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https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/bbb0ae842ad6e72de73c9276c0dd813b.mp3
b866855cd9352138590d10fae92c3caa
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/8f38523892d260024f1c6b52fb61cb8e.pdf
28d06349d57059dc0679914dc7d67591
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
Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens Collection
Alternative Title
Polasek Collection
Subject
Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens
Winter Park (Fla.)
Art--Southern States
Artists--Florida
Contributor
<a href="http://www.polasek.org/" target="_blank">Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/34" target="_blank">Winter Park Collection</a>, Orange County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens, Winter Park, Florida
Accrual Method
Donation
Rights Holder
Copyright to these resources is held by the <a href="http://www.polasek.org/" target="_blank">Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens</a> 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/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.polasek.org/" target="_blank">Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.polasek.org/about/" target="_blank">ABOUT</a>." Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens. http://www.polasek.org/about/.
Description
The Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens, located at 633 Osceola Avenue in Winter Park, Florida. Albin Polasek, known internationally for his sculptures, retired to Lake Osceola in Winter Park in 1950. The same year that he had moved to Florida, Polasek suffered from a stroke, which paralyzed the right side of his body. Seven months later, he married one of his former students, Ruth Sherwood, who died just two years later. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, Polasek was able to create 18 major works in his later years. In 1961, he married Emily Muska Kubat and the set up the Albin Polasek Foundation, opening up the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens, located in parts of Polasek's home and studio, which featured his personal galleries, chapel, and gardens. On May 19, 1965, Polasek passed away and was buried beside his first wife at Palm Cemetery.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Parke, Erin
Interviewee
McIntosh, Hal
Original Format
1 audio recording
Duration
1 hour, 6 minutes, and 42 seconds
Bit Rate/Frequency
128kbps
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
Art Legends of Orange County: The Art of Hal McIntosh
Alternative Title
Oral History, McIntosh
Subject
Oral history--United States
Winter Park (Fla.)
Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens
Art--Southern States
Artists--Florida
Painters--Southern States
Painting--Florida
Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967
Education--Florida
Teachers--Florida
Educators--Florida
Polasek, Albin, 1879-1965
Naples (Fla.)
Maitland (Fla.)
Description
Oral history of Hal McIntosh, conducted by Erin Parke on March 16, 2015. McIntosh is a nationally renowned artist who currently resides in Winter Park, Florida. Born in 1927, Hal McIntosh began his formal studies at the Detroit Art Institute in Detroit, Michigan, and the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio. At age 18, the Art Research Studio (present-day Maitland Art Center) in Maitland, Florida, selected him as the institution’s youngest-ever artist in residence. His talent later earned him the Directorship of the Academy of Fine Arts in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he served as a museum director and teacher for five years. As a resident of Central Florida, McIntosh taught at the Loch Haven Art Center in Orlando and even ran his own institution known as the McIntosh School in Winter Park for 30 years. McIntosh splits his time between his Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Winter Park studios. <br /><br />With an artistic career lasting over 60 years, Hal McIntosh’s influence on our community is profound. His bold abstractions, tranquil waterscapes, and stirring portraiture, all masterfully painted with a touch of McIntosh’s signature Orientalism, have been widely exhibited in the area and are part of numerous regional collections, both private and public. Deep connections with the people and places of Orange County have allowed McIntosh to join the ranks as one of the greats and to be remembered eternally as an Art Legend. <br /><br />In this oral history interview, McIntosh discusses his early life and education, his teaching philosophy, and where he gets the inspiration and influence for his art. He also mentions his relationship with Albin Polasek and Emily Muska Kubat Polasek. Eric Varty, a close friend of Hal, also contributes briefly to the conversation.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br />0:03:01 Life as an artist<br />0:09:16 Galleries in Winter Park<br />0:14:35 Galleries in Naples<br />0:22:58 Galleries in Cape Cod, Massachusetts<br />0:25:30 Edward Hopper<br />0:29:11 Teaching philosophy<br />0:38:12 Audience perception<br />0:41:03 Inspiration<br />0:47:12 Winter Park Arts Festival and commission<br />0:54:27 Albin Polasek and Emily Muska Kubat Polasek<br />1:03:54 Maitland Research Studio and Jules Andre Smith<br />1:06:29 Closing remarks
Creator
McIntosh, Hal
Parke, Erin
Source
Original 1-hour, 6-minute, and 42-second oral history: McIntosh, Hal. Interviewed by Erin Parke on March 16, 2015. <a href="http://www.polasek.org/" target="_blank">Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens</a>, Winter Park, Florida.
Date Created
2015-03-16
Date Copyrighted
2015-03-16
Date Modified
2015-06-09
Has Format
50-page digital transcript of original 1-hour, 6-minute, and 42-second oral history: McIntosh, Hal. Interviewed by Erin Parke on March 16, 2015. <a href="http://www.polasek.org/" target="_blank">Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens</a>, Winter Park, Florida.
Is Part Of
<a href="http://www.polasek.org/" target="_blank">Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens</a>, Winter Park, Florida.<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/admin/collections/show/id/152" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/admin/collections/show/id/152" target="_blank">Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens Collection</a>, Winter Park Collection, Orange County Collection, RICHES of Central 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>
Format
audio/mp3
application/pdf
Extent
61 MB
288 KB
Medium
1-hour, 6-minute, and 42-second audio recording
50-page digital transcript
Language
eng
Type
Sound
Coverage
Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Winter Park, Florida
Naples, Florida
Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens, Winter Park, Florida
Research Studio, Maitland, Florida
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Geography Teacher
Humanities Teacher
Visual Arts Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Hal McIntosh and Erin Parke.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the <a href="http://www.polasek.org/" target="_blank">Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens</a> 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/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.polasek.org/" target="_blank">Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.paintingsbymcintosh.com/mbr_bio.php" target="_blank">Paintings By McIntosh: CV/Bio</a>." Paintings By McIntosh. http://www.paintingsbymcintosh.com/mbr_bio.php.
Bishop, Philip E. "<a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2005-02-15/news/0502140273_1_mcintosh-koi-painting" target="_blank">Winter Park Artist Mcintosh Spices Life With Variety</a>." <em>The Orlando Sentinel</em>, February 15, 2005. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2005-02-15/news/0502140273_1_mcintosh-koi-painting.
Hummel, Terry. "<a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-11-03/entertainment/os-hummel-art-events-orlando-20111103_1_area-artists-artists-share-art-galleries" target="_blank">A must-see show in Eustis: Lake Eustis Museum of Art shows works by Hal McIntosh, Maury Hurt, Bill Orr</a>." <em>The Orlando Sentinel</em>, November 3, 2011. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-11-03/entertainment/os-hummel-art-events-orlando-20111103_1_area-artists-artists-share-art-galleries.
Transcript
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Alright. Good morning. Um, my name is Erin Parke and today I will be interviewing Mr. Hal McIntosh. Today is, uh, March 16<sup>th</sup>, 2015, and—alright. Um, Hal, can you tell me a little bit about like your early life? Where you grew up, um, if you had brothers and sisters, anything like that?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, I grew up in—in Detroit, Michigan, and, uh, I had, uh, uh, older brother—two older brothers and an older sister. I was the…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Baby of the...</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Baby.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Family, and, uh, apparently, my art interest started very early.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Nice.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>My, uh, mother said that, when I was five, I was doing caricatures</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Of my little friends.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>She could recognize who they were.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, that’s amazing.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I was five years old, and as the years went by—my early years—really early years—my parents didn’t try to rush me into…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Arts, uh, teachers…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Or anything like that. They just saw that I had any materials that I needed, but, uh, they never tried to force me to study, you know, when I was young.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>They just let me alone because that was the only thing I wanted to do…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>As a kid.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh—so, uh, I was fortunate, in that respect. A lot of the parents that I’ve talked to in later years that had, uh, children that are…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Artistic, and they say, “Oh, what am I going to do? I’ve gotta…”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yep.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“Send them somewhere to study.” I said…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“Well,” you know, “Don’t rush them into—don’t overdo your…”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“You’re pushing them, because that’ll turn them right off., uh, just be—do what you can.”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“Cooperate, but don’t make a big deal out of it.”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And if they’re really gonna do something in their lifetime—what—whatever…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Kind of, uh, occ—occupation…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>They might end up, sometimes those interests—interests start when kids are very young.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Sometimes you don’t—you might have a…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Find out later on…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[inaudible] degree in engineering, and—and you end up, uh, doing something…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Totally different [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I was, uh, fortunate enough to know all my life what I wanted to do.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s amazing, and it’s nice that your family was so supportive. That’s great.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>They were supportive by not…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>By not pushing you.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Pushing.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh,these hysterical mothers that…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] I’d seen in the past, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>That, you know, come to me for advice, because their[sic] child is doing some drawings, and—“What’ll I do? What’ll I do?”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Leave ‘em alone [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah, so you’ve been able to make your living as an artist, uh, essentially your whole life, and that’s extremely amazing and very significant. Um, how has that been for you?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, it’s a very difficult, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Situation. When you’re an artist, there’s—there’s not a lot of jobs sitting around waiting for you.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, I was very fortunate, uh, in the years that I was at Rollins [College], uh, as a temporary student…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Years ago, of course, and, uh, the brother of one of this[sic] Rollins students was an artist that[sic] I met who lived in Silver Springs[, Florida].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, I was, at that point—later on—had a master’s degree from the University of Michigan—teaching there.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And what do you do…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know? You don’t walk out with those credentials…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And walk into a job. Nobody’s awaiting for you.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, this friend had some really nice portraits of—that he had stacked on the floor…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Against the wall. He was a landscape painter, and I said, “I didn’t know you did portraits,” and he said, “Well, I started with Jerry Farnsworth on Cape Cod[, Massachusetts].” He’s quite a prominent…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>American portrait painter, and he said—he said, “Why don’t you, uh, write Jerry Farnsworth and see if you can get a job as his assistant.”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“Learn how to do really commercial portraits, and, uh, that way you might be able to make a living…”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“To start out with,” and I did so, and…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, was accepted with my credentials.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, didn’t even have a car…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>At that time [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I got off the bus in North Truro, Massachusetts, and was directed how to walk to the professor’s house, and, uh, Jerry Farnsworth and Helen Sawyer were, uh, uh, married, and she was a well-known, uh, artist.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And taught in the school, and, uh, this was basically, uh, a school, uh—portraiture school.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Minor landscape work—‘cause she taught and he taught the, uh—the, uh, portrait work. I was with him for five years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>He had another school in Sarasota[, Florida].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, and, uh, Siesta Key[, Florida] [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, uh, I was down there during the winter.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I worked in a hotel.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I was busboy, waiter…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Several other jobs—a hotel on the beach—and went to school and taught with him in—in mornings, and that exposure, uh, through five years…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>With him really…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Got me so I was able to make some money doing portraits.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Nice.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I had, uh—uh, this hotel I was working in part-time, after the morning school sessions, someone saw my work there and recommended me—unknown to myself, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>To the board of directors of, uh, an art museum…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Up in Virginia.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm [<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And later on, I was accepted, became director of the museum there for five years, but, uh, those accidental things that happen.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know? You meet someone…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yep.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Who’s done portraits, and, uh—for three years, I did portraits, uh, in Provincetown, Massachusetts…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, on the street…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Let’s say, uh, I had a studio…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In a building that was on—right on the Commercial Street there, but at night, I had a display outside and people would book portrait[sic] for their children and stuff.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Pastel portraits, uh, done for $10…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, in a matte and in a bag in 45 minutes. Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s so quick [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[inaudible]. It was—it was a shock to get—to have to start that kind of a routine…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But I got used to it, and…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh,I did six to eight portraits a day…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>For the whole summer, ‘cause I had summers off, uh, from teaching, and, uh, that led—all those portraits I did—hundreds of them…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Literally, I, uh—for three years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Eight—eight days a week—seven days a week.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, so I had a—a record of lots of portraits in my…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Career. Now, those $10 [<em>laughs</em>] portraits…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Would be $60 [<em>laughs</em>] portraits.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah, exactly.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[inaudible] at the time, but believe it or not, I bought my beach house on Cape Cod…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>With the money from—just from those…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>$10 portraits.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, as I was saving all that money…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In cash, uh, in a safe deposit box to go to Japan.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And this house came up for sale on Cape Cod on the beach, and I opted to buy this house…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>With that money, and I got to Japan later on in years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, had a wonderful experience in Japan, which is another story.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] So I know that you have a true love for Cape Cod. Um, what drew you here to Winter Park[, Florida]?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, my, uh—that’s a story that starts in Sanford[, Florida]. My sister and her husband were stationed—he was stationed in Sanford at the…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Navy base there, at that time.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, I came down for part of my high school and lived with them in Sanford. Uh, they had an old house on the lake, right opposite the airport…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So the planes were taking off…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Over the house, and, uh, uh, they decided, after, uh, he left the Navy, uh, to stay</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, in Florida, because their son was, uh, a young son…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And was doing better health-wise in Florida…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>For some reason. I don’t know what…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But they decided to stay here.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, he, uh—they had a house and[?]—rented a house, right on the highway in[?]—across from Lily Lake…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In, uh—in Winter Park.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Anyhow, uh, families tend to…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Follow families.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yes, they do.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, eventually, my parents…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh</strong><br />Moved down to Florida, because…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>My sister and her husband were…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Settled there, and, uh, later on, my brother—older brother—moved to Florida, and, uh, my other brother moved to Florida.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>So it was just gradual process.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, so that’s a story that people in Florida that[sic] are Yankees basically, uh, “wash ashore,” as they used to call it…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>On Cape Cod [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, they follow one another, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It just happened at different time periods.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I’d go back and forth when—when I was in college…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>To, uh, my parents’ house, and, uh—so we all ended up here [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>]. And I stayed at it, and—oh, Winter Park has been very good to me.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I had wonderful exposure on Park Avenue for many, many years</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Which a lot of artists didn’t have that, uh—that lot that the, uh, uh, wonderful, old Golden Cricket Shop had a gallery…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Right in front of the shop that was all mine…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>For years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So I had like 10 paintings</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In the gallery, and a painting in the window, but it was a gift shop…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>That I had that exposure to the sidewalk with—with one major painting</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And people would come in and buy…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Or see paintings there for a number of years, and, uh, right after that, I was with Center Street Gallery, who actually, uh—uh, I think they owned the property that the Cricket…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Was—the Golden Cricket was on, and Hugh McCain and Je—Jeanette Genius [McKean] were friends, and—and Mr. McCain was one of my part-time professors at Rollins.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, nice.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>How they ever let me in…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Rollins? I don’t…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I don’t know, but, uh, I was only doing art…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Art there, but then, I had exposure at the Center Street Gallery, which was actually ended up right next door…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Nice.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh <br /></strong>To the Golden Cricket.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And an almost [inaudible]—almost war situation.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Between the two of them, and, uh, after long years at Center Street Gallery and a number of shows there, uh, I went with, uh, Solarte, which was a—a shop down the avenue, uh, owned by a French gentleman and his family, and had my—I had a big show there…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And had my work on display there for several years, uh, which was another exposure on Park…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Avenue, and I—I lucked into things like that, but, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Miller Gallery.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Oh, well, Miller Gallery.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] I was with them, but they weren’t getting the kind of support from the community</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Winter Park was—and maybe still is—a little difficult in—for a gallery.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Really, I don’t know why, because Winter Park people have plenty of money…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, Miller Gallery stayed only for a year or so.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>They just weren’t…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>It just wasn’t making it.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Making the sales.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And they left, so I don’t consider, you know, that a long association with them.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Naples[, Florida].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, Naples, [<em>laughs</em>] yes.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I had careers [<em>laughs</em>] in this—I don’t know whether this leads directly into Naples, but, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Friends of mine, uh, on Cape Cod had a gallery, where my work was exhibited, and they were both professors, uh, in Boston[, Massachusetts].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>At, uh, universities there and such[?], and, uh, they did the gallery work in the summertime, and had a beautiful gallery—one of prettiest ones on that end…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Of Cape Cod, and after a few years of success in that gallery, I had several shows there. Uh, they decided to, uh, give up the teaching, made a decision…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And the gallery was doing so well, they decided to have a second gallery in Florida, and, uh, I met them in Florida, and they were in Sarasota, at that time, and they were looking there, and they—both close friends of mine, as well as handling my work…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, they kept—when[?] we were in Sarasota, they kept talking about Naples, and I said, “We’re sitting in Sarasota and you’re talking about Naples. Let’s go to Naples.”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] It’s not far from there [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And they wanted my advice and stuff.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And so we all went to Naples, and they ended up renting, uh, uh, space in the nicest part of Naples downtown…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, it was only a couple of years. They were so successful. Basically, the only really good gallery in Naples, at that time.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Now there are probably a hundred galleries…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In Naples [<em>laughs</em>], uh, but as the years—few years—went by, they, uh, built a gallery on, uh, Fifth[?] Street—I don’t know what. The Naples Art Gallery—elegant, gorgeous, gallery.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Nice.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Big gallery.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, shows, uh, really top artists.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntos<br /></strong>And, uh, it was the—probably one of the prettiest galleries in the country.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>From outside and from inside.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It had mostly paintings, but they also—part of the gallery was elegant gifts, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And antique, uh—oriental antiques…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In a—just a side gallery, uh, but they were there for years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And most successful.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s nice.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I had 24 one-man shows there.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Just there? How many have you had in total again?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>35 [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s awesome [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, but, uh, these shows were, uh, something else.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>They—actually, a one-man show only ran for a week…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Which is unusual.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, people were allowed to watch them hang the show on Saturday.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And they didn’t—people did come. They wanted to see what was coming up, and whether they wanted to go to the opening on Sunday [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And they weren’t allowed to buy anything…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh </strong>Uh, which is unusual.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, they wouldn’t let somebody buy something that was supposed to go in the show that would not be in the show.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So Sunday night—are—are we getting close to the end here? You’re looking at…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>I’m trying—I’m just making sure that it’s picking everything up.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Sorry [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Yeah, so the openings were Sunday night and this is a…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>This is a riot. Naples is very elegant. I had special clothes to wear when I had my openings, because, you know, you don’t wear pink sport coats in…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In Winter Park. Naples is very formal, but very…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Resort-y and very rich.</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Bizarre [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>What? [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>He—he can’t stop talking.</p>
<p><strong>Parke </strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Varty</strong> <br />Sorry.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>The, uh—on Sunday night, people, at six o’clock…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Would line up to come into the gallery, and the doors would not open till six, and here we go again.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>As they came in—sometimes in formal clothes, because they were going out separate[?].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, as they came in, they were not allowed to buy a painting.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>They could look for a half an hour, and, uh, at the end of a half an hour, they could make a bid on the painting and…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So the wife—they—they would come in and they’d quickly [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>They’d find one that they loved.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>They’d see. Then on Saturday…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So they already knew there was one they loved[?]. So the wife would park her husband…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In front of the painting, and he would just stand in front of the painting with his arms folded blocking the painting.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, my goodness.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So that the other Naples folks knew that they…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That that was taken.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So at 6:35, they would[?]—[inaudible] this—the—the wife would say, “We have that one.”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And—but they didn’t want, uh, people to presell from seeing the work…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>The day before or whatever—week before—and, uh, they wanted everybody that[sic] was coming to the show basically to…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>To be able to buy a painting.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, so consequently, uh, the sales were almost always right in the first couple of days…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>For the opening night, and, uh, rest of the week some of them would be out on their yachts…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And stuff, so they didn’t want to miss these shows…</p>
<p><strong>Parke </strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>If they looked important, and so I basically made my living, uh, in—in, uh, one week out of the year.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That[sic] amazing.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>At a Naples show.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, and if it rained on the opening night, uh, that—that put a damper on sales.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, it worked out 24 times</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] So…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s great.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, the gallery truly—well, it just—you’ll see the picture of it.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It was, uh, probably one of the prettiest galleries…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Extravagant.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In the country. Very, very beautiful.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>These guys had good taste.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, they handled [inaudible] Glass[?].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Um, a lot of well-known painters from California and other parts of the country.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And[?], uh, I actually—I’ve always been interested in antiques. I bought antiques in Winter Park for them to put in their gallery.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In their sales gallery—antique area there, and, uh, they didn’t have time…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>To scout antiques.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I loved scouting antiques [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s nice.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So I would buy stuff for them, and—and they would se—sell it at the gallery…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>For 10 times what I got.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I was getting good bargains…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>From dealers here in Winter Park and elsewhere. Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Don’t forget the Blue Heron Gallery and the Cove Gallery.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, I know those were galleries on Cape Cod. I’m not going to forget them, but, uh, I exhibited at the Blue Heron Gallery and another top gallery on Cape Cod…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>For many years. Before that, the Cove Gallery., uh, so I had those two galleries on Cape Cod.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>So you’ve been all over [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, you’ve gotta—when you’re painting every day…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, you know, you need the exposure, and, um, just ended up being on Cape Cod, for, today, it’s six months of the year.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>At Cape Cod., uh, when I was teaching, we had shorter summers, but, uh, now, it’s half here half on Cape Cod.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Cape Cod is a fabulous place for artists.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, the light is gorgeous there for painting, and the portrait studio there, on a gray day, the light was absolutely…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Gorgeous on—on the models on a gray day.</p>
<p><strong>Park<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, uh, very cool light.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Florida has that hot light.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yes [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>It does.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, [inaudible] it’s not just the heat it’s a harsher light…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>For a painter than Cape Cod. That’s why Cape Cod has many, many artists.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay. That’s interesting.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It’s in[?] the, uh—the, uh, most famous American painter today. Eric? [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Yes. Edward Hopper?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Varty</strong> <br />[inaudible]?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Not…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Uh, [inaudible]?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Not Miligrove[?]. Probably the most famous…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Uh…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, American painter…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>[inaudible]?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Of—of all time…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Is, uh, Robert, uh [<em>laughs</em>]—Eric?</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Who?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Who’s the person you—what was the first name?</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Oh, Edward Hopper.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] I’m talking and I’m forgetting as fast as I can[?].</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>You could see Edward Hopper’s house…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>From Hal’s house on the Cape.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yeah</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s awesome [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I knew Edward Hopper through the Farnsworth’s [inaudible] school.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I went to, uh, cocktail parties with him.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And one time Jerry Farnsworth said that, “We’re going to this party and Edward Hopper will be there, but, uh, you’ll—I’ll introduce you to him, but don’t expect him to say much…”</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“Because he doesn’t—isn’t a big talker,” and, uh, I did meet him that night, and, uh, he was a very polite listener and wonderful. Very imposing…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Tall gentleman, but I could see their house from…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Down the beach on the cliff from my house, and anyhow, uh, I wasn’t a close friend of Edward Hopper’s, but we were close enough. Uh, we sat in a Christian Union Church, when they had these flea market sales of clothes and china…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And stuff, and his wife<a title="">[1]</a> and Mrs. Farnsworth were trying on…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Cheap clothing, blouses and suits…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And coats, and…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Uh…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Step, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>[inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>No [<em>laughs</em>]. They would—we would…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Mrs. Farnsworth was Helen Sawyer.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I’ve already made that clear.</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>Oh, okay. Reference her at the Morse Museum of American Art.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Okay. Uh, Helen Sawyer is Mrs. Farnsworth.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And is recognized in major museums…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>As well as Farnsworth was. Both of those, uh, couples—Farnsworth and Hopper—were both, uh, active during the [Great] Depression.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh</strong> And they were frugal.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Farnsworth had a garden where they grew their own vegetables, so they wouldn’t go to the grocery store except to buy meat</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But they grew everything else, and they were used to—during the Depression, Jerry Farnsworth, a famous portrait painter, would make clothes out of old, uh, bags</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Flour bags that they used to have patterns on the big bags of—of flour for his wife</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And very frugal [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And that’s why those two wives were trying on cheap clothes at the church …</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>‘Cause that’s what they always knew.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Sale. Well, they just, you know, uh—they weren’t shoppers. [inaudible] [<em>laughs</em>]. Eh, uh, Eric and I would say, uh, [<em>laughs</em>] he—Hopper—Edward and I sat there and he would just shake his head</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Every time they came out in one of these outfits. You know, outfits for two dollars [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But here’s—at that time, he was a well-known painter.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, extremely well-known.Now he’s considered one of the top American painters</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Period. Uh, [<em>clears throat</em>] a wonderful, wonderful man.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>His—his wife did all the talking.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Always.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] I find[?] out—found out why he’s so quiet, because…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>‘Cause he has a wife to make up for it [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>She—she talked all the time [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>That’s probably why Edward was fairly silent, but, uh—a big tall man.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Very imposing man, and, uh his work is—is fabulous.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Fabulous. Really [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>It’s beautiful.<strong> </strong>Um, can you tell me a little about your teaching philosophy? I know teaching was a big part of your life.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Oh, absolutely. I’ve taught for over 40—40 years [<em>clears throat</em>], and, uh, I think my philosophy is—basically, in teaching—is how to teach the students how to see</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, people don’t see like artists, and, uh, it takes a long time to get them to that point. I also wanted them, uh, to end, uh, up being taught and being brought out as individual painter, not as a [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>As a cookie-cutter…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Standard.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Not—not the [inaudible]—cookie-cutter. So many students and many of my early students wanted to study with me, because they wanted to paint like me, and I went through two schools with Farnsworth. Later on, Bassford School, where they taught only their style, and the students were painting as much as they could like the teacher.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>My philosophy was that I would expose my students to different techniques. Every couple of weeks, they would have a new project. This week we’re, uh—do an abstract. Uh, next week we’re gonna do this and this, uh, but it—it shocked them, because they</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know, they had to start thinking differently</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Because these were specific, uh, instructions that we’re gonna go in this direction…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Art-wise, uh, and I would find [<em>clears throat</em>] after a long time—I had students for years. Some of them by being exposed to different techniques and presentations of art, I would find one person, suddenly, would just glow when they—you know, because they…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>They found what they were supposed to do [<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Found what they loved</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I would say, “Okay, Mrs. so-and-so or Mr. so-and-so, you’re gonna stay…”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /> </strong>“With this technique as long as you can.”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“Forever, if possible.”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“We’re going to keep trying stuff,” and as—as I kept students for a long time. They—they loved my classes, and in spite of the fact they were in shock when I had to expose them to different…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Techniques, but eventually, all ended up with their own…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Style, and that’s the biggest service you can do to a student—is find them and what’s in them.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Teach them how to see.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I had—students would come to me, practically in tears…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>After a couple years studying. They’d say, “I—finally, I know what you meant when you said, ‘You’ve gotta learn to see.’ I see things so much differently.” uh, I’m visual.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>All my life, I’ve been visual. Uh, I could turn my head and see subject matter around me anywhere or in the gutter.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know, I would—I’d tell them, “Look down,” you know, “Look at the cement. There might be something there…”</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>“That’s beautiful. Uh, look—look at that garbage can.” You know, there’s beauty everywhere.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s a remarkable skill to have [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well—but I had severe exposure in the portrait school…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>To the particular style, uh, that I was learning, uh, because he taught only his style. After that, you’re—in time, you go to your own style.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>There’s a long delay, if you have been with one teacher the long time. You’re only doing…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>His style work, and a lot of artists do the same, uh, basic work[?] their whole lifetime. People don’t recognize work—my work sometimes, ‘cause one day I’ll do an abstract and the next day I’ll do a floral, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know, I love changing from one to another.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I don’t consider, uh, abstracts any different than…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Realistic paintings. Uh, every painting starts out as an abstraction, and, uh, they’re—you know, a painting’s a painting.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, the art world has expanded so much now that it’s gone way beyond painting. It’s in constructions and light shows and huge presentations and…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Sculptures and other things, you know? It’s very complex now, but, uh, as far as the painting world goes, uh, I was just—get energy from doing different things.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It energizes me, and, uh, uh, I have ideas now, you know, that I could never get to…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I’m sure [<em>laughs</em>], but I’m still clipping things out of magazines that I like and, uh, just keeping stuff for…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know, paintings that I’m exposed to—to, uh, [inaudible] that I admire.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Um, but, um, you should talk to some of my old students that[sic]…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>They’re old like I am [<em>laughs</em>], you know, uh, and they’re having big shows.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Lot of my students, uh, went right on professional work, and work—are making prices higher—higher than mine [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, they all had their own look, eventually. That’s why I kept students so long…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Because, uh, they just wanted that assurance, and they—still got exposed to a lot of, uh, unusual approaches, but, uh, a core of about 30 students stayed with me for years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, I’ve done portraits with a number of my students…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In the past. I had been commissioned to do portrait, a really lovely lady from, uh, Tavares area up there, and, uh, uh, she had me over to do a—to talk about a portrait, and she said, uh—I realized right away there was something, uh—she had a problem. She’d had a stroke, and she didn’t like the photographs that were being taken of her to present to friends and family and all that stuff. She was getting on and she was very concerned about facial, uh, problems, and, uh, she was still a beautiful lady</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But you could tell she couldn’t sit for a portrait for a long period of time, but, uh, I took some photographs of her, we had lunch a couple times and talked ,and I did a large major portrait of her, uh, that nobody would recognize</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>That there was a distortion in her face [<em>laughs</em>]. She loved it.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Aw.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, her family loved it. She wanted to leave a heritage [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Of course.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, and it was a challenge for her, because she didn’t want to be photographed, and, uh, she had dedicated caretakers and stuff—wanted a picture of her and stuff, but, uh, it happened to be quite a nice portrait</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But I knew her for so many years…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>That I knew how to eliminate those problems, and I know her, but you don’t often get challenges like that.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It was a major challenge for me, but in every portrait is a major challenge, because you, uh—you really want to get the essence of the person, as well as the outward visual quality of them, and, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You have to get something a little deeper than…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah, is that kinda what you want people to get when they look at your art? That there is something—like, what do you want people to take away from your art, would you say?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, whatever they want.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Uh, I’ve been—I’ve been pleased to have, uh, letters from people that[sic] hated abstract art, and, uh, they see some of my abstracts, and they—they thank me for…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>This is possibly through my nephew, and his dental office has a number of my paintings, and…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, abstracts and realistic ones.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And they spend time there and they see abstract there[?]. Uh, they finally say, “Well, I guess that’s alright stuff.”</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, there’s a lot of people—just close their minds to abstract and other radical approaches to art, and it’s all the same. It’s, you know—I minored in sculpture. I would just be happy as ever to go back to sculpture …</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And do nothing else, but, uh, it’s a little hard to combine the two, uh, careers, because, uh, [inaudible] sculpture is messy.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] It’s messier than painting, and, uh, my sculpture—I had my sculpture from Michigan, uh—minored in sculpture at the University of Michigan—and, uh, my work there—the pieces went into a gallery, uh, out of town.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And the gallery owner skipped the country, sold the work, kept all the money and never paid his artists, so I [<em>laughs</em>] never got my…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Sculpture back, and I never…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Got any money from ‘em[?], but that was a wild, uh, [<em>laughs</em>] chase there.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Uh, I’ve done murals. I did a mural at the University of Michigan that was about 60 feet long.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I’ve done major mu—murals. I did a major mural in a restaurant, and, you know…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Shoe store [<em>laughs</em>] or…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[inaudible], shoe store. Uh, did—I did some window display of[?] back[?], piddled in a lot of minor…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Careers. Stuff like that, uh, but, uh, it’s all tied up with art…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know, but, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>What do you think inspires you to create?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>What inspired me?</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm, sounds like a lot of different things [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, my vision, I guess.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, I’m inspired by a lot of artists.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, each—each for a different reason.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh </strong>Uh, I can’t minimize that</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, I just see stuff and, uh, it excites me. I say, <em>It would be wonderful to paint that.</em></p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I still have that, uh—I’m not able to paint eight hours a day, and never did.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /> </strong>But I paint mostly in the afternoons, most of my life. Uh, do the laundry in the morning [<em>laughs</em>]…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, in my teaching career I had to teach and paint also. So, uh, when my students were finished for the week, I got my studio back…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>’Cause we both had the same studio, but, um, I—I get excited to be sitting where we are here, uh, seeing birds and animals and trees and flowers and all that stuff. Uh, I just—I just see things, and I’m, uh, fortunate in, uh—if I have photographs of things…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I can’t see again. Uh, I painted outside for years. Uh, as I got—you know, later on in my career, I did everything in the studio and worked from, uh, reference material.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, tons of reference material. Like an illustrator…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Has tons of…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Material to work from, but, uh, my paintings got large, and if you’re painting outside in the wind…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And the—you know, the painting is flopping…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In the wind, and, uh, also, uh, I find that painting outside quite often, uh—when you get the painting inside you see that the colors are difficult to…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Being out in the hot sun.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, transferring that, uh, you know—it’s not as good when you get it inside…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So—and, uh—but I think you have to paint from life outside, and from portraits, you have to paint from life to learn how to paint without the sitter or without being in front of the subject.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Because your, uh, inventiveness comes out when you’re isolated in your studio.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You may have started something out. I’m working on an abstract now, and, uh, just as a joke I’m—when it gets in the show, I’m gonna call it <em>Two Horses</em>, and it’s an abstract painting.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But if you’ll look—I mean, before you leave there [<em>coughs</em>]—two Chinese, wooden horses in my apartment here.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I was painting them on Cape Cod. [inaudible] was painting of both of those horses, and I just got, eh—I wasn’t getting the way I wanted to. so I started scribbling them out with other colors, and underneath is the[?] abstraction—or[?] is the painting of these two horses, but, uh, when it doesn’t work, you know it, and you say, <em>Well, I gotta go on</em>, and to paint the canvas white—to get rid of the two horses—is a shame, because there’s color there…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And there’s[sic] shapes there, and do your new painting into that, leaving some of the—you can’t recognize anything about…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>The horses, but, uh, that’s where the painting start out.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>If it were ever, uh, X-rayed [<em>coughs</em>]—my voice is so weak from my breathing problems, uh, but I’m sure it comes out…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In your machine.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>It’ll show up well.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, [<em>clears throat</em>], uh, if they ever X-rayed [<em>laughs</em>] that painting…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Then you would…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You would see…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>See it [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>The horses there, and, uh—but other abstracts just paint themselves.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, once you get something down on a canvas—I don’t care what it is—just a splash of blue out—out of the blue—the—the rest of the work you’re painting into that piece—it’s a—it’s a piece of the puzzle.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It may have nothing to do with…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>The final painting but, uh, you know, there’s a lot more in a painting than people know.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Because they don’t see the progression of it.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And that’s why, uh, it, uh—I men—wanna mention these TV shows with artists, because most artists don’t consider those people…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Artists [<em>laughs</em>]. I don’t[?]—cancel that…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Uh, but anyhow, it’s—it’s—it’s a wonderful career.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Good.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>nd the—you saw some of my acting photographs there? [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That was wonderful [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, done a little bit of that, but, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Varty <br /></strong>Winter Park Arts Festival also.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah, um, the Winter Park Arts Festival—you were kind of a founding member of that. That’s a big deal.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I lived just down the street from the festival. Uh, I lived across the street from the Langford Hotel…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Which is gone now, Uh, and—and I mentioned that was my Japanese house, which was quite a—a notable thing in Winter Park, because there weren’t any Japanese houses here, and I had been to Japan, and, uh, had a house fire, and remodeled the whole place in Japanese style…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>After my visit to Japan. Anyhow, during the Art Festival years, I was walking all my materials down to the Park Avenue, and, uh, setting up in front of my…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Golden Cricket Gallery, and, uh, after two years, I realized that I’m on the street…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Trying to sell paintings, and [<em>laughs</em>] my studio is—or my gallery—was right behind me…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And they make a commission on—on the sale of paintings, so that’s why I only did the Art Festival for…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I don’t know—four or five years</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>A few years?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, ‘cause I had gallery connections…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>On the Avenue, and you don’t do that. You…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Your gallery,back then, was taking 33 and a third percent.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Nowadays, [<em>clears throat</em>] it’s 50 percent, and in New York, some galleries taking[sic] 75 percent.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow, wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So the art—people don’t realize that artists that[sic] work in galleries are—are paying…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Quite a commission to galleries, especially if you get the kind of exposure that New York…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Major galleries give you, uh, but, uh, I—I—I opted out of the Art Festival, because, you know, it just was—I was competing…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>With myself [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, it was fun back in those years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know, because it was pretty much local, and, uh, it grew and grew and grew and grew, and now, many[?] artists go—they paint and sculpt and do their craft part of the year, and the rest of the year, they travel…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>With a show—street shows—and they have their tents and all that stuff, and that’s half of their exposures…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Possibly happen because they don’t have to pay the galleries…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know? Uh, that’s not the only reason it’s good exposure, but, um, it’s a wonderful learning experience to…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>To have your work shown anywhere.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, you—you get comments, you get criticisms, and, uh, you get to see your own work.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>My paintings generally don’t hang around. I think I told you this before.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, when I finish a painting—and through the years having gallery associations—when I think the painting’s finished, I frame it and get it to the gallery…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I forget them, because I’m thinking of the one I’m working on.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>The next one [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>The upcoming one [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>The next one.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, I’ve only hung one painting, uh, of my own…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah, that’s what you had told me before.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In my apartment and, uh, my house in Winter Park. Uh, it’s a very large, abstract painting, and you won’t believe this, but I don’t—I’ve never hung my own paintings.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>What’s the reason behind that? Do you have a reason?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, I—I wanted them to—to go to the gallery and sell.</p>
<p><strong>Parke </strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh </strong>And I—I’m interested in a new one. I don’t wanna…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh </strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Parke </strong>If I kept that painting sitting around—you…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I’d see something…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>You keep moving forward.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And change either[?] this or what[?], but, uh, I just got rid of it, so I could get on with the next…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>One, and, uh, I produced a lot of work…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Over the years, but that particular painting, uh, sold to my friend’s<a title="">[2]</a> mother, and hangs in the Mayflower.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>She’s got it in her apartment. It’ll be in the show.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And just ran across a letter from Maury Hurt, who I told you is…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Part of the best artists in…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In Winter Park and Orlando. Uh, there was a very nice, sensitive letter from him from a show that I had, uh—and that painting, he mentions specifically. [inaudible] I think I’ll have that framed…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And put it next to the painting in the show, because people know who Maury Hurt is here, and his word, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Is important.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It was a compliment. It was an extreme compliment</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But the way he worded it, it’s like an artist…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Words something. Not like a—just a casual visitor. It’s a sensitive…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Approach that he put in this letter to me. So you’ll see that letter. Here you can read it if you want, but, uh, I would be happy to keep painting…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>For the rest of my days, for the next 20 years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, I remember seeing pictures of, uh, artists, [inaudible] not [inaudible], but, uh—I’m losing it now for a minute—but I was bedridden—he was bedridden anyhow. I can’t think of his name, and they made eight-foot brushes for him.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>So he could reach?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So he could reach the canvas. That’s how artists—some artists are [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, I—I could paint hundreds more pictures.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh <br /></strong>But [<em>laughs</em>], uh, [inaudible] wheel me around pretty soon.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Um, it’s been, uh, interesting talking to you, and, uh, I hope some of this stuff…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You understand.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Oh…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>This is wonderful.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Sorta different than other teachers.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>It’s been great talking to you.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Especially…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>I feel like I’ve learned a lot.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Good. Well…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So you can paint now.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>I can.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yep.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Anybody can paint.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Um, can I ask you one last question?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Sure.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Um, I know that you worked at the [Albín] Polasek Museum [& Sculpture Gardens]. Did you know Albín [Polasek] and his wife, Emily [Muska Kubat Polasek]? And…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>How was that for you? How were they?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, Albín, I didn’t know that well.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, saw him just on different occasions and talked, but Emily, I knew and sat with her. Uh, she made cookies for me…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] And cookies that are from her home country<a title="">[3]</a>—very complex little cookies—and she even gave me the equipment to make them myself.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But, uh, I—knowing Albín and being a—a sculptor myself part-time, uh—and also, my [<em>coughs</em>]—my brother-in-law, Ken Wacker, along with, uh, Rever Haines, the lawyer, were very influential in the early Polasek years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And keeping the estate, and running the—the home [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Parke </strong>The institution, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh </strong>And—and working on its future…</p>
<p><strong>Parke </strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh </strong>Uh, through Albín when he was alive, and then very, very kindly through Emily, because, uh, she was left, but they—they were extremely influential in the early years, and, uh, I was Artistic Consultant for the museum for five years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke </strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>nd, uh, I actually climbed up on the huge painting of the <em>Man Carving His Own Destiny</em>…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I was cleaning that and doing that[?]. I also knew, uh, so much about what Albín would—would have liked.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, and that’s a, uh, very sensitive thing, because, uh, you’re put with responsibility when an artist is gone, and, uh, he specifically had feelings—different feelings—about his work that I could see.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, I restored things, uh, that I discovered that he had done.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, and I realized how, uh, religious a man he was.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Totally dedicated to his religion,<a title="">[4]</a> and then my partner and I, uh, designed, uh, the wall in front of the museum and the gates that…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Go in, and, uh, Eric Varty, uh, did the chapel—over the ceiling of the chapel—uh, and I had, uh the paintings of the Stations of the Cross framed and redone, because they were actually rotting out in…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>That damp studio, and, uh, I did a patina—a painted patina—on all of the—the Stations of the Cross were do—done in plaster.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And they were white, and I first saw them stacked somewhere, and I convinced my brother-in-law…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>That they should be put on a wall, and they built this wall and installed these plasters on the wall—life-size from the original. I painted them and painted a patina, which is done to age the…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>o, uh, fake the age of a—of a bronze piece.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I did that, uh, on all the statues.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s amazing.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, those stations, and, uh, they were later, uh, reproduced by another artist for a client, and they came down, and now they’re having some of them cast</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Some of them are still plaster, but, uh, it just, uh—that portrait of, uh, Albín [<em>clears throat</em>] that hangs in the museum was done, uh, by Charles Hawthorne.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>A beautiful portrait was over the mantle. I don’t know where it is now, uh, but Charles Hawthorne was a Cape Cod painter</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And my teacher, Jerry Farnsworth, and his wife, Helen Sawyer—both famous painters—studied with Hawthorne.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>So, uh, coincidence to…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>I was going to say that…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>To…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s a huge coincidence.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I didn’t know Hawthorne, but, uh, Hawthorne’s a fabulous, fabulous…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, painter of figure—of the figure. Uh, Cape Cod has—museum has wonderful work…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Of his in Provincetown, but he taught in Provincetown, uh, in the open air, had models out by the beach.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>There are old photographs of my teachers at their easel…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>With him teaching with, uh, Provincetown…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Harbor in the background, and[?]…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>And he just so happened—just so happened to paint Albín too.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, I just—I don’t know how they commissioned it—how they found this fabulous painter to do Albín—but Albín must have known his work…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, because that is a great portrait.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, but it’s a small world, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s crazy.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, and late in years that I, you know—way back, when I [inaudible] knew Albín briefly, uh, I met another sculptor—a major sculptor—Mahonri [Macintosh] Young, the grandson of Brigham Young. I was in his studio and I forgot where it was…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But I was invited somehow to get into his studio.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And there was this huge portrait of a seated gentleman, and it was like about 25 feet tall, you know, in his studio in—in clay.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It was going to be cast, and, uh, as a young student and learner, [<em>laughs</em>] I was so impressed seeing the scale of that work, uh, and, uh, he said, “Oh,” uh, you know, “this is gonna be cast.” He said, “I’m sorry you weren’t here when I was working on the 80 foot—180 foot tall piece,” in…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In back[?]—it was—took a whole train…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>To take this sculpture…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>To, uh, the—where the [inaudible]—Mormons in—in, uh—where—where are all the Mormons at?</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>In Utah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In Utah.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And it’s a gigantic, uh, statue with dozens of figures on it. Uh, I had no idea the height of it, but it’s a major…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Piece, and, uh, uh, to see stuff in the studio that’s going to go to the foundry, you know, eventually, and just—I’ve been very lucky to have those visits.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I had private visits with one of the top American architects, uh, Philip [Cortelyou] Johnson. The famous Glass House<a title="">[5]</a> in—in [New Canaan,] Connecticut…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, was a famous American, uh, accomplishment for—he’s—he’s passed away now, but I was—had private visit with him with, uh, another architect friend of mine to see this Glass House in person…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And to meet him, and, uh, I’ve just been very lucky to have exposure to…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Some very great people, and anyone who knows architecture knows—knows, you know, Phillip Johnson, right up there with the top architects in—in the world, but, uh, his house was fabulous.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It’s in the woods, basically, and it has no light fixtures…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In the house at all. The, uh—all the walls are glass all the way around, and the house is lighted by lights outside in the trees that you can’t see.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And on a rheostat[?], those lights can be turned on, so you can read in the house, and you never see a lamp or anything.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s amazing.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>It’s an amazing house. You’ll…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You’ll see it…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In a book, uh, and…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>There’s also your involvement with, uh, Maitland Art Center and [Jules] Andre Smith.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, I can’t talk forever.</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>That’s a good story.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] She’s gonna run out of juice [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] I was going to say, I can come back another day…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>And we can talk about a lot more stuff too.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, that’s a—quite a good story for you—my association with, uh, [J.] Andre Smith.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>At the Maitland Art Center.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>That’s kinda where you got your, like—kinda your main start here, right? In Florida? Is that where you kinda began?</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, well, I began…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Many years before…</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Many years before.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>But [<em>laughs</em>]…</p>
<p><strong>Varty<br /></strong>High school.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>But the, uh—my association with Andre Smith is worth a—another little time…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And you’ve got plenty of…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Got a lot of stuff.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yeah, but, uh, I was very close to Andre Smith, and I happened to be the only living, uh, Bok Fellow.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, I was, uh, at—invited to live there, and I had my own studio there three different years.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Different times…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Before I went in the service and came out of the service, and I was very close to Andre Smith. It was called the [Maitland] Research Studio…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Then, and the—the artists that[sic] were invited there, uh, found and all financed by Mary [Louise] Curtis Bok<a title="">[6]</a>…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Of Bok Tower [Gardens]<a title="">[7]</a>…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>In [Lake Wales,] Florida. They were all older artists, and I was the only—I was 18.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>You know?</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>You were a baby still.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Well, yeah, I was, ‘cause[?] compared to them, they were all well-known</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And, uh, uh, I became very friendly with, uh, the brother of Maurice [Brazil] Prendergast who’s…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>A famous, well-known painter—American, uh—well, landscapes, figures…</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh, but the brother—brother was at the, uh, Research Studio, at that time [<em>clears throat</em>]—Charles, uh, Prendergast—and, uh—well, that’s another story.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>I’m getting [inaudible]. My voice is wearing.</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Yeah—no.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>We’ve got a lot of stuff, so thank you so much for talking with me.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Oh, it was my pleasure.</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>And I know—I’m sure we’ll talk again soon.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>Yeah…</p>
<p><strong>Parke<br /></strong>Thank you.</p>
<p><strong>McIntosh<br /></strong>And I—I gotta show you those two horses inside [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Parke <br /></strong>Oh, I’m very excited about it [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> Josephine “Jo” Verstille Nivision Hopper.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[2]</a> Eric Varty.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[3]</a> Kubat was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic).</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[4]</a> Roman Catholicism.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[5]</a> Also known as the Johnson House.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[6]</a> Later known as Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[7]</a> Also known as Bok Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower.</p>
</div>
</div>
5th Street
abstract art
Albin Polasek
Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens
antique
architect
architecture
art
art school
art show
artist
Artistic Consultant
Bassford School
Blue Heron Gallery
Bok Fellow
Bok Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower
Bok Tower Gardens
Brigham Young
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Catholicism
Center Street Gallery
chapel
Charles Hawthorne
Charles Prendergast
church
college
Commercial Street
commission
Cove Gallery
education
educator
Emily Muska Kubat
Emily Muska Kubat Polasek
Erin Parke
exhibition
Farnsworth, Jerry
festival
Fifth Street
gallery
Genius, Jeanette
Glass House
Golden Cricket Shop
Great Depression
Hal McIntosh
Hopper, Edward
Hopper, Jo
Hopper, Josephine “Jo” Verstille Nivision
Japan
Japanese
Johnson House
Jules André Smith
Kent Wacker
Lake Wales
Lily Lake
Mahonri Macintosh Young
Maitland Art Center
Maitland Research Studio
Man Carving His Own Destiny
Mary Louise Curtis
Mary Louise Curtis Bok
Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist
Maurice Brazil Prendergast
Maury Hurt
McCain, Hugh
McKean, Jeanette Genius
Miller Gallery
museum
Naples
Nivision, Jo
Nivision, Josephine “Jo” Verstille
painter
painting
Park Avenue
Philip Cortelyou Johnson
portrait
portraiture school
Provincetown, Massachusetts
religion
restoration
Rever Haines
Rollins College
Roman Catholic
Sanford
Sarasota
Sawyer, Helen
school
sculpting
sculptor
sculpture
Solarte
Stations of the Cross
student
teacher
The Way
Two Horses
university
Via Crucis
Via Dolorosa
Virginia
Way of Sorrows
Way of the Cross
Winter Park Arts Festival
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/ea43a073a33132f7bb43e7b334acd0bd.pdf
626ed41df569e2256a31a8b9b7ff4d80
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>
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Original Format
67-page book
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
Early Settlers of Orange County, Florida: Reminiscent-Historic-Biographic
Alternative Title
Early Settlers of Orange County Florida
Subject
Orange County (Fla.)
Settlers, First
Orlando (Fla.)
Sanford (Fla.)
Christmas (Fla.)
Winter Park (Fla.)
Winter Garden (Fla.)
Kissimmee (Fla.)
Longwood (Fla.)
Altamonte Springs (Fla.)
Description
<em>Early Settlers of Orange County, Florida</em>, printed in 1915 and published by Clarence E. Howard of Orlando, Florida. The book also includes an article "Early History of Orlando" written by J.N. Whitner of Sanford, Florida. This 68-page book contains the biographies of many of Orange County's early settlers.
Creator
Howard, Clarence E.
Source
<span>Howard, Clarence E. </span><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1725831" target="_blank"><em>Early Settlers of Orange County, Florida: Reminiscent-Historic-Biographic</em></a><span>. Orlando, Fla: C.E. Howard, 1915.</span>
Publisher
Howard, Clarence E.
Date Created
1915
Contributor
Whitner, J. N.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original book: Howard, Clarence E. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1725831" target="_blank"><em>Early Settlers of Orange County, Florida: Reminiscent-Historic-Biographic</em></a>. Orlando, Fla: C.E. Howard, 1915.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/102" target="_blank">Thomas Cook Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Requires
<a href='http://www.adobe.com/reader.html' target='_blank'>Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Format
application/pdf
Extent
19.3 KB
Medium
67-page book
Language
eng
Type
Text
Coverage
Orlando, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Winter Park, Florida
Winter Garden, Florida
Longwood, Florida
Altamonte Springs, Florida
Kissimmee, Florida
Christmas, Florida
Spatial Coverage
28.539291\-81.377907
28.803165\-81.26936
28.599896\-81.339026
28.55256\-81.59008
28.702784\-81.338339
28.661972\-81.366177
28.291987\-81.407719
28.529337\-80.999306
Temporal Coverage
1750-01-01/1915-12-31
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Economics Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Clarence E. Howard.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Clarence E. Howard and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Curator
Cook, Thomas
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
Private Collection of Thomas Cook
External Reference
Howard, Clarence E. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1725831" target="_blank"><em>Early Settlers of Orange County, Florida: Reminiscent-Historic-Biographic</em></a>. Orlando, Fla: C.E. Howard, 1915.
Porter, Tana Mosier, Cassandra Fyotek, Stephanie Gaub Antequino, Cynthia Cardona Melendez, Garret Kremer-Wright, and Barbara Knowles.<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/551205659" target="_blank"><em>Historic Orange County: The Story of Orlando and Orange County</em></a>. San Antonio, Tex: Historical Pub. Network, 2009.
Transcript
Early Settlers of Orange County Florida
1915
OLD WORTHIES OF ORANGE COUNTY
The late Hon. W. L. Palmer
The late Gen. W. H. Jewell
The late Judge J. D. Beggs
The late Capt. L. C. Horn
The late Judge Cecil Butt
The late Will Wallace Harney,
Orange County Poet
The late J. P. Huey
The late Dr. J. N. Butt
Hiram Beasley
Bailiff of Orange County Court from the earliest days to now
EARLY SETTLERS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA
Reminiscent--Historic--Biographic
1915
C. E. HOWARD, ORLANDO, FLA.
PUBLISHER
Date Copyrighted
1915
149th Pennsylvania Volunteer Company D
1st Regiment Florida Volunteer Infantry
2nd Regiment
A. A. Stone and Son
Abrams & Bryan
Addison, Illinois
Alabama
Alachua
Alden
Alexander, Elise
Allen, Edbert
Altamonte
Altamonte Springs
Altamonte Springs Hotel
Amarillo, Texas
American Antiquarian
American Revoluation
Anderson County, South Carolina
Angier, Edna I.
Ansonia, Connecticut
Apopka
Apopka Bank
Apopka Board of Trade
Apopka City
Apopka Drainage Company
Arkansas
Article 19
Astor
Astor Hotel
Athens, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company
Augusta, Georgia
Back to the Soil
Baltimore College
Bank of Oakland
Barber, Andrew J.
Barber, Joseph A.
Barber, Maggie S. Simmons
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle of Gettysburg
Battle of Shiloh
Battle of Vicksburg
Beck, Nannie Woodruff
Bedford County, Virginia
Beecher, Thomas K.
Beeman, H. L.
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
Berry, Jeane V.
Berry, Thomas W.
Berry, W. T.
Bingham School
Bird, Mary A.
Blakely, William P.
Blanchard, Charles
Blitz, J. M.
Board of Trade
Bogy Creek
Boone, C. A.
Boone's Early Orange
Boston, Massachusetts
Bradshaw
Bradshaw, Elise Alexander
Bradshaw, John Neill
Branche's Book Store
Brockton, Massachusetts
Brunswick, Georgia
Buck Horn Academy
Buck Tails
Buffalo, New York
Bullock
Burlington, Indiana
Burritt College
C. A. Boone and Company
Caldwell, C. V.
Calhoun County, Michigan
California
Cameron, Texas
Camp Monroe
Carnell, Willie
Carothers, Alice Bennett
Carson and Newman College
Carter
Center Township, Pennsylvania
Central Avenue
Chalmette, Louisiana
Chapman
Chapman, E. G.
Chapman, Foster
Chapman, John C.
Chapman, John T.
Chapman, Mattie P.
Chapman, R. Ethelyn
Chapman, Thomas A.
Chapman, William A.
Charleston Block
Chase Grove
Chasel Graves, James W.
Cheney & Odlin
Cheney, J. M.
Chicago, Illinois
China Grove
Church Street
Cincinnati Commercial
Citizens' National Bank of Orlando
citrus
Civil War
Clark County, Indiana
Clay Spring
Clay springs
Clerwater, Minnesota
Clouser, C. A.
Clouser, J. B.
Coacoochee
Cobb County, Georgia
Cockney
Coffee, John
Collins, Ailsey
Colorado
Columbia County
Columbia, Mississippi
Comanche, Oklahoma
Commandery
Como, Tennessee
Cones, Elliot
Confederacy
Confederate Army
Congress
Constitution
Conway
Conyers Academy
Conyers, Georgia
Cook's Ferry
Council Oak
County Antrim
county commissioner
Covington, Georgia
Cracker culture
Crawford, George W.
Crawfordville, Georgia
Creek Indians
Creeks
Crisey & Norris
Crown Point
Crown Point, Indiana
Cuba
Curtis & O'Neal
Curtis, Fletcher & O'Neal
Dade County
Dann Real Estate Agency
Dann, R. Edgar
Danville, Pennsylvania
Davidson College
Davis, E. H.
Davis, Frank H.
Davis, Mary
Demans, P. A.
Devlin, Minnie Elizabeth
Dickenson, Cynthia Ann Roberta
Dillard, J. L.
District School Trustees
Dixie
Dolive, W. L.
Dollins, Alice J. Rushing
Dollins, Alice Strickland
Dollins, Carl W.
Dollins, Hugh
Dollins, Hugh D.
Dollins, Kellie Rushing
Dollins, L. J.
Dollins, Mary
Dollins, Thomas A.
Dr. Stark
Dreer's
Dubuque, Iowa
Duke, James K.
Duke, Mary Kerr
Dule West, South Carolina
DuPage County, Illinois
Eastman's Business College
Efurt, Thuringia, Germany
Elizabethtown, New Jersey
Elks Club
Elm Grove Academy
Elmire Female College
Emmett, Michigan
Empire Hotel
England
Erksine College
Eureka
Everglades
Ewing, Earl W.
Ewing, Willie Carnell
Fairfield
Farrel Iron Foundry
FEC
Fernandez, Hallie G.
Fernandez, Henry Gore
Fifth New Hampshire Regiment
Fifth Tennessee Infantry
First Baptist Church of Orlando
First National Bank of Cameron
First Presbyterian Church of Orlando
Fleming
Flemming, Francis P.
Florida
Florida Association of Architects
Florida Board of Architecture
Florida Citrus Exchange
Florida Cracker
Florida Midland Railroad
Florida Railroad Commission
Florida State Legislature
Florida State Senate
Fogg, N. H.
Ford Estate
Forest
Forst house
Fort Christmas
Fort Gatlin
Fort Mellon
Fort Myers
Fort Reed
France
Francis, Margaret M.
Franklin County, Tennessee
freemason
freeze
Fruit Growers' Association
Fudge, James
Gadsen County
Gainesville
Gainesville, Alabama
Galia County, Ohio
Gallowy, Nannie
Gardner, Maine
Garrett, Hardy
General Florida Statutes
Georgia
Georgia University
Giles, Edna Adelima
Giles, James L.
Giles, Leroy B.
Gore, Mahlon
Gotha
Gotha, Germany
Grand Theatre
Grant, Ulysses S.
Graves, Anna L.
Graves, Arthur F
Graves, George T.
Graves, Helen Louise
Graves, I. W.
Graves, James W.
Graves, Minnie M.
Great Freeze
Greek architecture
Greeley
Greensboro, Alabama
Greenwood
Griffin, :Lawrence Jefferson
Griffin, Able
Griffin, Benjamin Luther
Griffin, Helen
Griffin, Henrietta E.
Griffin, Hilda
Griffin, John W.
Griffin, Rebekah Wilcox
Griffin, Samuel S.
Griffin, Stanley S.
Griffin, Willie L. Vick
Griffin, Yancey R.
Grundy County, Illinois
Guilford, Connecticut
Guinnett County, Georgia
Guyette County, Georgia
Gwinnett County, Georgia
Halifax County, North Caroline
Halstead, Murat
Hand, C. M.
Hand, Carey
Hand, Charlie M.
Hand, Elijah
Hand, Harry E.
Hand, Henry
Happersett, S. H.
Happersett, Stella Alcesta Rollins
Harlem, Illinois
Harrisburg High School
Harrison, Minnie Odella
Havana, Illinois
Heard National Bank of Jacksonville
Henck, E. W.
Herd County, Georgia
Hernando County
Hertford County, North Carolina
Hill, Ben
Hill, W. J.
Hillsboro, Tennessee
Hiwassee College
Hoffner, Charles H.
Hoffner, Edna I. Angier
Hoffner, Harry A.
Holshouser, Cynthia Ann Roberta Dickenson
Holshouser, Linnie Wilkins
Home Guards
Homestead
Honduras
Hoole, James L.
Hoosier Springs Grove
House of Representatives
Houston, Texas
Howard, Clarence E.
Howard's Grove, Wisconsin
Hudnal, Edward
Hudson
Hudson Battery
Hudson, Alfred B.
Hughey, J. P.
Hughey, John
Hull, Emily Harriett
Hull, William Benjamin
Hupple, Bernhart
Hupple, Friederika
Hyers, T. G.
Illinois
Indian architecture
Indian River
Indian River, Georgia
Ireland
Irmer, Lillian Maguire
Iron Bridge
Ironton, Ohio
Italy
J. B. Clouser and company
Jackson
Jackson, Helen Augusta
Jackson, Joseph
Jacksonvile
Jefferson City, Tennessee
Jerome, H.
Jerome, R. P.
John Hopkins Hospital
Johnson, Joseph, E.
Jones, John W.
Jones, W. S.
Journegan
Kendrick
Kentucky
Kerr, John P
Kerr, Margaret
Kerr, Mary
Kerr, Sarah Howard
Killingworth, Connecticut
Kilmer, Washington
Kincaid, M. C.
King Philip
King, Murray S.
Kirkwood
Kissimmee
Knights of Pythias
Knights Templar
Krez, Conrad
Kunz, George f.
Lake Apopka
Lake Butler
Lake Charity
Lake Conway
Lake Eola
Lake Faith
Lake Hope
Lake Howell
Lake Jessamine
Lake Monroe
Lake Osceola
Lakeland
Lakeview Cemetery
Laughlin, Frances
Lebanon, Ohio
Lee County, Texas
Lee University
Lee, A.
Lewis, Arthur A.
Lewis, Grace
Lewis, James M.
Lewis, Joseph M.
Lewter, Elva jouett
Lewter, Frederick Augustus
Lewter, Frederick Augustus, Jr.
Lewter, Irma
Lewter, Jewell
Lewter, John T.
Lewter, Laura Louise
Lewter, Linnie Wilkins Holshouser
Lewter, Mary Davis
Lewter, Medora Inex
Lewter, Robert Dickenson
Lewter, Roberta
Lewter, William Ferderick
Lewter, Zelma Kight
Lightwood Camp
Litchfield
Lockhart
Loganville, Georgia
London, England
Longwood
Longwood Hotel
Lord, Charles
Louisville, Kentucky
Loveless, Harry
Lovell House
Lucerne Circle
Lucerne Theatre
Lumsden, H. A.
Luther, E.
Luther, Martin
Lynch, William Brigham
MacDonald, Robert
Macon, Georgia
Madison, James
Magnolia Avenue
Magnolia Hotel
Magruder, C. B.
Magruder, James Bailey
Maguire, Charles Hugh
Maguire, David O.
Maguire, Fred H.
Maguire, J. O.
Maguire, Lillian
Maguire, Margaret M.Francis
Maguire, Rayner F.
Maguire, Thomas C
Maguire, Washington University
Main Street
Maine
Maitland
Manchester High School
Manchester, New Hampshire
Marion County
Marks
Martin, Matthew
Martin, William
Maryland
Mason
Masonic Lodge
Masons
Massey & Warlow
Massey & Willcox
Massey, Keating & Willcox
Massey, L. C.
Massey, Louis C.
Matchett, J. W.
Mathews, Monroe
McAdow, Marian A.
McKinley, William
Meadows
Mecca
Mellen, Charles
Mellonville
Mercer University
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Metropolitan Museum of Arts
Miles, Elizabeth J.
Miller, A. C.
Mills
Minor, Tyrannus J.
Missionary Baptist Church
Mitchell
Mizell, Joshua
Monroe
Moore County, Tennessee
Moore's Business College
Mosquito County
Mount Olivet Cemetery
Murfreesboro, North Carolina
Murphy, North Carolina
Muscatine, Iowa
Muzzy Eva L.
Muzzy, Eden
Nashville, Tennessee
Nassaua
National Guard of Florida
Native Birds of Song and Beauty
Nehrling, Carl
Nehrling, Elizabeth Ruge
Nehrling, Henry
Neill, John L.
Neill, Sarah Clay
New Mexico
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Smyrna, Florida
New York
Newton, A. B.
Newton, Alice Bennett Carothers
Newton, Isaac
Newton, Minnie Odella Harrison
Niemeyer, F. J.
North Carolina
North Carolina University
Northampton County, North Carolina
O'Neal, William R.
Oak Lodge
Oak Ridge
Oakland
Ocoee
Odd Fellows
Odlin, L.
Ohio
Orange Avenue
Orange Belt Railroad
orange county
Orange County Board of Commissioners
Orange County Board of Public Instruction
Orange County Court
Orange County Criminal Court
Orange County Democratic Executive Committee
Orange County Fair Association
Orange County Pioneers' Association
Orange County School Board
Orange County, North Carolina
oranges
orlando
Orlando Bank and Trust Company
Orlando Board of Trade
Orlando Coast Line Railroad
Orlando Country Club
Orlando Driving Park Association
Orlando Electric Lighting
Orlando High School
Orlando Telephone Company
Orlando Water company
Osborn, L. C.
Osceola
Osceola County
Overstreet Crate Company
Overstreet Turpentine Company
Overstreet, Elizabeth
Overstreet, Hazel
Overstreet, Mildred
Overstreet, Moses M.
Overstreet, R. Ethelyn
Overstreet, Rachel E.
Overstreet, Robert T.
Palatka
Palm Beach
Palm Cottage
Palmer, Jerome
Palmer, W. L.
Palmer, Willis L.
Panola County, Mississippi
Paris, Tennessee
Parramore, Minnie M. Grave
Patrick, W. A.
Pennfeld, Michigan
Pennington Grove
Pennsylvania
People's Party
Peoples Bank of Sanford
Peoples National Bank of Orlando
Perry County, Pennsylvania
Pettus Artillery
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pickens
Pigue
Pike County, Mississippi
Pine Castle
Pine Street
Plant City
Plymouth
Porter, Dwight D.
Pughkeepsie, New York
R. H. White Dry Goods Company
Randolph Peninsula
Rawlins, Anna L. Grave
Rawls, E. Judson
Reasoner Brothers
Richmond College
Richmond, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Roberts, Alice J.
Robinson Avenue
Robinson Spring
Robinson, Samuel Austin
Rock Ledge, Georgia
Rollins College
Rollins, Florida Estelle
Rollins, Helen
Rollins, Helen Augusta Jackson
Rollins, John H.
Rollins, Stella Alcesta
Roman architecture
Roosevelt, Theodore
Roper
Roper, Alice
Royal and Select Master Masons of Florida
Royal Arch Masons
Rushing, Kellie
Russell County, Alabama
Rutland's Ferry
Sadler, Alice L.
Sadler, Anna E.
Sadler, John H.
Sadler, Minnie M. Tilden
Salem, Michigan
Saline County, Illinois
Sanford
Sanford High School
Saulsbury, North Carolina
Saunders-Massey, Elizabeth M.
Savannah, Georgia
Schohant, New York
Sea Island cotton
Seaboard Coast Air Line Railroad
Searcy, James
Searcy, John Neill
Searcy, Robert
Searcy, Sarah Clay Neill
Secession Convention
Secoffee
Second Seminole War
Seegar, S. J. T.
Seminole County
Seminole County Bank
Seminole County Sheriff
Seminole Hotel Company of Winter Park
Seminole Indians
Seminole Wars
Seminoles
Senate
Sentinel Printing
settlers
Shakespeare, William
Shannon, Mississippi
Sheboggan County, Wiscosin
Shelbyville, Indiana
Sherman
Shiloh
Shine, Elizabeth Agnes
Simmons, Maggie S.
Simpson, William
Sims Grove
Sims, B. M.
Sims, Eugene O.
Sims, J. Walter
Smith, Elizabeth J. Miles
Smith, Walter
Smith, William
South Apopka
South Apopka Supply Company
South Carolina
South Florida Fair Association
South Florida Foundry and Machine Company
South Florida Railroad
South Lake Apopka Citrus Growers' Association
Southern Express Company
Spanish Mission architecture
Spanish-American War
Sparkman
Speer
Speer, A.
Speer, Alice Roper
Speer, Gertrude K.
Speer, J. G.
Speer, James P.
Speer, Jason P.
Speer, Sidney
Speer, William
Spencer County, Tennessee
St. Augustine
St. Johns County
St. Johns River
State Bank of Orlando
Staunton, Virginia
Steinmetz, John B.
Stevens County, Oklahoma
Stewart, J. C.
Stone, A. A.
Stone, Alvord Alonzo
Stone, L. L.
Stone, Lovell Lazell
Strickland, Alice
Strong, Edward Malten
Sub-Tropical Mid-Winter Exposition
Summer Street
Summerlin Hotel
Summerlin House
Swedes
Sweeney, Robert
Switzerland
T. J. Minor and Brother
Taft, William H.
Talbot County, Georgia
Tallahassee
Tampa
Tampa & Gulf Railroad
Taylor Safe Manufacturing Company
Telfair County, Georgia
Tennessee
Texas
Thayer, Jessie M.
The Arcade
The Auk
The Citizen
The Jacksonville Times-Union
The Lodge
The Orange County citizen
The Orange County Reporter
The Orlando Reporter-Star
The Orlando Star
The Reporter-Star
The Seminole
The Sentinel
The Tampa Tribune
Thompson, Albert
Thompson, Dexter C.
Three Graces Lakes
Tiedkie
Tilden
Tilden, L. F.
Tilden, Minnie M.
Titusville
Toronto, Canada
Town Herman, Wisconsin
Trammell, Park
Tullahoma, Tennessee
Turner, Anna Belle
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
Tyner, C. R.
Union
University Law School
University of Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt
Vermont
Vick, J. H.
Vick, Willie L.
Vicksburg
Virginia
Wakalla, South Carolina
Wallerfield Sarah A.
Walton, Edwin S.
Warlow, T. Picton
Warnell Lumber Company
Warnell Lumber company Millers
Washington Place
Washington, D. C.
Watkins Block
Watson
Weathersbee, Allen
Wekiva River
Wekiwa River
Wekiwa Springs
Welaka
West Virginia
White, W. G.
Whitner, J. N.
Wiggs, Annie B.
Wilcox County, Georgia
Wilcox, Mark
Wilcox, Rebekah
Winter Garden
Winter Garden Water and Light Company
Winter Park
Wisconsin Men of Progress
Witherington, Anna Belle Turner
Witherington, H. H.
Woodruff & Watson
Woodruff, Ailsey Collins
Woodruff, Elizabeth Agnes Shine
Woodruff, Emma
Woodruff, Frank
Woodruff, Frank L.
Woodruff, Minnie Elizabeth Devlin
Woodruff, Nannie Galloway
Woodruff, Seth
Woodruff, Seth W.
Woodruff, W. W. W.
Woodruff, William W.
World's Fair
Yowell-Duckworth Building
Yulee Railroad
Zellwood
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/46aca3624cd682d32aa0e886142269b6.jpg
993df11fd7f912c5cb9be2cad96e722c
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
Headstone for William Harrison Holden, Nancy A. Mizell Holden, and Florence C. Holden at Conway United Methodist Church Cemetery
Alternative Title
Holden Headstone at Conway United Methodist Church
Subject
Orlando (Fla.)
Cemeteries--Florida--Orange County
Churches--Florida
Gravestones
Tombstones
Graves
Description
Headstone of William Harrison Holden (1826-1913), Nancy A. Mizell Holden (1836-1902), and Florence C. Holden (1876-1903) at the Conway United Methodist Church Cemetery in 2003. William Harrison Holden arrived in Orlando from Virginia in 1865, after serving Watson's Company Florida Mounted Troops during the Civil War. The Holden family settled on the south side of Lake Holden and homesteaded 1,200 acres of land. Holden raised cattle on his land and was the first to bring the Brahman bull to the Florida strain of cattle. He also was known as one of Central Florida's largest commercial citrus growers and began the first grapefruit grove in the area. Holden served the Orange County Commission from 1874 to 1887 and sat as a member of the Convention Committee in Tallahassee in October of 1875.<br /><br />Holden's wife, Nancy, was the daughter of David Mizell, Jr., the first white settler of Winter Park. She and Holden had six children together: William Holden, Norman Holden, John Holden, Mary Holden, Cora Holden, and Florence C. Holden. Also buried here is the Holden's youngest daughter, Florence. Both Nancy and florence died of tuberculosis.<br /><br />Located at 3401 South Conway Road in Conway in Orlando, Florida, the Conway United Methodist Church (UMC) was formed in 1870 as the Prospect Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS). In 1874, Morgan Montgomery Mizell and his wife donated two acres of land to build a church for the congregation. One acre was designated for the cemetery and a log cabin-like structure was constructed on the other acre, which was located at the corner of Conway Road and Anderson Road. Reverend James D. McDonald was the first to lead the church. In 1881, a new wood-frame building was constructed and was used by the Prospect MECS until it was replaced by Callaway Hall in 1959. A new sanctuary was completed in 1973. The hall was remodeled in 1994 and currently serves as the administration building. The cemetery includes graves of several members of the English Colony, which was platted in 1892 as the East Conway Churchyard Cemetery.
Creator
Cook, Thomas
Source
Original color image by Thomas Cook, 2003: Private Collection of Thomas Cook.
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Date Created
2003
Contributor
Cook, Thomas
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/102" target="_blank">Thomas Cook Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Format
image/jpg
Extent
299 KB
Medium
1 color digital image
Language
eng
Type
Still Image
Coverage
Conway United Methodist Church Cemetery, Conway, Orlando, Florida
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government 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>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21440155" target="_blank">William Harrison Holden</a>." Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21440155.
"<a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21439931" target="_blank">Nancy A Mizell Holden</a>." Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21439931.
"<a href="http://www.conwayumc.org/churchhistory.htm" target="_blank">The History of Our Church</a>." Conway United Methodist Church. http://www.conwayumc.org/churchhistory.htm.
<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/666225766" target="_blank"><em>Methodist Churches in Florida</em></a>. [S.l.]: General Books, 2010.
Thrift, Charles T. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1310732" target="_blank"><em>The Trail of the Florida Circuit Rider; An Introduction to the Rise of Methodism in Middle and East Florida</em></a>. Lakeland, Fla: Florida Southern college Press, 1944.
External Reference Title
<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1310732" target="_blank"><em> </em></a>
Transcript
HOLDEN
NANCY A.
BORN NOV. 28, 1836
DIED APR. 27, 1902
__________________
FLORENCE C.
BORN OCT. 7, 1876[?]
DIED FEB. 23, [?]
__________________
WILLIAM H.
BORN FEB. 26, 1826
DIED MAY 14, 1913
Source Repository
Private Collection of Thomas Cook
Brahman bull
cattle
cemetery
church
citrus
citrus grove
citrus industry
Civil War
Convention Committee
Conway
Conway Road
Conway UMC
Conway United Methodist Church
Conway United Methodist Church Cemetery
Cook, Thomas
county commissioner
grapefruit
grapefruit industry
graprefuit grove
grave
gravestone
headstone
Holden, Cora
Holden, Florence C.
Holden, John
Holden, Mary
Holden, Nancy A. Mizell
Holden, Norman
Holden, William
Holden, William Harrison
Lake Holden
MECS
Methodist church
Orange County Commission
orlando
Prospect MECS
Prospect Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Tallahassee
tombstone
UMC
veteran
Virginia
Watson's Company Florida Mounted Troop
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/e6bad1d824a6cfb5815ccf67fc2d43b6.pdf
ef42e997bfbd1f4d128b8a3cbad20d50
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.
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 Calvert and Phyllis Conklin
Alternative Title
Oral History, Conklin
Subject
Sanford (Fla.)
Race relations--Florida
Architecture--Florida
Engineering--United States.
Humanitarianism--United States
Description
An oral history of Calvert Conklin and Phyllis Conklin. Cal moved from Baltimore, Maryland, to Florida in 1963 and Phyllis was born in Florida. The couple met each other at the University of Illinois, where Cal pursued his doctorate degree after returning from the Korean War. In the interview, Cal and Phyllis discuss their involvement in the development of the historic section of Downtown Sanford. They also discuss their humanitarian experiences and awards. The couple then delves into the racial tensions within Sanford during integration, even going so far as to tell detailed stories of violence within the city and the alienation they experienced because they came from the North and openly mixed with African Americans.
Type
Text
Source
Conklin, Calvert and Phyllis Conklin. Interviewed by Trish Thompson. Celery Soup, June 24, 2011. 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
Digital transcript of original oral history: Interviewed by Trish Thompson. Celery Soup, June 24, 2011. Audio record available. <a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com//about" target="_blank">Creative Sanford, Inc.</a>, Sanford Florida.
Coverage
Sanford, Florida
Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center, Sanford, Florida
Woman's Club of Sanford, Sanford, Florida
Rescue Outreach Mission of Central Florida, Sanford, Florida
Good Samaritan Home of Sanford, Sanford, Florida
First Presbyterian Church, Sanford, Florida
Creator
Thompson, Trish
Conklin, Calvert
Conklin, Phyllis
Date Created
2011-06-24
Format
application/pdf
Extent
212 KB
Medium
19-page digital transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Trish Thompson, Calvert Conklin, and Phyllis Conklin, 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
"<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com/" target="_blank">Celery Soup</a>." <em>Celery Soup: Florida's Folk Life Play</em>. http://www.celerysoupsanford.com/.
"<a href="http://www.celerysoupsanford.com/" target="_blank">Celery Soup</a>." <em>Creative Sanford, Inc.</em>. http://www.celerysoupsanford.com/.
Kharif, Wali Rashash. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/10501914" target="_blank"><em>The Refinement of Racial Segregation in Florida After the Civil War</em></a>. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 1983, 1983.
Transcript
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>My middle name is Calvert, which is my mother’s last name, and she and I are related to the Virginia Calvert, and that goes all the way back to Lord Baltimore.<a title="">[1]</a> The first one was George [Calvert] and the second was Charles [Calvert]. Anyway, one of my crazy relatives tried to sue the City of Baltimore, claiming the land was his. Needless—he didn’t get very far, and of course, there was a Calvert whiskey at one time, and they have one of these genealogy books—it’s an advertisement—and they got up to my mother and me, and they didn’t carry it on any further, so I stopped drinking their dang whiskey.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>You never did anyway.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>But that’s my story. I’m going to stick to it.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well now, Lord Baltimore came from England, but Calvert whiskey—I thought that was scotch?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>No, it was a blended one made by a Canadian.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /> </strong>So your family is English?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>All English.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So how’d you get to Sanford?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>I’m in the engineering business and we came down here. One of the senior partners, Just Deets[sp], visited a Northern client of ours in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, by the name of Cecil Osier, and we had done work for Cecil up there doing developments, and he was down here building a bunch of manufactured homes that don’t look very nice, but they’re over on Summerlin [Avenue] around there—those little box homes? And Deets stopped by to see him, and he told Deets that the city didn’t have a sewage plant at the time, and he said that they were going to interview for an engineer to design the sewage plant and that we should apply, and so Deets went down and met old Leffler and Busch[sp] —two of the old families in Sanford—and they were in a partnership. Busch later became [inaudible] engineer.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Leffler—was that the Judge [Kenneth Murrell] Leffler?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>It was his brother. His older brother was an engineer. We formed a partnership with them, and I was sent down here to do the inspection. Decided I liked the place and came down and started an office. Over the years, that turned into what now is CPH—Conklin, Porter, [&] Holmes [Engineers, Inc.].</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>And when he came down to inspect this sewage plant, we had gone down to my grandmother’s in Southern Florida…</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>I came in 1963.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>My son is fourth generation Floridian. I was born in Florida. My dad came down here to help build houses back up after the 1928 hurricane, so he met my mother and they got married and had me, and then I was only here six months, but I lived up North about 35-40 years.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Where was your home up North?</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>In Southern Illinois.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>And that’s where you came from too?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>No, I came from Northern Illinois—outside Chicago.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>And we met at the University of Illinois.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>I came home from [the] Korea[n War] and went back to school working on a Doctor’s degree, and went to a church service—a social event—and met her there, and that’s how…</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Immediately, we knew we were for each other [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>That was a long time ago. We were married 55 years ago.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So how did you know right away that he was the one?</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Well, he looked good and he had a graduate degree, and I decided—and he was a Christian. I thought he was, and he was, because we met in a Presbyterian church there on campus, and I just thought, “That’s the right one.” I don’t know what he thought, but anyway, we got married.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>The program that evening was on Korea, and of course, I knew much about that.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>So he was sitting there by me telling me all of this stuff about Korea and I thought, “Oh, this man sounds so fascinating.” [<em>laughs</em>] So we married and lived up there about seven or eight years, and then he came down and we said, “Let’s go visit grandmother.” And he had never been to Florida and he said, “Oh, this weather is so nice down here. I wish we could start a branch office down here.” and that’s what he told the firm up North and they said, “Yes, go down and start it.” So he did.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>I was general manager up there.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Here, he was in business with William Leffler for a short period of time, and then William decided that he didn’t want to be in engineering. Very bright, bright man, but he decided he wanted to go back and farm or have his properties out near Osteen or something like that, but the amazing story is that we came here right about when integration was starting in the schools in the early Sixties and William…</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>I got somewhat discouraged by the situations and decided that even though I had a good client base, that I wanted to go back up North, and I went back to see if I could get my old job back and the company said “Yes.” But in the meantime, the city manager and Lee Moore called up there and said, “We don’t want you to leave.” And they said, “If you come back, we’ll let you design a marina for us.”</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>So he designed the marina and it was built in ’67, and the amazing part about that was that, at that time, you could dredge part of the stuff up from the lake and make the 13 acres of ground that the hotels and stuff are sitting on. Today, you could not do that. They would not let you dredge up and put more land…</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So you deepened the lake by taking the…</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Dredged it up and built an isle, and then the roadway and all to it and I designed the dry storage building out there and the docks—the whole thing. That was a long time ago.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, we’ve had a lot of stories about what happened in integration and what the situation was with the blacks—what happened?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Well, I was with William Leffler, and we were going to Eustis and he had—well anyway, we got shot at by a bunch of black folks. He had a citizens’ white council…</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>He belonged to the White Citizens’ Council, which is the KKK [Ku Klux Klan].</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>No, no. They are two different organizations. He belonged to both, and a car pulled alongside of us and somebody pulled out a gun and shot at us, and we chased them—of all things. I didn’t have any interest in that. I was in Jim Spencer’s—the bar—when the first blacks came in there, and that was something.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>How did that happen?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Many of the regular customers got up and left, and they were ignored for a considerable period of time, and they just sat there and waited, and finally the owner did go and asked them what they wanted. It was a very awkward situation, but they did get served. Most of the customers left.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>At that time they were trying to integrate the schools here and William Leffler had a…</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Honey, let’s not get into that.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Well, anyway—it was in <em>Time</em> magazine.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>It’s history.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Well, first I had an experience. Our son was a gifted student up North and we got down here—that was one of the disappointments. The schools here weren’t anywhere near as good as the Northern ones and he was in a gifted class up there, and I noticed that the textbooks said, “For average and below students.” That bothered me badly, because he wasn’t average or below. So I went in to see the superintendent of the schools and said, “How do you expect to raise that level if you keep teaching for average and below?” And it was Ray Milwee, and he said, “Well, that’s what our students are—average and below.” I said, “Don’t you want to change that?” He said, “You can’t change that.” So I had absolutely no luck, but later William went in and his daughter had a black teacher—the first black teacher in the schools—and he didn’t like that at all. Wouldn’t accept it, so he went in and confronted Milwee with the same situation, and Milwee wouldn’t change it so William hit him. Beat him up and it made <em>Time</em> magazine. It was quite a—and he pleaded—the funny thing is I got a jury summons to be a juror in his trial. I went over to the courthouse and I knew the prosecuting attorney well, and he said, “Cal, what are you here for?” I said, “I came to be a juror in William’s trial.” and he said, “Like hell you did.” He went in and got the judge to dismiss me, and that’s, of course, what I wanted, but it was funny.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis <br /></strong>And at the same time, the neighbors we had up North where we lived—it was a mixed neighborhood. There was a Chinese family, a black family—and I will say, they were culturally put together. Well, we did have a man next door that drove a bread truck, but mostly—being a university town, they were mostly intellectuals. When I went to school, in Southern Illinois, I went to school with—with black children all the time and thought nothing of it.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>And when we came down here, the only people that really were see[sic] was controlled by the old landowner families, and socially, we were not accepted. We were Yankees and not accepted, and our first friends here in town were Jewish people and some of the blacks. They’re still friends of ours today.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>In 1985, when Mayor Bettye Smith started the Martin Luther King[, Jr.] choir<a title="">[2]</a>…</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>We both saw the Martin Luther King choir for 20-something years [inaudible], so we’re culturally adept.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>But they weren’t used to that, and I had a birthday party for my daughter, who was six at the time. So I told her, “You can invite six children from your class to come to the birthday party.” and one was a little Stallworth girl—like Mill Stallworth’s daughter—a black girl, and a lovely, lovely person, and when they went outside to play a while, and somebody—a passerby or neighbor, but I won’t say who. It certainly wasn’t Connie Williams, because she is very culturally non-prejudice[sic] at all, and it wasn’t Rosita Jacobson, because she lived across the street and she was Jewish, so she wouldn’t have said anything, but somebody else said, “I wanted to tell you that we don’t mix socially with the blacks here.” and I said, “But we do.”</p>
<p>So that set us back a couple of steps, but then one of our Jewish friends, the Tetenbaums, got us into a barbecue club, which was out in what is now in Hidden Lake, and they introduced us to some people out there, and we got in, not because we were trying to get in, but anything to have people be a little more friendly[sic] to us.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>There’s quite a story about the marina in some respects, because the [Sanford] City Council didn’t have a tenant or anybody to rent or lease anything to when they started and decided to build that. That took a lot of guts.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>On whose part?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>I’m the [Sanford] City Commissioner. The newspapers was urging them to—the Gilos, who were the publishers at that time—were urging them to and they had no tenant—nobody to lease or rent anything to, and here they were going to build an island, and during construction, they got a marina operator to do it, basically, with ash and oil.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>But he designed the marina with floating docks so the water [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>So I give the [Sanford] City Commission a lot of credit to have the nerve to do that and to proceed with the project, and it’s been a huge success, and I never did a job where we got as much construction for—it was the whole thing, including some of the buildings—only cost a million dollars—building it all up from nothing.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>He designed that dry storage building—that big building that has the stripes on the side. At that time, some hotel came in and it’s changed hands a lot.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>It’s a motel now.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>We lived on the lakefront at that time. We just rented a house, because we weren’t too sure if we were going to be able to stay or not. That’s when we first came, and after the marina thing, he got some jobs for being city engineer for places like Eustis.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Well, I had those before I went up North—a whole bunch of the cities and counties around here.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>[inaudible] and gave us a base to stay, and I would’ve thought too that it would’ve been very courageous for that lady black teacher—whoever she was—to walk into that Sanford Middle School or Seminole High [School]…</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Was she in it when it was Seminole High—as the first black teacher? Or was it…</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>I don’t know. William’s daughter was not a little, tiny girl, because knowing William...</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Other things that I thought were noteworthy is, for instance, the Central Florida Zoo [and Botanical Gardens].</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>When we came, it was downtown.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>One block right behind the [Sanford] City Hall. You could make quite a story about the moving of that and the...</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I’ve never heard that story—how it happened.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Well, they had a zoo behind the City Hall, right down the lakefront there.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>I saw an aerial picture of it and thought it was much larger than it was. It’s very small.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>And the woman’s name was Hood—that was the curator there. He worked for the city and she did, and her whole job was to tend to the zoo, and they had one lion and you could hear him roar. You could hear him and then they decided—well, a bunch of businesspeople facilitated the Central Florida Zoological Society[, Inc.], and a number of us contributed money, so that we could relocate it. I put up several thousand dollars to the Sanford Atlantic Bank and so did others, and that served as seed money to borrow against to relocate and build the Central Florida Zoo. I had connections with contractors so I went to C. A. Meyer and Amick Construction[, Inc.] and leveraged them into building the roads in and doing all the earthwork for the original zoo. That was quite a contribution. It was all donation and the two of them—C. A. Meyer and Amick Construction—donated all the work to build the road and do the earth or the original zoo, and I was one of the founding directors of the Central Florida Zoo.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Both he and I had served on the zoo board at one time or another.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Did you all have anything to do with the actual moving of the animals?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>No, my thing was contributing the money and doing the construction of the roads and all of the earthwork out there. There were many other people around town. Doug[las] Stenstrom did. Glenn McCall, the druggist, did. Dr. Hickman, the dentist from Maitland, was involved. I don’t really remember all the other people. That was the way that the zoo got started.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>What was the reasoning for moving the zoo? Did somebody donate the land?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>I think it was bought. It was bought. Right along there was Leffler land and a bunch of it was Kirchhoff. Now, have you ever talked to Bill Kirchhoff?</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>No, I haven’t.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Beside the stories of the marina and the zoo, the other one that I know a lot about is the historic trend or the beginning of the historic movement in Sanford.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>The historic trust?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /><br /></strong>No, ot the trust. The whole idea of historic preservation becoming a forefront program in Sanford, and Sarah Jacobson was the one that started that whole thing, and she got me again, Doug Stenstrom, Don Knight, Glenn McCall—a bunch of downtown businesspeople—and we applied and got money to do historical surveys, and the state sent a[sic] historical architect and a plain historian and they worked out of my office. They’d go looking at all the insurance records, titles, and deeds, and all the interesting things they could find out about the buildings. That went on for a couple of years, because they’d come back and they’d found out the railroad magnate [Henry Morrison] Flagler had owned this and that—it was an old train station, and that’s the Piper Building, and they’d find all this interesting stuff about all of the other old buildings.</p>
<p>The first thing we did was we got the whole downtown district on the Federal Register of Historic Places.<a title="">[3]</a> It was first a downtown district—one of the few in the state for a whole downtown district, and we had to do all of these surveys and then we moved to the area behind it—the [Sanford] Historic Trust. We got that designated as a residential historic district. Now the people in the historic trust didn’t have anything to do with that. They formed the historic trust after all this was done, and I, in my many travels, kept thinking about park benches, and I picked out a bench from various places that I’d gone, and bought one for 900-and-something dollars, and had it brought here, and the city liked it, and it’s one of those—it’s downtown. They use that on the waterfront and everywhere. Then we got grants and formed a Downtown Historic Development [inaudible], and we got grants—the owners would apply, and we would sponsor them, and they got grants to fix up the facades of many of the buildings, and you’ll also see then when we have a historic board later. I was chairman of the [Sanford] Historic Preservation Board that the city conceived, and we got plaques that were put on all of the buildings that you see downtown. Then the historic trust came into being. They came later and formed their historic trust for remodeling the buildings and all of the homes. Then we had a few—Bettye Smith and I did a local one for the St. James AME [African Methodist Episcopal] black Church. They’ve got a local historic designation. That whole thing started with Sarah[?] Jacobson and a bunch of us, and that’s been very successful. Now the historic trust people kind of take the credit for the whole thing, but they didn’t start it. They did a good job.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, I think they have done a good job, but the city—I don’t know if you noticed, but the City of Sanford and the Sanford Historic Trust did the first Cultural Preservation Award and gave that to the City of Sanford for what we’re doing today.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>I started in 1973. My mother and two other little ladies and I started the Meals on Wheels program. I have a newspaper clipping showing a picture of us...</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>We’ve done that longer than anybody in Seminole County—the two of us.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>I’ve done it ever since then—36-37 years, and I think, because of that, I got the Jefferson Award [for Public Service] for this area, but there were others in other areas and Orlando and everything that got it too, and so, when it went statewide, of course, it wasn’t only that that got me the award.</p>
<p>Cal and I had done so many things around town—you know, volunteer things— ‘cause that’s really what we live for—is volunteering. He’s done about a 150 pro-bono engineering jobs for little churches, or the crisis center, or the Salvation Army sign out front and things like that. At one time, they gave him the Topper Award and, at the same time, they gave me the Dr. Luis Perez Humanitarian Award the same night, and I didn’t expect that. I knew he was to get the Topper Award, and so I didn’t say anything to him about it and then when we got there, I knew. I had some relatives coming, because I knew he was going to get that award. Then they started out with the humanitarian award first, and they got up and started talking about this woman—who was me, you know, and I thought, “That sounds like me.” And they were giving me this award and I said, “You’ve got this wrong. I’m not supposed to get this award.” and I didn’t want to say it and take all the—my husband, and they said, “Oh, but you are. This is the humanitarian award.” And I felt so disheartened, because I thought, “Gee whiz. I thought they were going to give him the Topper Award and here they’re just giving me an award,” and it turned out later in the evening that he got the Topper Award.</p>
<p>When we started this Meals on Wheels program—I don’t remember which church, but I think it might’ve been the First Presbyterian [Church of Sanford] downtown, which we were members of—and they decided they wanted to start a Meals on Wheels program and there were only four of us ladies. You could only take about eight people yourself, so there must’ve been 35 people, and we got the meals from the hospital, and they had them in these big, green plastic containers, and so we’d have to collect those from the clients—we call them “clients.” It was all-volunteer stuff. The next day and take those back—sometimes during, sometimes not, and then get the other meals. And, as the years went on, the mothers of these other ladies were 20 years older than I, so they’re all dead now, but I have a newspaper clipping of when I started, but 10 years after I started it, he started it, ‘cause he was retiring, but he’s done it 10 years less than I have.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert </strong>I still do pro-bono engineering. I’ve done over 200 projects. There’s an awful lot. I’m still doing them.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>We‘ve known that you’d been doing those pro-bono when we had to have the engineers—pay an engineer to put up the risers for the theater.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Well, I did the first one for what they now call the Wayne-Densch Theater.<a title="">[4]</a> I did the first structural study there that they used as a credit to the Federal Government to get their grants. Then I did structural inspections both on main theater and the building next door they later got.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, how did you get into this wonderful, giving spirit?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>We both believe we were put here to help other people.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Our mission is just to help other people. We get the fun out of it, because it’s the one-on-one thing that’s important.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>It keeps us occupied. It’s something worthwhile to do.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /><br /></strong>We’ve been on lots of boards, but I say, “What you get on boards is a lot of splinters.” We’ve been in the Martin Luther King choir for 25 years. Bettye Smith started that. She was the one that got the Sanford Woman’s Club<a title="">[5]</a> integrated, and that didn’t go so well with many of the ladies that dropped out, when she brought in these lovely, fine four ladies. Because they were saying, “Well, you bring in one like that and who knows who they’ll bring in.” It’s the fear thing, and then Rosita Jacobson was in the club at the time, and they had a time getting Rosita in, because she was Jewish. They asked me to join for many years and I knew they were so segregated. I just didn’t want any part of that, but I used to say, “That’s the Sanford White Women’s Club.” but that changed over the years and these lovely black ladies are in and the Jewish ladies.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>I have another story to tell and it’s about the rescue mission.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>The Rescue Outreach Mission [of Central Florida] on Thirteenth Street.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>They had kind of a ramshackle operation out there. Mother [Blanche Bell] Weaver was running it with the help of pop and it was really a rag-tag thing. She started out by being a cook and ran the restaurant on Thirteenth Street.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>And everybody went there.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>That’s right, and one day she walked into our office downtown and said, “I understand there’s a man here that likes to help people.” [<em>laughs</em>] And I ended up helping her. I donated land. I bought some lots and donated the engineering, and we built the women’s and children shelter, and I was, for 21 years, on the Board of Directors of the rescue mission. Mother Weaver founded that, and her church over there also founded it. That’s quite a story too, because she started out by having children just come—she kind of adopted them and they moved into her house with her. She was preaching at this church, and then she got the idea of founding a homeless shelter and started it, and then she called on me and then together saw about building the women’s and children’s shelter. Much of the money came from one man, and he should be talked to if he will talk to you, but he’s very, very generous.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>And who is that?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Mike Good. Briar Construction.<a title="">[6]</a> Every organization that I go to and am part of, such as the Children’s Home Society [of Florida]—I’ve been on that board, and I look to see who the big givers are. Mike Good is at the top of the list.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Soon after we first came here, Thelma Mike was, until just recently, administrator at the Good Samaritan Home [of Sanford]. That’s just an assisted living center for people and they—somehow, the Good Samaritan Home hadn’t noticed they hadn’t paid their taxes for some time...</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>They hadn’t paid their withholding and their unemployment and that stuff. They were in big trouble and the whole city got together and bailed her out.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>They owed the government about $100,000. The whole city—respecting her so much—came forth and got people here and there to raise money, and they let her off.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>They raised considerable money.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>My first employee stole a lawnmower from the Good Samaritan Home. He started working for me after he got out of jail. He had to pay restitution to the Good Samaritan Home, and I told Thelma that story and she laughed and laughed. She said, “If he needed a lawnmower, I would have given him that lawnmower.”</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>We both started out in a choir when we first came here, because both of us had sung for years and years, and we have been singing in the First [Presbyterian] Church [of Sanford] downtown, and then about 1991 it had a split over a pastor and it...</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>They moved over to Markham Woods Road.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>No, that one’s a great one. That’s where most of these people downtown went. We went to another church for a year.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>We didn’t originally. We went to Oakland, followed our choir director.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>We didn’t want to make an exodus—Markham Woods, because Markham Woods was started by Dr. [inaudible] and in 1985, they were—when did you join?</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>That would’ve been years ago. We lived just a block down from the church.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>We came there in 1991, and been in that choir for all those years too. We’re about at the place where we don’t do solos anymore.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>Well, what about your children growing up here, and do you have any family stories of the kids?</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Well, our kids stayed out of trouble, so I guess we don’t have any stories. Our daughter is almost 48 now. She’s in California and she’s a veterinarian. We’re in the process of getting a home for her. She has MS [multiple sclerosis] and she’s partially disabled, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her. She swims a lot, but she can’t work full-time now. She’s moving back here after 20 years to live with us. She’s single. We have a son in Orlando who works for the city at [Orlando] City Hall.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>It’s a funny thing about him. He played guitar for years and he had a rock band in high school and before, and he and Ricky Bowing—they used to—that room up there that’s now our music room was open—it was a breezeway, and they used to practice there and I remember getting out of the car way over at her mother’s house and I said, “Oh, there’s somebody playing ‘Proud Mary,’ just like Charles and his band did.” And all of a sudden I realized it was them. I decided right then that we had to enclose that breezeway and make a room out of it [<em>laughs</em>], and we’ve had all kinds of animals in our backyard. We’ve had horses there.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Well, the horse would only stay overnight one night, but she had [inaudible] brought it in—brought it right down 46. At that time there wasn’t that much traffic, and then she got ready to take it back out and it was starting to storm and I said, “You better not go now.” so she left the horse in the backyard.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>There was a pig back there for a while, when Robert [Conklin] had his heart surgery. She sent him a piglet from Tennessee and the pig grew up in the backyard and got huge in three months, and we had a judge there and the head of the code enforcement next door, and we had a pig in the backyard, but only for three months. Voley was sitting there on the couch talking to us one day and we were talking about Robert having to have a new valve. He needed to have heart surgery for a valve, and we were talking about the possibility of them using a pig valve, and right at the minute we said “pig,” the pig went, “Oi” right behind—and he turned around and looked, but he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>A pig valve only lasts about eight or nine years, because that’s all...</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>They use them on older people. Now they use cowbells[?].</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>He had a metal valve at the age of 17. Now he’s the one that lives here in town and he works for NAPA Auto Parts, and he’s a manager of parts at OIA [Orlando International Airport], the big airport down there, for the ground vehicles, not the airplanes. He’s certified as an ASE [Automatic Service Excellence] mechanic, which he did for a few years, but the heart thing was too much for him.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>We always said, “We have one that can fix your car and one that can fix your cat.” [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>So that’s the three kids, and the one in Orlando is project manager in the engineering department for the City of Orlando, and then the veterinarian daughter is going to move back here.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>The story there is he wanted to be a sound engineer and he had gone to Stetson [University]. Then he kind of went to music, and he went to Denver[, Colorado] to take recording engineering. Then he decided to go to—he got accepted to go to Berkeley College for Music<a title="">[7]</a> in Boston[, Massachusetts], and he went up there and he called me on the phone and said, “Dad, you won’t believe this, but they said I have to start over as a freshman. They won’t give me credits for the other stuff.” And I said, “Charles, go back inside and ask a different person the same question.” And he did and we just held the line open and he came back after a little while and he said, “Yes, they said I have to start over as a freshman. I want to come home.” and I said, “Okay. Come on. Under that circumstance.” Anyway, then he came back and he served as a soundman for a local band that played all over the United States that went by the name of Root Boy Slim. They were really quite good.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>And [Root Boy Slim and] the Sex Change Band.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Yeah. Well, they called it that. He traveled to New York City, [New York] and Baltimore and all those places as their soundman, and he got hit on the head with a beer bottle and it was a tough, tough life, because those people live on the thin edge of everything. After that, he called up and said, “Dad, I decided I want to go back to school and be an engineer like you.” [<em>laughs</em>] So he moved back.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>And of course, they accepted all his LAS [Legal Assistant Studies] stuff at University of Florida. So he got a Master’s Degree and got really good grades. His sister got her veterinary medicine thing from there in 1991 too, but she wanted to go to California, because they were paying a little bit more at that time, but she didn’t realize how much more expensive everything was. Having been there, the climate is good for her, because it’s not as humid as here. After 20 years, and now that she’s partially disabled, she feels she ought to be a little nearer her aging parents, since we’re over 80 and we just think it’s time to—she said one time, “Well, I think within the next five years, I want to move back to Florida for sure.” I said, “Ruth Ann [Conklin], if you want us to help you move, in five years, we’re going to be about 87 years old.” She said, “I’d better move now, hadn’t I?” I said, “Yes, I think so.” You want to tell her the story about you, Gino [Pelucci], and the fundraising?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Well, I—he doesn’t even remember who I am, and I worked with him and for him for years. Even before Heathrow—way back—I did a bunch of factories for them up in other states and my cousin, Bob B.B., was the general manager for Chung[?] King, when he decided that he shouldn’t be running it anymore, and he hired my cousin, who was a board member of Campbell Soups,<a title="">[8]</a> and he was high help in things. He ran Chung[?] King, because Gino was very volatile. He would run around handing out 100 dollar bills or swearing loudly at people and stuff, and he wasn’t what you would call a “consistent” manager. My cousin used to tell me that Gino had hundreds of ideas that would come into his mind all the time, and he would write my cousin notes about, “This is an idea.” and at the end of the day he’d send another note: “Forget all those ideas.”</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>When Gino was featured at one of these Boy Scout[s of America] dinners, and he was a speaker—and this was maybe three years ago or something—Cal said he needed to go over and say hello to Gino. He went over to say something to Gino and Gino acted like he didn’t even know who he was, and then he said...</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>And Brenda [inaudible] was sitting there and she said, “Gino, this is Cal Conklin. He was your engineer for Heathrow. He did all the engineering in Heathrow for you.” And Gino looked up at me and still no recognition. I said, “How about—you remember Bob B.B.?” And he just lit up, because he remembered that. I don’t think he remembered me, but he remembered the guy who had run Chung[?] King for him.</p>
<p>Two stories about him that I think are kind of funny: I would attend many of his board meetings at his request. Most of them there was an accountant and a lawyer and so forth, and there were all kind of “yes-men” with him. We were having a meeting, and a young man came to make a presentation, and it wasn’t long, and I knew he wouldn’t be interested, but he said, “Young man, does foul language offend you?” And the young man said, “No.” He said, “Why you dumb son of a bitch.” He just lit into him and cussed him out up and down and back and forth. Every foul word you could think of.</p>
<p>When the Presbyterian Church downtown was having a building program—when they put the Fellowship Hall and they redid the sanctuary—I was the special gifts chairman. General Hutchinson was the overall chairman, and one of the people I had to call on, besides Warren Patrick and a bunch of other, was Gino Pelucci, and the only reason we did was his daughter would come to Sunday school once in a while, and the preacher was with me,<a title="">[9]</a> and I walked in and Gino said, “Hey. I’m glad to see you.” We shook hands and he said, “You’ve got a rendering of what you’re going to do. That’s good.” And he got down on his hands and knees and began pointing to the rendering and telling me all of the things I should say to anyone I was presenting to. He was going to teach me how to make a presentation. “You should point out all the good features that you’re going to be in this program.” And then I got down on my hands and knees right there alongside him, and the preacher’s standing there and they’re just incredulous. You can just imagine the scene. When we got ready to finish up he said, “And now the most important thing, Cal. You must remember that when you call on people—you’ve got to ask for enough. Remember.” And he didn’t seem to realize that I was going to do it to him. I stood up and tried to recall all of the things he had said, and I went through it as well as I could, and I asked him for $40,000, and his jaw dropped about a foot, and he said, “Cal, you asked for enough.” When we bought this house, his pilot was also trying to buy it. Gino didn’t really want him this close. He used to stop and talk to me all the time.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Within the last year, when they go by—they aren’t usually driving—they have a driver or something. They often wave while[?] we’re out in the yard.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>He used to stop and talk, but now he’s lost his recollection of what my part and background was.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>He had Hubert Humphrey come to his home, when Hubert was running for vice president.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Even when he was vice president, he was down here.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>They’d come from the airport and go by here, and our son had one of those etch-a-sketch things, where you put the little dots—and he hung it in the window.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Little Gina [Pelucci] came here to play with Ruth Ann.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>Gina Pelucci came over here to play with Ruth Ann, and brought her pet mouse—a little black and white thing. Of course, our daughter loved animals, and we did too, and it didn’t frighten me or anything, but when she got ready to go home, she couldn’t find the mouse, and we never did find that mouse. I’m sure it’s hiding around here somewhere. [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Well, one thing that is funny is that everywhere I go people tell me I look like Jimmy Carter. Well there’s a picture of Jimmy Carter right up there, and when we went to Panama, we were going through customs, and as I approached the customs thing. The guy hollered out, “¡Jimmy Carter ahí!” All these people came running around, and I thought, “I’m just going to go along with it.” A woman wanted to have her picture taken with me, so I put my around her, smiled, and took a picture with her.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>‘Cause he didn’t know any Spanish, he couldn’t say, “No, I’m not Jimmy Carter.” It would sound like—it happened at the resort...</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>It happened six times on one trip. I got invited into the bar for a drink and all sorts. He’s a big hero, ‘cause he’s the one who turned the [Panama] Canal over to them.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>He thought if he said no when they wanted their picture taken, and he didn’t speak English, it would sound like, “I’m Mr. Big and you’re paparazzi. Get away from me.” So he’d just smile and let them take his picture.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>One lady—I never did understand that. Well, I’d go shopping in Wal-Mart, and very often somebody will tap me on the shoulder and say, “Here, I’m going to go home and tell my folks that I went shopping with Jimmy Carter.” The City of Sanford does a great deal. The county does not. The county feels they have to go to Orlando to get the big engineering firms, and it’s very strange, and of course there’s competition between cities and the counties, and there always has been. We started out doing both, but in your local area, you usually end up doing one or the other and we’ve ended up doing all the cities essentially.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>We bought it out. Us[sic] and the porters and the homes bought it out and...</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>We bought it from CRS and a national firm. Clark Deets[sp] was sold to Richardson and then to CRS—Rawlins and then CRS.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>So there were several owners before you?</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>Clark Deets was the original one I went to work for in Urbana, and my professors were the ones that started it. They resigned from the college and hired their better students, and there were three of them. A structural man, a civil man, and an environmental or sanitary man, and I was actually one of the very first ones they hired, and we made a big business out of that and got into the 200 range in the country, and then I came down here and saw it and thought it’d be good to make a branch, and then the company got sold and ended up with CRS [inaudible]. They did the big arenas. The big one in Gainesville, and they were mainly doing things in the Middle East in the [United] Arab Emirates. All of that fancy stuff there, and they had no idea what our business was here. I mean, it was all local. They just didn’t understand. It wasn’t the kind of business that they did, and when we decided to go into business for ourselves, I said, “We may be able to get this for a song.” And the other two just wanted to leave and I said, “No. Let me have a try at it.” So I went down there, and we paid $35,000, and we got all of the new business, and they even paid us 5 percent of the collections for three years, and so they ended up—we were roughly 10 percent of their organization and they ended up paying us to take it away from them.</p>
<p><strong>Phyllis<br /></strong>And this was 1981, when it first became Conklin Corps.</p>
<p><strong>Calvert<br /></strong>And the other two worked for me.</p>
<p><strong>Thompson<br /></strong>And I opened up the Rib Ranch in 1981 and I retired in 2008. My husband was ill and he died last year. I was lucky to be with him at that time.</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> George Calvert.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[2]</a> Correction: Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Chorus.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[3]</a> Correction: National Register of Historic Places.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[4]</a> Correction: Wayne-Densch Performing Arts Center.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[5]</a> Correction: Woman’s Club of Sanford.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[6]</a> Correction: The Briar Team.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[7]</a> Correction: Berkeley College of Music.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[8]</a> Correction: Campbell Soup Company.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[9]</a> Virgil Bryan.</p>
</div>
</div>
13th Street
African Americans
Amick Construction, Inc.
architecture
Berklely College of Music
Bill Kirchoff
Blanche Bell Weaver
Busch
C. A. Meyer
Cal Conklin
Calvert
Calvert Conklin
Calvert whiskey
Cecil Osier
Celery Soup: Florida's Folk Life Play
Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens
Central Florida Zoological Society, Inc.
Charles Calvert
Children'ss Home Society of Florida
Chung King
Clark Deats
Conklin Corps
Conklin, Porter & Holmes Engineers, Inc.
Connie Williams
Creative Sanford, Inc.
CRS
Cultural Preservation Award
desegregation
Douglas Stenstrom
Downtown Sanford
engineering
engineers
Eustis
First Presbyterian Church of Sanford
Flagler, Henry Morrison
George Calvert
Gilo
Gina Pelucci
Gino Pelucci
Glenn McCall
Good Samaritan Home of Sanford
Heathrow
Hickman
Hidden Lake
historic preservation
Hood
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr.
Hubert Humphrey
humanitarians
Hutchinson
integration
Jefferson Awards for Public Service
Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Earl Carter, Jr.
Just Deet
Kenneth Murrell Leffler
KKK
Korean War
Ku Klux Klan
Lee More
Luis Perez Humanitarian Award
marinas
Markham Woods Road
Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Chorus
Mary Proud
Meals on Wheels
Mike Good
Mill Stallworth
NAPA Auto Parts
OIA
Orlando International Airport
Panama
Panama Canal
Phyllis Conklin
Piper Building
race relations
Rawlins
Ray Milwee
Rescue Outreach Mission of Central Florida
Rib Ranch
Richardson
Ricky Vowing
Robert Conklin
Root Boy Slim
Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band
Rosita Jacobson
Ruth Ann Conklin
Sanford
Sanford Atlantic Bank
Sanford City Commission
Sanford City Commissioner
Sanford City Council
Sanford City Hall
Sanford Historic Preservation Board
Sanford Historic Trust
Sanford Women'ss Club
Sarah Jacobson
segregation
Seminole High School
Smith, Bettye
Spencer, Jim
St James African Methodist Episcopal Church
St James AME Church
Stetson University
Summerlin Avenue
Tetenbaum
The Briar Team
Thelma Mike
Thirteenth Street
time
Topper Awards
Trish Thompson
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
UF
UI
University of Florida
University of Illinois
Virgil Bryan
Virginia
Voley
Warren Patrick
Wayne-Densch Performing Arts Center
whiskey
White Citizens' Council
William Leffler
zoos
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/80f3e607d88a320d64598c3e159524e3.pdf
b4e544691632fb7971ca4d0e461cc58a
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
Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project Collection
Alternative Title
Lone Sailor Collection
Subject
Veterans--Florida
Orlando (Fla.)
United States. Navy
Navy
Sailors--United States
Description
Collection of digital images and oral histories related to the former Recruit Training Center Orlando (RTC Orlando) for the United States Navy. The training center transformed raw recruits into highly effective sailors. This process took place over an intensive eight-week training period, commonly referred to as "boot camp." RTC Orlando occupied roughly one half of the former Naval Training Center Orlando (NTC Orlando), which was located at present day Baldwin Park, Orlando, Florida. Between 1968 and 1994, over 650,000 men and women graduated from RTC Orlando.
Contributor
<a href="http://www.lonesailorfl.com/" target="_blank">Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project</a>
<a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/24" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Naval Training Center, Orlando, Florida
Contributing Project
<a href="http://www.lonesailorfl.com/" target="_blank">Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project</a>
<a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">About the Project</a>." UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/.
"<a href="http://cfnavyleague.org/lone-sailor/" target="_blank">The History</a>." Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project. http://cfnavyleague.org/lone-sailor/
"<a href="http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/" target="_blank">The History</a>." RTC Orlando. http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/.
<a href="http://www.lonesailorfl.com/" target="_blank"><em>A Guide to Historic Orlando</em></a>. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2006.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Weeks, Andrew Glen
Interviewee
McClendon, Doris
Location
<a href="http://www.ucf.edu" target="_blank">University of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida
Original Format
1 DVD/MP4 audio/video recording
Duration
56 minutes and 48 seconds
Bit Rate/Frequency
1200kbps
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 Doris McClendon
Alternative Title
Oral History, McClendon
Subject
Orlando (Fla.)
Legalmen (United States Navy)
Miami (Fla.)
Homestead (Fla.)
Jacksonville (Fla.)
Navy
Veterans--Florida
Description
An oral history of Doris McClendon, a former member of the U.S. Navy. This interview was conducted by Andrew Glen Weeks at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, Florida, on April 11, 2014. The interview was conducted as part of the UCF Community Veteran's History Project (CVHP) and background research for a memorial honoring the for Naval Training Center Orlando (NTC Orlando).<br /><br />McClendon attended recruit training at the NTC Orlando in 1976. At that time, the training center was the only naval facility to train both male and female recruits. In this oral history, McClendon describes her experience as a female recruit at NTC Orlando. She also talks about her role as a legalmen in the Navy. McClendon left the Navy in 1995 with the rank of E-7.
Table Of Contents
0:00:26 Biographical information<br />0:02:00 Decision to join the navy<br />0:07:59 First impressions of basic training<br />0:14:10 Family life in the Navy<br />0:18:24 Recruit training at NTC Orlando<br />0:26:03 Having children in the Navy<br />0:27:40 Memories of boot camp<br />0:30:10 Assignments following graduation<br />0:36:27 Fondest memories of the Navy<br />0:48:35 Legacy of NTC Orlando
Abstract
Oral history interview of Doris McClendon. Interview conducted by Andrew Glen Weeks at the <a href="http://www.ucf.edu" target="_blank">University of Central Florida</a> in Orlando, Florida.
Type
Moving Image
Source
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/280/rec/1" target="_blank">McClendon, Doris</a>. Interviewed by Andrew Glen Weeks. UCF Community Veterans History Project. April 11, 2014. Audio/video record available. UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, 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://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/109" target="_blank">Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project Collection</a>, UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Conforms To
Standards established by the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/vets/" target="_blank">Community Veterans History Project (CVHP)</a>, Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/vets/.
Coverage
Pine Villa Elementary School, Miami, Florida
Mays Junior High School, Goulds, Florida
South Dade Senior High School, Homestead, Florida
Naval Training Center Orlando, Orlando, Florida
Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
USS Arizona Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii
Jacksonville, Florida
Newport, Rhode Island
Norfolk, Virginia
Blue Lagoon,
Iceland
Naval Air Station Keflavik, Keflavik, Iceland
Germany
Creator
Weeks, Andrew Glen
McClendon, Doris "Dee"
Publisher
<a href="http://library.ucf.edu/UniversityArchives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries
Contributor
<a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Date Created
2014-04-11
Date Copyrighted
2014-04-11
Format
video/mp4
application/pdf
Extent
528 MB
183 KB
Medium
56-minute and 48-second DVD/MP4 audio/video recording
21-page typed transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
<p>Originally created by Andrew Glen Weeks and Doris McClendon, and published by the University of Central Florida Libraries <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/UniversityArchives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>.</p>
Rights Holder
All rights are held by the respective holding institution. This material is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. For permission to reproduce and/or for copyright information contact <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/special-collections-university-archives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries, (407) 823-2576. http://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/special-collections-university-archives/.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Curator
Barnes, Mark
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalCollections/" target="_blank">UCF Digital Collections</a>
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/special-collections-university-archives/" target="_blank">University of Central Florida, Special Collections and University Archives</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.lonesailorfl.com/" target="_blank">The History</a>." Navy Memorial of Central Florida. http://www.lonesailorfl.com/.
"<a href="http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/" target="_blank">The History</a>." RTC Orlando. http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/.
Ebbert, Jean, Marie-Beth Hall, and Edward L. Beach. <em><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/41090799" target="_blank">Crossed Currents: Navy Women in a Century of Change</a></em>. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, 1999.
Godson, Susan H. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/46791080" target="_blank"><em>Serving Proudly: A History of Women in the U.S. Navy</em></a>. Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute Press, 2001.
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.
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/280/rec/1" target="_blank">Oral History of Doris McClendon</a>
Has Format
Digital transcript of original 56-minute and 48-second oral history: <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/280/rec/1" target="_blank">McClendon, Doris</a>. Interviewed by Andrew Glen Weeks. UCF Community Veterans History Project. April 11, 2014. Audio/video record available. UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida.
Transcript
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Alright. Today is April 11th, 2014. I am interviewing Doris [“Dee”] McClendon who served in the U. S. Navy. We are interviewing Mrs. McClendon as part of the UCF [University of Central Florida] Community Veterans’ History Project and as research for the creation of the Lone Sailor Memorial Project. We are recording this interview at UCF. Will you please start off by telling us where you were born?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I was born in Miami, Florida, Andrew.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>And what year was that?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I was born in 1958.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>What did your parents do for a living?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>My dad was a laborer and my mom didn’t work so she was kind of like a stay at home mom. She did kind of odd and in things. Clean houses or you know [inaudible]. It was kind of like a—I guess you would say like a cleaning lady type of thing—but yeah. As far as a full-time job, no, she didn’t work. She stayed at home.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Do you have any siblings?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Yes. three brothers and three sisters. I am the second oldest of seven children. There are six of us now. I have a sister that passed away in 2009.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>And where did you go to school?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I went to school. Elementary school—Pine Villa Elementary School. I went to Mays Junior High School and South Dade Senior High School. All in Miami, Florida.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Did you do anything in between school and joining the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Just a summer job I worked. Obviously I was a full-time student and then for the summer, I would do odds and in things. Summer jobs, [inaudible] type of things, but my first real job was of course the military.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>And when was that?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>In [19]76.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>‘76. Why did you choose the Navy specifically?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I chose the Navy, because—and I’ll tell you the story of how I actually joined the military and I’ll never forget it. We were—I was at a high school pep rally. We actually had a Navy recruiter come to the pep rally and of course a recruiter’s job is to recruit. So he came and we were all sitting there and kind of just talking—all the kids and stuff—and he actually just walked across the stage to the podium and there was something about him that really struck me. I liked the way he presented himself. I loved the uniform. The ribbons stood out and he was selling and I bought it. I was really impressed. Of course, obviously—and I guess by the same token, it could have been the [United States] Army. But there was something about him and at that point I made the decision then to join the military. Of course, my parents supported that and that’s really how I got there.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Do you have any other family members in the service?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Yes. My brother, Michael. United States Army. My son actually is [in the] United States Army and my daughter is [in the] United States Air Force, and of course my husband United States Navy.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>All around. So, I take it your family was pretty supportive.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Absolutely. Absolutely, they were. And actually, my plan was, after I graduated high school—South Dade Senior High—my plan was to go to the University of Miami. That’s where I was actually slated to go, but that recruiter really changed my mind. I remember after his spiel, I went up to talk to him and said, “You know what? If I didn’t have plans to go to college, I would join the Navy.” And he says[sic], “Well, you have the best of both worlds. You can still do the military and still get your college degree.” And I said, “Wow. The best of both worlds.” And he said, “How would you like to go to college in Hawaii or wherever the military may send you?”</p>
<p>And I tell you what, it really came full circle. My very first assignment after basic training was Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I know. Everything just fell in place. It was meant to be. Best decision. Best decision I ever made. I ever made. So—and of course, I was still able to go to school. I worked. And of course, when military didn’t call, when I didn’t have duties or assignments there, I would go to school at night. I did have the best of both worlds.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Where did you attend basic training?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Basic training was right here at Recruit Training Command in Orlando, Florida.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>And what were you trained to do for your career in the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I made it known in the beginning, because I was always was fascinated with law. I grew up watching Perry Mason. So I grew up in shows about law and order and jag. All this stuff really fascinated me. So my plan was to go to college, get a college degree, and go to law school. So that was my plan. But since my plan was changed, I went into the military. Of course, I went in without a college degree so I started as an E[nlisted Rank]-1, but I made it known—my very first assignment—I made it known that that’s what I wanted to do after basic training and then what I did was—when I enlisted—I enlisted with guaranteed school. So I just made it known early on that that’s what I wanted.</p>
<p>It was actually after basic training—of course I went to administrative school, because you have to start there—but from there, I went to my very first assignment. Made it known that I wanted to be a paralegal or the military—they’re called legalmen. I was sent to school there. After school, that’s the career I followed and to this day, I am still doing the same thing, although retired from the military. I’m at the courthouse and I’m doing the exact same thing. Working on the second retirement so to speak.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Did you have any experiences here in Orlando before you came for training?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>No. Did I have any experiences in Orlando before I came? No. But you know what? Growing up in my household, obviously chores was[sic] not unique to me. Getting up in the morning and making my bed— that was a requirement in my household. Washing dishes, mopping the floor, all of that, none of that.</p>
<p>And of course, coming from Florida, the weather didn’t bother me, because—I know to some of the recruits, especially coming from cold climates, to come to Florida in the heat, none of that bothered me. I didn’t have any problems with recruit training. Didn’t have any problems taking orders or any of that. And that was instilled just as a child.</p>
<p>My parents, you know—they were parents. We were just taught early on to do what you’re told. Be respectful. You don’t work, you don’t eat. Obviously those types of things. Again, chores were not foreign to me. So in the military, first thing you did when you get up, you get that bunk made up and those corners better be tight. Obviously, they had to teach me how to make the corners tight. But making up my bed, I was used to doing that. To this day, I get up out of the bed, first thing I do. I made it up. It’s just instilled in me. Wonderful experience, the military was.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Tell me about your first impression arriving at training.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>My first impression of course—it was very scary. It was very scary, because here I am— I’m not under my parents’ roof. I’m under Uncle Sam’s roof. And I get off the bus, and oh my gosh—company commanders. They were just that. Company Commanders.</p>
<p>So it was a scary situation, because I arrived here, it was late, late, late in the evening and I guess just the fear of the unknown. I was scared. I was scared. But at the end of the day when it all washed up, it was all for nothing. It was all for nothing. Then, of course, lonely. Here I am, I left my mom and dad back in Miami, all my sisters and brothers. Now I’m on this bus. I just got on this bus and there’s[sic] 80 women. We’re all scared. You could tell we’re all scared. Some of them crying, some of them not. But it really worked out. It worked out. Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>What were your primary responsibilities?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>At basic training?</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Do whatever they say do. That was my primary responsibility. And of course, obviously it was very structured. We had PT—physical fitness. We had studies. So we had training time physically and we had training time mentally. So we were taught what the standing orders were. We were taught the chain of command structure. So we were taught all of that and that’s the purpose of it to prepare you for the fleet. To prepare you to walk outside the gate and be prepared to defend your country, but all along, obviously it’s a learning process.</p>
<p>You don’t learn everything in basic training. You don’t learn everything. So because basic training was six and a half to eight weeks. There is no way you’re going to learn about any military in six to eight weeks, but it was all a learning process. It’s just like with your job. You’re not going to start a job, and in six weeks, know everything there is to know. I guess some people may do that, but I didn’t pick up that quick. But it was a learning process but you’re equipped with the basics for sure.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>What was your impression of other recruits?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>You know what, Andrew? At first, I would look at them and my heart would go out to a lot of them, but we were all in the same boat. We were all scared. We all didn’t know what was going to happen. Of course, my recruiter prepared me. My recruiter didn’t tell me that, “Okay, Dee. When you get off the bus, there will be a red carpet there and they’re going to walk you down the carpet. They’re gonna lead you to the…” So my recruiter didn’t tell me that. I was prepared to be broken down individually and be raised up with the team, with the unit.</p>
<p>So when I got off that bus, it was all about Dee, but when I left, I wasn’t that way. It was about that person in that bunk next to me who would probably have to defend my back one day. So it was all about that. So I realized the purpose was to break you down individually so it’s not about self. A lot of soldiers and sailors are depending on you to know your job and they’re depending on you. You know, as far as support goes. So I did take a look at a lot of the recruits and we were all scared but, by the end of that basic training, who would have known? Who would have known? Yeah and a lot of those—we’re best friends today. A lot of those contacts, I still have them in my address book and we’re very good friends to this day. We just kept in contact.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Wow. Was there any kind of social life on base then?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Yes. There was. Now, in basic training, there was no social life. You didn’t have any time for anything. So, no. No social life in basic training, because it was all about preparation, preparation, preparation. You lived for mail call—to get a letter from home. You lived for that. But no there was no social life whatsoever. That didn’t begin.</p>
<p>Actually for me, there was no social life actually as I got more acclimated and knowing my duties. Of course, every duty station was a different assignment. It was a different location, different people, different bosses, different staff, but eventually, as you get more comfortable—I started to get more comfortable as years progressed, of course. After basic training, my very first duty station as an E-1. I made number one and I’m looking at my boss who has all these stripes on his arm. I’m scared half to death. I’m scared half to death. But all of that was for nothing. Met the best people and the support that you get is just—I can’t even begin to explain it.</p>
<p>But yeah. social life didn’t begin until after I had had some years under my belt, because I spent all my time studying, because my goal was—and I knew in basic training that I was going to retire. I just knew it and my goal was, <em>Dee, while you’re here, we should make this work for you. You wanted to go to school. You’re gonna go to school.</em> And I was able to do everything. All my goals. I was able to do everything that I had on my list. I knew I was gonna retire day one. I was scared to death, but I knew. I woke up that next morning and said, you know what, I’ll be here for 20 years. I will.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Wow.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Mmhmm. I was just that comfortable with that. I’ve never regretted the decision. I’ve never woken up and said, <em>Oh my gosh. Why did I do this?</em></p>
<p>And there have been times where, you know, I’ve had to leave my kids and when what I was saying—I was just so fortunate that—I mean, I eventually married the love of my life who’s also in the military. And back then, we were just fortunate enough that we were never ever away at the same time. So it was always one of us home. Either he was TAD—temporary additional duty—or I was. It just worked out that we were never gone at the same time. I know it’s not like that anymore, but it was when I was there. We were just blessed and fortunate that there was always one of us there, because eventually—my kids who are now in the military.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>When did you meet your husband?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I met my husband in ‘78. And I met my husband at the very first duty station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I was in Hawaii. Met him in Hawaii and it’s what? Thirty something years later?</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Did you know?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>No. No. [<em>laughs</em>] No. No. No, I didn’t know that. I was saying—no. I didn’t know that. But anyway—but yeah I met him and we’ve been together ever since. That I didn’t know. But, yeah everything was further down. I’ve been truly blessed.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Tell me what your instructors were like during basic training.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>We had, of course—I had female instructors, but we trained together. We trained—I was in an integrated company so males and females—we trained together. Although their job was to be rough and tough, which they fulfilled. And I think they went a little overboard, which they fulfilled, but of course their job wasn’t for me to like them. wasn’t for any of us to like them. Their job was to give us orders and for us to make sure that we carry them around and they are the ones that prepared me. That’s the only contact that you have—your company commander.</p>
<p>So a lot of responsibilities are placed on that person and their job is to prepare you for the fleet. Obviously, when we screwed up—you betcha. But when once a person screwed up, “Oh, it wasn’t Dee.” It wasn’t one person screwin’ up. It was the entire company. If one failed, you all failed. So, no. It’s not one person, it’s the company. So it behooved you to get it right or, if you messed it up the first time, trust me, you won’t make that same mistake again. You won’t make that same mistake again. It was never one person and my company commanders.</p>
<p>And of course, at the time I would say no. I didn’t like them. Didn’t care for them. Of course, obviously, orders were barked at you. That didn’t bother me, because I told you, my household—my parents didn’t, as they say, play the radio. But I realized early on what the big plan was. I realized early on what the goal was. what their job was. I never took any of it personally, because you could—oh my gosh—because again, and I say I think the purpose was to tear you down individually so you’re not thinking about yourself and you’ll get back up as a unit. There were 80 females in my unit. Can you imagine what we all thought of ourselves? On my gosh. Can you imagine that would have been? Mmm mmm. Before it was over, I thought of my shipmates. I put them first even before me. I’ll tell you what. We got there, we would eye each other and kind of size each other up. On day one, you’re talking about some crying. When that was over, when basic training was over and we each parted our ways, some of us met again in another place. Some of them, I’ve never seen since, but I always remembered them</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>What was a basic day like?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>A basic day was like—obviously we would have—we would get up early in the morning., and when I say early, I’m talkin’ four o’clock. It would be like four o’clock in the morning to get up, because obviously we have to be prepared and be standing at attention in line ready for inspection when our company commanders got there. So you figure that’s a company of 80 girls. So we all got in, got showered, got to change. When they say “military showered” —got to change. When they say “military showers”—two-three minutes. Because there’s[sic] 80 girls that got to get in and get ready. And then get ready, stand in line. If we know the company commander’s gonna be there at eight o’clock , you best be there standing in that line in front of your bunk ready for personal inspection. Ready for your bunk inspection and that was first thing in the morning.</p>
<p>Obviously everyday consisted of PT [physical fitness] on the grinder, which they called “the field. “Every morning consisted of calisthenics PT. After PT, there would be breakfast and it just depends on which week we were in, because—believe it or not—there was week one. There was a schedule. Week one, week two, three, four. Of course, obviously, early on, we would see company commanders on the weekend, but as you got more—as the weeks went by, you would start to see them less and less, because then at that point, we didn’t need them as much as we did in the beginning.</p>
<p>But of course, weekends—normally Saturdays—we would have to ourselves. Later on, not in the beginning—Sundays—it was up to you. There was[sic] church services. You could pick what church service you want to go to. Go to church services. I think everybody went to church. Everybody would be there. We’d would be huggin’ and cryin’ and—“Lord, when is this gonna be over? When is this gonna be over?” And then, what I loved about it is the company that sat in front, that was your last week. So your goal was to make it to the very front of that church, because you know that that’s the company that’s gonna be graduating that weekend. So that was your last week.</p>
<p>And so there was a schedule and company commanders set a schedule—week one through week eight. But it was definitely calisthenics every day. Definitely there were studies every day. Then of course, we did have time for ourselves. Not a lot. Not a lot in the beginning, but like I said, you live to get that letter from home. We had time to write letters and then normally that would be on your downtime. And again, in the beginning, there wasn’t a lot of downtime, because the object is to get that mind trained while it’s fresh. But toward the end, there was a lot of downtime.</p>
<p>As you got closer to graduating, you would have a weekend where you could do whatever you want. I remember going to [Walt] Disney [World] and all of that. I wish I had been to Disney before, because I was born and raised in Florida—in Miami. So I had gone to Universal [Studios Orlando]. I had gone to Disney. And actually, we did that on our senior trip—on our senior trip in high school. By the time you get to week five, you’re—oh, like it’s pretty much downhill now. <em>Oh, I got this. I got this. Yeah.</em> You know how you’re doing academically and obviously you have to pass tests.</p>
<p>And even today, there’s physical fitness tests. You gotta be—I’m not sure what the standards are now. It’s your different age group. Obviously a 19-year-old should be able to run a mile in less time than a 40-year-old so depending on your age, the standards were different, but there is a physical fitness standard in the military. All branches. You gotta be physically fit. I mean, you know, you can’t be tryin’ to get up a hill carrying whatever you need to carry and be all out of breath. That’s not gonna work. So, that’s not gonna work. Even today, you gotta look sharp in that uniform.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Was it difficult for you at all?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>No.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>No?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Not at all. No. I had no problem with the physical fitness portion. Now, I will admit I wasn’t used to getting up at three-four o’clock in the morning going out there doing—on the grinder doing military sit-ups and mountain climbers and all of that. So I wasn’t used to doing that, but you conform. But no, it wasn’t a problem. No. It wasn’t a problem, because I was very—even in high school—I was very athletic and so that didn’t bother me. None of that did.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>You mention that you lived for the letters—letter day.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Oh, letter day. yes.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Who would you write letters to and who would you get letters from?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I’d get letters of course from my parents, my sisters and brothers. “Oh, I miss you guys. I miss you.” And I’m like, “Well, you weren’t telling me that when I was there.” Then of course, I was the oldest girl. My siblings looked up to me. I had one brother older than I am, but I think there is something special about being the oldest daughter. Of course, when I left—and I say even my baby brother—I just think, <em>Oh my gosh.</em> I think he thought I was his mom for a little while, because he’s a lot younger than I am. But it was like, “Oh my gosh. Our sister is gone.” That was the first time that family was detached.</p>
<p>So I was the first one to leave home. And I’ll tell you what, when that recruiter came to pick me up to take me to the train station, and—from my parents’ house to the end of the walkway to the car was his car—the recruiting car—that was the longest step. Oh my gosh. I thought I would never—and maybe I was just walking real slow[sic]. I don’t know what it was. I said that was the longest driveway. I just looked at the car like I was gonna never get there. And obviously I know it was all mentally now. Just the fear of—was all ready to go, ready to go, ready to go. But when the day actually came—because I looked back, my mom was crying. I said I can’t look back, because if she’s crying, she’s gonna start me. Because obviously, I was going to miss my family. That’s with anything. That’s with anything. Even if I had gone off to college, I would have still had the same feeling, because I’m gonna miss them. I’m gonna miss them. I didn’t tell my siblings that often, but yeah. I was gonna miss them.</p>
<p>But yeah. We lived for letter day. We had time to write letters so I would just catch up, see how things were going, and we would just do it through letters. There were opportunities that we would do phone calls and when I went in—I mean, I was able to call my parents. I don’t know whether it’s like that anymore, but I was able to call just to let them know—do what we call a “well visit” or a “well phone call” or whatever they call it today, just to let your loved ones know that you made it safely and you’re here. And to tell them that, “Okay. now just so you know, don’t be expecting letters every day. Don’t be expecting phone calls, because we’re here now and I just wanted to let you know that we are safe and we made it safely. Now, the fun begins.” So yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>But anyways—and I am hopeful they still do that, but I don’t know. Well, yeah. Because I know my son called me. My son—my older son grew up and went into the Army. It was a couple days later, but he did call me to let me know that he was there. So I understood all of that, because I lived it. Because I know one of the questions—a friend of mine—“Oh my gosh. Your children are going into the military. How can you stand it? Oh my gosh. You’re gonna let him go?” And I say, “Well, it’s going to be his decision just like it was mine. My parents supported me and I’m going to support him.” I mean I lived it so I know.</p>
<p>When my daughter, who is stationed in San Antonio, Texas—United States Air Force—when she calls, I can relate. You know, my son, who is in the Army stationed in Germany—I can relate. Me and my husband—we can relate, because we’ve lived it. I supported their decision. Didn’t realize they were going in the military though. Being raised in the military though. Being raised in the military, I thought, <em>Oh my gosh. That’s they last thing that they would do.</em> But they went in. Out of three children, two of them went into the military.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>You mentioned the grinder earlier. Tell me about the grinder.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Alright. the grinder is just a field. Imagine—all it is—that’s what they call it in the military. The grinder is just a—it’s similar to—just imagine a basketball court with no goals. All it is just a slate of concrete. It’s all mapped out, because a lot of the time you’re doing different exercises on there but the grinder—you do your calisthenics on there. As you start getting closer to graduation, you do your formations on there. You have to practice different formations. It’s really big. Each company—you could have—oh my gosh—quite a few companies out there practicing formations and the formations they issue, you gotta be able to line up properly. There’s a flag bearer in the front with the flag and you got to be able to position that right, carry that right, you got to be able to line up and there was a whole bunch of different things we used to and that’s all that is. It’s just a big field with no grass. All I guess concrete. In the military, they called it a “grinder”. So what that came from, what that name comes from, I don’t know. I’m sure there’s a reason.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>So what did it feel like to finally graduate?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Mixed feelings. Believe it or not, I cried. I really did. I cried. Because I knew there was going to be some relationships that would probably—some of my friends that I would probably never see again. I was definitely ecstatic. Definitely happy that it was over. Then—<em>Oh my gosh. I did it. Oh, I did it. I did it. I did it.</em> Then, at the same time, I was sad, because, believe it or not, those company commanders who got on my last nerve—I was gonna miss them, because that was it. That was your family. You’d be surprised how closely you could bond. So our company commanders, boy, were we gonna miss them. I think everybody cried. Even our company commanders. Those two harsh, tough company commanders—you just saw a different side of them. You saw a different side of them. So yeah. it was happiness and sadness. When they put the orders in your hand for that next assignment, and you’re like, I’m never gonna see them again. We’re never gonna wake up together again. we’re never gonna sit there. Because, believe it or not, I had 80 sisters. And although that sounds—oh my gosh—80 sisters? How’d I even deal with three? Now I’ve got 80. So it was like leaving 80 of my family members.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Tell me about your first assignment.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>My very first assignment—after basic training, I went to school. And my very first assignment was Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I think I told you that. That was my very first assignment. I worked in a legal office. I was at Fleet Training Group in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. So what I used to do is—I had to take a little small boat— that’s what they called it—similar to like a little dinky, I guess—little small boat. And every morning, because I worked on an island, a little boat would take me to [inaudible] island. And every morning I would pass the [U.S.S.] <em>Arizona</em> Memorial. We would pass it every morning and I would look down and it seemed like I could see the bubbles. You could still see down there. I took that little boat to work every morning and I was there for three years I think.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks <br /></strong>What did you do?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I worked in the administrative field and they put me in a law office, because I made it known in the beginning that that’s what I wanted to do. Remember the female Perry Mason part? Yeah. So I made it known early on that’s what I wanted to do. but being a legalman or a paralegal, you had to be an E-5 in order to be able to convert to that rank. But one of the requirements before you could do this—you had to have an administrative background.</p>
<p>So after basic training I actually went to school in Meridian, Mississippi—Yeoman A School. And from there, I went to my very first assignment, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. And I made it known then that that’s what I wanted to be. You know what? Every assignment that I had was always in a law office. I mean, you hear stories—you got to do your duties and work in the galley, peel potatoes, and swab the decks—and I guess I was put in a position where I was always needed—the services were always needed. They were always shorthanded so even as an E-1, I was in a legal office. So I never got a chance to enjoy that—the swabbing the deck and peeling the potatoes and the galley and all the other stuff you hear. I never did any of that but it all worked out just the same. Always in a law office, every duty station, every assignment.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Where did you go from Hawaii?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>From Pearl Harbor, Hawaii—I’m trying to think here. I left Hawaii and I went to Jacksonville. I went to AIMD—Aircraft Intermediate Makers Department—in Jacksonville, Florida. There I worked in an administrative office, as well. I worked in the admin office there as well. Of course, it was an aircraft intermediate maintenance department, so I worked in an admin office where there was nothing but hangars with planes. That’s what they did—kind of just fix the planes. My job was, of course, obviously to process paperwork, make sure the records are processed, those types of things.</p>
<p>From Jacksonville, Florida, I went to—because like I said, you had to be in an administrative field, you had to be an E-5. So as soon as I made E-5, I went to legalman school or paralegal school. and, from that point on, my rate changed, because I was an administrative yeoman and my rate changed to legalmen. All along, even as a yeoman, I was always in an office. So I went to Legalmen A School in Newport, Rhode Island. I left there gone to my first assignment as a paralegal.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>How long were you there?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>My school in Newport, Rhode Island?</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>My school was four or five months. Four or five intense months. One thing too, —it’s like any other specialty or any other job, even in the military, you’re constantly training, because the law changes all the time and a lot of your opinion on what you’re doing, even as a civilian—a lot of times you’re required to, even as a civilian, you are—a lot of times you’re required to maintain your certification so you’re required to—as things change, you go to different schools to learn what the new changes are. That’s the same in the military no matter what your job is. Every time there’s a change, there’s[sic] different schools you go to, to learn the new equipment or learn the new structure or what.</p>
<p>So after [inaudible] school in Newport, Rhode Island—then, I left Newport, Rhode Island and I went to my very first assignment as a paralegal. I think that was in Norfolk, Virginia. So from then on—that was all in Norfolk, Virginia. Of course, I worked for the Navy Marine Corps Trial Judiciary. It was myself and another senior chief. We were staffed for at that time eight JAGs [Judge Advocate Generals]—eight judges—military judges. Our job was to do their scheduling. Get their scheduling done, set hearings. Whatever it was that day. And that’s what we did. Hearings, hearings, courts, trials. It was actually trials. At that time, I was there, there were eight jags.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Did you enjoy that?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Oh, yes. I did. I did. I did. I’ve always been fortunate enough to be around good people. In the military and outside the military, and even now, I work for a good group of people.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks <br /></strong>When you think about your experiences, what would you say, if you could, your fondest memory of your time in the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>My fondest memory of my time in the Navy—of course, obviously graduation. Graduation from boot camp is one of them. Actually, you know what? I really can’t pinpoint any one thing. I loved all my assignments. I enjoyed it. I made every assignment work. Obviously, I been[sic]—early on, you go where the needs of the military are. You don’t have a choice of where you go, so you go where they send you and I look at it this way: Had it not been for the military, I probably never would have saw[sic] Hawaii. Absolutely. I probably wouldn’t have saw[sic] it. All the places that I’ve traveled—had it not been for the military, I probably never would have had the opportunity to see that. So I loved all the travels. I enjoyed all the people that I met. My assignments—I loved that. I would think that to come full circle, graduating from basic training and then retiring. All the stuff in between was just gravy, I think. I think that was my—the very first fond memory definitely was graduating basic training. <em>Dee, you made it. You made it.</em></p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>I want to ask you about the Naval Training Center [Orlando] a little bit. Were there ever business that would come there—family members, outsiders?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>At the Naval Training Center?</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I’m sure there was. Now, I was here in Orlando at the Naval Training Center, but I worked at recruit training command. The base was broken up into two sections. On one side of the base was recruit training command where the recruits trained. Then the other side was the actual training center, which obviously, you didn’t have recruits on that side. I’m sure there was[sic] over where I was and I was on the recruit training side. The only time visitors were there was when you were close to graduating and you could have your family members—you know, you’re getting ready to pass—review for your graduation. You could have visitors. I remember when I was in, I never saw any visitors. Half the time I was scared to death anyway. On the recruit training side, no. There was[sic] no family member visitors if that’s what you’re saying, but once you’re graduated—and that’s the thing—two totally separate things: basic training is one thing.</p>
<p>But once you graduate, to me, it was a regular job. Obviously there were restrictions and there were extra things. In other words, I was required to stay on duty. I was required—if they needed me to go on assignment, I was there. Other than that, when I wasn’t working, that was my free time. So it’s that the military had hostage over me. It wasn’t anything like that. It was a regular assignment. Whatever my work schedule was, I would do my work schedule. When I’m off work, I’m off work. Obviously though, you’re in the military 24 hours a day. And you should carry yourself that way, because when you’re out there, people don’t say, “Oh, look at Dee.” They say, “Oh my gosh. She’s in the Navy? She’s out there doing that.” So, they don’t see that. They don’t see you. They see the military. “That’s how they act in the military?” So you’re always in the military, 24 hours a day while you’re in it and you’re representing your country the entire time that you’re in, but your free time is your free time. It was just like a regular job to me.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>So did you travel off base a lot?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Yes I did. I traveled off base a lot. For my first years, I lived on base. The weekends was[sic] mine. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii—that was my very first assignment. When I wasn’t working, I was out at the beach at [inaudible] and all those other ones. And I would see things, go to the beach. Oh, yeah. I used that opportunity to see things, because I probably would have never saw it but you know what, you never know. But I couldn’t imagine I’d be going to Hawaii had it not been for the military. Only because that probably been the furthest thing—that wouldn’t have been on my bucket list. Let me put it that way. Probably wouldn’t have been on my bucket list, so I probably wouldn’t have made it there. But yes. My free time—I would do traveling.</p>
<p>Then, we were in Iceland and my free time—of course, we had a few Icelandic friends who would take us to see Blue Lagoon and here it is. it’s freezing. Snow is on the ground, but you’re in the water and it’s just this warm and the vapors are coming up. Different things—I wouldn’t have had any thoughts of going to Iceland. See, I would never think of going to Iceland, but I was there two—for another year. My husband and I—our child. We had a son born there.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>In Iceland?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>In Iceland. yeah. I had a son born in Iceland who has dual citizenship, but I never would have saw Iceland had it not been for the military. Never would have saw Germany had it not been for the military. I mean it wasn’t on my list. <em>Okay, Dee, you must go to Iceland. You must go to Germany.</em> That would have never been on my list. I don’t think.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>What was your favorite place that you traveled?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I loved Germany. I loved Germany. I think at the time I traveled there, I had a brother stationed there. so I was able to see some things. He took us on tours. We were able to see the castles and all the old artifacts. So I loved Germany. Germany and Iceland was[sic] my favorite. Germany and Iceland was[sic] my favorite.</p>
<p>Even though I wouldn’t say that when I first got to Iceland. I tell you, it’s so cold there you can barely see your hand in front of your face. I mean they have what they call “white outs.” It is so—I mean, the snow and everything and the wind is blowing. You can’t even see your hand in front of your face. That’s how cold it is. I got off the plane and my sponsor was waiting there for me with a big parka. It looked like an Eskimo parka with a hood and the fur. That thing must have weighed ten pounds. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed Iceland, as well. And I enjoyed Germany. But you know what? I just enjoyed—I made the best of every place that I was at.</p>
<p>We did a tour in Key West[, Florida]. I hated to go there, but somebody had to do it. We did a tour in Key West, but you know what? When the military said, “This is where you’re going.” The first thing I do is—<em>Okay, Dee. What’s unique about this place? That’s what you want to see. You’re gonna be there. Make it work for you. </em>So that’s what I did. Well, just in case I never get back again, I’m gonna make sure I see this, this, this, this, when I can. So that’s what I did. I just viewed it differently. I didn’t view it like, Oh gosh, I don’t want to go there. No. I didn’t view it that way. I said, <em>You know what?</em> I just view it as another opportunity that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Did other people have that same kind of mindset?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>And you know what? I don’t think so. You talk to people and I just believe that you like it or you don’t. It’s probably not appealing to a lot of people. Every two or three years you’re picking up. I mean every two-three years you’re just getting settled. Now you’re picking up and moving to another assignment. Oh my gosh. Now you’re going to some place where perhaps you may not even speak the language. It could be a country—a foreign country in Italy or some place. Or it could be a place they’re sending you where your language is not the dominant language. Now, if you have a family—oh my gosh. I just got my kids settled or now. I’m just in school myself. Now it’s time for me to transfer.</p>
<p>I just believe that you either like it or you don’t. For some people it works. For some people it’s not their cup of tea. Some people say, “You know what? Let me just try it.” At the end of that term, “You know, I don’t think that was for me, but I wanted to just give it a shot.” It just depends. I think that’s the main thing. Even in the civilian sector—I mean, you walk into a job now, either you like it or you don’t. <em>You know what? Let me just stay here until something else better comes along.</em> You either like it or you don’t or you make it work for you. <em>You know what? I like it. My job is to be there. Whatever I’m gonna do is whatever I need to do. If I need more schooling, if I need community service, I’m going to walk in with where I want to be in that company and you just start and you work toward a better</em> [inaudible]. Again, like I said, you talk to some people and they don’t like it. I just think it’s different for everybody.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>You mentioned that your son was born in Iceland. How did the birth of your son change your time in the military?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>You know what? It didn’t. When we got there—actually, I was pregnant with the child when we got there. My son was born probably about maybe three-four months after I had gotten there. We enjoyed Iceland. Our original tour was only for two years and we enjoyed it so we asked for a year extension. I enjoyed Iceland, in addition to seeing some of the other countries. You know, I like the Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland.</p>
<p>At the time when I was in, you lived aboard what they call the greeting area. Everybody lived on base. You’re not allowed to live off base. Of course, just the closeness and the comradery between the sailors was very good, because we were all there together. For me, we had an added benefit, because my boss at the time working at the Naval Legal Services Detachment at the time. His wife was Icelandic, so we got to go to places that we probably would never have gotten to go, because we just don’t know the country. We just don’t know the country, so I really enjoyed that. We just wanted to stay an additional year and it would have been nice and I probably would have stayed a little longer, but, I mean, career-wise, I think it was just time to move. I didn’t want to stay dormant in one place too long.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>One thing that we ask everyone who has been to the Naval Training Center is what do you think its lasting legacy in Central Florida is?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>I think the lasting legacy is—and I’m just going to speak toward when I was there. I think one of legacies is going to be—that’s the only facility where men and women train together. That’s what I remember. The men and the women trained together—one of the first bases to have integrated companies. Nowhere else did they ever do that. They didn’t do it in California. They didn’t do it in Great Lakes. We trained together, which made sense to me. We’re going to fight together, so why can’t we train together? I think that’s one of the lasting legacies.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Why do you think other training centers didn’t allow women?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>You know what? That’s a good question. I don’t know, because the only other centers were out in California and Great Lakes. Maybe harassment? “Oh my gosh. Men and women can’t train together. Oh, what would that do?” I never knew the reasoning behind that. If a war broke out, men are not going to be on this side and women on this side. We’re all going to be together. That’s the legacy that I remember.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>What do you think visitors would like to see or be reminded of when they visit the site of the base?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>What they would like to see?</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>When they revisit the base here? You know what? What I miss is the [USS] <em>Blue Jacket</em>. I miss the <em>Blue Jacket</em>. I really do miss the <em>Blue Jacket</em>. Of course, we got a tour there. I missed the bear. We had some beautiful compounds, but I really do miss the <em>Blue Jacket</em>. Even now, when I go down that street—there’s a park down there—when I go down that street to go to the VA [Veterans Health Administration] hospital for my appointments, I always look over there. I look over there and I’m like, <em>Oh my gosh. I remember that. I remember the tour.</em></p>
<p>Everybody gets the tour that comes at basic training, because obviously—Navy—you go to sea. You’re on the boat and it’s a replica. It’s exactly how it looks. It’s exactly how it looks. So you get to go down those hatches—those itty bitty small hatches that you can barely fit in. You go down those hatches—the bells. Permission to come ashore. permission to come aboard. You do all of that. It’s a true replica. They train you exactly the way it is in the military. The way it is once you leave those gates. They really prepare you for the outside. Now whether you chose to use that or not it’s really up to you but they prepare you. They really do. I can only speak for my two company commanders. They do an excellent job at preparing us for the fleet.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Tell me about when you were getting ready to leave the Navy.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>When I was getting ready to leave the Navy, of course—mixed emotions. Of course, it was the only thing I knew and actually even after I retired, I was looking at different high schools trying to get on as NJROTC [Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps] instructors. It was a really big adjustment for me, because that was the only thing that I knew and it was so totally different in the civilian world.</p>
<p>Number one: now there’s no uniform now. Just to hang the uniform up was a big adjustment for me, because for years, every morning I didn’t have to decide what shoes go with what. I knew it was going to be the black boondockers. Okay. you’re going to put on your whites or your blues. So just to not get up to put the uniform on was a big adjustment. It was really an adjustment period for me.</p>
<p>I tried for years to get back on. Obviously, on retirement, I couldn’t come back in. Even now—I’m too old now—but if they called me and said, “Dee, we need you.” I’d be just—“Let me get my sea bag ready. I’m ready.” They wouldn’t do that now. I’m just too old now to go back in.</p>
<p>But yeah. it was a big adjustment. Retirement was bittersweet. It really was bittersweet. Number one—<em>Oh, Dee. what are you going to do? Put us under—put to the side everything that you’ve known for all these years. Now you’re going to embark on something different.</em> Just the thought of, <em>Oh my gosh. Now I have to go on an interview. How do I interview? What do you wear to an interview? What do you wear to an interview?</em> Just the thought of having to look for a job, that was kind of scary. Once you get through all of that, it all worked out. Walked into a job and it’s been there ever since. It was bittersweet. Bitter, because it kind of left a bitter taste in my mouth, because I was walking away from everything that I knew. And sweet, because now you get a chance to live the rest of your life. You dedicated the first portion to the military. Now you get a chance to build the rest of your life. Whatever that entailed. I knew I’m going to work in somebody’s legal office, because that’s all I knew how to do and that’s what I enjoy. So why change what works for you?</p>
<p><strong>Weeks</strong>If it ain’t broke…</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>Absolutely. [<em>laughs</em>] Absolutely. It was just bittersweet and to this day, do I miss it? Yeah. I still do and I’ve been retired for a while and I still miss it.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>What’s the most valuable thing the Navy taught you?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>That I can do whatever I set my mind to do. That I can do whatever I set my mind to do. It’s pretty much—and I will say military—although the military has taught me that, I think that really stems back just from my parents, my childhood. They encouraged all of their kids. You know what? If you can see it, you can do it. You can see it, you can do it. You can dream it, you can do it. That’s what I try to do to my children. Now, if you see that right there, that means you can aim for it. It’s right in your path. go for it. If you can see it, you can do it. I believe that.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks<br /></strong>Is there anything else you would like to add that I didn’t ask you about?</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>No. I think we pretty much covered everything. Such a wonderful interviewer and you did a wonderful job. No, there’s nothing I would like to add.</p>
<p><strong>Weeks <br /></strong>Well, thank you so much.</p>
<p><strong>McClendon<br /></strong>You’re very welcome.</p>
administrative schools
administrative yeoman
administrative yeomans
African Americans
AIMD
Aircraft Intermediate Makers Department
basic training
Blue Lagoon
boot camps
calisthenics
Community Veterans History Project
Company Commanders
CVHP
E-1
E-5
Enlisted Rank 1
Enlisted Rank 5
Fleet Training Group
Germany
Goulds
Grinder
Homestead
Honolulu, Hawaii
Jacksonville
JAG Corps
JROTC
Judge Advocate General's Corps
Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps
Keflavík, Iceland
legal assistants
legalman
legalmen
Legalmen A School
Lone Sailor Memorial Committee
Lone Sailor Memorial Project
mail calls
Mason, Perry
Mays Junior High School
McClendon, Dee
McClendon, Doris
Miami
NAS Keflavík
Naval Air Depot Jacksonville
Naval Air Station Keflavík
Naval Legal Services Detachment
Naval Station Key West
Naval Station Newport
Naval Station Norfolk
Naval Station Pearl Harbor
Naval Training Center Orlando
Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps
Navy Marine Corps Trial Judiciary
Navy Memorial of Central Florida
Newport, Rhode Island
NJROTC
Norfolk, Virginia
NTC Orlando
orlando
paralegals
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
physical fitness
Pine Villa Elementary School
recruit training
Recruit Training Command
recruiters
Rhode Island
San Antonio, Texas
South Dade Senior High School
TAD
temporary additional duty
U. S. Air Force
U.S. Army
U.S. Navy
UCF
UM
Uncle Sam
University of Central Florida
University of Miami
USS Arizona
USS Arizona Memorial
USS Bluejacket
VA
VA hospital
veterans
Veterans Health Administration
Virginia
Weeks, Andrew Glen
yeoman school
yeoman schools
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/10f90dbd143c3fd155b1f26de5d9bfce.pdf
0a0092d9e0a2fc001530ae5cb69bf606
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
Central Florida Railroad Depots Collection
Alternative Title
Central Florida Railroad Depots Collection
Subject
Railroad depots
Railroad stations--Florida
Railroads--Florida
Apopka (Fla.)
Orlando (Fla.)
Ocala (Fla.)
Port Orange (Fla.)
Lake Wales (Fla.)
Avon Park (Fla.)
Mount Dora (Fla.)
Punta Gorda (Fla.)
Sanford (Fla.)
Kissimmee (Fla.)
Oviedo (Fla.)
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Description
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the various railroad depots and railroad stations in Central Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around.
Contributor
Bronson, Kelly
Campbell, Tyler
Clemente, Chris
Connolly, Lehman
Covington, Adrian
Gray, Mark
Lester, Connie L.
Mercado, Carlos R.
Moore, Samantha
Santos, Marina
Simons, Nicholas
Smalls, Eric
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/77" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Coverage
Amtrak Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Station, Orlando, Florida
Apopka Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot, Apopka, Florida
Avon Park Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida
Avon Park Seaboard Air Line Depot, Avon Park, Florida
Avon Park Atlantic Coast Line Train Station, Avon Park, Florida
Church Street Station, Orlando, Florida
Fort Pierce Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot, Fort Pierce, Florida
Fort Pierce Florida East Coast Railway Company Depot, Fort Pierce, Florida
Kissimmee Railroad Station, Kissimmee, Florida
Lake Wales Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot, Lake Wales, Florida
Lake Wales Depot Museum, Lake Wales, Florida
Mount Dora Train Station, Mount Dora, Florida
Ocala Union Station, Ocala, Florida
Orlando Railroad Depot, Orlando, Florida
Oviedo Train Depot, Oviedo, Florida
Port Orange Train Station, Port Orange, Florida
Punta Gorda Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot, Punta Gorda, Florida
Sanford Atlantic Coast Line Depot, Sanford, Florida
Sanford South Florida Railroad, Sanford, Florida
St. Lucie County Regional History Center, Fort Pierce, Florida
Contributing Project
<a href="http://history.cah.ucf.edu/staff.php?id=525" target="_blank">Dr. Connie L. Lester</a>'s American Economic History Undergraduate Class, Spring 2014
External Reference
Mulligan, Michael. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/225874809" target="_blank"><em>Railroad Depots of Central Florida</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2008.
Turner, Gregg M. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/184906141" target="_blank"><em>A Journey into Florida Railroad History</em></a>. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2008.
Murdock, R. Ken. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38291666" target="_blank"><em>Outline History of Central Florida Railroads</em></a>. Winter Garden, Fla: Central Florida Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, 1997.
"<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/items/show/2477" target="_blank">RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Episode 25: The Railways of Central Florida</a>." RICHES of Central Florida. https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/items/show/2477.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Cravero, Geoffrey
Interviewee
McFarland, Warren
Bit Rate/Frequency
574kbps
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 Warren McFarland
Alternative Title
Oral History, McFarland
Subject
Orlando (Fla.)
Avon Park (Fla.)
Telegraph
Railroads--Florida
Description
An oral history interview of Warren McFarland, a telegrapher, train dispatcher, railroad station agent, grocery clerk, Railroad Safety and Service Agent, Assistant Regional Director and Regional Manager for the Interstate Commerce Commission, and Director of the Office of Compliance and Consumer Assistance. The interview was conducted by Geoffrey Cravero at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, on January 28, 2016. Some of the interview topics covered include McFarland’s early years and formative experiences, his family life, growing up as the son of a railroad station agent and telegrapher in a railroad depot, World War II, railroad work and telegraphy in his time versus his father’s time, his first job as a grocery clerk, the “extra board” and railroad seniority, working for the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, the Morse Telegraph Club, female telegraphers, American Morse Code versus International Morse Code, acquiring a piece of the first transcontinental telegraph line, train dispatching, overcoming communication limits, an explanation of telegrapher’s paralysis, and Guglielmo Marconi’s contributions to wireless telegraphy.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br />0:01:59 Family life<br />0:04:45 Growing up in a railroad depot and World War II<br />0:07:34 Railroad work and telegraphy in father’s time<br />0:09:38 First job as a grocery clerk, the “extra board” and railroad seniority<br />0:11:45 Interstate Commerce Commission<br />0:17:22 Morse Telegraph Club<br />0:26:12 First transcontinental telegraph line<br />0:23:17 Train dispatching and overcoming communication limits<br />0:28:39 Telegraphy demonstration<br />0:35:23 Guglielmo Marconi and wireless telegraphy
Abstract
Oral history interview of Warren McFarland Interview conducted by Geoffrey Cravero at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida.
Type
Moving Image
Source
McFarland, Warren. Interviewed by Geoffrey Cravero. Audio/video record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, 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
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/97" target="_blank">Central Florida Railroad Depots Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Has Format
Digital transcript of original 35-minute and 41-second oral history: McFarland, Warren. Interviewed by Geoffrey Cravero. Audio/video record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida.
Coverage
Ohio
Avon Park Atlantic Coast Line Train Station, Avon Park, Florida
Ocala Union Station, Ocala, Florida
Chicago, Illinois
Atlanta, Georgia
San Francisco, California
Frances Perkins Building, Washington, D.C.
Golden Spike National Historic Site, Brigham City, Utah
Creator
McFarland, Warren
Cravero, Geoffrey
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Date Created
2016-01-28
Date Copyrighted
2016-01-28
Format
video/mp4
application/pdf
Extent
197 MB
Medium
35-minute and 41-second audio/video recording
14-page digital transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Economics Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Warren McFarland and Geoffrey Cravero 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
Curator
Cravero, Geoffrey
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
Mulligan, Michael. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/225874809" target="_blank"><em>Railroad Depots of Central Florida</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2008.
Turner, Gregg M. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/184906141" target="_blank"><em>A Journey into Florida Railroad History</em></a>. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2008.
Murdock, R. Ken. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38291666" target="_blank"><em>Outline History of Central Florida Railroads</em></a>. Winter Garden, Fla: Central Florida Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, 1997.
"<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/items/show/2477" target="_blank">RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Episode 25: The Railways of Central Florida</a>." RICHES of Central Florida. https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/items/show/2477.
Coe, Lewis. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25509648" target="_blank"><em>The Telegraph: A History of Morse's Invention and Its Predecessors in the United States</em></a>. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1993.
Stone, Richard D. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/23649628" target="_blank"><em>The Interstate Commerce Commission and the Railroad Industry: A History of Regulatory Policy. New York: Praeger, 1991</em></a>.
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<a href="https://youtu.be/bzVlSEHnEaI" target="_blank">Oral History of Warren McFarland</a>
Transcript
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>Today is Thursday, January 28<sup>th</sup>, 2016. My name’s Geoffrey Cravero and I’m speaking with Warren McFarland at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Thanks for speaking with us today, Mr. McFarland. Let’s, uh, begin with some of your biography. Could you, uh, tell us a little bit about where you’re originally from and your upbringing?</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Well, I was—I was born in Ohio, but we moved to Orlando when I was a year and a half old, so I count myself as a Floridian, and my father worked for the railroad here in Or—Orlando, and eventually went to Avon Park and was Railroad Agent there for many years, and that’s where I grew up, went to high school and—and, uh, where I went—learned from him—I learned the telegraph, I learned railroad work, and eventually went to work for the railroad after I graduated from high school in 1941. Um, had—had planned to go to college, but 1941 was not a good year to college, uh [<em>coughs</em>] and, uh, I wound up working on another railroad division, rather than the one that went through Avon Park, w—working out of Ocala, and I worked there, uh, for like 25 years, and then I was offered a position with the Interstate Commerce Commission, and I went, um—went with them, and uh, we—we lived in different places: uh, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C, and I eventually retired as Director of the Office of Compliance for the Interstate Commerce Commission out of Washington, and I moved—we moved back to Florida after I retired, and been living here ever since.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>That’s neat. Um, so—what, uh—could you tell us a little bit more about your, uh, your parents? And did you have any siblings, or...</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Yes. [<em>clears throat</em>] Uh, well, I had, uh, two brothers and three sisters. Uh, the three—the three sisters and one of the brothers were half—half-brothers and sisters, but I didn’t know the difference. Um, they were—they were all older than I, and, uh, so—uh, they were my brothers and sisters, and still are. Al—although they’re not living anymore. I’m the only one of the six that’s still alive, but, uh, my parents were both from Southeastern Ohio, and my father worked for the railroad there, uh, for like 18 years, I think it was, and then he decided to come to Florida and get rich in the Florida Boom in the 1920s. Uh, that didn’t work, so he went back to the railroad and worked for the railroad until he retired [<em>clears throat</em>], and, um, my mother, uh, she was just a farm girl, but she—she worked for a doctor as a receptionist, and she later worked, um, at—in the express office with my father, and then, she—when he retired, she retired, and so, uh, they lived—live—they lived in Avon Park until—until she could no longer take care of herself, and my—my brothers and sisters, um, they—they all—lived all over the place. One in—one in Virginia, one in, uh, Ohio, and—and Chi—and Chicago, and one in Dallas, and my—my brother lived in Avon Park his entire life. He said, “There’s no reason for—for anybody to live anywhere but Avon Park.”</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /> </strong>[<em>laughs</em>] So that’s where he stayed.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>Were any of them, uh—did they follow in the family business of the railroad?</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>No, none of them. I’m the only one out of—out of, uh—out of six, I’m the only one that went into the railroad business, um, and my—my youngest sister’s husband did go into the railroad business, and his son also went into the railroad business, and I had an uncle that was a railroad man. So it—railroading has—has always been pretty much a—a family, uh, affair in many—in many families. You know, one—one person gets started and then—then others go in, but—but none of my brothers and sisters, uh, were interested.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>Well, you mentioned, uh—that you—your father, uh, was a station agent and telegrapher in Avon Park. Um, could you tell us a little bit about growing up in the depot? What sort of, uh—what sort of skills and knowledge did you kind of acquire as a young man?</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Well, [<em>clears throat</em>] uh, I—I was always—I was not a, uh— crazy about trains, but I was interested in trains and—and—and the railroading, and I can remember when I could barely, uh, reach—stand up and—and reach the tabletop like this, and my dad had me doing things that I could do in the—like stamping—taking the rubber stamp and stamping it on a piece of paper on—on what’s called a waybill, which is a—a ship—a shipment, uh, document that you fill out when you have a shipment to make, and, uh, I would st—stamp the—the Avon Park’s stamp on there that showed this, that, where it started from, but, that had to have been about about—5-6 years old when I did that, and I—off and on, all—all during my school years, I just hung around there, and I—I didn’t—I wasn’t consciously preparing for a career in railroading. A matter of fact: my older brothers and sisters all went to college and—and—and it was planned for me to go also, but, as I said earlier, I graduated in 1941, and—and they were already drafting people out of—out of my class, and, um, so I—I knew it was a matter of time. So I didn’t think there was much point in going to college at that time.</p>
<p>So I didn’t go until much later, but, uh, it—it—when—when I was in my senior year in high school, uh, that’s when you could see what was happening: the world was in turmoil, and, um—and, as I said, members of my class had—had been called up, and—so I began to learn telegraphy, and my father taught me and I practiced, and then after I graduated from—from, uh, school, he, um, told the—the railroad that I was, uh, sufficiently knowledgeable to go to work, and, uh—I—I didn’t—As I said, I didn’t—wasn’t consciously, um, aware that I was absorbing everything that I did absorb during those years, uh, hanging around the depot, but I learned an awful lot that I didn’t know I’d learned, until I went out on my own and was working.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>What, uh—did you notice, uh, any, uh, major differences between the—the time of your father and yours when it c—comes to the, you know—the telegraphing and the—the depots?</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. Well…</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>When—when my father started, telegraphing was just about—I mean, that was like the major—major, uh, means of internal communication on the rail—on nearly every railroad, and—and when I started, it still was, but it—it began to fade away the—the longer I stayed, and I—and I—I stayed until 1965, and by that time, uh, they still required, uh, uh, people to know how to telegraph to go to work, but—but—at least—as—as—as, uh, operators and agents, but they did not, uh—did not use—use it, because they—everybody had telephones and—and things of that nature. So it was not as—as use—used as much then, and—and probably—well, I left the rail—railroad for the ICC<a title="">[1]</a> in 1965, and by the early 70s, there was[sic] hardly any railroads anywhere using t—the telegraph. It was all teletype and—and telephones and things of that nature. So that—it was[sic] tremendous difference there, and now, of course, it’s gone even beyond that. It’s all computerized—email and everything else like that. Even train dispatching, which I did for—for 18 years, um—that’s become computer-assisted train dispatching and—and the computer does it. When—when—when I was working, it was—it was all in your head. You had to do it all in your head, but, now the computer—they have what they call “computer-assisted dispatching.”</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>So was, uh—I guess the depot was your very first job you had, or…</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Well, actually, no [<em>laughs</em>]. The very first paying job I—I worked as a clerk in the A&P<a title="">[2]</a> grocery store on Saturdays, uh, which—that—in—in a small town like Avon Park, that was about the only job that—kind of job that was available to a—to a high school kid, and there were three of four, uh, grocery stores in town, and the A&P, which was a chain, the re—others were all independent, but everybody—all the kids that I knew worked at one—one of the grocery stores. That’s where you got your first job.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Um, so I understand you ended up in Ocala, right? But, uh—but you kind of went from—where you were needed, um…</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Yes, you—when—when you begin railroading as—as a telegraph operator, you—you are put on what they call “the extra board.” Uh, um, you—you—your first day, you establish the date of your seniority, and that means that anybody that’s hired after you—you—you have rights over them on—on—if you want to claim a job or something like that, and—and the same thing hold—anybody that[sic] hired ahead of you can claim a job that’s—whether you want—whether you want it or not, and so, you—as—on the extra board, you just went where you were needed. Uh, somebody needed to be off sick, uh—there were no vacation—no paid vacation at the time, so that—uh, there was not much of that. Although some—some people did take vacations, and you went and worked for them, or they put on extra jobs because of seasonal problems—uh, season—seasonable increases in—in business, they’d put on an extra job somewhere to help the dispatchers handle trains, and so, you worked all over. I worked, uh, I don’t know how many different places. I could probably count it up. Not worth it.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Um, let’s see. Before the, uh, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad merged with the Seaboard Air Line [Railroad], um, and absorbed the Tavares & Gulf Railroad in 1969, you’d already moved to California at that point. Could you tell us a little bit about what you did out there with the Interstate Commerce Commission?</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Well, I—I—I—my first job with the ICC was in Chicago as—as a Railroad Safety and Service Agent, and, uh, in—in that capacity, I—I made what we call “agency checks” and “yard checks,” and we—we had two things: we were looking for compliance with the—with the tariffs, which had the force of law, and we were looking for, um, equipment that was not being used efficiently, and so, the—as the—and—and the other thing that—that in—in ’65, we also were charged with safety, uh, inspections of equipment and things of that nature.</p>
<p>However, in—in ’67 —1967, all of that was transferred into the newly-formed [U.S.] Department of Transportation, and so we no longer had any kind of safety obligation, but we still retained the car service, which was car—car efficiency, and—and the tariff and—and regulation, and so, I would go from—to various agencies along, um—in my territory. I had an—had an assigned territory, and I was supposed to visit these agencies on a periodic basis and ver—verify that they were complying with all of the rules and regulations, and that they were not delaying any equipment—and that was being used, and from there I—I was transferred to Atlanta doing the same thing, but, uh—and I stayed there for, uh, about five years, and then I was, uh, promoted and went back to Chicago as Assistant Regional Director there, and in—in that capacity, I was assisting the Re—Regional Director and overseeing all of the people that were doing the kind of work I was just desc—describing, and then, um, in ’73, I was, uh, promoted again and went to, um, San Francisco as, um, Regional Manager, and I had the, uh, responsibility for the 13 western states, plus Alaska and Hawaii. Uh, now, railroads and—and buses and trucks don’t run to Hawaii from the mainland, but—but—so we didn’t do much there, but what—I still had the responsibility for Hawaii and Alaska, and I was overseeing not only the—the people who were doing the work that I was talking about earlier, but I was also overseeing the—the lawyers, who—who, uh, handled the cases that were made and the—and the accountants that were—were auditing the—the books of the various, uh, carriers—motor and rail and barge lines and pipelines, and part of the—part of—and—and when I was in, um, San Francisco, the, um, uh, [Trans-]Alaska Pipeline [System] was being built and we had to oversee that, and the law required, at that time, that—and people usually don’t know this because a pipeline is a common carrier, and so, in order to know what they could charge, you had to know what their costs were to build and maintain the—the pipeline, and to do that, we had to have auditors go in and verify, and about ha—halfway through construction, everybody woke up that this was a nine billion dollar, uh, enterprise, and if we waited ‘til after the fact to—to, uh, audit it, we’d nev—they’d never know what they—what they could po—possibly charge. So we sent a team of auditors up there, and they stayed there for about three years determining the actual cost so that the pipeline could go into—into operation when it was finished, but then, after—I was—I was in San Francisco until 1981, and, um, the—the new chairman that had been appointed by President [Ronald] Reagan, uh, was—knew me, and he brought me into Washington[, D.C.] as Director of the Office of Compliance and Consumer Assistance, and I stayed there until I retired in ’85, but in—in Washington, I had oversight over the—the entire country for all of the things that I’ve been talking about that we did. Plus, uh, a lot of local stuff and—going up to Congress and taking care of that sort of thing.<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>I read, uh, [<em>clears throat</em>] that the Morse Telegraph Club[, Inc.] used to meet at the [Central Florida] Railroad Museum on [Samuel] Morse’s birthday.<a title="">[3]</a> Could you tell me a little about, uh, the club and how that all came about?</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Well, it’s—it—it started, actually, back in the 1930s. Uh, some people that were telegraphers decided that they—that it would be a good idea to make—to have a club, and it was more or less a fraternal organization, at the time. I say “fraternal,” although there are a lot of women telegraphers. Uh, throughout the—the whole history of telegraphy, there—there have been a lot of women telegraphers, and probably, on the railroad, was—may have well have been the first industry that paid women the same wage as men for doing the same job, which was not true in—in—not true even today in many—many cases, but, uh, anyhow, these people got together and—and, as I said, it was just sort of a—I won’t say a drinking club, because it wasn’t that, but it was—it was a social club more than anything else, and then it—it sort of faded away a little bit, uh, and just hanging on by its teeth, you might say, and—and then, um, uh—I’m not sure of the exact dates, but sometime after World War II, when—when telegraphy began to fade away, as I had mentioned earlier on [inaudible] on the railroad, Western Union [Company] had al—already almost gone completely to—to teletype, uh, by that time, and, um, so the—the organization transformed itself into, uh, an historical preservation organization, and the goal of—of the, um—of the organization today is to preserve the knowledge and history and the technology that existed, uh, when the telegraph was in use, and, um, we organize in chapters.</p>
<p>Uh, we used to have a chapter in every state and some states had—had, uh, two chapters, but, uh, time has taken its toll and—and, um, now we’re down, uh—for example, the Florida chapter, of which I’m a member, um, encompasses Georgia and—and South Carolina and Tennessee, and—and Alabama. Uh, and so, the membership—the membership hasn’t really declined that much, but the membership of people who actually worked as telegraphers has obviously gone down—way down. Somebody made an estimate, and I don’t know the truth of it or not, but said there were only about 150 of us left in the organization that actually earned a living as—as telegraphers. Um, that may be true, it may not be true. I don’t know, but at the present time, we have probably around 3,000 members and we have around 30 chapters in the United States and Canada, and we—we do demonstrations at—at just about any place that will invite us to do a demonstration, but mostly to local historical societies that have an annual affair and they want something, uh, of, um—that—that has some historical significance, and so they’ll ask us to come and do—do a demonstration [<em>clears throat</em>], and many of these members that we have now have taught themselves to telegraph.</p>
<p>They’ve never worked as telegraphers, but they’ve taught themselves to telegraph, and some of the—some of the members are ham radio<a title="">[4]</a> operators, which uses a—a different code, but it’s still Morse Code. It’s an international code, known as International [Morse] Code, as opposed to American Morse [Code], which was the kind that was used on railroads and Western Union and stock markets and, uh, all of that sort of thing.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>] I understand that it— somehow you, uh—you acquired a piece of the very first telegraph line that stretched all the way out to California.</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>And how’d that—how’d that—how’d you end up acquiring that?</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>I didn’t think…</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>To bring that today, uh, but we—we have a website that’s—the Florida chapter has a website, and, uh, an outfit in Utah was setting up, um, an exhibit in a museum,<a title="">[5]</a> uh, where at a—at a—at a former Army camp. Uh, when I say former, I’m talking about [American] Civil War-era Army camp [<em>laughs</em>] that was one of the first stations on the Transcontinental Tre—Telegraph Line, and so they wanted some historical reference to the telegraph in their museum there, and, uh, they found our website on the internet and contacted us, and we were able to get them some telegraph instruments and assist them, and some months later, they, uh, contacted us again and said they had come into possession of a link of the original Transcontinental Telegraph Wire—came from Northeastern, uh, Nevada—just across the Utah line in Northeastern Nevada, and a man had found it and had donated, uh, a length of it—I don’t know how much—but had donated a length of it to this museum, and they wanted to know if we would like to have a piece of it, and so they sent us about two and a half feet: about 30 inches of it—a piece about that long, and it’s—it’s—it was a nine gauge, which is heavy, heavy wire. I mean, it’s—it’s almost a quarter, uh—not—not a quarter. Maybe, uh—it’s over an eighth of an inch thick—uh, the—the wire is, and it’s almost impossible to bend it with your bare hands.</p>
<p>It’s—it’s that thick, and it’d been laying out in the, uh—in the open in the desert out there near—near the old, uh, Pony Express route and the, um, stagecoach route that went west through there [<em>coughs</em>], and, um, they, uh—they kept, um—they kept it there, um, um—it—laid out there in the desert, and—and doesn’t rust like it would in—here in Florida, you know? It would all be rusted away [<em>laughs</em>] if that had happened here, and so we had that piece of—of the wire, and we—we debated as a—as an organization what to do with it. It wasn’t big enough to use anywhere really. So we wound up—and we cut it into pieces about, um, six inches long and mounted it on plaques, uh, and with a little bit of a history of it on the back of the plaque, and we use that in our demonstrations. Uh, we take it—take it around where—and we—we have these plaques distributed among the membership, so that there’s al—[always] one available somewhere, but it’s very interesting and—and—the interesting—one of the things about it, that the—it was shipped to me—mailed to me in a padded envelope and it was rolled—folded up, and I tried to straighten it out with my hands when I took it out of the envelope. I could not do it. We had to finally put it in a vice and—and hold down one end of it, and finally got it straightened out, and it was so hard that you couldn’t cut it with wire cutters or anything like that. You had to use a saw to cut it, uh [<em>clears </em>throat] but that was what—the wire that was used in the, uh, original Transcontinental Telegraph Line in 8—finished in 1861 [<em>coughs</em>].<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>Wow, incredible. Well, let’s see. Before we, uh—give us a little demonstration, do you have anything else that you’d like to add? Any final thoughts or…</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Well, I—I don’t know anything off the top of my head. Uh, uh, railroading was an interesting occupation, and I’m sure it’s still is, although I’ve been away from it now for many years. I’ve been retired for 30 years now, so, uh—and I—I’d left the railroad for 20 years before that, so [<em>laughs</em>] it’s been awhile since I’ve been railroading, but, I—I enjoyed the—the—working there, and as I said, I worked as a train dispatcher, which was, um, very complex and complicated job to keep the trains moving.</p>
<p>Uh, when I started, an old time dispatcher said, “Oh, there’s nothing to it.” Said, “You just—you just meet ‘em—don’t meet ‘em too close together or too far apart.” [<em>laughs</em>] Well, its’—that’s an oversimplification, but it—it’s what you—that’s exactly what you were trying to do was—is to move the trains over the—over the, uh, territory wi—in—in the most efficient manner possible, and that, you know—and single track and—and—and, uh, with limited, uh, communication. You had no communication—when I started, you had no communication with—with the people on the train other than handing them up, uh—as they pass an open telegraph office you—you could hand them up orders or, uh, messages of what you want to do, or they could throw off something as they went by, but, um, that was an interesting, uh, occupation and—and very demanding, very challenging. Um, somewhat comparable to an aircraft, uh, uh, air—air controller, except that we couldn’t tell the tr—trains to pull up and go around or—or, uh, fly higher and—and not hit—hit the train ahead of them. They were—they were, uh, consigned to the track. They had to stay on the track, so made—made it a little bit more complicated.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>Well, I guess, if you would, let’s, uh, give us a little demonstration here. Let me see if I…</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Well, I’m sorry…</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>Can...</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>That this is not working. I don’t know what it is, but, this—this is the sound [<em>tapping</em>]—this is the sound of—this instrument in—in this is called a sounder, [<em>tapping</em>] and this, uh, box-like object is called a resonator, and the purpose of it is to focus the sound so it can be, uh, heard more clearly, and the can—the Prince Albert tobacco can, we—we now—we call it the “first solid-state amplifier,” because it makes a difference [<em>tapping</em>]. If you can hear the different—[<em>tapping</em>] with and without the can [<em>tapping</em>], and somebody back in the—in the early days of this discovered that you could do that—that, because a railroad agent had more to do than just sit at a desk and listen—listen for this. Uh, he had to be out in the freight warehouse or [<em>inaudible</em>] out—outside with the train going by or something like that, and he needed to be able to hear the dispatcher’s wire when that was happening.</p>
<p>So that, um, uh—that really changed the way that you could do that, and—and [<em>inaudible</em>] I never worked a job that didn’t have a can stuck in the resonator like that, and this—this, uh, is just the same thing and—and—[<em>tapping</em>] with a key here. I’ll move this out of the way. This—this has a key [<em>tapping</em>] and that’s the way you sound it, and you make a dot [<em>tap</em>] by closing the key [<em>tap</em>] real quickly and a dash [<em>tap</em>] by holding it down three times as long as you do for the dot, and you [<em>tapping</em>] do that to spell out, uh, everything that you want to say, and, like texters today, we use a lot of abbreviations. As a matter of fact, many of the abbreviations that texters are using were being used by telegraphers a hundred years ago, but, this is the key [<em>tap</em>] and this is the sounder, and then this called a bug, and it’s called a bug because the logo is a beetle, and nobody knows why they chose that as their logo, but they did.</p>
<p>It started out—if you—if you worked 8 hours or 12 hours a day, which, uh, up until the Hours of Service [HOS] law went into effect in 1908, that’s, uh—you worked 12 hours a day, [<em>tapping</em>] and you worked 12 hours a day with this up and down motion you—you developed telegrapher’s paralysis. We call it carpel tunnel syndrome now, but it was telegrapher’s paralysis then [<em>tapping</em>], and so they began experimenting what you could do to—to alleviate it, and the first thing they did was turn the key on its side and work it back and forth, and they kept working with it and eventually came into this form, and this is now called a vi—a—a speed key, and I can’t demonstrate because my power somehow or another is not working here today [<em>tapping</em>], but, um, you—the speed key—if—if I want to make a—a series of dots with—with this straight key [<em>tapping</em>], it goes like that, but, with the speed key, I can do it just [<em>tap</em>] with—with one movement of my thumb, and so, that relieved the carpel tunnel, but it also speeded everything up.</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>And so, those are the—those are the—the principal instruments that—that were used by landline telegraphers, and that—the—this is called American Morse, and it was used, uh, all over—all over the world, really. It—it just changed the whole world, and then, uh, in the late 8—1800s, [Guglielmo] Marconi discovered that you could send, uh, power through the, uh—through the air and—and modulate it and—and make a—a code—send code through the air, and they did—they did that and—using a—a slightly different code. Uh, the—this code—the American Morse Code has a lot of spaces in it, which makes it, uh, uh, a lot quicker, but, with the—when it went to radio, they couldn’t tell whether the spaces were accidental or intentional, and so they eliminated the space letters and everything became, um, uh, the—the tone then—the length of the tone was—determined whether it was a dot or a dash, and that sounded like this [<em>beeping</em>], but, uh—and that’s still used by ham radio operators and all base radio stations, like your local police station and your fire stations and things of that nature, are required by the Federal Communications Commission to identify themselves every hour, and now they use a computer, but every hour on the hour, uh, these—these stations will identify themselves using International Morse Code, sending their call letters—whatever they might be, and that—your television stations, your—your commercial radio stations, they all have to do this—do that, and they do it. So that, uh, America—I mean, the International Morse Code is still in use, uh, quite a bit with ham radio operators and that. American Morse—the last known use in the United States was in 1983, but th—that was just really an anomaly, because it had—by the mid-70s it had pretty much disappeared, but there’s just this one place out in Montana that still was using it until 1983.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>That’s fantastic [<em>clears throat</em>]. Mr. McFarland, we really appreciate you sharing your story with us and demonstrating the tools of your trade.</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Well, I’m happy to do it. Happy to do it.</p>
<p><strong>Cravero<br /></strong>Alright. Well, thank you so much. That will conclude our interview and, uh, we really appreciate you being here with us.</p>
<p><strong>McFarland<br /></strong>Thank you.</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> Interstate Commerce Commission.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[2]</a> Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[3]</a> April 27.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[4]</a> Also called amateur radio.</p>
</div>
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<p><a title="">[5]</a> Golden Spike National Historic Site.</p>
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</div>
A&P grocery
abbreviations
ACL
agency checks
Alaska
American Morse Code
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company
auditors
audits
Avon Park
Avon Park Atlantic Coast Line Train Station
barge lines
bugs
California
carpal tunnel syndrome
Central Florida Railroad Museum
Chicago, Illinois
communication limits
communications
computer-assisted train dispatching
conscription
CTS
Dallas, Texas
Department of Transportation
DOT
drafts
equal pay
extra boards
FCC
Federal Communications Commission
first solid-state amplifiers
first transcontinental telegraphs
Florida Boom
Frances Perkins Building
freight warehouses
Geoffrey Cravero
grocery clerks
grocery stores
Guglielmo Marconi
ham radio operators
ham radios
Hawaii
historical preservation
HOS
Hours of Service
ICC
International Morse Code
Interstate Commerce Commission
landline telegraphers
landline telegraphs
landline telegraphy
Montana
Morse Telegraph Club, Inc.
Nevada
Ocala
Ocala Union Station
Ohio
orlando
paid vacations
Pony Express
Prince Albert tobacco cans
railroad agents
railroad depots
Railroad Morse
Railroad Safety and Service Agent
railroad stations
railroading
railroads
railways
regulations
resonators
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan
safety inspections
SAL
Samuel Finley Breese Morse
Samuel Morse
San Francisco, California
Seaboard Air Line Depot
Seaboard Air Line Railroad
social clubs
solid-state amplifiers
sounders
South Carolina
speed keys
stagecoach routes
TAPS
Tavares & Gulf Railroad
telegraph instruments
telegraph keys
telegrapher's paralysis
telegraphers
telegraphs
telegraphy
telephones
teletypes
Tennessee
text abbreviations
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
train depots
train dispatchers
train dispatching
train stations
trains
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
transcontinental telegraphs
UCF
University of Central Florida
Utah
Virginia
Warren McFarland
Washington, D.C.
waybills
Western Union
Winter Garden
wireless telegraphers
wireless telegraphs
wireless telegraphy
World War II
WWII
yard checks