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By CRAIG BASSE
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 27, 2000
Gloria C. Rains, who led the feisty environmentalists of ManaSota-88 for more than two decades, has died at 72.
Mrs. Rains, who specialized in growth management and wetlands protection, died Friday (Sept. 15, 2000) at her Palmetto home.
Noted for her research, she enjoyed digging for information that might help on environmental battlefields in Manatee and Sarasota counties in particular and Florida in general.
While other environmentalists fought for the panthers and manatees, she felt free to pursue such other interests as offshore mining.
A stroll through her home revealed publications ranging from Technology Review to Atomic Bulletin and the Federal Register, a visitor once noted.
"If you read all the time, you're likely to come across something that even the scientists and regulators haven't heard about," she said in a 1987 interview. "You can accomplish a lot if you're prepared."
Born in Comer, Ga., she majored in psychology at American University. But she found a different calling when she and her husband, John, moved to Manatee County in 1967 from Greenville, S.C.
They learned that an oil refinery was planned for Port Manatee, and that an offshore unloading dock was a possibility for the Gulf of Mexico. They worried about what might happen to their slice of Florida.
"We were naive," she said. "We thought government is responsive to the wishes of the people. It's not -- unless the people really work at it."
She and her husband, other environmentalists and members of the Manatee and Sarasota public protested. After several years of meetings, seminars, confrontations, referendums and administrative hearings, they stopped the oil industry from getting a foothold on the Suncoast.
She also fought the phosphate industry and took on Florida Power & Light Co., over plans to burn the controversial fuel Orimulsion at its power plant in Parrish.
Her husband died in 1983. Survivors include a daughter, Debra Rains, Tennessee; two sons, Gordon, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and John H. III, Tampa; seven grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
The family suggests memorial contributions to ManaSota-88, P.O. Box 14119, Bradenton, FL 34280.
Brown & Sons Funeral Home, Bradenton, is in charge of arrangements.
- Information from Times files was used in this obituary.