Lloyd Cannon
Lloyd Cannon, 47, of Chiefland died Thursday, August 3, 2000, at Nature Coast Hospital in Williston, FL. He was born in Chiefland where he lived his entire life. He was a laborer and a member of the Baptist Church. He is survived by two sons: Gary Cannon of Chiefland and Chad Cannon of Bell, Florida, two brothers: Horace Cannon, Jr., of Cross City and Berry Cannon of Chiefland and a sister: Sandra Quincey of Chiefland.
Christian B. Zimmerman
Christian Zimmerman, of Chiefland, passed away at Nature Coast Regional Hospital in Williston last Friday, February 23rd. He was 81.
Mr. Zimmerman was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and moved to Chiefland from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, seven years ago. He had been employed as an engineer with the General Electric Company until he retired. He was a member of the Cedar Key Historical Society and the Chiefland Country Club.
Survivors include his wife, Sarah L. Zimmerman of Chiefland; a sister, Ella Kester of West Chester, Pennsylvania; a daughter, Gail Bodine of Virginia; and three sons, David Zimmerman, of Ohio, Henry Zimmerman of Virginia, Peter Zimmerman of North Carolina; and twelve grandchildren.
James Oliver Barber
Mr. Oliver Barber of Cross City passed away Friday, November 22, 2002. He was 75 years old. He was born in Dixie County and lived in Cross City most of his life. Mr. Barber sold produce and was a carpet laborer.
Mr. Barber is survived by three daughters and a brother, Raymond Barber of Crystal River.
A graveside funeral service was held for Mr. Barber on Friday, November 29, 2002, at Old McCrabb cemetery in Old Town.
Kenneth James Lambert
Kenneth Lambert, 69, a retired Army sergeant, died Tuesday, April 1, 2003, at home.
A native of Tennessee, he was a former resident of Ocklawaha. Mr. Lambert was a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars, a life member of Disabled American Veterans and a protestant. He served in the Army during the Korean War.
Survivors include his wife, Marjorie M. Lambert of Cedar Key, stepdaughters Sherry Hunt of Tampa and Deanna Kendall of Hollywood, Florida, brothers Charles Lambert of Hahira, Georgia, and William Lambert of Weirsdale, Florida, and sisters Grace Green of Columbia, Alabama, and Margaret Collins, and Candler and Betty Carter, all three of Lake Placid, Florida.
Mr. Lambert was laid to rest on Friday, April 4, 2003, at Good Shepherd Memorial Garden in Ocala, Florida.
Josephine Harrington
Mrs. Josephine Harrington died Sunday, September 26, 2004. She was 90.
Mrs. Harrington was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She moved to Cedar Key from Gainesville in 1963. Mrs. Harrington was self-employed. She was of the Catholic faith. Mrs. Harrington was affectionately known as “Granny” or “Miss Jo” by those who knew her well, she also loved animals.
Her husband, Guy Harrington, and stepdaughter, Betty Ellingsworth, preceded her in death.
She is survived by two sons: Marvin Harrington of Rosewood and Ray Harrington of Chiefland and two daughters: Joan Fansler of Cedar Key and Chrissie Williams of Homerville, Georgia. One stepdaughter, Stella George of Easton, Maryland, and grandchildren Missy Zebley, Jarrett Harrington, Gary Cannon, Chad Cannon and Megan Harrington and 12 great-grandchildren also survive her.
Arrangements were under the care of Knauff Funeral Home, Chiefland, Florida.
William Lawrence Totin
William Lawrence Totin passed away peacefully on September 28, 2004, following a long illness. He was 60 years of age.
Mr. Totin, “Larry,” was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on August 16, 1944. He was the son of working class parents. He was an avid reader as a child and read the entire World Book developing a taste for literature, geography and science that lasted all his life. He married
in 1963 and joined the Naval Reserve. He was honorably discharged in 1968 after achieving the rank of E-3 and having learned to become an electrician in the service.
After his military service he went west arriving in San Francisco shortly after the Summer of Love. He lived in San Francisco from 1969 to 1975. He attended San Francisco State for 2 years. In 1975 he purchased a half-acre in Mendicino on the Northern California coast. There he loved to dive for Abalone and fish. He also developed an interest in gardening and mushroom gathering.
Mr. Totin led a rich life and did a variety of jobs such as accounting and carpentry. In 1989 he bought a motorhome and spent 3 months traveling the country winding up in Cedar Key, Florida. Larry adopted Cedar Key as his new hometown living his last 14 years as a beloved figure in town.
His son, Wayne, and his daughter-in-law, Andrea, who reside in St. Petersburg, Florida, survive Mr. Totin.
There will be a memorial service held at the Cedar Key Eagles Aerie 4194 on 3rd and B Street to honor Larry Totin on Saturday, October 9th, starting at 1:00 p.m. A cold lunch buffet will be served.
Lori Rae Harris Hoff
Lori Hoff passed away on January 7, 2005, due to complications. She was 37 years of age. Lori lived in Cedar Key off and on for a few years. She moved back to Ohio 2 years ago.
Survivors include her parents; Ronald and Janet Taylor Harris, her Daughter; Jessica Hillman, and one Brother; Douglas (Colleen) Harris.
Graveside services were held on Monday, January 10, 2005, at 1:00 p.m. at the Elks cemetery in McArthur, Ohio. Reverend James Taylor officiated.
Arrangements were by Garrett Funeral Home in McArthur, Ohio.
Gary L. Maynard
Gary L. Maynard of Cedar Key passed away after an accident while working as a Tree Surgeon on June 5, 2005 at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. He was 36 years of age.
Mr. Maynard was born in Ocala and has resided in Cedar Key for a number of years. He was of the Baptist Faith.
Survivors include his parents, John and Ella Mae Maynard of Anthony, Florida; one daughter, Haley Maynard; his fiancé, Shannon Fine and her daughters Lindsey, Lisa and Carla all of Cedar Key; maternal grandmother, Lucy Wyatt of Marysville, Ohio; two sisters, Devetta Spicer of Anthony, Florida and Mary Brown and Husband Jimmy of Silver Springs, Florida; two brothers, Robert Maynard of Ocala, Florida and Howard Maynard of Anthony, Florida.
He was preceded in death by sisters Geraldine and Lucy Ann Maynard.
Arrangements by Hiers Funeral Home, Ocala, Florida, 352-629-7171.
Jesse Quitman Hodges
Jesse Quitman Hodges, age 90, lifetime resident of Cedar Key, died Sunday, November 20, 2005.
He was born to Mollie Luttrell Hodges and Tyler Hodges in the annex area of the historic Island Hotel on December. 4, 1914, and lived nearly all of his life on Cedar Key’s main street.
He quit school in the 10th grade to become a commercial fisherman to help support his mother, elderly father and younger siblings, Lucille and Willard.
During World War II, he moved to Jacksonville with his parents and his sister Lucille and her husband Joe Wilder and their children. They moved there to work at the Merrill Stevens shipyard where they stayed for the duration of the war. While in Jacksonville, his father and his 25-year-old sister both passed away.
Upon his return to the island, he and his widowed mother took guardianship of his two nieces and nephew and weathered lots of storms, including the hurricane of 1950, which took the back off their two-story, 14-room home next to the Island Hotel. Fearing the structure would collapse with his family inside, Quitman crossed the street to the home of Randolph and Mildred Hodges and tied the end of a rope which the children and adults gripped as they crossed the flooded street while the storm roared around them. After the storm, Quitman salvaged all the lumber he could to rebuild their home on the same property, where he resided until his death.
At one time, the smallest man in town owned the largest boat. Quitman was a very skilled boat captain, and he proudly maneuvered his 42-foot-long Miss Caledonia with ease. Also, in the 1960s and 1970s he owned and operated “Hodges Marine and Supplies” which was located alongside the old post office in the building that now houses Capital City Bank. He was at work there when he developed the severe back problem that eventually put him on crutches and then into a wheelchair.
Hodges was a charter member of the Cedar Key Lions Club, and was appointed by the governor to the original Cedar Key Special Water and Sewerage District Board when it was created by the state in the 1960s.
He was first elected Cedar Key’s mayor in 1962, and except for 1976, served the city as either mayor or city commissioner until his defeat in the 2003 election. He dedicated most of his life to Cedar Key, and over the course of 41 years in city government, he served as mayor for eight years. He was a member of the original Cedar Key Volunteer Fire Department, and was able to oversee that department as time passed by serving as the Fire Department liaison to the commission. For many years he spent each day at the City Hall, and was able to act as a living historian throughout his life.
To ensure access to the wealth of his city knowledge, in 2003 the city hired him to act as a consultant and historian.
The Cedar Key Volunteer Fire Department previously had planned a dedication ceremony and open house for Saturday, December 3rd, at 11 a.m., at which time they planned to honor him with the presentation of a plaque naming their new firehouse the “J. Quitman Hodges Firehouse.” Even though now the guest of honor won’t be present for the dedication planned for his birthday, Chief James McCain told him of the plaque a few days before he passed away, and he chuckled.
Two nieces, Shirley Wilder Beckham of Cedar Key, and Jannie Wilder Williams of Port Charlotte, and one nephew, Bobby Joe Wilder of Dunnellon and Cedar Key, and his 19 great- and great-great nieces and nephews survive him.
Services were Tuesday. Hiers-Baxley Funeral Services of Chiefland was in charge of arrangements.
W. Randolph Hodges
W. Randolph Hodges of Cedar Key died Tuesday, November 29, 2005. He was 91 years old.
He was a third generation Floridian whose family migrated to Florida from South Carolina and helped to settle the Cedar Keys. In 1855, his grandfather, a doctor, built a home on the island south of Cedar Key called Hickory Island, and three of his sons, including Randolph’s father and a daughter, lived all of their adult lives in Cedar Key.
He was born in Cedar Key on February 5, 1914, and lived most of his life in the home his father had built around the turn of the century. He graduated from Cedar Key High School in 1932 and attended the University of Florida for a short time before returning to his native island city.
He married
Mildred Yearty from Otter Creek in November 1933 and began a relationship that lasted 72 years. Mildred was Randolph’s soul mate; she fished, hunted, traveled and entertained with him all those 72 years.
Like most Cedar Key residents during the early 20th century, he was a commercial fisherman and, for a while, operated a fish house. He bought the local ice plant during the 1940s and manufactured ice for fishermen for approximately 15 years. (This was before the time of ice machines.) In connection with the ice plant, he owned and operated an appliance and marine store.
His father served as a Levy County Commissioner for many years, and Randolph followed in his footsteps, serving 10 years as a Levy County Commissioner and two terms as mayor of Cedar Key. He was elected to the Florida Senate (representing the 21st district of Levy, Gilchrist and Dixie counties) in 1952 and served for three terms (12 years) during which time he served as President Pro Tempore of the senate in 1959, and President of the Florida State Senate in the 1961 Legislature. He was a solid member of the Senate bloc of small county senators who engaged in many political battles, which included reapportionment. The group was known as “The Pork Chop Gang.” Following the 1961 legislative session, Governor Ferris Bryant and the Florida Cabinet appointed him to serve as State Conservation Director. He and Mildred and their son Hal moved to Tallahassee and lived there for 13 years while he served as Conservation Director and, later, as Director of the newly established Department of Natural Resources. He retired from state government in 1974 and he and Mildred returned to their family home in Cedar Key. He raised cattle on his Rosewood Farm on the mainland and represented Pompano Park Harness Race Track as a lobbyist in Tallahassee, Florida, for many years.
Throughout his political career, he was known to be an honest, straightforward gentleman. Many of his colleagues affirmed through letters after the 1961 Legislative Session during which he served as President of the Senate that he “…was one of the best and fairest presiding officers…” with whom they had served. He was a member of the Cedar Key United Methodist Church and throughout his life he lived by the strong Christian values and principles of the church.
His wife, Mildred, preceded him in death. Survivors include a daughter, Nancy Duden of Cedar Key; sons Hal Hodges and Gene Hodges, both of Cedar Key; an aunt, Lucile Rogers of Cedar Key; six grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and a cousin.
Hiers-Baxley Funeral Services, Chiefland, is in charge of arrangements.
