—you said the women and men were separated?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yes. The women I believe lived in this area and the men lived in the other wing.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>And then the colored section was out there?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Okay.Thanks. I’m trying to orient.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>I thought they had some pictures out here. I don’t see anything.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Well, they do change the pictures around.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Every now and then too. Sorry. Excuse us. That’s okay. I just don’t want to step on it. Thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>This right here was the colored dining area.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Right. We use that for storage now.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>The driveway came here around the building. About where those gates are was a building—a big wood building—and that was where the colored folks lived. And that was orange grove. Straight on down—probably about where that stop sign is, where that car just went through—through the orange grove that was the barn. The cows would come across the road in the evening. They would walk right across, and Will would milk them, and I would go down and bring the milk back up to the kitchen here. This is the kitchen. Straight across here was the infirmary where the new building is. The driveway went around to the infirmary. To the left back in this area was a washhouse. Right here was a garage, and the other side of that was a big chicken coop. That’s where we had the chickens. On down in the front down here, across from the barn on the right, was the hog pen, and that’s where I had to take the hog slop. This was all orange grove, even all the way around in the back. Where that building is over there that was orange grove. This was a field out here all the way over to where the fire station is. We had to keep a lot of that mowed.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>You said the pasture came up this way?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>The pasture part actually started in front of the building right here to the left of the driveway. That was pasture all the way around. On the other side of the road, all the way around way back past the cemetery. There’s a lot of acreage back there. It was all pasture. I’m sure you know where the cemetery is.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>I haven’t been, so I don’t have an idea.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>It’s just on down past the tower. But that was basically the layout of the place here. We had deliveries. In between here you go down to the bottom. That’s where the boiler room…</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>So in between these two porches here?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. Let’s take a look.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>You go through there and go down to the right. And you’ll see it looks like a cellar, but that’s the boiler room. They’ve changed it now. The oak trees have got to be this oak tree, that one. I think they’re planted all around.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Now were you here when any of them were planted?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>No. It was probably four or five years ago. Now this was all driveway here. And by where we’re standing now is where the garage was. And the chicken coop was on up. There was some big oak trees planted there, that’s where we parked the cars on the superintendent’s side.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Because this was the front?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Right. This was our entrance. We used this entrance. The office is in the front right there. Deliveries would come around back up between the two buildings here and go into the kitchen. They’d back the trucks in there to drop things off and pick things up.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>It makes sense, but it’s different to see it, because what is the front entrance now was the side.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Right. The office was the main thing back then. Back in the late ‘50s, this was a two-lane road. Then they started to changing[sic] it and made it into a four-lane. And they finally opened it up. There was some oak trees down there. I think they’re gone now—the big oak trees—but there’s where Lily and Willie used to sit and watch the traffic under the oak trees.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>On the other side of this road here?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. Right there on the edge of 17-92. That’s where they would sit and people would blow their horns at them.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>You said it was two-lane then?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Well, actually it was four-lane, but the road wasn’t finished until about 1960. Then it was four-lane. There used to be a little tavern right there. I guess the building’s still there. They had some bad wrecks people pulling out after it was four-lane, because they weren’t used to it.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>I bet.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>I do have some movie clips of coming up here and parking cars and walking to the garage and stuff here. Some of my friends—when I was a teenager, we’d come back from the beach and walk up and down through here, play with the dog and stuff. If I could ever get them all together. But the oak trees, I guess, are these. I’m not sure. You can see them planted all around. I have no idea how many they ended up planting.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>I don’t either. We’ll see what we can find out about that.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Well, it would be nice. Even if there was just one little sign that said, “Oak trees planted in memory of…” Or something like that. That’s a nice building.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Yes. It is. It’s a great space in there too, for displays and presentations. I’m sure you’ve seen it.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>The infirmary was there and that’s when I pulled up there. There was a ramp to the infirmary. And when I was 16—I turned 16—I pulled the car around and I saw Sam McFadden, with no legs—black guy. I would visit him. He’d come out and get a little sun once in a while. I told him, “Sam, I’m going to take you to Oviedo when I get my license.” And he just couldn’t wait. When I pulled up there that day, and they wheeled him down in the chair to the car. I had the door open. I set him in that car. His face was all lit up. He’d been in there for so many years. He loved it. I think it did me more good than it did him.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Sure. Doing something like that for somebody else.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>When they closed this place down, I tried to get in touch with him and the rest of them. They moved him to [inaudible] and whatever home. I don’t know what happened to him. I tried to do a follow up, but I never could.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Is that home in Sanford?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. It was on West Ninth Street I believe it was.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>West Ninth?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>They changed a few things around.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /> </strong>Like I said, I don’t know where the pictures are out here. They used to have I don’t know how many pictures.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>I’m sure we still have them somewhere.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. Probably.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Thank you very much for your time, Dave. I appreciate it.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>It’s not a problem. I enjoy doing it. I ramble on too much sometimes when I get to talking because most of the memories are really good. I try to delete all the bad stuff.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>]Well, for our purposes the rambling is good [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>Yeah. There’s some bad stuff. Sam lived right here in this one room right here and he was an old man. A good friend of mine. He was real quiet. He loved it when I moved back here, because he had someone to talk to.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Was he the one with emphysema?</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>No. That was another man. They had moved him in there afterwards—after Sam passed away. Then I missed him. Then the other guy with emphysema cigarettes—oh, that about killed me. Then he passed away too. People—some of them stayed here a few years. They hung around. But a lot of them were really bad when they brought them in.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Yeah. I imagine so.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /></strong>But that’s about it.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /> </strong>Okay. Thank you again.</p>
<p><strong>Scott<br /> </strong>If you can remember anything or want me for anything, just give me a call.</p>
<p><strong>Holcomb<br /></strong>Yeah. Thank you.</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> Grady Scott.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[2]</a> Flora Scott.</p>
</div>
</div>
assisted living
Barfield
Beautiful Lee
burials
camphor trees
cattle ranchers
cattle ranching
cemeteries
cemetery
chickens
Chihuahua
crackers
David Scott
dogs
Downtown Sanford
Echols Bedding Company
Edward Scott
elderly
Flora Scott
Grady Scott
graves
Helen Scott
Helen Scott Atkinson
Holcomb, Susan
Homer Little
Humphrey
Kim Nelson
Kissimmee
Lake Mary
Lake Monroe School
Larry's New & Used Mart
Movieland Drive-In
Museum of Seminole County History
nursing homes
Old Folks Home
orange groves
oranges
Oviedo
pastures
pigs
Poppy
race relations
Rachel Lee
Ratliff Towing
retirement homes
Ritz Theatre
Sam McFradden
Sanford
Sanford Junior High School
segregation
Seminole High School
Susan Holcomb
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/015dea079c2bff50258a4f23ba24650c.pdf
7165340f0c29989db1de005b3c42e3ae
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Creative Sanford, Inc. Collection
Alternative Title
Creative Sanford Collection
Subject
Seminole County (Fla.)
Folk plays
Sanford (Fla.)
Description
<span>Creative Sanford, Inc. is a non-profit organization created to manage <em>Celery Soup: Florida's Folk Life Play</em> community theater productions. The original idea for the Celery Soup project came from Jeanine Taylor, the owner of a folk-art gallery on First Street in Sanford, Florida. Their first production was </span><em>Touch and Go</em><span>, a play focusing on the people of Sanford and their determination to overcome various obstacles, including the Freeze of 1894-1895, the fall of Sanford's celery industry, and the closing of Naval Air Station (NAS) Sanford in the 1960s. In the process of producing the show, Creative Sanford decided to rehabilitate an historic building, the Princess Theater, which is located on 115 West First Street and owned by Stephen Tibstra. The Creative Sanford offices are housed in the Historic Sanford Welcome Center, located at 203 East First Street.</span>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/16" target="_blank">Sanford Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/44" target="_blank">Seminole County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Historic Sanford Welcome Center, Downtown Sanford, Florida
Princess Theater, Downtown Sanford, Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about" target="_blank">WHO IS CREATIVE SANFORD, INC?</a>" Celery Soup. http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about.
<span>"<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com/about/" target="_blank">About: History and Purpose</a>." Celery Soup. http://www.celerysoupsanford.com/about/.</span>
"<a href="http://www.communityperformanceinternational.org/sanford-florida" target="_blank">Sanford, Florida: How do you make Celery Soup? Add stories, then stir</a>." Community Performance International. http://www.communityperformanceinternational.org/sanford-florida.
Contributor
<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com/" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc.</a>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Thompson, Trish
Interviewee
Bridges, Elizabeth
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Elizabeth Bridges
Alternative Title
Oral History, Bridges
Subject
Sanford, (Fla.)
Energy--United States
Description
An oral history of Elizabeth Bridges. Bridges discusses what life was like in Singapore as a child in the 1960s. She also talks about how she met her first husband, Victor Green. Green worked on an oil rig in the Pacific Ocean for HuffCo. Bridges tells what it was like for her husband to work for that company. She had to learn how to cook Southern food and adapt to life in America. Her first husband died of lung cancer in 1991. She then met her second husband, Jack Bridges, and married him in 1998. After her husband overcame his alcohol addiction, he ran for city commissioner in 2005. He brought many positive changes to the city and was a well-known and successful attorney.
Type
Text
Source
Bridges, Elizabeth. Interviewed by Trish Thompson. 2010. Audio record available. <a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc.</a>, Sanford Florida.
Requires
<a href="https://get.adobe.com/reader/" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc.</a>, Sanford Florida.
<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc. Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Format Of
Transcript of original oral history: Bridges, Elizabeth. Interviewed by Trish Thompson. 2010. Audio record available. <a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc.</a>, Sanford Florida.
Coverage
Singapore
Indonesia
Sanford, Florida
Ritz Theatre, Sanford, Florida
Creator
Bridges, Elizabeth
Thompson, Trish
Date Created
2010
Format
application/pdf
Extent
208 KB
Medium
23-page digital transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Trish Thompson and Elizabeth Bridges, and transcribed by Freddie Román-Toro.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by <a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc.</a> and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc.</a>
<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com/" target="_blank">Celery Soup</a>
Curator
Román-Toro, Freddie
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc.</a>
External Reference
Symposium on the Development of Petroleum Resources of Asia and the Far East, United Nations, ECAFE Petroleum Symposium, and Symposium on the Development of Petroleum Resources of Asia and the Far East. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/246028555" target="_blank"><em>Case Histories of Oil and Gas Fields in Asia and the Far East: (Third Series)</em></a>. New York, NY: United Nations, 1971.
Yancy, George, and Janine Jones. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/810119075" target="_blank"><em>Pursuing Trayvon Martin: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Manifestations of Racial Dynamics</em></a>. Lanham: Lexington Boos, 2013.
Transcript
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Tell me a little bit about how you and Jack [J. Bridges] met.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Jack was a former attorney for my first husband, Victor Green. They don’t call him Victor Green. He goes by his middle name “Mapes.” Mapes and I were his clients.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Is that his mother’s maiden name or something like that? That’s an unusual name.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yes, because they didn’t want to call him Victor or Junior, so they called him by his middle name. He’s known here in Sanford. Everybody knows Mapes, but he was another generation. so the Greens and the Bridges were here in Sanford and they didn’t live too far from one another—3 Grandview Boulevard,<a title="">[1]</a> which is the former airport. So Alfred Green worked on the railroad with Jack’s daddy, and I think Alfred Green was the supervisor. He was higher in rank than Alfred. We have always seen Jack as our attorney. [<em>laughs</em>]</p>
<p>When my husband passed away in [19]91, we were all living in the same neighborhood, and Jack was divorcing in ’91 too. I think he and Beth [Bridges] separated when they were [inaudible] April, and they got divorced in ’91. My husband died in December of ’91. A year later, Jack and I met, and he was patrolling the neighborhood, but he has a very commanding voice. I had always heard that he was a very good trial lawyer, and he would speak to me with that tone. I would have to remind him that I’m not his client and that we’re not in a courtroom—to tone his voice down.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, Jack was a fabulous attorney. I always heard it. I was never a client of his, but if anybody was ever going to be in a trial with him, they were scared.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I think it was because of his practice with Mac [Cleveland]. They gave him all of the cases that came along, so he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, so he tried them all.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Okay, so Mac Cleveland wasn’t a trial lawyer? Did he do more estate work?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I don’t know anything about what he did, but I know Jack was a junior attorney at that time, and Mac would let him do a lot. I think that in ’91, they split up the firm. Mac wasn’t practicing that much and Jack was doing a lot of cases ,so he told him he’d like to split it, so that’s why the name of the office used to be, “The Law Office of Jack J. Bridges.” Jack didn’t do too well either. He was on his own with…</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Oh, a little bit of drinking.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>But later when he quit that, his business picked up.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I didn’t realize that his business went down because of his drinking.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yeah, it was bad. When his business picked up, even the lawyers would call him so he would represent them. He would do it.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>And then he was city commissioner.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Originally, he wanted [inaudible] to run city commissioner and all this is new, because he had two positions before. So he told Jay [Bridges], “You should take this.” He wasn’t too sure if people would accept him. I’ve heard other people ask Jack, “Why didn’t you become a politician?” Jack says he couldn’t have, because people could not accept him, because of what he was.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson <br /></strong>Did he not have confidence?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I think his past—it took him a little while before—we got married in ’98, and he ran for city commissioner in 2005, so it took him a couple of years. He wanted to get established and let people know he really meant what he said.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I remember that Mayor [Linda] Kuhn just loved him to death and everything he said was golden.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Well, he knew—he knows his business and he always looked ahead for the city. Remember the parades every Christmas? They always had parades, but Christmas was the only time that families would join in and throw candy. After I went to one of the parades, he told me to quit giving out candy. and it was because of me that they had to quit giving out candies. Jack was sitting on my right and I was on his left, and when I throw candy it’s kind of hard for me to throw this way, because I’m right-handed. So since he was in my way, some of the candy fell and he was very afraid for the kids. He told the mayor that they couldn’t allow it any longer, because they would sue the city if any kids came by.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So he was always looking out. You did a really good thing.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, I was embarrassed. I thought, <em>It was just because of me.</em> I felt bad. Then they had that “splash pad.” Do you remember that they had that “splash pad” when they built that? Everything went well. They had it built and all, and Jack thought about it and says, “Have you ever thought about the lightning that comes with this Florida weather? We have no insurance and if the kids get hurt…” So they had to look into that and I think they got insurance, but then they made sure to close the splash park. when the rain was coming.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I know they do that at [Walt] Disney [World] at one of their wave parks. Because I remember being there one day, and they said we had to leave. And we thought it was weird, because it was sunny out, but they said, “No. we have radar and there’s a storm six miles away.” Everybody had to leave. and it was the worst storm in the world when it came.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>This was just a splash pad, but if lighting comes—so he warned the city. When he sat on the Board, he and Nicky always wanted to move Sanford forward and not backward. Sometimes I can see that he gets very frustrated. They move forward one step and move back two steps. He says he doesn’t enjoy that part.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Does he have any stories about his famous cases or when he was a kid?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, he doesn’t share the cases that he tried, because of client-attorney privilege. They’re confidential, so he can’t share.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, I’m thinking more of personal stories that he might have shared with you of growing up. Anything about his parents or about how Sanford was when he was growing up?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I can’t think of too much right now, but he was raised very poor. He said he was very quiet when he learned in school. He always made better grades and the teacher would compare his grades to his brother’s, and his brother didn’t like that. His teacher expected his brother to make grades as good as Jack’s.</p>
<p>Jack was always quiet in school and I think it was because of his background. and I told him that there’s nothing wrong about being raised poor. A lot of the rich people were poor when they were growing up. I say, “At least you’re humble and honest.”</p>
<p><strong>Thompson <br /></strong>Well, tell me stories about you when you were a little girl.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Let me finish one part of Jay and Jack working on the Ritz Theatre. He was the usher, and then he became a chief usher. And when he’s home, he can watch movies over and over again and I have seen those movies so many times.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>He can watch the same movie over and over?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>That doesn’t bother him. He’ll watch different movies. If it comes on, it doesn’t bother him. He’ll watch it.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Probably because he was an usher at the theatre and he watched the same show over and over again [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Then he’d pick up little words from the movie. He’d say, “Buzz off.” Don’t you remember they’d say that in that part of the movie? I couldn’t remember what show it was and say, “Okay.” [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So he would quote movies to you? [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I’m not Americanized. We weren’t raised with televisions, you know? We don’t have American movies. We’ll watch every now and then, but we don’t have that. I don’t understand the humor and all of those things, because I was raised in Singapore. They taught us the King’s English. When we were at home, we spoke Hainanese. It’s one of the dialects. They’re so many—Cantonese, Hakin, Taichu, etc. If they write in Chinese, I can read it and tell you what they’re saying, but…</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So the written word is the same, but the dialects are all different?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>When I went to school, we would have to learn English, so we wouldn’t speak English at home. Only in school. We have Indian neighbors now that are Muslims. We don’t understand what they speak at home, but if you speak English, we could all communicate. We also had to learn Mandarin as a language, just like you do Spanish here. In my later years, when my brother went to school, half the subjects were taught in English and the other half were taught in Mandarin. They wanted everybody to be bilingual.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So Mandarin was the official language there?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>It was the official language for all Chinese people.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>When you were in school and you learned the King’s English, did you have an English professor from England that taught you?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, they were all local, but they went to English schools. We<a title="">[2]</a> got our independence in ’57. That was the year I was born, so when I went to school in the ‘60s, we were all taught by English teachers.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Then you came to the United States?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yes, I married my first husband, and I met him as he was working in an oil field in Indonesia. When he had his break, he came to Singapore. My friend introduced me to him. That was Mr. Green.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Oh, so he worked in the oil fields? See, I thought he was agricultural. I don’t know why.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He was in charge of all the heavy equipment—the ship, the boats, the crane, the fleets, etc. He was the supervisor and the Indonesians loved him and did the work.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>What did he do when he came back home?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>When oil prices went bad in the ‘80s, it was much cheaper for them to hire the English and the Australians than to hire the Americans, so they didn’t want to renew the work permit, so they sent us home. When they hire the Americans over there, they give us vacation time one week every six months. Another six months later, and we have 35 days to come to the states, and they pay for it. Other families that have kids in elementary school—they have their own schools over there. They bring the teachers over there. But when they go to high school. they have to send them to Singapore. If they want to come to college, they come stateside. Then the mother gets to come here twice a year, and the kids fly over there three times a year. All of this is paid for by the company. They pay for the schooling too. They provide housing, cars, gasoline. The house is furnished, etc.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Which company was that?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Roy M. Huffington, Inc. was the company. Have you heard of <em>The Huffington Post</em>? It was from Houston, Texas.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Oh my goodness.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yes, they were big companies.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Boy, they sound like they were wonderful to their employees.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>We didn’t have to pay for the house. We didn’t have to pay for the utilities. If a light bulb needed to be fixed, you would just get on the phone and call them and they’d come and fix the light bulb. The pay was about $65,000 tax-free. That was the incentive. The only thing you have to pay is food and clothes. My husband would tell me, “Enjoy.” I didn’t understand, because we didn’t have a home here, but then we came back and I saw what he was talking about.</p>
<p>We had our own bowling alley and our own swimming pool. We had our own commissary too. We could buy our own food. Every other month, a shipment would come in off the coast of Texas.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Now, did he have to go out on oil rigs? Could he come home at night?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, it was close to home. That was the second job. On the first job, he had to go away. On Monday morning, a bus would come and then they’d fly them over on a helicopter. On Friday evening, they’d come into town [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>The honeymoon’s every weekend [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yes, they had to do it that way, because they figured it was cheaper. For a while, they would work two weeks and then they’d have one week off. All the families would stay in Singapore. We were civilized there, but when you moved to Indonesia, you had to stay in the jungle.</p>
<p>Everybody has to get along with everybody, so what the women would do was, they would have cooking class. Have coffee once a month. I would go to Sears[, Roebuck & Company] and buy this sewing stuff and bring it over there. I like the felt stuff. You know how you sew on it? I don’t like the glue stuff. I like the sew-on like stockings and stuff. Some people were good at cross-stitching and needlepoint and they’d teach. That’s how we entertained one another.</p>
<p>We had cooking classes too. Sometimes you get to know your neighbor well. She was from Houston, Texas, and she taught me how to cook American food. She’d write me a recipe and I’d go back and look at the ingredients and call her and ask, “What does half-and-half mean?” [<em>laughs</em>] I would ask her, “What does ‘a stick of butter mean?” That’s because our butter would come in one pound, and she said, “You have to cut it length-wise.” I’d say, “Okay.” That was a big help, because that prepared me for when I came to the states.</p>
<p>A lot of people overseas don’t ever lock their doors. You can knock on the door and come in. The coffee pot’s on, you pour yourself a coffee, and sit down. Over here, I don’t know my neighbor. We feel so lost, but our friends are scattered all over the United States. We would get in a car and go all the way out to Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, etc.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>To visit all your friends who were in Indonesia with you?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Then they’d come and reciprocate, because of Disney World.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I bet you had a lot of company with people going to Disney World. It’s wonderful that you made such life-long friends.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Even now, I still communicate. There’s this lady in Boise, Idaho. She’s a widow now. She used to do needlepoint and she’d even do weaving. She loved to lace stuff and she would crotchet. She must be up in age too. We write once a year. We send Christmas cards.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, it almost sounds like the military. My parents were Navy and they made life-long friends with the people in their stations. When they got out of the service, they always kept in contact.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I know of a lady from Texas who would babysit her neighbor’s children. When the wife went out of town, she’d take one kid, go out, and get some dental work done, and leave the other kid with her husband. Now, you know men can’t cook. so she would take the kids when they got out of school and she’d feed the husband too. They would do the same, so they were all very close. Once you get to know a few families, they’re all very close.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>When you came here did you find a family that you could be friends with?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, I don’t know them very well. I kind of miss that.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>There’s good Oriental contingency in Seminole County, I know. Not very…</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I don’t practice that anymore. I don’t cook the food anymore. I don’t long for the Chinese food anymore. Not like some Vietnamese that I know like [inaudible] fiancée. They always have to have their rice. They always have their Chinese food. They cannot sub, but I can, because my first husband was American and now I’m with Jack. I say, “If I don’t have bread, I’ll have potato.” [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p>I found out that they have their Chinese squash and everything, but the zucchini is almost the same stuff. You can use it to sub for the Chinese squash. But they have to have it exactly the same as before.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Isn’t that strange that they can’t adjust?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I have a friend in North Carolina and she could adjust. There’s some who can’t and they go back. They say, “America is not for me.” It’s a cultural shock. I couldn’t do that, because I made up my mind, because I married an American. I said, “I married an American. This will be my country and you have to adjust.”</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>And you learned how to make your first Southern food. What did Mr. Green say when you made your first Southern food?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He didn’t like my biscuits. He said they were too hard. [<em>laughs</em>] Everything we had to do was from scratch. We didn’t have the stuff that you do. It’s very convenient.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Yeah, you can have it frozen. “Oh, you want biscuits? Here’s half a bag.” [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I used to make my own bread and hamburger buns. We used to invite our neighbors and ground beef meat was very expensive. They’d say, “These hamburger buns are so good.” My husband would say, “That’s because they’re homemade.” In Singapore, the bread didn’t last very long, and the flour would have weevils in it, and American women would teach me, “You take it and sift it twice.”</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>To get the weevils out. Why were the weevils—because they’d been in storage?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /> </strong>I think that it’s because when they shipped it, they shipped the old stuff to us. By the time it cleared customs, the humidity would get to it. We were so excited to have American stuff. We loved Cheetos in a can [<em>laughs</em>]. We would all grab American stuff. We would grab toilet paper, because we didn’t like the local stuff. It was stiff. It wasn’t soft, so we’d buy a whole bunch. We figured that if we left the country another family would buy us the stuff. When we knew there was a new shipment, we’d run to the coast and load up, because you don’t know when the next shipment would come in.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So you were doing “bulk” before Sam’s [Club] ever showed up [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Over there we just buy a bunch of stuff. We buy our meat. We buy the whole piece—the whole pork loin. We would go to the supermarket, buy it, and tell them to freeze it. We’d tell them when we’d want it picked up, so they’d wrap it up and put it into boxes. Then they’d tie it and tape it and all, and we’d pick it up and we’d bring it to the hotel and tell them, “We want it in your freezer.” Then we’d tell them at what time we’d come to get it and our bus would come to pick us up and take us to the airport.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>To go from Singapore to Indonesia?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>The flight would last two hours and 20 minutes. Then we’d rest and catch a 45-minute flight. If you pack them well and you only open them once, you should be pretty good. Prime rib was $15 a pound. This was back in the ‘80s.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Oh my gosh.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>We’d usually try to bring a few pieces of meat. We’d live on seafood a lot over there. When you buy fish, you have to buy the whole fish—head and all—and the fish 50 cents a kilo.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>A fish for 50 cents? Amazing.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Usually the fish is about two to three pounds, but it was fresh. We’d also have a lot of shrimp and lobster too.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I bet you know a lot of great recipes for shrimp, lobster, and fish, don’t you?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, I didn’t have to cook very much over there. I buttered them a lot and broiled them. Seafood was abundant. [inaudible] I would go to the local market. They would always have some trouble with us, because they don’t encourage you to go outside the city.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Was it dangerous?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>It wasn’t dangerous, but if an American like you—a Caucasian—goes there, you’ll be surrounded and you’d be shot. They don’t like Americans. For me, I’m Asian with an Asian [inaudible], so it’s a little bit better. I learned that when you carry your basket to town, you just let the boys carry it so they don’t bug you. You pay them 100 rupees. That’s 10 cents and they walk with you while you buy your groceries and they put it in a cart for you.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So if one of the boys that you see on the street comes, he attaches himself to you and then none of the boys bother you? That happened to us in the Dominican Republic. A boy attached himself to my mother and he went everywhere with us throughout the whole day.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>This was only in the market though. That way you get rid of them, because they all want to help you, and you end up paying extra money. I also found out that we’d pay the lawn boy $5 a month and we’d pay the maid $15. $15 is the maximum, and they say $10 is the going rate. One of our doctors from Texas would pay $15 and the maid would carry laundry from the city every day. After they worked for the Americans, they’d go work for the nationals expecting to get paid $15 a month, but the nationals would only pay them $10 maximum. They’d say, “That’s not fair.” They’d tell us we couldn’t spoil them.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>You see? We’d look at that as entrepreneurship. If you do the best, you get paid more.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Right. They also liked blue jeans, so what we’d do is come to the states and buy blue jeans and give it to them as a Christmas gift. That’s why they like working for the Americans.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, your husband was very right when he said, “Enjoy it.” [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Well, I didn’t understand, but now I do.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>What was your first shocking experience when you came to the [United] States? Did you come in through Texas?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, we came in through Maryland. Yes, because his Army friends stayed at Fort [George G.] Meade, so we’d stay with our friends. The men would go somewhere else and the women—was very nice. She took me to the commissary. I said, “I want to go to the commissary.” I walked in and I said, “Oh, look at the eggplant. It’s so nice. Look at the lettuce.” Because our lettuce is terrible-looking, but we still ate it, because that’s the best they had to offer. She just looked at me. [<em>laughs</em>] I said, “I want to buy this. I want to eat this.” Of course, we had more money than they did, so we paid for the groceries, but she let me pick what I wanted. The green peas were so green and narrow, but over there they were kind of bulky.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So the first big shock was the groceries? I bet the food was a lot cheaper too, wasn’t it?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yes, because any canned food that came over into Indonesia were three times more expensive than here.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Did you ever go back?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I went back to Singapore, but not to Indonesia. It’s not the same for me anymore. I guess I’ve been gone too long. The heat and the humidity is like Florida weather in the summer. I can’t take it. [<em>laughs</em>] Jack always wanted to go there, but he never made it. I went back in 2004, when my brother had just died of lung cancer. And Jack wanted to go but he couldn’t. so I said, “I’ll go.” Do you remember the bird flu<a title="">[3]</a> that went around? They said that if I came back, I’d have to be in quarantine for 10 days. Jack was a little sick at that time. I think I wanted to go in November, but I went in the spring.</p>
<p>Jack said he always admired the Chinese culture. He handled one or two cases and he said he had yet to see a broke Chinese person. I was raised Chinese. During the New Year, you have to pay off all your debts. We didn’t owe anything. Jack said, “What about your mortgages?” I said, “Well, I guess that’s one thing that you can’t pay off, but everything else has to be paid off.” Another thing is that you never lend to friends or family, because you’ll never get it back. That’s very, very true. Jack would say that the Chinese and Egyptian cultures are very, very old but he likes them more.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>It’s also a very good practice. You’re not in debt. So many Americans are in debt.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yeah, but when I was talking to Jack’s mother—she’s old school. It parallels what the Chinese do.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Yeah, not to be in debt, because she lived in the [Great] Depression. She’s of that generation.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yes, and she’s very frugal just the way I was raised.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>What did your parents do?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>My mother was a homemaker and my father was the chief electrician, so he was gone a lot. My mother raised us, and when my father came back, we would like it, because he would spoil us. He let us go to school early, and my mother didn’t like that. We started school at 7:30 and were off at 1:00. The next year, you go from 1:00-5:00. That way they use the school, so the school isn’t sitting there empty.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Did they always have a group in there?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yes, all the time. They alternated it so one year a student goes in the morning and the next year he goes in the afternoon.</p>
<p><strong>Thompso</strong>And then it’s hotter. It’s cool in the morning and hot in the afternoon.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /><br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>]. That way the school is used many times, so that they don’t have to build that many schools. Property is very expensive in Singapore. It’s like Hong Kong. Everybody lives in patmas. They call it “flats.” The government will build them and let you buy them. and you could use your Social Security number to buy them.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So they’re like condos, and they’re subsidized by the government. And anybody can buy one?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Not everybody. They have three or four bedrooms, so it depends on your family’s size. The government will tell you if you’re eligible.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So you can’t just have four bedrooms for two of you [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Bridges <br /></strong>And you can tell them what location you want. Not a problem. If they build, you put your name in and they were very cheap. I remember my mom got a three bedroom for 15,000 in the ‘70s.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Wow. That was a wonderful deal. Even back then.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>The dollar was like two to one. That’s cheap. Now, you can’t buy a patma for that cheap, but it’s subsidized by the government, and the government wants everybody to live better in wooden homes, because they take up a lot of land. They don’t want that. The island isn’t that big. It’s 25 miles across from east to west and 15 miles from north to south, and it’s got a population of two million people. It’s the cleanest city in the world.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>The crime rate is very low. They will not tolerate drugs. It’s a law and order country. Do you remember that Michael Fay went down there and got caned? He got caned, because he took the stop sign down, and his family got sent home.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Yeah, I had heard that about Singapore. That was an international incident.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>[Bill] Clinton, the American president, pleaded and the government said, “This is a law and order country.”</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>And there are no exceptions.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>This lady brought drugs in. I don’t know if she’s Australian or what, but they asked the Queen of England<a title="">[4]</a> to plead and they said, “No.”</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>The Queen couldn’t help. Well, just think—if it’s 25 miles long and 15 miles wide, it’s the same size as Sanford’s 22 mile square. so your whole island is probably the size of Sanford. It has two million people there and we only have 54,000. People don’t understand how lucky they are to live in a place like Sanford.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Right, because over there it’s very competitive. You have to do well in school. If you don’t do well in school, you get a terrible job. My mother always said, “You see that road-sweeper? That man that sweeps the street? That’s where you’re going to end up. Digging the ditch.” [<em>laughs</em>] Then when they came up with that machine that cleans the street and she said, “See? They don’t even need you anymore.” [<em>laughs</em>] She pushed education, because both my parents were raised on a farm on Hainan Island in China. Do you remember where our plane landed in China? It got confiscated by the Chinese government.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>No, I don’t remember that.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>An American plane landed there and they wouldn’t let us take our plane home. They had to go through and check, because they wanted to check out what the Americans had in equipment and technology.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So it was probably a military jet that crash-landed there or something?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I don’t know how it landed there, but I know it landed there. The Chinese government got involved and I remember saying, “It’s Hainan Island. That’s where my mom and dad were born.” My mother said that the communist government would give you two pieces of material and that’s all you get. She patched them and they would look like embroideries, and she was very frugal raising us.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So it was two pieces of material per person in the family or just two pieces?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>It was two pieces a year. That’s all you get. We always had hand-me-down clothes because my aunt was from American Families, and the kids had all the clothing, and we got to pick what we wanted to wear. so if I said, “I don’t like this dress,” she wouldn’t throw it away. She would pack it up and send it to China. It was for her nieces, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Yeah, so whatever you didn’t like went on to another family.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Right. She wouldn’t give it to the neighbors or friends they could use it. She would send it to her family. My mother—she didn’t work, because she raised us. but she knew that education was very important. When we’d come home, we’d speak the dialect. We didn’t speak English. And we’d bring our report cards and she’d say, “What does it say? And “You’d better tell me the truth, and if it’s not what it says here, you’re in trouble.” [<em>laughs</em>]</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So she taught you how to be honest.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>She didn’t mind us going to school, because that was the only way we were going to do better than her, and many Asian communities are the same way. A lot of my cousins are in Virginia. My aunt does not speak English and my cousins speak broken English, but their children are very educated. They’re honor students. They’re doing real well and they’re taking care of their mom and dad.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well now, did you ever have children?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So you have step-children from…</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>My first and second husbands.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Oh, both. That’s wonderful. Do you see them?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Originally, [inaudible] lives in Orlando and the other two live in Pennsylvania, but now they’re back in Florida. They love the Florida weather. We brought them to Florida. We took them to Disney World. they always have a place to stay, and they loved it so much. They got tired of the snow.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Who wouldn’t be? I like Florida too. My sisters wanted me to move to Tennessee, and I said, “You know, I like Florida. I love you, but I don’t love your weather.” [<em>laughs</em>] She said, “But you have hurricanes.” I said, “But I don’t have snow.”</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Well, Jack’s son was born and raised here. Jack only had one child.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Oh, is that right? Is it John?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, Tory [Bridges] is his child. Tory’s mother, Mary Carly, is in the insurance business on Lake Mary Boulevard when you pass—that’s Jack’s first wife.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Oh, Debbie or something?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>She married Brent Carly. He owns the insurance business on Lake Mary Boulevard.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I know Mark Carly. He’s Brent’s brother. I know him better than I know Brent. I believe it was you, Jack, and Jack’s brother that made it out to the restaurant one time and I was able to meet her once.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yeah, she’s in assisted living now—Spring Lake Hills on Lake Mary Boulevard, across from the forest. She has a bad case of dementia and she gets very excited. She can’t sit down for too long. I think that’s part of the disease. When I went to see her right after Jack died, she kept asking me where Jack was and we told her. And her cousin, Linda, told me that when she went to Jack’s service, she thought she was at her husband’s funeral.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Oh, so her dementia was really bad.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>When I see her she asks me how Jack is and I hate repeating it to her, because it hurts me to tell her to tell her that Jack’s gone, because I’m grieving and it’s hard for me, so I say, “He’s okay.” Then later she says, “Oh, he’s gone isn’t he?” I go, “Yeah. he’s gone.”</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So sometimes she will remember that he did die.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Now instead of saying that Jack is coming to take her home, she says that her mother is coming to take her home. They go back. They revert to their childhood. She doesn’t remember her other son, Stevie [Bridges]. Stevie does not come around too often.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well that’s the one everybody compared to Jack, so he didn’t feel too good about it.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yeah, but they always favored Stevie a lot. Stevie stayed at the house with them, but he later moved out. Maybe they catered to him, because Jack was a family man. They figured he was married and Stevie never got married, so they took care of him more. I don’t know.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson <br /></strong>What kind of work does Stevie do?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Well, he went to college and got his degree from University of Florida. I don’t know what he majored in, but he decided he didn’t want to use what he learned in school, so he worked for a welding company and became the chief welder.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Yeah, because I remember seeing him in work clothes, like a working person—blue collar.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Right. They told him they would give him a desk job, but he said no. He preferred to be blue-collar. That’s what he wanted. Then they let him go and he was applying for other jobs. I don’t know. It didn’t work out.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So he’s not working at all now?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He turns 60 in February and he said he’s going to wait and draw retirement and Social Security [Insurance].</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, he’s got two years until he can do it.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He has a big payout and Jack was trying to tell him how to invest. and I told Jack, “If he was smart enough, he would have gone back to work and worked ‘til he was 65, and let that money build and draw better Social Security.” That’s what I’m doing.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, I worked ‘til 62, but my husband was very ill. So I just went in and said, “I’m closing the restaurant.”</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I don’t blame you. You had your hands full. That’s different. Being a caregiver takes all your energy.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>It does. I had two years with him. We were very lucky. On July of 2008, I walked in the door and said, “We’ve got parties that we’re doing on the 4<sup>th</sup> of July and we should be out of food by next Wednesday.” I said, “We’re closing the doors of The Rib Ranch forever on the 8<sup>th</sup> and 9<sup>th</sup> of July.” I put a big sign up saying, “Come and say goodbye.” Everybody came and got barbecue, but on July 2<sup>nd</sup>, the guy who owned the business right next door to me made me an offer for my property, and I took it and we had our closing 15 days later. I had two years completely free to be with my husband, because he couldn’t drive anymore. He was going blind. He had a lot of physical problems. I spent a lot of time going to doctor’s offices.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>It’s like what Jack said towards the end. his social calendar towards the end was all doctor’s appointments. Jack got sick in 2009. He was in this hospital and then they told him they had to send him up to Shands[?]<a title="">[5]</a>, because he had abdominal blockage. They said, “You need surgery. There’s a tumor right there. That’s why it’s doing that. Shands might be able to get you in.” The doctor that tried to get him in just got back from church and he said, “There’s a bed available.” So he was happy, and I packed four days’ clothes. stayed there three and a half weeks. He wouldn’t let me come home. He said, “Don’t leave me.” He was very lonesome.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>He needed you.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I had a lot of vacation time, so I called Penny Fleming and she said, “Take it.” I was planning on coming home and working Monday through Friday and then go up on weekends, and she said, “Well, whatever you want.” Then I decided, “Well, maybe half a day on Friday.” She says, “That will be better and you won’t have to drive during the night.” Then I told Jack what she said and Jack said, “No.”</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>He needed you there.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He wanted me there.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, the thing I found out about, when your husband’s sick, is that even though I depended on him being smart and understanding everything. He was being stoic, but he wasn’t comprehending what the doctors were saying, because, internally, he was panicked. He would say, “What did he mean by that?” I would have to research it and find out what the doctor meant, because he wouldn’t tell him he was scared.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Jack was the opposite. Jack was very sharp and he still had a sense of humor. I remember they almost put him on a ventilator one time up in Shands. Scared me to death. Jack didn’t like too much medication, but they gave him medication and he crawled to bed. And when he came in, there was this person sitting in his room and he woke up and said, “Oh, have you met my warden?”</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Who was the person sitting in his room?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>It was the nurse. And they had to explain that he was trying to climb over the bed. When he was up there, he would tell me to do things he wasn’t supposed to do. He wanted a Slurpee and he said, “Go get me one.” and I’d say, “The doctor says you can’t have anything.” He’d say, “If you don’t get it for me, then I’ll go down to get it.” I said, “Then what do you want?” He said, “Strawberry.”</p>
<p>At that time, he had that abdominal problem and they had to pump it out. There was a little container behind him and the doctor could see the red from the strawberry and he panicked, “Oh, it’s blood.” Jack said, “No. I just had strawberries.” [<em>laughs</em>] The doctor shook his head. Jack said, “My mouth is very dry, so I asked her to get me that.” The doctor said, “How about changing the flavor?” Oh, he was something else.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So what’s happening with you now?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I’m just back to work. I’m just doing my routine and putting in my time working at the Sheriff’s Office until my retirement. I’ve got 10 years to go. I’ve already got 14 years. I hate to retire so early, because what am I going to do for health insurance? If I retire right now, I’ve got eight years. 62 is early retirement. They penalize me five percent for every year under. I figure I don’t have much going right now, so I just try to keep myself occupied.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I think that’s a good thing too. If I didn’t have all this, I’d be going crazy.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>But I sure miss him though, because every time I go to the parades, I see all the people and politicians and it kind of depresses me a little bit.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, what do you think he would have said about everything that happened with Trayvon [Benjamin Martin] and the city?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I don’t think he would have let the case go as far as it did, because he would know how to tell them. Who is it [inaudible]? He said he didn’t know the legal procedures or the steps to take. He said it wasn’t right that [Bill] Lee didn’t arrest [George Michael] Zimmerman. but if you can’t prove anything yet, how can you arrest somebody? There’s no evidence.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I thought it was really strange that people don’t understand that the police investigate, but it’s the state attorneys that say they have a case and have them arrested. My illustration was, “Haven’t you seen <em>Law & Order</em>?” Half the show is about what the police do and the other half is about what the attorneys do.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Well, I think that on the legal side, you have to have evidence to show before you can convict and arrest a person, but there’s nothing to prove him guilty. People were so upset. They wanted them to do it now and it got worse and worse. When it came to the commissioner, people were saying Commissioner Lee wasn’t doing his job.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>And none of those commissioners…</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>They don’t understand the legal system.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>It would have been good if Jack were still there.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Linda would have been good too, because she worked at the state attorney’s office. It would have helped the city.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Maybe if we had had a better city attorney. I mean, I don’t know Lonnie Grout, but maybe a stronger criminal lawyer mind would have helped. Who knows? Jack is really missed.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yeah, I feel like he served. The Lord wanted him home, and I feel like Jack knew he was sick but he did not tell me. He knew what was going on. He was talking to Dr. [inaudible] about it. Remember when they put the shunt in? He [inaudible]. I think when they pull it out too fast it can create a clog. That’s what my friends told me. Linda [inaudible] said that was a clog when she saw his hand, and she was right. His hand just got bigger and bigger like my thigh. I asked the nurse, “What happened?” She said, “Oh, nothing wrong. We’re just trying to stabilize.” When Dr. [inaudible] was talking to him, I came in at the tail end of the conversation. Dr. [inaudible] said, “If we have to, we’ll remove it.” I found out after he died by talking to Dr. [inaudible] that he knew he was going, but he didn’t tell me.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I don’t think my husband knew he was going.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He didn’t want me to be upset, and I feel that it’s not fair. At least he could have prepared me, because he went in on a Friday, assigned Saturdays all over the weekend. I had to bring him his Jell-O mixed with fruit. He didn’t want the hospital Jell-O. He wanted iced tea mixed at home. He wanted chicken noodle soup. He didn’t want the can one, so I’d bring the hot broth to the hospital for him to eat. I saw him Saturday, Sunday, and I called Jack’s son about Friday or Saturday to let him know, because we’re working people. We’re always so busy. Maybe we would have more time on weekends. He could have come to see his father, but he didn’t come to see his father until Monday. Jack’s secretary was there on Monday too, and she said, “What is Tory doing here?” I said, “I told him he could come see his father, but I didn’t tell Cathy that she could come.”</p>
<p>During one of our meetings in the room, the doctor came in and he was a very good cardiologist and I liked the doctor very much. And she started asking him questions and the doctor felt—I could see the look on his face. he didn’t want to be interrupted, and he looked at Jack and me. He knew who I was, but I didn’t introduce myself. He didn’t like it. I said, “Next time, I won’t let her come to the hospital to see him, because what if the doctor has to come in and she interrupts everything?” That time she called me from outside the hospital and says, “Can I come inside?” What can I say? She’s already at the hospital, so I told her to come up. After everybody had seen him, he said he’s tired and that everybody has to go.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>This was Monday?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, it was Monday night. I said, <em>Okay. I guess he wants me to go home too so he can rest.</em> Everybody left and I was packing my stuff and he said, “No. you stay a little bit.” I stayed and he said, “Give me a hug.” He wanted me to kiss him. I think he knew. He must have known it was getting close. so on Tuesday I worked half a day. I was going to do a whole week. On Tuesday, I got a message from the doctor saying, “Come right away.” I dropped everything.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So you had just gotten home and then you had to go back and he had died?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>No, I was heading towards the hospital to bring his stuff, but when I got the message I just went straight and left everything. He said, “Come right away,” but he was already gone by the time I got there.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, you can be angry with him, but…</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>But we had a good life. It was a short time with him, and Jack and I had an age difference of 11 years. We both had November birthdays, and we’re 11 days apart. When he died we were married 11 years and 11 months.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson <br /></strong>Oh, 11 is a really important number then.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>When he started having the cancer in December, he said that he would like another 10 years, but if God would give him five he would take it.</p>
<p>In December, he showed me he wanted to go to church. I’m a converted Catholic. Every now and then he’d go to the church. He got very bored. I was surprised he went, and that was the last Christmas.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, it’s tough when we lose them like that.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Jack changed his whole life around from what he was. He went to the opposite end of the spectrum.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>He really did, because he was a rounder. He was a party guy, wasn’t he?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He was. I remember when he told me, “When we get married, I like to go out with my boys once a month.” But he never did it after we married. I let him run as far as he wanted to, but he never did. He always wanted to come home. He knew he had a home to come to. I think that when he was struggling with his alcohol, there was no one to communicate with him emotionally. With my military upbringing, he learned how to be soft to people and love them. I think he felt most sturdy and he said I was his rock.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>You were the stability that he needed.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He turned his life around after that. He learned how to give and found that it was very rewarding and he turned into a public servant. He got what he wanted. He had the intelligence to go along with serving the city. I’m very happy for him. I hated seeing him go, but he achieved what he wanted to do in life.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I think that’s great. I had a different situation with my husband. I’m so happy that he’s gone, because I loved him so. He was a sports lover and he loved <em>Sports Illustrated</em> magazine. He had to read about his sports. He told me on Wednesday, and he died on a Saturday, “Cancel my subscription to <em>Sports Illustrated</em>.” That just floored me. I think now that he passed away, that if he had lived the two years they said he would, he would have been blind. He was in renal failure, so if he lived through that, he would have been on dialysis. He had diabetes and he was losing his legs, so this is not the life he would have wanted. This wouldn’t be living. This would be torture. He wasn’t a man who had the will to live through anything. He had his comforts. I’m so glad he was able to go the way he wanted to go, before these awful things came. He was a very proud man and very private. He hated having nurses having to help him go to the bathroom or go take a shower. It got to me that he had to go through that.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>The last two years of Jack’s life, he was sick and he knew it, and he cried. He said he didn’t deserve it. He was throwing up and there was nothing but liquid coming up all the time. I had to empty his can, because I didn’t want him to smell that all the time. He was already sick. I made sure everything was close by and the less he moved, the better he felt. I’d get his medication, <em>Sports Illustrated</em> magazine—whatever he needed. He said he didn’t like being sick like that. He would say to me, “You’re too good for me.” and he’d cry.</p>
<p>It got me emotionally, and when I’d get to the kitchen, I’d cry. I’d almost be in tears, but I wouldn’t look at him. He’d ask, “Are you alright?” I’d say, “I am.” Then I’d go to the kitchen and cry, because I didn’t want to show him I was weak. But he was ready to go.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Mine was too. At the time I was mad at him for leaving me, but I got over it. Now I’m just grateful that I had him for as long as I did and that he’s not suffering.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>My first husband went very fast. He was up and walking and he fell. One of his blood vessels burst. They called it a “pontine hemorrhage,” because of the pons. It’s like an aneurysm. I was kind of mad, but they say—I was shocked. I didn’t know he was going to go. There was no goodbye or anything. Then God was graceful enough to put God in my life. I had only been in this country for six years—’85-‘91. I didn’t know my way around. I had to learn how to drive when I got here. And my sister and brother-in-law were very good to me and helped me with the funeral arrangements. Then Jack came into my life and I said, “Oh God. At least you could have prepared me.” I didn’t know he was going to get sick. It takes a lot to be a caregiver. You’re not prepared, but that’s life. Jack went so fast, no one expected it. We thought he was doing so well when he came from Gainesville, and they detected cancer and he went for his radiation [therapy] and chemo[therapy]…</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>How long had he been back from Gainesville?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He had surgery in August.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Yeah, but when did he come home? Because when he came home, we had an appointment and I think he died the next week.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He died in March.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So he wasn’t in the hospital in the spring?</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>Yeah, he was in the hospital. He went in on Friday afternoon and he died Tuesday afternoon.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I’m thinking of a month before that.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>He had been in and out of the hospital then. They had to put him in hydration, because of his radiation and chemo. They said he got very dehydrated and he had been in and out several times.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, I talked to him on the phone and he was either in the hospital—it might’ve just been the day before he died. I can’t imagine that though. But I talked to him. maybe a week was either right before he went into the hospital or the day before he died. Because I was completely shocked.</p>
<p><strong>Bridges<br /></strong>I didn’t expect him to go into the hospital. Maybe you talked to him that Monday and he was fine, but then the next couple of days, his arm just got worse. By the end of the week, I figured he better go to the hospital, because doctors are not around on weekends, so I needed to admit him. I couldn’t get a hold of his doctor so that’s why he went in on a Friday.</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> Correction: Grandview Avenue.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[2]</a> Singapore.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[3]</a> Avian influenza.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[4]</a> Elizabeth II.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[5]</a> Possibly the University of Florida’s Health Shands Hospital.</p>
</div>
</div>
alcoholism
Beth Bridges
Bridges, Jack J.
Bridges, Mary
Celery Soup: Florida's Folk Life Play
Chinese
Chinese culture
city commissioner
Cleveland, Mac
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, William "Bill" Jefferson
cooking
Creative Sanford, Inc.
cuisine
Elizabeth Bridges
Fay, Michael
Fleming, Penny
Fort George G. Meade
Fort Meade, Maryland
Gainesville
Grandview Avenue
Green, Alfred
Green, Elizabeth
Green, Victor "Mapes"
groceries
Grout, Lonnie
Hainaese
Hainan Island, China
Indonesia
Jack J. Bridges
King's English
Kuhn, Linda
Lake Mary Boulevard
Law Office of Jack J. Bridges
lawyer
Lee, Bill
lung cancer
Mandarin
Martin, Trayvon Benjamin
Mary Bridges
oil field
Ritz Theatre
Seminole County
Sheriff's Office
Singapore
Southern cuisine
Sports Illustrated
Spring Hills Lake Mary
The Rib Ranch
Thompson, Trish
Zimmerman, George Michael
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/857f2e7d6754774ca0524f1b2c3be13f.mp3
529d983a4d476472e2c7af2bc648d3ed
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Georgetown Collection
Description
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Georgetown, an African-American community in Sanford, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around.
Georgetown was established by the city's founder, Henry Shelton Sanford, in the 1870s. The neighborhood spans along Sanford Avenue, with its commercial district between First Street and Fifth Street, and its historic district between Seventh Street and Tenth Street. Though originally much smaller, Georgetown spanned to its present boundaries from East Second Street to Celery Avenue and from Sanford Avenue to Mellonville Avenue. Georgetown thrived at its height from circa 1880 to 1940, particularly in agriculture and transportation.
Alternative Title
Georgetown Collection
Subject
Georgetown (Sanford, Fla.)
Sanford (Fla.)
Contributor
Firpo, Julio R.
Rock, Adam
Has Part
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/78" target="_blank">Marie J. Francis Collection</a>, Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/101" target="_blank">Sanford Avenue Collection</a>, Georgetown Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/16" target="_blank">Sanford Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Georgetown, Sanford, Florida
Contributing Project
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/buildingblocks.php" target="_blank">Building Blocks</a>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
Flewellyn, Valada S. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4497409" target="_blank"><em>African Americans of Sanford</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2009.
"<a href="http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=483" target="_blank">Pathways to History - Historic Georgetown</a>." City of Sanford. http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=483.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Firpo, Julio R.
Interviewee
Refoe, Annye
Location
Sanford, Florida
Original Format
1 audio recording
Duration
1 hour, 33 minutes, and 36 seconds
Bit Rate/Frequency
1411 kbps
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Dr. Annye Refoe
Alternative Title
Oral History, Refoe
Subject
Sanford (Fla.)
Georgetown (Sanford, Fla.)
African Americans--Florida--Sanford
Teachers--Florida
Educators--Florida
Segregation--Florida
Nashville (Tenn.)
Description
Annye Refoe, the daughter of Herman L. Refoe, Jr. and Shellye L. Refoe, was born on January 29, 1951. Since her parents both taught at Midway Elementary School, Refoe also attended the school, as opposed to attending Hopper Academy in Georgetown, an historic neighborhood in Sanford, Florida. Refoegraduated from Seminole High School in the class of 1969. After her treatment in the newly integrated Seminole High School, Refoe decided to enroll in a historically black college/university. She graduated from Fisk College in Nashville with a bachelor of arts degree in English in 1973. Upon her return from college, Annye began teaching in August 1974 at Lake Howell High School in Winter Park. In 1982, she started teaching at Seminole Community College, where she later became the Dean of the Arts and Humanities.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br />0:00:32 Growing up in Sanford<br />0:01:36 Richard Wright's depictions of the South<br />0:03:09 First time being called "nigger"<br />0:03:48 Education<br />0:04:15 Comparing Georgetown and Midway<br />0:11:56 Growing up in Georgetown and attending Crooms High School<br />0:15:31 Desegregation at Seminole High School<br />0:20:02 Interaction with white people in the business district<br />0:26:38 Working at a drug store<br />0:30:54 Seeing <em>The Great White Hope</em> at the Ritz Theatre<br />0:32:00 Seminole County Public Schools<br />0:34:51 White teachers' reactions to having black students<br />0:37:44 Ku Klux Klan riots<br />0:38:59 Experience at Fisk University in Nashville<br />0:41:25 Majoring in English and dream of being the first female sports columnist<br />0:42:37 Interacting with communities in Nashville and student protests<br />0:45:30 Moving back to Sanford and then to Winter Park<br />0:46:50 Influence of her parents on her life and the community<br />0:54:51 How Sanford changed oved time<br />1:00:17 Teaching at Seminole County College<br />1:00:24 RECORDING CUTS OFF<br />1:00:24 White teacher barred from teaching ballet to African-American children<br />1:02:08 Returning to Sanford and employment after college in the 1970s<br />1:07:21 Experience as teacher and later as dean at SCC<br />1:13:58 Experience teaching right after college and being called "nigger" by a student at Lake Howell High School<br />1:19:20 How Refoe distanced herself from Sanford<br />1:21:03 Disintegration of sense of community due to integration<br />1:23:02 Need for preserving past<br />01:23:37 Annye's definition of Sanford while growing up and in the present<br />1:27:56 Annye's gratitude for being a teacher<br />1:30:10 How people connect to Sanford<br />1:33:50 Sanford and other small towns losing their history
Abstract
Oral history interview of Annye Refoe. Interview conducted by Julio R. Firpo at the home of Dr. Stephen Caldwell Wright in Sanford, Florida.
Type
Sound
Source
Refoe, Annye. Interview by Julio R. Firpo. Home of Dr. Stephen Caldwell Wright. April 15, 2011. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Requires
Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank"> QuickTime</a>.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/41" target="_blank"> Georgetown Collection</a>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Coverage
Georgetown, Sanford, Florida
Midway Elementary School, Midway, Sanford, Florida
Crooms High School, Georgetown, Sanford, Florida
Seminole High School, Sanford, Florida
Goldsboro, Sanford, Florida
Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee
Lake Howell High School, Winter Park, Florida
Creator
Firpo, Julio R.
Refoe, Annye
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Contributor
Wright, Stephen Caldwell
Date Created
2011-04-15
Date Modified
2014-03-17
Format
audio/mp3
Extent
944 MB
Medium
1-hour, 33-minute, 36-second audio recording
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Julio R. Firpo and published by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Rights Holder
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Accrual Method
Item Creation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/buildingblocks.php" target="_blank">Building Blocks</a>
Curator
Firpo, Julio R.
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
External Reference
Flewellyn, Valada S. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4497409" target="_blank"><em>African Americans of Sanford</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2009.
"<a href="http://croomsaoit.org/#about" target="_blank">About Crooms Academy</a>." Crooms Academy of Information Technology, Seminole County Public Schools. http://croomsaoit.org/#about.
Postal, Leslie. <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2001-11-23/news/0111230278_1_crooms-academy-seminole-sanford" target="_blank">"Historic Crooms Academy Embraces A High-tech Future</a>." <em>The Orlando Sentinel</em>, November 23, 2001. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2001-11-23/news/0111230278_1_crooms-academy-seminole-sanford.
Robison, Jim. "<a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1991-08-04/news/9108030386_1_crooms-academy-sanford-hopper" target="_blank">Professor's Legacy Lives On In Seminole School History</a>." <em>The Orlando Sentinel</em>, August 4, 1991. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1991-08-04/news/9108030386_1_crooms-academy-sanford-hopper.
"<a href="http://www.goldsboromuseum.com/The-Education-In-Goldsboro.html" target="_blank">Education In Goldsboro & Sanford</a>." Goldsboro Historical Museum. http://www.goldsboromuseum.com/The-Education-In-Goldsboro.html.
Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53015288" target="_blank"><em>Sanford</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.
Cohen, Rodney T. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53874175" target="_blank"><em>Fisk University</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2001.
"<a href="http://www.seminolestate.edu/about/who-we-are" target="_blank">Who We Are</a>." Seminole State College of Florida. http://www.seminolestate.edu/about/who-we-are.
African American
ballet
Brooks, Gwendolyn
CHS
Crooms High School
Dean of the Arts and Humanities
demonstration
desegregation
education
Fisk College
Francis, Daphne F.
Francis, Gayle
Georgetown
Goldsboro
Haley, Alex
high school
historic preservation
Hopper Academy
Humphrey, Daphne F.
integration
JHS
Jones High School
KKK
Ku Klux Klan
Lake Howell High School
LHHS
Midway
Midway Elementary School
Nashville, Tennessee
protest
race relations
racism
Refoe, Annye
Refoe, Herman L., Jr.
Refoe, Shellye L.
riot
Ritz Theatre
Sanford
Sanford Avenue
SCC
school
SCPS
segregation
Seminole Community College
Seminole County Public Schools
Seminole High School
Seminole State College
SHS
South
SSC
student movement
The Great White Hope
Winter Park
Wright, Richard
Wright, Stephen Caldwell
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/23d673db651df9be5039f230df24bbd4.jpg
0ca2283432354458eab68608ce8f2037
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Thomas Cook Collection
Alternative Title
Cook Collection
Subject
Orlando (Fla.)
Orange County (Fla.)
Longwood (Fla.)
Cape Canaveral (Fla.)
Lake Wales (Fla.)
Silver Springs (Fla.)
Weeki Wachee (Fla.)
Winter Haven (Fla.)
Osceola County (Fla.)
Winter Park (Fla.)
Description
Collection of digital images, postcards, documents, and other records from the private collection of Thomas Cook. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around.
Contributor
Cook, Thomas
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Cape Canaveral, Florida
Lake Wales, Florida
Longwood, Florida
Orange County, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Osceola County, Florida
Winter Haven, Florida
Winter Park, Florida
Rights Holder
All items in the <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/102" target="_blank">Thomas Cook Collection</a> are provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<p><a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a></p>
Source Repository
Private Collection of Thomas Cook
Has Part
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/103" target="_blank">Postcard Collection</a>, Thomas Cook Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
External Reference
<span>Antequino, Stephanie Gaub, and Tana Mosier Porter. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/783150094" target="_blank"><em>Lost Orlando</em></a></span><span> Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Pub, 2012.</span>
"<a href="http://sanfordhistory.tripod.com/Links/wtour.pdf">Downtown Orlando Historic District Walking Tour</a>." City of Orlando. http://sanfordhistory.tripod.com/Links/wtour.pdf.
<span>Rajtar, Steve. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70911136" target="_blank"><em>A Guide to Historic Orlando</em></a></span><span>. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2006.</span>
<span>Osborne, Ray. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/253374549" target="_blank"><em>Cape Canaveral</em></a></span><span>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2008.</span>
<span>Smith, Margaret. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51888803" target="_blank"><em>The Edward Bok Legacy: A History of Bok Tower Gardens: The First Fifty Years</em></a></span><span>. Lake Wales, Fla: Bok Tower Gardens Foundation, 2002.</span>
<span>Pelland, Maryan, and Dan Pelland. </span><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/67516850" target="_blank"><em>Weeki Wachee Springs</em></a><span>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2005.</span>
<span>Flekke, Mary M., Sarah E. MacDonald, and Randall M. MacDonald. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/85451307" target="_blank"><em>Cypress Gardens</em></a></span><span>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2006.</span>
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
1 color digital image
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Dr. Phillips Theater, 2002
Alternative Title
Dr. Phillips Theater
Subject
Orlando (Fla.)
Buildings--Florida
Theaters--Florida
Description
The Dr. Phillips Theater, located at 23-29 South Orange Avenue in Downtown Orlando, Florida, in 2002. In 1916, Dr. P. Phillips hired Murray S. King to design his theater on the northeast corner of Orange Avenue and Pine Street. In July of 1917, Dr. Phillips leased the theater to Braxton Beacham Sr. In 1923, the building was leased to the United Stores Corporation. The theater was renamed the Ritz Theatre in 1929 and a portion of the building was occupied by Butler's Shoes. In 1934, Dr. Phillips leased the site to the W.T. Grant Store, which operated in that location until it filed for bankruptcy in 1975.
Creator
Cook, Thomas
Source
Original color digital image by Thomas Cook, 2002.
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Date Created
2002
Format
image/jpg
Extent
148 KB
Medium
1 color digital image
Language
eng
Type
Still Image
Coverage
Orlando, Florida
Spatial Coverage
28.720766, -81.33065
Temporal Coverage
2002-01-01/2002-12-31
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Economics Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Thomas Cook and published by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Thomas Cook and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
Private Collection of Thomas Cook
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.drphillipscenter.org/explore/about-the-dr-phillips-center/building-the-dr-phillips-center/" target="_blank">About Us</a>." Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. http://www.drphillipscenter.org/explore/about-the-dr-phillips-center/building-the-dr-phillips-center/.
Antequino, Stephanie Gaub, and Tana Mosier Porter. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/783150094" target="_blank"><em>Lost Orlando</em></a>. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Pub, 2012.
Gworek, Don. "<a href="http://attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2012/07/10/dr-phillips-center-for-the-performing-arts-starting-to-take-shape/" target="_blank">Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Starting to Take Shape</a>." <em>Orlando Attractions Magazine</em>, July 10, 2012. http://attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2012/07/10/dr-phillips-center-for-the-performing-arts-starting-to-take-shape/.
Rajtar, Steve. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70911136" target="_blank"><em>A Guide to Historic Orlando</em></a>. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2006.
Transcript
BAR
Orange Ave
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/102" target="_blank">Thomas Cook Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Beacham, Braxton Sr.
Butler's Shoes
Cook, Thomas
Dr. Phillips Theater
King, Murray S.
Orange Avenue
orlando
Phillips, P.
Pine Street
Ritz Theatre
theater
United Stores Corporation
W. T. Grant Store
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/2cdc0a8a2fc99cb69e5e19651fa19d58.jpg
56e0edadbddcb5ffe258c6d6caf07f33
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Milane Theatre Collection
Alternative Title
Milane Collection
Subject
Sanford (Fla.)
Buildings--Florida
Theaters--Florida
Film industry (Motion pictures)
Description
The Milane Theatre was built at 203 South Magnolia Avenue, the former location of the Star Theatre, an abandoned movie house. Scroggs and Ewing, architects from Georgia, prepared the plans for the Milane. The name of the new theater was derived from the combination of the Milane Amusement Company president and vice president: Frank L. Miller and Edward F. Lane, respectively. The Milane opened in July of 1923 and seated 823 patrons.
In 1933, the Milane was sold to Frank and Stella Evans, investors from Lake Mary, Florida. The new owners renamed their business the Ritz Theater and held the property until the 1990s. However, the Ritz struggled financially in the 1960s and closed in 1978 due to failure to compete with the new multiplex theaters. The building remained vacant until 1984, when it reopened as the Showtime Cantina. The Showtime Cantina closed in 1988 and remained vacant and in decay.
In the mid-1990s, Ritz Community Theater Projects, Inc. acquired the property and began rehabilitation in 1998. On May 6, 2000, the theater reopened as the Helen Stairs Theatre in honor of the citizen who led the restoration project, Helen Stairs. The following year, the location was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, additional renovations were completed and the theater was renamed the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center in honor of the Wayne Densch Charitable Trust Fund for contributing to the renovations fund.
Language
eng
Coverage
Opera House, Downtown Sanford, Florida
Star Theatre, Downtown Sanford, Florida
Milane Theatre, Downtown Sanford, Florida
Ritz Theatre, Downtown Sanford, Florida
Showtime Cantina, Downtown Sanford, Florida
Helen Stairs Theatre, Downtown Sanford, Florida
Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center, Downtown Sanford, Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Contributor
Cepero, Laura Lynn
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
<a href="http://thehistorycenter.org/">Orange County Regional History Center</a>
<a href="http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=456">Sanford Museum</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/16" target="_blank">Sanford Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.stageclick.com/venue/457.aspx" target="_blank">Helen Stairs Theatre</a>." StageClick. http://www.stageclick.com/venue/457.aspx.
"<a href="http://www.wdpac.com/footer-menu/theater-history/" target="_blank">Theater History</a>." Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center. http://www.wdpac.com/footer-menu/theater-history/.
"<a href="http://www.wdpac.com/footer-menu/theater-history/" target="_blank">Theater History</a>." Seminole County: Florida's Natural Choice. http://www.visitseminole.com/listingdetail/53/wayne-densch-performing-arts-center.aspx.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
1 black and white photograph
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Showtime Cantina, 1989
Alternative Title
Showtime Cantina
Subject
Sanford (Fla.)
Buildings--Florida
Theaters--Florida
Description
Showtime Cantina in 1989. Originally the Milane Theatre, the building was constructed at 203 South Magnolia Avenue in Sanford, the former location of the Star Theatre, an abandoned movie house. Scroggs and Ewing, architects from Georgia, prepared the plans for the Milane. The name of the new theater was derived from the combination of the presidents of the Milane Amusement Company president and vice president: Frank L. Miller and Edward F. Lane. The Milane opened in July of 1923 and seated 823 patrons. In 1933, the Milane was sold to Frank and Stella Evans, investors from Lake Mary, Florida. The new owners renamed their business the Ritz Theatre and held the property until the 1990s. However, the Ritz struggled financially in the 1960s and closed in 1978 due to failure to compete with the new multiplex theaters. The building remained vacant until 1984, when it reopened as the Showtime Cantina. The Showtime Cantina closed in 1988 and remained vacant and in decay. In the mid-1990s, Ritz Community Theater Projects, Inc. acquired the property and began rehabilitation in 1998. On May 6, 2000, the theater reopened as the Helen Stairs Theatre in honor of the citizen who led the restoration project, Helen Stairs. The following year, the location was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, additional renovations were completed at the theater was renamed the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center in honor of the Wayne Densch Charitable Trust Fund for contributing to the renovations fund.
Source
Newspaper reproduction of original black and white photograph, 1989: , December 10, 1999.
Publisher
<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/" target="_blank"><em>Orlando Business Journal</em></a>
Date Created
1989
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of reprinted black and white photograph.<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/" target="_blank"><em><br /></em></a>
Is Part Of
<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/" target="_blank"><em>Orlando Business Journal</em></a>, December 10, 1999.
<span><span>Cities/Towns-Sanford Collection, </span><a href="http://thehistorycenter.org/"><span>Orange County Regional History Center</span></a><span>, Orlando, Florida.</span></span>
<span><a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/42"><span>Milane Theatre Collection</span></a><span>, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.</span></span>
Format
image/jpeg
Extent
1.47 MB
Medium
1 black and white photograph
Language
eng
Type
Still Image
Coverage
Sanford, Florida
Spatial Coverage
28.810527, -81.266859
Temporal Coverage
1989-01-01/1989-12-31
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Economics Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally published by the <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/" target="_blank"><em>Orlando Business Journal</em></a>.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/" target="_blank"><em>Orlando Business Journal</em></a> and is provided here by <span><a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/"><span>RICHES of Central Florida</span></a></span> for educational purposes only.
Contributing Project
<span><a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/buildingblocks.php"><span>Building Blocks</span></a></span>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<span><a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/"><span>RICHES MI</span></a></span>
Source Repository
<a href="http://thehistorycenter.org/">Orange County Regional History Center</a>
External Reference
"Helen Stairs Theatre." StageClick. http://www.stageclick.com/venue/457.aspx.
"Theater History." Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center. http://www.wdpac.com/footer-menu/theater-history/.
"Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center." Seminole County: Florida's Natural Choice. http://www.visitseminole.com/things-to-do/general/wayne-densch-performing-arts-center.
External Reference Title
"<a href="http://www.stageclick.com/venue/457.aspx" target="_blank">Helen Stairs Theatr</a>"
"<a href="http://www.wdpac.com/footer-menu/theater-history/" target="_blank">Theater History</a>"
"<a href="http://www.visitseminole.com/things-to-do/general/wayne-densch-performing-arts-center" target="_blank">Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center</a>"
Transcript
BIJOU
THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD
Date Copyrighted
1999-12-10
Date Issued
1999-12-10
Has Format
Original black and white photograph, 1989.
Magnolia Avenue
Ritz Theatre
Showtime Cantina
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad