LINKS   
News   
News Archive   
Contact Us   

(Sarasota, FL February 24, 2002) - By Sandra Hice, USF Sarasota-Manatee Staff Writer

Mention Earl and Mary Watts to anyone in the Sarasota education community, and you get a history lesson on how many lives they touched.

“It all begins with a solid educational foundation,” Mary’s son, Edwin, often heard her say. So it came as no surprise when an anonymous donor established a scholarship honoring two of the area’s most influential educators.

Dr. Laurey Stryker, USF Sarasota-Manatee CEO, announced the scholarship at the January 19 Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast. A $100,000 endowment, with matching state funds bringing the total amount to $150,000, has been designated the Earl and Mary Watts Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship is available to any Sarasota or Manatee County resident with financial need, who is admitted to USF Sarasota-Manatee as a new or continuing degree-seeking student, and maintains a minimum 2.5 institutional G. P. A. Information and scholarship applications are available on the university Web site, at www.Sarasota.USF.edu, or from the campus Financial Aid office, 359-4546.

“These were extraordinary people, who were role models to many, and who set high standards. They had great influence in bringing about positive changes to the Sarasota County School System, and we are honored to accept this gift,” says Stryker.

As someone inspired by the Wattses’ example, the donor hopes the scholarship will acknowledge the value of Earl and Mary’s strong leadership and contribution to the community, and provide financial access to higher education for those in need.

“This scholarship is a wonderful tribute to Earl and Mary, and many who knew them are cheering right now,” says Lynnette Edwards, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for Manatee County Schools. “Mary and I belonged to Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and worked together many years to raise scholarship money. Mary worked hard at getting donations because education was something about which she felt strongly. For more than 20 years, I valued Mary and Earl as friends and colleagues, and like others who knew them, witnessed their commitment to children and education.”

Edwards, who is on the USF Campus Board, says the first recipient of the sorority scholarship is a student at USF in Tampa. “How appropriate for this new scholarship to help children in their own community,” she says.

Mary and Earl together created a formidable alliance when it came to educational standards and equality. They had tremendous compassion, Edwin remembers, and their lives were examples of hard work, perseverance and the value of education. “The effects of their influence have trickled down over three generations,” Edwin notes. “They set standards that are still in place today.”

Although Edwin was too young in 1966 to understand the significance of his mother’s appointment as the first black teacher at Southside Elementary, he knows where she got her strength of character. He recalls a story his mother used to tell about her childhood.

”My grandfather was a plumber in their small Alabama hometown and often installed ‘Whites Only’ drinking fountains. He used to take my mother with him and when he was done putting one in, he let her be the first to drink from it. It was his way of showing her she was as good as anyone. Her parents instilled in her an acceptance of herself that she carried into adulthood.”

The Wattses were pioneers in education for African Americans in Sarasota County. Mary Watts was the district’s first, and only, African American assistant superintendent when she retired in 1997. She and husband Earl were among the first black principals in the district. Mary was principal at Gocio and Wilkinson Elementary schools, and was called out of retirement by the School Board in 1999 as acting principal for Booker Middle School. Earl was assistant principal, and later principal, at Sarasota Junior High School, and football coach at Booker and Sarasota High. He was the district’s coordinator of employee relations, and supervisor of affirmative action and minority education programs when he retired in 1991. Both were affiliated with many civic and church organizations and committees.

Thirty years of their guidance and example left an indelible mark on the surrounding community. Just ask Wilma Hamilton, former Sarasota County Schools superintendent. “Mary and Earl spent their entire careers helping others and insisting on high standards for their students,” she says. “It would please them to know others who might not have the financial means can now benefit from higher education.”

Hamilton describes Mary as a friend and mentor who never failed to give her good advice. The Wattses were good parents, she adds, and had wonderful strength of character. “I worked for Mary when she was assistant superintendent, and she had incredible posture, not just in the way she carried herself, but such mental backbone. She wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer when it concerned issues in the best interest of the students. She and Earl were devoted to quality education for all children.”

Earl also was president of the West Coast Golf Connection, a local chapter of the African-American Sunshine State Amateur Golf Association, and known for his sense of humor. “He would probably want the scholarship based on need and expertise in golf,” Hamilton says with a laugh.

Earl and Mary met at Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University. Upon graduation, they moved to Sarasota in 1961. Both earned advanced degrees and professional certificates while raising two sons. In the 1960s, there were many obstacles for African-American educators to overcome, not the least of which was the resistance and hardships associated with court-ordered integration. But it wasn’t long before the Wattses’ professionalism and caring won over the community.

Sandra Holley recalls being a newcomer to Sarasota in 1989, when she worked under Mary as a school-based administrator. “Mary made me feel welcome and helped me become acclimated. From my professional relationship with Mary and Earl, I grew to respect them as educators, as well as individuals. Many people they mentored are significantly contributing to the community today,” she says.

“They established themselves as positive ‘movers and shakers’ who did what they asked others to do,” Holley adds. “They were dedicated in their roles as public servants, which brings credibility to the impact any of us have not only our small inner circle, but the community at large. I hope this scholarship donation becomes a catalyst for others to come forward with similar financial gifts.”

Their dedication, persistence and quality of character are what inspired the anonymous endowment for the Earl and Mary Watts Memorial Scholarship. It will stand as a reminder of two people who left a mark upon history, the hearts of many in Sarasota County, and beyond.