Tributes

Florida Jackson Yeldell died peacefully at home at the Lakes at Litchfield on May 25, 2006. She was born in 1915, in Georgetown, SC, to Janie Elizabeth Anderson Jackson, and Robert Jackson, one of the first African-American letter-carriers in Georgetown. She is survived by son Robert and his wife, Demetria, of Atlanta, GA; one sister, Zelda Woodson; 5 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren; and many friends and students. Florida graduated Morris College in Sumter, SC, and completed her Master's Degree in History at Howard University in 1941. In the early 1970's, Florida earned a second Master's Degree in Geography at California State at Chico. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Coastal Carolina University in 2004 , honoring her lifelong contributions as an educator. Florida spent her life in education, teaching in elementary and high schools in SC and later in higher education in Texas. She also taught part-time for Howard University and worked at New York University. During the years of World War II, she worked for the War Department, first in Washington and later in Newark, NJ. Florida retired in 1979, teaching as an adjunct professor in Houston Community College. In 1988 she returned home to South Carolina, choosing to live first in Murrells Inlet and then at the Lakes at Litchfield. She immediately became actively involved in the community, and at Coastal Carolina University, where she helped in founding the Third Quarter program, now the Lifelong Learning Society. She served as a mentor in several CCU programs, including the NSF "Jump for the Sun" grant to encourage girls and women in Math and Science, and in Coastal's national pilot site for the Courage to Teach program. She was also very involved in the arts, serving on the Wheelwright Council, the Friends of the Waccamaw Library Board, and as docent at Brookgreen Gardens for more than ten years. Florida worked with retired principal David Drayton to create and team-teach the very popular course in the Black History of Georgetown County for Linda Ketron?s continuing education programs, first at Brookgreen, then Artworks, then Coastal Carolina University?s Waccamaw Center. Videos of the course are part of her legacy to teachers in this area. Florida was a member of the Christian Science Church, the SC Historical Society, and the African-American History Organization and Dreamkeepers in Georgetown Florida?s life will be celebrated with a memorial service at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Robert Jackson Collection, a special collection of women?s studies in the Coastal Carolina University Library created by Florida to honor her father. Checks may be made to the Coastal Educational Foundation and sent to Dr. Danny Nicholson, CEF, Coastal Carolina University, P O Box 261954, Conway, SC 29528.