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Patrice A. Williams-Shuford is an educator and entrepreneur who earned her Bachelor of Science in English and Psychology from the University of South Alabama, Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Mobile, Specialist in Education in English Education from Florida State University, and Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi.
She has spent her career in education as an English teacher, an English professor, a college advisor, a higher education administrator, a workshop presenter, and a project consultant. Dr. Williams-Shuford is the owner of PAWS Proofing Portal, an online copy editing/proofreading service and co-owner of Class 101 Blackwater, a college planning franchise. She is certified in Business Marketing and Entrepreneurship through Northwest Florida State College and Pensacola State College, respectively. Dr. Williams-Shuford enjoys working with students, working with educators, working with other business owners, and being involved with the community.
Join Dr. Williams-Shuford in her session as she discusses the key points along a timeline in the evolution of the Okaloosa and Walton County Public Schools Systems. Attendees will learn about landmark schools that were in operation during segregation and when current schools -- at the elementary middle, and high school levels -- were formed after the onset of integration.
Dr. Patrice A. Williams-Shuford
Elizabeth Briscoe Wilson has been a master storyteller using Living History since 1985. She served as Lincoln University Library Director from 1988 to 2010, the longest tenure of that position in the history of the institution. Holding a master’s degree in library science from Alabama A&M, she has led crusades in education such as building new libraries and forming a Library Science minor program before her retirement. She has been the recipient of multiple awards such as, Martin Luther King Award Lincoln University, Zonta Women of Achievement, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and Teacher of the Year. She performs stories and dramatizations of African American women in history for Floridians throughout Walton County and the Panhandle. Some of the famous women she brings to life are as follows:
Living History Performance
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune is the daughter of freed slaves who became a Florida educator, National Civic pioneer activist, and advisor to U.S. Presidents. Come and see in person one of the most influential women in American History.
Elizabeth Briscoe Wilson
Melinda C. Henderson, PhD, APRN, FAAN, is a graduate of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Florida State University, and Oxford College of Emory University. A Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, she is currently certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner and was previously certified as an Adult and Gerontological Nurse Practitioner and in Nursing Administration, Advanced. In addition to clinical practice, Dr. Henderson has been an educator (graduate, undergraduate, and continuing education) with recent presentations on Alzheimer’s Disease and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at the national level and a published researcher (24 research and technical articles and a book chapter.). As an administrator, she served VA Central Office as Chief, Nursing Programs, Gerontology (62 nursing home care units), as Chief, Nursing Programs, Region IV (25 VAMCs in the Great Lakes Region) and locally as a Chief Nursing Executive. In semi-retirement, she is active in the community, serving as Parish Nurse for St. Agatha’s Episcopal Church; she does periodic, pre-deployment and post-deployment physical exams for reserve and guard units (all service branches); is a member of the Commission on Affirmative Aging for the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast; is a governing board member and past president of the West Florida Area Health Education Center and founder/executive director of Forward DeFuniak, Inc.
History Mystery
Join Dr. Mendy Henderson as she examines the top theories surrounding a few enigmatic unsolved mysteries involving pioneers JD Wolfe and Charles Murray. She will take you from unsolved crimes to unexplained lot ownership and transferrence while exploring possible explanations for some confounding events.
Dr. Melinda Henderson
Judy DeBolt is retired from the University of West Florida. She was born in Springfield, Illinois and lived there until 1981 when she moved to Pensacola, Florida with her husband Dean and daughter Jennifer. She has been giving presentations on "Gone with the Wind" and the Titanic since 1999 and has made numerous presentations on these topics to historical groups in Pensacola, Florida. She has appeared at the Monteagle Chautauqua in Tennessee, senior groups, the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury, New Jersey, as well as previous Chautauqua assemblies in DeFuniak Springs, Florida.
Judy will speak on the woman behind "Gone with the Wind" The author of Gone with the Wind was a fascinating woman who was a feminist in the 1920s. She broke all the rules a young Southern woman should have observed. Presented by Judy DeBolt.
Judy DeBolt
Veronica Durling grew up in southwest Missouri and has lived throughout the United States. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering Management from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Veronica worked in the electrical industry in various management positions before becoming a consultant to Fortune 500 companies including but not limited to Anheuser Busch.
Veronica advocates for finding common ground between the gay and straight communities in the hope of helping both communities understand the challenges faced by both sides while trying to navigate their relationships and interactions. The overall goal of her presentation is to help reduce or eliminate any pain, disassociation, hate or violence that may occur because of a lack of engagement by both sides due to the inability to communicate with each other. Veronica is a member of St. Agatha's Episcopal Church where she serves on the Altar Guild, the Rice and Beans food pantry ministry and the church leadership vestry. Veronica served as the LGBTQ+ Outreach Coordinator and will be inducted in January 2024 as President of the Democratic Women's Club of Walton County.
Veronica Durling will provide insight into one gay person’s life journey trying to navigate relationships with family, school, church, community and a corporate career. The intent is to shine a light on the challenges for both the gay person and those wanting to better understand and support that person while having contradictory personal beliefs.
It will candidly address such questions as:
How do you know you are gay?
Why don’t you just change?
Can’t you just keep it a secret?
Coming Out: What is it?
How do I Act and What do I Say When You Tell Me You’re Gay?
Can We Find Common Ground?
What Resources/Services are Available to Learn More?
Veronica Durling
Dean DeBolt is University Archivist/University Librarian and West Florida History Center at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida where he has been on the faculty since 1981. He has lectured widely on the American Chautauqua Movement and the history of the Florida Chautauqua including presentations at the New York Chautauqua and the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly. He is a frequent speaker on topics of West Florida history and genealogical research.
The American Chautauqua Movement
Join Dean to learn more about the American Chautauqua Movement, what it was, how it began, and how it grew. Also learn its role in bringing to the rural areas information and demonstrations of the latest technology, medicines and medical practices, and science as part of the programs.
Dean DeBolt
Dr. Anne Brinton is an assistant professor of History at Northwest Florida State College. She has published one article on resistance and accommodation in the girlhood diaries of the 19th c. Alabama missionary to China and her current research projects explore gendered violence and gendered rebellion in Kentucky's long Civil War as well as slavery and emancipation in the loyal western Border States. In her (nonexistent) spare time, she writes fiction and trains in martial arts.
Join Dr. Brinton as she takes you on a journey through Florida Freedom: Remembering Slave Emancipation in the Sunshine State
Have you ever wondered about the history of slavery in Florida, or about the role that enslaved people played in the development of the state? There were many types of slavery in Florida before the Civil War, and enslaved people did many types of jobs, ranging from gang and task labor on great plantations to cowboy work in cattle country to timber work in forests and lumber mills to domestic service in hotels or private homes. This talk will explore the ways enslaved people helped to build and develop the state of Florida from its Spanish colonial origins to the Civil War, as well as some of the sources historians can use to learn about their lives.
Dr. Anne Brinton
Gregory L. Garland has been an annual presenter at the Florida Chautauqua Assembly since 2009 due to his impressive career with the U.S. Department of State. He has served as a career Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State and recently as chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Bamako, Mali. His career includes postings in Africa, Mexico, and Poland, and assignments in Washington with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the National Defense Intelligence College. He has also taught high school and served on the staff of the former Board for International Broadcasting and the Northeast Florida Economic Development Commission. Mr. Garland has spoken and written widely on U.S.-African relations, American history and culture, and public diplomacy. He grew up in Lakeland, Florida, and went on to earn a B.A. from Duke University, an M.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a J.D. from California Western School of Law.
Walton County and the World
Greg returns this year to discuss Walton’s links —some obvious, and others not so obvious—to the rest of the world (broadly defined). Walton once was a chess piece in the Great Game of Great Power Competition. No longer, but the county and surrounding area have enjoyed influences over centuries from places as different as France, Cuba, Scotland, West Africa, Hollywood, and others you might never have considered. And you will have the opportunity to tell me if I’ve missed anything.
Gregory L. Garland
Dr. Brian Rucker received his Ph.D. in History from Florida State University and teaches history at Pensacola State College and the University of West Florida. His specialty is West Florida and Gulf Coast History. Dr. Rucker has authored over 40 scholarly books and articles on the region. He has also served as president of the Gulf South Historical Association twice over the years.
He will be talking on the Frontier Life in the West Florida Panhandle. Dr. Rucker will describe the trials and tribulations of making a home on the West Florida frontier from 1821 to 1890s, including social life and recreation, frontier language, and violence. He will also bring along some pioneer tools and artifacts for illustrative purposes
Dr. Brian Rucker
Jan Turnquist is the founder and director of InterAct Performances, an organization devoted to the wonderful impact that living history presentations and meaningful seminars can have in the worlds of education, business, and personal enrichment.
Jan is an educator, actress, and historian. She holds her teaching certification and degrees in English and Comparative Literature from the University of Wisconsin. She has been featured in television roles on PBS, the Fox Network, and several BBC productions. Now a consultant to Orchard House Museum, where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women in 1868, she spent 18 years on staff there as Living History Coordinator, Education Coordinator, and Historic Interpreter.
Through InterAct Performances, Jan currently leads programs across the country. Her living history portrayals are popular with schools, universities, libraries, museums, civic groups, conventions, senior groups and the like. She has also developed a successful offering of seminars and workshops in order to share more of her natural talents, developed skills, and researched material with teachers, business people, students, elderhostel attenders and others.
Jan's delightful personality, impressive communication skills, and extensive knowledge make her a hit with all who attend her programs.
Jan Turnquist
Roy Barton is a Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft who is also a full-time farmer. He and his wife, Shanna Blanton Barton, own Dirty Hands Farm, a regenerative and genetic preservation farm located in the Gaskin Community of Walton County, FL. They have a 77-acre tract of land that has been in the family for 3 generations. This farm uses regenerative farming by planting nutrient-dense cover crops for forage and raising heritage breeds of cattle, preserving the breed and providing all-natural farm-to-table beef. Dirty Hands Farm is the sponsor of all the meats being served at our Farm-to-Table suppers at this year’s assembly.
Raising Heritage Cattle using Regenerative Farming Techniques
Regenerative agriculture strives to work with nature rather than against it. It prioritizes climate, ecosystems, water quality, and people’s health. Roy will explain how he uses regenerative agriculture within his farming and grazing practices that reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity. Come learn from Roy on how to “do no harm” to the land but improve it, using techniques that regenerate and revitalize the soil and the environment.
Roy Barton
Farris Powell is a Creek Indian who uses living history as Blue Heron to teach about the people native to the land and within this county many hundreds of years ago. Farris wants to help people better understand the history of the tribal cultures that once flourished throughout the area before colonization and the eventual relocation of his ancestors took place.
Living History Performance
Come meet Blue Heron and hear firsthand the language spoken by the Creek Indians and what life was like for the Creek Indians when the Florida Pioneers arrived; the food they ate, their living arrangements in hunting camps, and other tribal culture.
Farris Powell