Service to others marked their lives

Two former mayors died in 2000, as well as a devoted doctor and longtime city clerk.

By RYAN DAVIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 1, 2001

This year, Pasco County's losses included two former mayors, a doctor, a 15-year-old, a city clerk, a homeless advocate, a journalist, a teacher, a restaurant owner, a familiar face at the courthouse, a volunteer worker, an attorney and a high school athlete.

But these people, among the most well-known Pasco figures who passed away this year, will not be remembered by such titles.

Former Zephyrhills Mayor Robert H. Johnson will be remembered for his devotion to both family and work. That devotion led the mayor to take on any task, even pouring concrete, during his 15 years in office. He died Jan. 15 at age 87. Glenn W. Lester, who served on the Dade City Board of Commissioners from 1950 to 1957, including five years as mayor, died Sept. 18, also at age 87. He moved to Dade City more than 50 years ago and ran his own grocery store, L & L Supermarket, on N Seventh Street, for 20 years.

Dr. Wardell Elliott Stanfield of Dade City provided health care for 50 years to east Pasco residents, even those who couldn't afford to pay. He built his own nine-bed hospital in the 1950s. Stanfield died Jan. 21 at age 84. He left quietly, refusing a treatment for failing kidneys after a stroke.

Lacy Pohlman, 15, of Holiday died waiting for a lung transplant. Her legacy will include the cheer she spread through All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg between her treatments for cystic fibrosis. She was next in line for a double lung transplant when she died Feb. 24.

June Bottner, New Port Richey's longtime city clerk, kept immaculate records and never would have planned for the attention she received after her death. Politicians flocked to services for Bottner, swapping stories about how she furthered their careers. Bottner died March 13 at age 65.

Jody Henry owned, along with his wife, the Holy Ground homeless shelter, which serves more than 50 homeless people in Hudson. He was known for spending every dollar he had -- often on others. He crashed his Corvette into a utility pole on U.S. 19 and died Aug. 7 at age 34.

Suzanne Hayes, a St. Petersburg Times reporter from Ridge Manor, will be remembered for her smile, which greeted anyone entering the newspaper's Dade City office. She shared her cancer battle with readers in the pages of the newspaper. She died Sept. 13 at age 54.

Former Dade City teacher and principal Greta Adams taught lessons that eased racial tension when Pasco schools were desegregated in the late 1960s. Many of her former students said they carry with them the morals she taught and the image of her smile. She died Oct. 10 at age 62.

Johnnie Clower's soft heart will have a legacy as enduring as his tender barbecued ribs. Clower, the namesake of his family's Johnnie's Bar-B-Q restaurant, provided the food for countless charity benefits. The community he served returned the favor by rallying behind him after he suffered a massive stroke, but Clower died Oct. 21 at age 56.

Charles Carr, an Ohio retiree with a penchant for learning and sharing information, graced the entrance to the west Pasco courthouse with his friendliness for more than a decade. He couldn't understand why more retirees didn't volunteer. He died Nov. 7 at age 80.

Barbara Mercer of Dade City died while helping others. The avid Habitat for Humanity volunteer was traveling on Nov. 21 with a family that will move into a Habitat-built house when a driver, admittedly impaired by drugs, slammed into their car. Mercer was 53.

Samuel Allgood, the jack-of-all-trades gentleman lawyer, will be remembered by anyone who needed counsel in New Port Richey in the 1950s, as well as many others. For many years, Allgood was the one-man legal community in New Port Richey, and he became the patriarch of the entire west Pasco legal community. He died Dec. 4 at age 83.

Ridgewood High School three-sport athlete Ashley Morrison carried a contagious competitive drive. Her energy will leave a mark as lasting as any of her shots. Her cause of death was listed as encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, when she died Dec. 12 at age 16.