Living Legacies with Jonnie Mae Perry

If you haven’t already stepped inside the Gifford Historical Museum and Cultural Center and met Jonnie Mae Perry, you need to put it at the top of your to-do list.

As the center’s executive director, Perry will greet you with open arms and a sunny smile as she leads you into the building filled to the rafters with photographs, newspaper articles, proclamations, Highwaymen paintings, books, African artifacts, and memorabilia documenting Gifford’s history. Along the way, she will tell you the story of the little museum that could and its future, so plan to stay awhile.

Built in 1908 by Black railroad laborers, the 1,150-square-foot building was home to the Macedonia Church, where people prayed and praised God with word and song. Over the decades, those individuals moved on and cobwebs crept in. Vacant and in disrepair, the church was slated for demolition.

Thanks to efforts by the Indian River County Historical Society, the wood frame building was relocated to Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park and Trail across from Gifford Middle School in 1994. There it sat dormant, its double doors shut tight, waiting for just the right person to come along.

Enter Perry, who, after a successful 39-year corporate career, had retired and returned to the community where she and her husband, Percy, had grown up. It didn’t take long before she found herself engaged with nonprofit organizations. Her days were busy; life was good.

Then one day she received a phone call from Godfrey Gipson, president of the Progressive Civic League of Gifford, with a request she couldn’t refuse.

“Mr. Gipson asked me to create a Black history museum and library in the historic church,” says Perry. “I didn’t have a clue how I was going to do that, but it seemed as though God had a plan for my life, so I said okay. I must have been crazy, but it became a labor of love and passion for me.” With help from others, Perry got to work sweeping out the cobwebs, wielding paintbrushes, and arranging displays.

On February 24, 2018, the Gifford Historical Museum and Cultural Center, with its large cross and doors a bright red, opened to applause and cheers.

“Showcasing the accomplishments of those who came before us, who worked hard, opened businesses, and created a thriving community has been a privilege and joy,” says Perry. “My father had Brown’s Standard Oil Gas Station on 45th Street. I helped by pumping people’s gas.” Her smile widens at the memory.

“My generation was blessed to experience a village, a community,” says Perry. “We grew up during a time when there were no streetlights, no clean water in Gifford. We fought to make things happen. Young people today need to know about the history of Gifford; it will give them a sense of pride. They get excited when they come in and take a look around. They’ll say, that’s my uncle, my father, my cousin—oh, there’s my grandfather. They fought to make Gifford a better place.”

Jay Lundy rediscovered that fact when he returned to Gifford, where he grew up, and visited the museum and cultural center. His father, J. Ralph Lundy, was among those whose efforts helped make Gifford a better place. “My father, Victor Hart, Dr. [A. Ronald] Hudson, and others had a common desire to improve the community,” Jay Lundy says. “They made a difference.”

Freddie Woolfork, who oversees public relations at the Gifford Youth Achievement Center, couldn’t agree more. He remembers what it was like growing up in the tight-knit community where everyone worked together. He also remembers what happened in 1969 when desegregation closed Gifford High School and students were bused across town to Vero Beach High School. While integration was good for society, it was not so good for Gifford.

“Our high school was the social heart of the community,” says Woolfork. “Everyone gathered there, and when students were sent off to Vero Beach High School things changed. I know. I was there, one of the first to graduate the following year. I’m 72 and still here doing what I do because I love Gifford.”

It’s that same love of Gifford that has Perry and others on a mission to enlarge the existing museum and cultural center, which is bursting at the seams, to 15,000 or 20,000 square feet. Plans call for a new exhibit hall, meeting rooms, a library, café, banquet hall, arts studio, and exterior gathering and entertainment spaces.

“The new center will allow us to increase the resources and cultural programs we’ll be able to offer to the community,” Perry says. “The county has given us the approval, there’s room to build out back, and there’s definitely a need.”

The need turned into a reality two years ago, thanks to a $493,000 award from the Florida Department of State’s African-American Cultural and Historical grant program, which in turn led to contracts with Rhodes & Brito Architects based in Orlando, and Lord Cultural Resources, a global cultural consulting firm.

“The grant applicant was the Cultural Council of Indian River County, and the title of the project was the Gifford Community Cultural & Resource Center. I have to give most of the credit for making the award possible to Janet Begley, who worked at the Cultural Council and who also wrote for the local paper,” says Perry, acknowledging Begley, who passed away last year.

“It really became a team effort with Janet, Richard [Bialosky], and a few others,” she continues. “When we went to apply for the grant, there were a lot of other organizations doing the same, and I credit Richard, who told me when I made the presentation that I had to speak from the heart, put energy into it. And I did. The spirit of the project is in my soul.”

Bialosky has a cello to thank for his involvement with the cultural center expansion project. “My wife, Jane’s, father was a musician, and when he died we donated his cello to the Gifford Youth Orchestra. Jonnie and Percy came by to pick it up and we started talking. She knew I was in real estate and that I was an architect; one thing led to another. You can’t say no to Jonnie,” says Bialosky, explaining how he became part of the team.

And that’s a gift Perry has: to inspire others and to think big. “My dream is that we have something so insightful that people will want to come from all over the state, the world, to be here,” she says.

Perry made her dream known last August at a concept and business planning study workshop. Representatives from Lord Cultural Resources and architect Max Brito were there and made presentations dealing with strengths and weaknesses of the existing site and building, space and facility needs, permanent and temporary exhibitions, collections, public educational programs, potential partnerships and collaborations, capital funding, and endowments.

Plans call for launching a capital campaign later this year; until then, news about the expansion has been spreading and support has followed. It’s an exciting time for the little museum that could.

“History represents our past and future. If we don’t preserve history, we have no idea what was, and that will be a tragedy. We’re trying to preserve that heart of Gifford for generations to come, and 50 years from now when we’re no longer here, there will be people who have something they can be proud of. This will be a legacy not just for the people of Gifford, but all of Indian River County.”