Profile of Dr Robert B Hayling

Dr. Robert B. Hayling is a native of Tallahassee; he graduated from Florida A & M College in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and just two months after graduation, enlisted in the United States Air Force. Hayling graduated from the Air Force Officer’s Candidate School achieving the rank of First Lieutenant prior to his honorable discharge. During his service in the Air Force, Hayling married his former classmate and college sweetheart, Athea L. Wake.

Hayling earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1960 from Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry and soon began his practice in St Augustine — becoming the first Black dentist in Florida to be elected to the local, regional, state, and national components of the American Dental Association.

Although St Augustine was a segregated city, Hayling’s dental practice was integrated and flourished from the beginning. Led by his own sense of justice, Hayling actively embraced the growing cause of civil rights serving for nearly a year as the head of the St Augustine Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and as an adult advisor to the Youth Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

By 1963, racial tensions had reached a violent threshold in St Augustine. Hayling’s home was assaulted with gunfire that resulted in the killing of the family’s pet boxer, which was inside Hayling’s home. His wife, while pregnant with his third daughter, barely escaped bodily injury.

Hayling and three other companions were abducted off of US-1 while parked, viewing a major Klan rally in an open field. They were taken into the rally at gunpoint. Hayling was severely beaten resulting in two weeks in the hospital recuperating from a loss of eleven teeth and several broken ribs.

By the summer of 1964, the Civil Rights Movement in St Augustine took center stage with the national news media’s coverage of the arrival of some of the movement’s most prominent leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was arrested for his participation in non-violent protests, along with Hayling.

Hayling’s early and steadfast leadership in the cause of civil rights in St Augustine has been recognized in many ways in recent years, including the renaming of the street where he once lived to Dr. Robert B. Hayling Place; 2012 Recipient of the Florida A & M University Distinguished Alumni Award; Florida Memorial University’s Nathan W. Collier Meritorious Service Award recognizing his “courage, vision, fortitude, and service on behalf of mankind”; and namesake of the Dr. Robert B. Hayling Award of Valor, created by then Florida Senator Tony Hill, in Hayling’s honor.

Hayling continues his work in the cause of civil rights by seeking to educate others of the struggles that brought about change, including his strong support of the 40th ACCORD’s Freedom Trail, a series of historical markers identifying locations and sharing information regarding significant events in St Augustine during the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, it was the impact of many of those events that spurred the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by Congress.

Selecting a recipient for the St Augustine Order of La Florida award begins with a nomination by a City Commissioner. Dr. Hayling was nominated by Vice-Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline. The award is limited to nine living recipients and consists of a framed certificate inscribed with text unique to each recipient.

For Hayling, the inscription reads:
“In recognition of extraordinary contributions to the advancement of civil rights through his boundless courage, strength of leadership, and exemplary actions that demonstrate the finest qualities of citizenship and commitment to a more just community for all people.”

Below is a roster of recipients with presentation dates (* denotes deceased recipients).

Henry W. McMillan* (05.28.75)
Herbert E. Wolfe* (02.15.77)
John D. Bailey (02.15.77)
Albert C. Manucy* (05.09.83)
Lawrence Lewis, Jr.* (01.29.84)
Eleanor Phillips Barnes* (08.26.86)
Xavier Lopez Pellicer, Sr.* (01.27.87)
Clarissa Anderson Gibbs* (01.27.87)
Luis Rafael Arana* (12.13.88)
Eugene Lyon (10.26.92)
Edward G. Mussallem (03.26.94)
Jerome George Kass* (10.05.97)
Kenneth Beeson* (05.14.01)
William L. Proctor (08.24.01)
Michael Gannon (09.18.07)
Kathleen Deagan (09.18.07)
Frank D. Usina & Elizabeth K. Usina (09.14.09)
H. L. “Herbie” Wiles (04.22.13)
Robert B. Hayling (07.02.13)