Editor’s note: In light of the March 15 passing of Bernard “Bernie” McFadden, who was the first-ever Santa Fe College Andrews Center director, the Telegraph presents the following story, which was originally published May 18, 1995, prior to McFadden’s retirement. It says something about the passion he had for education in that he spent the majority of the interview for this story talking about the Andrews Center and how it benefitted Bradford County. McFadden’s family has planned a viewing at Jones-Gallagher Funeral Home of Keystone Heights on Monday March 21, at 5 p.m., followed by the recitation of the Rosary at 6 p.m. Funeral services will be held at St. William’s Catholic Church on Tuesday, March 22, at 10 a.m., and will be live streamed on their Facebook page at facebook.com/stwilliamkeystoneheights. A brief burial service will follow at the Keystone Heights Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a kind donation in Mr. McFadden’s name to www.americares.org McFadden was 91.
Telegraph Staff Writer
He was lucky enough to be “in the right place at the right time.”
After being witness to the growth of college opportunities in Starke, Bernard “Bernie” McFadden will retire as the coordinator of the Santa Fe College Andrews Center, effective at the end of July 1995.
He has had the good fortune of watching the center grow, thanks to the cooperation of many.
Guy Andrews and Eugene L. Matthews were leaders in “changing this community forever,” McFadden said, adding that the success of the college mission in Starke was also due to the relationship between the Santa Fe and the community.
McFadden said the Bradford County School District, city and county governments, the business community, the chamber of commerce, the local media and even the correctional system, which helps maintain the college grounds, have all been factors in the college’s success.
“In addition, we have been able to maintain the traditional family atmosphere at Santa Fe Community College at the Andrews Center because of our size and the dedication of our wonderful staff that has served the community so well over the years. SFCC trustees, administrators and faculty have all made a strong commitment to the success of this program.”
That commitment has helped the Andrews Center become what it is today, McFadden said.
When he was appointed as the first full-time coordinator of the center on Jan. 17, 1978, it was known as the SFCC Starke Center and actually located in a small office in Bradford High School. Santa Fe had offered evening classes since 1966, but the establishment of the Starke Center was the start of remarkable growth, McFadden said. The college had 150 seats filled in 11 sections in the 1977 fall semester. In last year’s fall semester (1994), 1,509 seats were filled in 71 sections.
The college’s scholarship program is one of the major reasons for that growth, McFadden said.
In 1977, only two BHS graduates had scholarships to Santa Fe. After the Starke Center opened, eight BHS graduates received scholarships in the 1978 fall semester. Then, in the summer of 1979, the Rotary Club of Starke voted to establish the first major scholarship program for BHS graduates to attend Santa Fe.
The Guy Andrews Minority Recruiting Committee was established in October 1986 to recruit and assist deserving minority students. The committee raises funds for four to five scholarships each year and is currently in the midst of a $200,000 campaign to set up a permanent endowment.
In 1987, the Junior Woman’s Club established a scholarship program enabling the Strawberry Queen and runners-up to attend Santa Fe.
Other annual scholarships have been established by American Legion Post 56, Med and Patricia Connelly, First Union Bank and the Woman’s Club of Starke.
McFadden estimates that over the years, approximately 500 BHS seniors have received scholarships totaling more than $700,000.
Another major stimulus for Santa Fe’s growth in Starke has to be the “miracle on Call Street,” McFadden said. Under the leadership of Guy Andrews, and with the support of the entire political and business community as well as hundreds of individuals, more than $2 million was raised to renovate the old Bradford County courthouse for a new Santa Fe Starke Center. McFadden said the new center, which opened Aug. 15, 1985, had an immediate impact on enrollment.
In the fall semester of 1984, 206 seats in 11 sections were filled. In the first fall semester at the new center, 629 seats in 29 sections were filled, exceeding the 400 seats college officials hoped to fill, McFadden said.
The Starke Center’s name was changed to the Andrews Center on Jan. 21, 1989, by the Santa Fe Endowment Corporation Board of Trustees. It was named after Guy Andrews — the first major Santa Fe College building to be named after a private donor, McFadden said.
McFadden considered it lucky to be able to share Andrews’ vision. He said Andrews was always working on a project others thought impossible.
“Guy saw opportunities where others saw problems,” McFadden said. “He was a dreamer, who showed us that dreams really do come true.
“I have been happy to be a small part of that dream that has brought the possibility of a college education to many people in this area who never would have had such an opportunity.”
The college experienced a 29-percent increase in enrollment when the Andrews Center expanded into the renovated Jones-Rosenberg building on Aug. 26, 1991, McFadden said. This project was once again led by Andrews, providing additional classrooms, an auditorium and space for the Eugene L. Matthews Bradford County Historical Museum.
The Andrews Center has experienced growth in ways other than enrollment, McFadden said. In response to community requests, new classes were added to the college’s program in several areas, such as nursing assistants, displaced homemakers, EMTs, zoning seminar and land-use management.
Also, frequent seminars of the Santa Fe Institute of Government have provided information to correctional officers and upgraded secretarial skills of local government employees, McFadden said.
In 1987, Bradford County residents again showed their support by donating $25,747 to the “Send a Book to College” project. Supplemented by funds of $10,000 from the state’s Academic Trust Fund, the project provides a minimum of $1,500 yearly to ensure an outstanding collection of books and resources for the college.
The college completed an agreement with the Bradford County Public Library in May 1987 to provide special services to faculty and students in Starke, with Santa Fe providing $12,000 per year for resource materials and support services, McFadden said. In return, the library is open a second evening each week and offers students such services as reference help, interlibrary loans, reserving books and accessing the Santa Fe library in Gainesville.
McFadden worked at several colleges before becoming the Andrews Center coordinator.
He was a chaplain at Florida A&M University, Florida State University, the University of Florida and the University of South Florida. Afterward, he was vice president at Bishop Moore High School in Orlando and Tampa Catholic High School.
McFadden served a year as a humanities professor at UF before becoming chairman of humanities at Edward Waters College in Jacksonville.
In 1972, McFadden joined the staff at Santa Fe as a professor in humanities, English and religion.
McFadden was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania. He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a degree in theology at Josephinum College in Worthington, Ohio.
In 1956, McFadden came to Florida and received a master’s degree in English literature at FSU in 1960. He received a doctorate in humanities at the University of Rome in 1963.
McFadden is married to Georgia Jaynes, and they are about to celebrate “a happy silver anniversary.” They have four children: Tim, Kim, Scott and Dan.
This summer also marks the 20th anniversary of the family’s sponsorship of a Vietnamese family.
Upon retirement, McFadden said he plans to carry out a promise he made to his wife.
“I promised my wife, who is a fitness expert, that my job for the first six months is to get in better physical shape,” he said.
He also plans to try to do some writing. After a year of retirement, he hopes to return to the college as a part-time teacher. During his time as Andrews Center coordinator, he taught at least one class per term.
It has just now hit McFadden emotionally that he really is retiring. He’ll certainly miss being the Andrews Center coordinator.
“This job has been a blessing to me because of the wonderful attitude of the people of Bradford County, who have shown their appreciation of the opportunity to have their own college campus by supporting the college in so many ways,” McFadden said.
