Florida 4-H News Release

 

FLORIDA 4-H HALL OF FAME INDUCTS 100 OUTSTANDING FLORIDIANS SATURDAY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                   August 29, 2002

By: Ami Neiberger-Miller (703)421-1472
aneiberger@mail.ifas.ufl.edu

Source: Marilyn Norman (863)206-1654
mnnorman@mail.ifas.ufl.edu

St. Augustine, Fla-One hundred outstanding Floridians will be inducted into the Florida 4-H Hall of Fame Saturday night during 4-H’s statewide centennial celebration.

“Each of the one hundred people in the Hall of Fame represents a beacon of light within the 4-H youth development movement in Florida,” said Marilyn Norman, state 4-H leader and assistant dean for 4-H at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

The inductees include politicians, alumni, extension agents, and community volunteers who have devoted thousands of hours of service to young people.

U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, who served as State 4-H Council president in his youth and U.S. Senator Bob Graham will both be inducted. U.S. Congressman Allan Boyd and U.S. Congressman Adam Putnam, who is currently the youngest member of the U.S. Congress, will also join the Hall of Fame.

“I am extremely honored to be a member of the very first class of inductees,” said B.J. Allen, who says that the Hall of Fame is not just an award, but a way for today’s 4-H members to appreciate their heritage. “It provides an opportunity for young people to identify with the past,” said Allen.

“We are proud to sponsor the Florida 4-H Hall of Fame dinner,” said Kevin Hyde, president of the Florida 4-H Foundation, which raises funds to support 4-H. “It is a privilege to honor so many wonderful people who have contributed to 4-H.”

The list of inductees includes ordinary people who have done extraordinary things for young people. John and Mary McKeown, 4-H club leaders in Pensacola who teach clowning and raise guide dog puppies are on the list. So is Phoebe Hodges Raulerson, a 4-H alum from Okeechobee County who gives back to 4-H by organizing field trips for her classes at school and volunteering her time.

Not all of the inductees are living. Organizers combed through historical records to make sure they included people from 4-H’s early period like Floy Britt, an extension agent who began working with African-American youth in 1932. Walter B. Arnold, Jr. transformed the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair and Exposition and founded a scholarship to help young people.

Woodrow W. Brown, who was Florida’s inductee to the National 4-H Hall of Fame earlier this year, will also be named. Brown led the 4-H program through racial integration, the merger of programs and staffs from three separate institutions, and the switch in the mid-1960s from school-based clubs to community-based clubs led by volunteers from the community.

“The innovative and very successful 4-H movement has been cultivated by literally millions of volunteers and young people over the last century, ” said Don Floyd, president and CEO of National 4-H Council, who will attend the ceremony Saturday night at the World PGA Golf Village. “The Hall of Fame gives 4-H a chance to thank our most significant leaders. Shining a spotlight on their contributions helps all of us learn from these role models.”

4-H is the youth development program of the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, which is part of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) that is headquartered in Gainesville. 4-H worked with more than 287,000 youth ages 5-18 last year in Florida and has programs active in all 67 counties and on Seminole Tribes reservations in south Florida.

Founded in 1902 as an outreach to rural youth, the 4-H youth movement involves more than 6.5 million members throughout the nation who live in cities,  towns and the countryside. 4-H continues to thrive today, adapting itself to the interests of young people and focusing on hands-on learning and youth adult partnership.

For more information, 4-H history and biographies on the individual Hall of Fame members (available after September 2, 2002), visit www.florida4h.org.

List of Florida 4-H Hall of Fame Inductees 2002

Name      Hometown/County in Florida if Known
J Helen Adler - West Palm Beach 
B.J. Allen - Gainesville
Joe & Leslie Allen - Jacksonville
Diane Anderson - Orlando
Dr. Robert A. Anderson - Rockledge
A.T. Andrews - Graham  
Rance A. Andrews                Jasper
Walter B. Arnold Jr. *         Miami (Juno Beach)
Fred. W. Barber *                Okaloosa County
Doris Base *                         Orlando
Wilmer Bassett *                  Gainesville
Dr. M. Langley Bell                Pensacola
Arthur Bissett                       Winter Haven
Raymond W. Blacklock *                Gainesville
James J. Brasher *                Gainesville
Honorable F. Allen Boyd                Ashville
Floy Britt *                            Tallahassee
Nettie Ruth Brown    St. Augustine
Reginald L. Brown    Orlando
Woodrow W. Brown *                Gainesville
James E. Browning                Ponte Vedra
Sandra Brubaker *              West Palm Beach
Earl Byrd                                Hastings
Joe N. Busby                        Gainesville
Lamar Camp                          Tampa
Benjamin Campen                Gainesville
Isaac Chandler, Jr.            Jasper
Maxine Clayton                    Hudson
Doyle Connor                       Tallahassee
Louise Cox                            Montverde
James A. Croft                      Olustee
Jacqueline DuPont  Wacissa
Virgil L. Elkins *                   Tallahassee
Barbara Eveland *              Lake County
Susanne G. Fisher                Gainesville
Helen H. Fleming                  Brooksville
Lester C. “Terry” Floyd *  Orlando
E. Darwin Fuchs                   Miami
P. Steven Futch                    Starke
Louis Gilbreath                     Ocala
Francis Gindl                         Pensacola
Betty Lou Glassburn                Duette
James Glisson                       Ocala
Carol Ann Gollnik                Vero Beach
James E. Gorman *             
Honorable Bob Graham   Miami-Dade
Thomas & Earlece Greenawalt Melbourne
Hariot Greene                        Vero Beach
Willie Haas                            McAlpin
Nadine Hackler                     Gainesville
Marie Hammer                      Gainesville
C.M. Hampson *                  Gainesville
Aubrey “Luther” Harrell * Macclenny
Mary N. Harrison                 Gainesville
Oscar Harrison                     DeFuniak Springs
Lisa T. Hinton                       Tampa
Kevin E. Hyde                      Jacksonville
Anthony S. “Tony” Jensen *
Audrey B. Johnson                Immokalee
Louise R. Johnson                Bradenton
Bette R. Jones                       Merritt Island
Deloris Mae Jones      Madison
Lester W. Kalch                   Gainesville
Judy A. Keller                       Naples
Emily E. King                        Gainesville
Robert E. King                      Bradenton
Donald W. Lander                Gainesville
Louis E. Larson, Jr.                Okeechobee
Mary L.C. Leon                    Naples
R. Earle Lucas, Jr.                Bradenton
D.R. “Billy” Matthews *          
John & Mary McKeown                Pensacola
Kenneth S. McMullen *                Highlands County
Norman R. Mehrhof *                Gainesville
Damon Miller, Sr.                Tallahassee
Ruth L. Milton                      Gainesville
Judson Minear                     Palm City
Herbert F. “Herb” Morgan                Tallahassee
Honorable Bill Nelson   Miami-Dade
Dan & Sara Nicholson                Orlando
Marie Nickels *                    Miami-Dade
James & Linda Parks                Bradenton
Rayburn “Kent” Price                Okeechobee
Honorable Adam Putnam   Lakeland
Phoebe Hodges Raulerson                Okeechobee
Clarence W. Reaves *                Gainesville
Nancy Alward Roberts  Naples
Warren E. Schmidt  Naples
Marylou W. Shirar      Jupiter
Thomas C. Skinner *                Gainesville
James. M. Stephens                Hardee County
Lorene Stevens *                 Tallahassee
Alice Storms                         Valrico
Henry F. Swanson                Winter Park
Wendell H. Taylor                Marianna
Walter G. Thomas                Bradenton
David W. Timberlake                Pensacola
Wilma Tindell *                    Jacksonville
James N. Watson                 Jacksonville
John T. Woeste                    Gainesville

*posthumous honoree

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