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'Wild Willie' is part of the history of Key West
©Associated Press, published May 27, 2001
KEY WEST -- Wilhelmina G. Harvey has seen her share of rough weather over nearly a century of living in the Florida Keys. But she missed one of the worst hurricanes in modern times by mere hours.
Harvey, a 23-year-old science teacher at the time, was returning from summer school at Tulane University in New Orleans when she heard a hurricane blew apart a section of the Overseas Railway. More than 400 died in the 1935 Labor Day storm.
Harvey, now 89, remembers the lives lost and the damaged homes in Islamorada and the upper Keys and how residents rebounded from the disaster.
"Everyone here is a survivor. We survived the pirates, the revolution, the mosquitoes, the Indians," she said. "We've suffered so much for generations, if anybody has a problem we want to share it with them and help them overcome it."
Harvey is a true Conch, one of the descendants of the five original German and English families who settled Key West. She has seen Key West grow from a poverty-stricken village to a thriving community and tourist haven. She is the Keys' longest-serving woman politician and Key West's first woman mayor.
Despite losing her re-election bid for Monroe County Commission in November, Harvey is still treated as a grand dame of the island. During a recent interview at the Key West Yacht Club, friends and acquaintances stopped to grasp the golden-haired woman by the hand and kiss her on the cheek.
Harvey can't remember all of their names, but they know hers.
She's Wilhelmina to most and "Wild Willie" to those familiar with her political legacy. Harvey, who was married to one-time Key West Mayor C.B. Harvey, began serving on the County Commission in the 1960s.
The lifelong Democrat's achievements include bringing public cable television to low income families, helping purchase and develop several parks, and supporting the county library system and arts council.
But perhaps her fondest duty has been serving as the Conch Republic's ambassador, meeting with presidents and foreign leaders, and handing out honorary Conch certificates.
In 1991, Harvey hosted a royal picnic for Queen Elizabeth at Dry Tortugas National Park. The queen arrived aboard her largest yacht, and Harvey -- eager to show her admiration for the queen's fashion sense -- wore a wide-brimmed hat. Harvey was surprised to see the queen come off the stately ship without a hat.
Key West boaters who drove by the island saw Harvey and called her by one of her nicknames, saying, "Hi queen! Hi queen!" Queen Elizabeth, thinking the greetings were for her, waved back, while Harvey kept her hand down.
"I'm very proud of the way I handled that," Harvey said with a smile.
With another hurricane season looming, Harvey hopes the county commission will approve a plan to eventually expand U.S. 1 to three lanes to help expedite evacuations when a hurricane threatens. She remains optimistic Key West will be spared again this season, which starts June 1.
In 1922, at the dedication ceremony of a grotto built by the nuns of the Immaculate Names of Jesus and Mary, Sister Lewis Gabriel asked God to protect Key West from the ravages of a major storm.
A major hurricane has not hit Key West since then and many Conchs say it's because of the love and devotion the nuns showed in the building of the grotto. Hurricane Georges hurt the economy by closing the Keys to visitors for 10 days in 1998, but no one died.
Harvey believes in the grotto's presumed power to fend off disastrous storms. "I think it's going to hold true forever," she said.
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