SJRCC PRESS RELEASE February 2008 Looking Back, Moving Forward St. Johns River Community College celebrates 50 years of education and enrichment SJRCC Faculty Since its beginning in 1958, St. Johns River Community College has served not only as an educational foundation for Palatka, but also as a type of melting pot as faculty and administrators from Mississippi to Miami arrived to make Putnam County their home. SJRCC's longest tenured faculty member Allen Caillouet agrees. "With community colleges being relatively new to Florida, and with no previous academic tradition in the area to support college staffing, faculty needed recruiting from other areas." Caillouet said. "The College has been a very educating and liberating influence on Putnam County. It changed it forever." "We came from all around," said the Pensacola native. "It was quite a culture shock coming to Palatka in 1965." Caillouet, who taught economics and sociology for 41 years and retired in 2006, remembers not only receiving a warm welcome by the community and the public school system, but also how Palatka's newest residents stimulated the economy. "We came in and bought homes, cars and furniture," he said. "It was a brand new start in a new environment." Caillouet said. "After we came in and proved our merit, people were glad to have us in their midst. It didn't take us long to become part of the neighborhood." The College's first president, Louisiana native Dr. B. R. Tilley, also transferred to Palatka, as would many of SJRCC's longest tenured faculty and administrators throughout the 1960s. Bill Tuten, one of the original faculty members, initially moved to Palatka from Deland in 1956 to become the recreational director for the city. Tuten was hired by the College during its first year of operation and organized the College's basketball team. Tuten said that in the beginning, morale on campus was good, but there was no school spirit. According to Tuten, Tilley noticed that students were walking around on Fridays talking about what football games they were going to and said the College needed its own school spirit. "So he asked me to organize a basketball team," Tuten said. "The town wasn't excited about the team at first," Tuten said. "But when we started winning in the Ô60s, they got very excited. We had a very active booster club, and with Bobby Stevens - a local - the town became very interested in the team." Tuten's teams would bring home several championships. He retired in 1993 and resides in Palatka. Although the majority of faculty and administrators arrived from out of town during the first two decades, local residents would also help open the College's first year in 1958. Shelby Duff transferred from Palatka Senior High School, Norma Robinson served as the librarian, and Martha Rowton was hired as the assistant librarian, along with countless residents who worked in the crucial support areas of the College, such as office and maintenance positions. 1959 would bring Starke resident C.L. Overturf Jr. to the College for a faculty position in speech and debate. According to Overturf, his debate teams brought home 14 state championships and five national awards. "We have a good number of those students who became lawyers - Hedstrom, Merryday and Hogan," Overturf said. "Those were great days." Overturf called the College one of the finest schools; however, that wasn't his first impression of Palatka. "I thought of Palatka as a place I didn't want to live," Overturf said. "But it all changed after I got here and realized that the people were different. They were friendly and open and appreciative." "What we didn't have in facilities and roads, we had in quality people," he said. Overturf served the College until 1980, when he left to become superintendant of Putnam County schools. Other faculty and administrators who would continue to arrive in Palatka in the 1960s and serve the College for at least 30 years include: Ed Starling, Joe Trauerman, Thomas Rogero, Bill Pace, Milton Speaks, Cliff McGriff, Elizabeth Gibson, Jerry Rothschild, John Tindall, Mike Miller, Phil Johansen, Dick Clark, George Kennedy and Edward "Bud" Wiley. The College's first African-American instructor, Dr. Cleo Higgins, joined the College in 1964 after the College absorbed the operations of Collier-Blocker, the area's African-American college. Higgins taught humanities and would serve the College until 1970. She returned to SJRCC in 1986 to give the commencement speech. The College's second president was a native of St. Augustine. Dr. Charles LaPradd began in 1966 and hired a Marianna native who would later become Florida's longest tenured community college president - Dr. Robert L. McLendon Jr. McLendon first joined the College in 1966 as Dean of Academic Affairs and was appointed president in 1972. McLendon would lead the College to new educational opportunities and expand its services throughout the three counties of the district. McLendon said his major commitment was to secure funding for College facilities in Orange Park and St. Augustine. "This would be the only way in which we could truly serve these vital parts of our College district," McLendon said. "We needed comprehensive programs with easy access in all three of our counties. This was my most immediate commitment." Overturf described McLendon as a contributor to the financial aspect of the College. "He put us on a solid financial foundation and we've been there ever since," Overturf said. The 1970s would bring some of the College's current and longest tenured faculty and administrators: psychology professor Jorge Milanes, business professor Glendora Mays, humanities professor Marianne MacNichol, history and political science professor Wayne Watters, mathematics professor Ed McDonald, humanities professor Nona Mitchell Asconi and Dean of Admissions and Records O'Neal Williams. Williams came to Palatka in 1974 to participate in a practicum while in graduate school at the University of Florida. "I had never been to Palatka until then," Williams said. The practicum lead to the offer of a full-time position. "I figured I would stay a couple of years. There was a big need to extend the college's resources to students who may not normally be encouraged to attend." Thirty-three years later Williams says he is proud to be a part of such an educational outreach. "It means we are making an impact on students' lives and the community." When combining 50 years of history, lives, change and growth, we can turn to a final sociology lesson from Caillouet: "For Palatka and its residents, the College meant change. Growth means change, and I've seen substantial growth during the past 41 years," he said. "It was a great College and still is a great college; and as each campus develops it own culture, it becomes a College greater than the sum of its parts. Change is good." The College will hold its 50th Anniversary Reception on May 9, 2008 on the Palatka Campus. Friends and alumni are invited to attend. RSVP by April 21. For more information about the event or to join the Alumni Association, call (386) 312-4100 or visit the Web site at: www.sjrcc.edu/50years. Return to SJRCC's 50th Anniversary page. Return to SJRCC home page.