BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
A close-to-30-year involvement with the Eugene L. Matthews Bradford County Historical Museum came to an end on June 23 when Ronney Harris locked the door on his way out after his final day as a docent.
That’ll take some getting used to for Chuck Kramer, who served as a docent (or guide) during a two-hour shift before Harris arrived to work his.
“The fourth Thursday of the month, I could always depend on him like clockwork to be here at 3,” Kramer said. “It’ll be strange coming by and not having him greet me as I’m leaving and he’s coming.”
Kramer said he could count on one hand the number of times Harris missed a scheduled day of serving as a docent and added that Harris was a great resource for him, especially with the passing of Della Rosenberg and David and Theta Montgomery, who were all involved with the museum as well.
“I will miss him dearly,” Kramer said.
Harris became involved with the museum from the very beginning. He received a phone call from Bernie McFadden, who was then the director of the Santa Fe College Andrews Center, asking if he’d be interested in attending a meeting to make plans for such a museum in 1993. Harris was interested because he saw an educational opportunity for himself. He wasn’t a local, having moved to Bradford County in 1978.
Also, as an educator, Harris saw a value in such a museum for youth. He taught for 31.5 years at Bradford High School and worked a total of 35 years in the Bradford School District before retiring in 2014.
“I’m a teacher,” Harris said. “My hope is always that students would get here and get to know their history more. Maybe it’ll spark an interest in them to study history.”
Harris wishes the museum (which is named after the Bradford County Telegraph’s former owner/publisher) attracted more people, saying, “There’s a wealth of knowledge here for those who have the opportunity to come by and visit.” He’s visited a number of small-town museums, which he said display a lot of artifacts, but they don’t have a lot of educational material to accompany those artifacts.
“This is really one of the finest small-town museums I think you’ll see anywhere because you have the educational posters that tell the story as well as the artifacts,” Harris said.
Harris is proud of the museum and said it has been a joy being involved with it, but admitted he’s walking away with one nagging regret — that it has never moved from its current location to a space on ground level, which he believes would attract more visitors. The museum is located on the second floor of the Santa Fe College Cultural Building (201 E. Call St. in downtown Starke).
“It’s going to be disappointing in the fact that we were never able to serve the community the way we should because we were never able to get down on street level,” Harris said when describing his feelings on his final day at the museum. “It’s been a pleasure for me, but it’s still been a big disappointment in that respect. If we had been able to do that, I would’ve felt a lot better.”
Teaching at BHS
Despite a long involvement with the museum, history wasn’t the subject Harris was most associated with during his time at Bradford High School. He did teach some history classes, but he mainly taught government and economics.
No matter what he taught, Harris said his students always knew what was expected of them and how things were going to go in his classes. On the first day of a school year, he explained to his students how grades were going to be calculated. In fact, they had notebooks in which they computed their own grades after the system was explained to them.
“You could never say you were surprised by a grade unless you actually had a failing grade and you passed, or you had a B+ and ended up getting an A because I felt like you deserved it,” Harris said. “That was the only thing that would surprise you. (A grade) would never be lower than what you knew it was going to be.”
Harris said he knew of teachers who would basically tell their students on the first day of school that if they showed up for class, did their work and behaved, they would pass. As for himself, he said, “All I would guarantee was that every day in this classroom, you will learn something that you didn’t know. I will guarantee you that. If you study and work hard and learn enough, then you’ll get the B or the A that you want.”
He heard a lot of people say that everybody failed his class, which, of course, wasn’t true. Yes, he expected students to work, but he wanted to see them succeed. That’s why he was an educator.
“Seeing kids do well — that was the thrill,” Harris said.
For example, take the assignments in which he required students to get up in front of class to give presentations. He wasn’t asking students to do that because he was mean, but because he saw the eventual benefit it would have on students’ lives.
“It builds confidence,” Harris said. “I guess that’s what teaching is all about — building self-confidence.”
At BHS, Harris also had stints coaching wrestling, junior varsity football and the academic team. He was also the student council sponsor during 1981-85, which he described as one of his highlights.
“I changed student council from a club to a real governing body,” he said.
Student council members took on such responsibilities as setting up and running award assemblies and overseeing homecoming activities. All were solely run by students, who met during the summer to plan the activities. All activities and rules were printed and distributed to the rest of the student body.
“The student council did so much during that time that’s never been done before or since,” Harris said, adding that the students “were learning so much — how to do things for themselves.”
Another thing student council did during that time was run school elections, which included manning voter-registration stations.
“We had one week of voter registration that was typically the second week of school,” Harris said.
Harris may have been student-council sponsor, but it was never about him.
“My name was never involved,” he said. “It was not me. I did not want to be the focus at all. I wanted the focus on the students. It was student leadership. That’s all it was about.”
For approximately 10 years, Harris worked with and then sponsored and coordinated an international exchange program between BHS and Ville- Gymnasium in Erftstadt, Germany. BHS students took trips to Germany in 1988, 1990 and 1995, with Harris directing the 1990 and 1995 trips.
Harris sponsored and planned senior-class trips to Washington, D.C., in 1991 and 1992. In addition to the historic sites, students also met with the area’s representative at the time, Congressman Cliff Stearns.
In the spring of 1992, Harris sponsored the Bradford County Jefferson Meeting on the Constitution, which brought together college professors of history, government and law from the University of Florida, University of North Florida, Santa Fe College, Jacksonville University and Florida State University with local social studies teachers, civic, political and business leaders, and senior student government and economics students for a two-day seminar to discuss significant issues surrounding the U.S. Constitution. Harris, in a story on his retirement that was published in the Feb. 27, 2014, issue of the Telegraph, said, “I still believe that was the finest out-of-the-classroom educational program ever offered students in the 35 years I’ve been in Bradford County.”
Making a change
Harris and his wife, Lyn, are moving to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, which will put him closer to his daughter, Veronica, who lives in southwest Missouri. His son, Jon-Michael, still lives in Florida and works for Disney World. Harris will be an equal distance from each living in Hattiesburg.
It’ll be a big change, but one Harris is looking forward to.
“I don’t have any family here (in Bradford County),” Harris said. “That’s one thing that would’ve kept me longer. I have no family, but I have a lot of good friends and a lot of former students who I hope to maintain relations with.
“It’s going to be different, but I can make friends pretty easily.”
He already knows one person who lives approximately 90 miles from Hattiesburg — his 11th-grade English teacher, who taught him when he lived in Smiths Station, Alabama. Harris recalled how she made him and his classmates write essays every Monday. Students wouldn’t know what the topic was until they showed up to class.
“I did not enjoy one single day in her classroom,” Harris said. “She terrified me, but she did what English teachers are supposed to do. She taught us how to write.”
The teacher left the high school during Harris’ senior year after completing grad school at Auburn University. Before she did, Harris went to her how much she meant to him. He may not have enjoyed her class, but he realized he had gotten so much out of it.
During his 43rd class reunion, Harris told classmates he wished he could locate the teacher. One of his classmates managed to track her down. She lives in Jackson, Mississippi.
Harris called her and has visited with her several times, though it has been three years since the last visit.
“Now that I’m going to move to Hattiesburg, we’re going to get together pretty soon, whether she knows it or not,” Harris said.
Want to follow in Harris’ footsteps?
The Eugene L. Matthews Bradford County Historical Museum could’ve used more volunteers to act as docents when Harris was there and could definitely use some more now. Now that Harris is gone, the museum has four docents: Kramer, Barbara Crawford, Russ Crawford and Herbie Smith.
“The pay is lousy,” Kramer joked, “but as with anything else, it’s for the love.”
Docents greet visitors and ask them if they’d like a guided tour as well as answering any questions visitors have. Docents will have a notebook at their disposal that includes the answers to common questions as well as detailed information on each museum display.
“It’s the easiest job you’ll ever have,” Kramer said.
The museum (based upon the number of docents) is currently open the second Thursday of each month from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m., the third Wednesday of each month from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. and the fourth Thursday of each month from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.
If you’re interested in being a docent or would like to find out more information about the museum, please call Kramer at 904-364-6977.
Even if you don’t want to be a docent, go check out the museum. Harris recommends it.
“I wish everybody in Bradford County knew about it and would take the time to visit,” he said.
