Flagler College celebrates Founders Day next week

As Flagler College prepares to celebrate Founders Day, Historic City News was informed that many of its alumni, which includes our editor, Michael Gold, faculty and staff are not only reflecting on the college’s successes — but also remembering its early struggles.

Gold, a native St Augustinian, was a teenager when the all-girls school opened in 1968 and he was making his own college plans in the early 1970’s; a turbulent period for Flagler when rumors filled the dormitory hallways revealing that the college, steeped in financial woes, may close.

“Giving birth to a new college sometimes gives terrible pain, but believe me, the baby is alive, thriving and healthy,” said Lawrence Lewis, founder of the college and chairman of the Board of Trustees, as he addressed students, faculty and staff who had assembled in the west wing of the dining hall to learn of the college’s fate.

Beverly Copeland, a student in her junior year, and the others in the room, erupted in jubilation. “It’s a feeling like I’ve never known before,” said the alumna, now Copeland-Carmichael and vice president of Institutional Advancement. “To come together and promise one another to keep the doors open to the college was so incredible.”

In honor of the early leaders who worked tirelessly to lay the groundwork for Flagler College’s stability, progress and success, the school will be celebrating Founders Day on Tuesday, October 20th, with a parade, local band, luau and other activities.

But the days leading up to Lewis’ announcement were fraught with worry and uncertainty — even for Copeland-Carmichael, ‘72, who had always been an upperclassman (as a student in Flagler’s inaugural class), a leader among her peers and often the one with the answers. Prior to Lewis’ declaration, she and a handful of other students met with the respected leader to state their case for keeping the college open.

“He really listened to each of us,” she said. “He asked us where we were from, what our major was. You could tell he really cared to get to know us.”

Alumna Linda (Hall) Mignon, ‘74, remembers the moment too, especially when her mentor, retired Professor Tom Rahner proclaimed, “I’ll stay!” when Lewis asked him, on-the-spot, of his interest in remaining with the school.

“We knew that we were going to be OK,” Mignon said. “We were completely relieved that Flagler wasn’t going to fold.”

Lewis, a great nephew of oil magnate Henry Flagler, rescued the college by forgiving a mortgage of over $1 million, and by enlisting new leadership to the college’s helm, including interim Chancellor Frank Harrold and Dr. William L. Proctor as president. The new Board of Trustees consisted of Lewis, Harry R. Gonzalez, John D. Bailey, William J. McClure and Howell W. Melton.

Proctor took hold of the college’s reins and outlined his priorities: increasing enrollment, eliminating all operating indebtedness, making improvements to the physical plant and attaining regional accreditation. He also wanted the focus of the college to be on high-caliber teaching and counseling.

“Dr. Proctor had this fantastic, visionary leadership,” Copeland Carmichael said. “And he worked very, very hard for the college.”

Proctor served as president of the college for 30 years, until 2001, when Dr. William T. Abare, Jr. — then dean of academic affairs — assumed leadership.