Maurine Boles, R.I.P.: "We still see evidence of her hard work". (Margo C. Pope, SAR, December 29, 2018)

In the 1970s, notorious 1700s St. Augustine orange grove slave plantation owner Jesse Fish's home (and the graves of him and his slaves) were threatened with development.  Maurine Boles helped stop their destruction by the Florida Department of Transportation and their proposed route for new State Route 312 and the 312 bridge. Yes, my friends, the late Maurine Boles led the way to preserving and protecting Fish Island, with the State of Florida changing the route of SR 312.  The second time that Fish Island wa threatened by development, our entire community united, with 50 of us testifying against a D.R. Horton Louche Levittown-like abortion. Fish Island is now a City park.  It takes a village to preserve and protect "our village," as former St. Augustine Beach Mayor Sherman Gary Snodgrass calls it.  (Mayor Snodgrass was among the 50 of us who stood in line in 2018, testifying before the St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board.)  In 2019, the Governor and Cabinet voted to buy the land for some $6.3 million, using Florida Forever funds (a constitutional amendment that Commissioner Isaac Henry dean helped write).  Vice Mayor Leanna Sophia Amaru Freeman called it a "miracle."

Thank you, Mrs. Boles for leading the way.  

From St. Augustine Record: 

We still see evidence of her hard work'

Maurine Boles turned a love of city's history into a lasting legacy

Margo C. Pope Record correspondent

(Ten Who Make A Difference)

December 29, 2018

St. Augustine charmed young Maurine Marshall on a trip with her mother, Cleta Morris Marshall, in February 1939.

They took a bus from their hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with their ultimate destination, Miami. St. Augustine was a stopover.

The bus went through the city gate to the Plaza, where flowers were blooming,” said Maurine Boles, 86. “I fell in love with St. Augustine.”

“We were met by horses pulling polished carriages ... A driver named Major collected our baggage and said he knew just the right place to take us.” That was Watson House on the site where O.C. White’s restaurant is located. For three days, mother and daughter “did all the tourist things.” What she remembers most is the Ponce de Leon Hotel. “I played on the stairs of the Ponce (rotunda) while my mother went upstairs and wrote letters to friends.”

In the late 1960s, Maurine, came with her husband, Joseph Boles Sr., and three children, Joseph Jr., Michael and Melissa. The Boles were hired by Treasure Salvors Inc., of Vero Beach, operated by Mel Fisher, a treasure ship hunter. They researched the possibility of treasure ships off St. Augustine’s coast for Fisher. “For 10 days, crews from Treasure Salvors looked at wrecks from Jacksonville to Matanzas Inlet,” she said. (No treasure was found.)

Citizens step up for Lightner

Maurine and Joe Sr. embraced St. Augustine and began an antique and appraisal business. They met John D. Bailey Sr., former mayor, as the city was relocating City Hall from St. George Street to the Lightner Museum Building in the 1970s. The move meant the museum would move into the back section of the building. Bailey was instrumental in Boles Sr. being named the museum’s executive director, Maurine Boles said. She did various jobs to ready the museum to reopen in 1974.

“The citizens of St. Augustine came to the rescue, giving countless volunteer hours to create a museum out of chaos,” she said. “Talented professionals gave of their time. With no money for museum-type displays, the carpentry class of the Vo-Tech Center of the School District made beautiful cabinet bases. A local business that made aquariums came in on the project. They turned the aquariums upside down and they served as glass-covered display cabinets.”

“The Lightner Museum today is truly a tribute to the resourcefulness of the citizens of St. Augustine,” she said.

Robert Harper, Lightner’s executive director, began his association with the museum as a volunteer. “My wife, Alicia, and I were asked by Joe Sr. to volunteer during the setup and that is how we became involved in the museum.”

“Joe Sr. was amazing in the way he motivated the community and created a new awareness about the museum among the citizens,” Harper said.

“Maurine was clearly the glue that held the whole process together. She managed the organizing and prioritizing of how the exhibits would be presented, with limited resources and certainty limited money.

“Even today we still see evidence of her hard work,” he said.

City’s history is her passion

After Lightner, Boles pursued more of the city’s history. “I did not want to get into the mani-pedi, hair appointment, bridge cycle, so I went to work on pursuing my love of St. Augustine history,” Boles said.

She met historians at the St. Augustine Historical Society and the Castillo de San Marcos. Luis Arana, National Park Service historian at the Castillo, became a lifelong friend.

Lightner’s rebirth coincided with growth that was starting to impact historic sites.

he 1970s state plans for a new highway and bridge to Anastasia Island impacted Fish Island. The new State Road 312 was to go through what remained of Jessie Fish’s 18th century home and citrus grove, she said. “How could the state destroy the first commercial orange grove in the state?” she asked.

Boles said she and others asked that Fish’s house and burial site be protected and it was. Fish Island is news again as a new development plan unfolds. “I hope the plans avoid Fish’s house and burial site this time,” she said.

Fearing more attempts to disturb history, she created projects over the years including:

• “Take the Mystery Out of History,” free history programs held in the School Board auditorium for several years. “It was a way to get more people involved in our history and how they could help.”

• The Colonial Arts and Crafts Festival she began in 1989 because she saw hand-crafting skills of the past — spinning fibers into fabrics, hand-embroidering for accessorizing clothing, woodworking, weaving, etc. — disappearing from general knowledge. The festival ended after 22 years when it lost its Tourist Development Grant support. “The TDC said we did not put enough heads on beds for the bed-tax,” she said.

• Boles, Nancy Garrard, a weaver and a spinner, and Irene Toreula, a weaver, organized The Textile Arts Guild of St. Augustine in 1995. Guild members continue to carry on hand-crafting from the past into the present and present public programs.

A contract with the Florida National Bank in the early 1980s, gave her another window into local history, the historic city-owned Peña-Peck House and the Woman’s Exchange of St. Augustine. The bank managed the Anna Burt Trust from 1931 to 2010. “The bank never had a complete inventory,” she said. “We spent three months photographing every item and identifying the items of Dr. Seth Peck and his family who lived in the house for 94 years.”

Margie Rahner and Boles met in 1988, as new members of the Woman’s Exchange. "As a member of the Exchange, Maurine shared her knowledge with the rest of the members because she wanted all of us to know the history of the collection. She is very accurate, too. She has always loved the history of the city and teaching it to others.”

ahner said Boles’ expertise is well-regarded. "She took a textile course at the Smithsonian on the history of textiles in the 1980s, and if you contacted the Smithsonian with a question and you were in the South, you were referred to Maurine because she was the only person south of Atlanta with the knowledge of certain textiles.”

Joseph Boles Jr., the city’s mayor for eight years prior to the city’s 450th anniversary in 2015, respects his mother’s vast knowledge. “My mother’s love of history inspired me to make sure we told our community’s stories from everyone’s point of view,” he said. “Our melting pot, First-America-City needed a multi-year 450th birthday celebration that we would invite all the world to the party. My mother’s historical archives were an amazing resource that helped us get it right!”

Boles’ motivation, she said, is “my love of history.”

She credits John D. Bailey Sr., and Circuit Judge Richard O. Watson, as her mentors in community service. She advises others who want to get involved in the community to “keep informed and do something to help where you can.”

She wants her legacy to be, “that she lived her life well and loved very well.”

MAURINE MARSHALL BOLES

How long have you lived in our community?: Over 50 years.

Family information: I married Joseph L. Boles in 1951; he died in 2003. Three children: Joseph Jr., Michael and Melissa; grandchildren, and one great-grandson, Benjamin Marshall Truseo.

Community involvement: Co-founder, Textile Arts Guild of St. Augustine; Historian, former curator, and past president, Woman’s Exchange of St. Augustine; Member, Maria Jefferson Chapter, DAR (68 years); formerly a Guardian Ad Litem advocate for children; volunteer tour guide.