Inverness seeks a way to honor contributors

The council approves the concept of creating a memorial to former Mayor O.J. Humphries and others. The details have to be worked out.

By BRIDGET HALL

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 20, 2000

INVERNESS -- In life, Dr. O.J. Humphries was a stabilizing force in city politics, a gifted gospel singer and a generous supporter of numerous causes.

In death, Humphries has inspired a memorial park to honor his memory and the work of others in the community.

The Inverness City Council approved the concept Tuesday night for a memorial to honor the city's contributors, starting with former Mayor Humphries. The details, such as the location and type of memorial, will be worked out by city staffers.

City officials have suggested several possibilities, such as a wall bearing the names of those honored, or a park that could feature small memorials for each person.

"We've had all sorts of people who've come and gone who have served us well, and they have never been recognized," council president Dick Kaufman said. "I think a memorial is an excellent idea."

During his tenure as mayor from 1983 to 1995, Humphries used his veto power and his criticism sparingly. His colleagues on the council remembered him as the voice of reason guiding the city through tough times.

Humphries opened his chiropractic clinic in Inverness in 1966, and soon afterward became entrenched in community activities. He helped organize the Citrus County United Way and served on the boards of the Key Training Center and First Presbyterian Church. With his wife, Shirley, Humphries volunteered with the Little League and the public schools.

Orien J. Humphries died in June 1999 at age 73.

The request to honor Humphries came from his friends and family.

"I don't know of a better man," Humphries' son-in-law Greg Godwin told the council Tuesday night. "If anybody deserves it, he does. He played a big part in Inverness."

Memorializing Humphries now opens the door to honoring others in the community, although council members did not discuss Tuesday night what criteria a person should meet to qualify for a memorial.

"That's a very ticklish thing," City Council member John Sullivan said in an interview after the meeting. "Some people are going to be memorialized, some aren't, so you have to handle it very delicately."

The city frequently receives requests to memorialize volunteers, clergy members, business leaders, government officials and others, City Manager Frank DiGiovanni said. The requests have included everything from putting a plaque on a bench to renaming Whispering Pines Park, but in the past DiGiovanni turned them down because the city had no policy on memorials.

"It is easy to start, but where do you end?" DiGiovanni wrote in a memo to council members.

Right now, the city has only one facility named for an individual: Wallace Brooks Park off Dampier Street. "We're not really sure who he was or when it was named," city parks and recreation director Pati Smith said.

And the city's last effort to immortalize residents, by laying a downtown walkway with bricks bearing the names of anyone with $5, turned out to be an expensive project fraught with errors.

Envisioned in 1992 as a fundraiser, the brick project actually cost the city thousands of dollars to replace bricks that were broken, had misspelled inscriptions or had been smashed by cars.

DiGiovanni said he has no intention of going down the inscribed brick road again.

As for any future memorials, he said, the council must set criteria for deciding who deserves such an honor.

"The real teeth of the discussion has to come from the council," DiGiovanni said. "They have to come to a consensus on what they want to consider."

-- Information from Times files was used in this report.

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