Florida 4-H News Release

Florida 4-H News Release

FLORIDA 4-H HALL OF FAME INDUCTS 100 OUTSTANDING FLORIDIANS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 4, 2002

Source: Marilyn Norman
(863)206-1654

St. Augustine, Fla - One hundred outstanding Floridians were inducted into the Florida 4-H Hall of Fame last weekend 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 included 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 were both inducted. U.S. Congressman Allan Boyd and U.S. Congressman Adam Putnam, who is currently the youngest member of the U.S. Congress, also joined the Hall of Fame.

“I am extremely honored to be a member of the very first class of inductees,” said B.J. Allen, who said 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 and school superintendent who gives back to 4-H and volunteers 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 leaders.

Woodrow W. Brown, who was Florida’s inductee to the National 4-H Hall of Fame earlier this year, is also on the list. 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 led by extension agents 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 attended the induction ceremony 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, visit www.florida4h.org. For more information about joining or volunteering with 4-H, please call your local county extension office.

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 – Bartow
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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