Rita Allen Wins Acorn Award Winner 2009

Every year the Home and Garden Club presents the Golden Acorn award to honor a Deercreek resident for her or his contributions within our community as well as throughout the city. We have reached a milestone this year. It is the 10th anniversary of the Golden Acorn award, and befitting this special year, we have a truly special honoree—Rita Allen.
Rita grew up in Rochester, New York, where she attended Narzareth College. She graduated in 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and was immediately swept off her feet and away to the Philippines as a newlywed. She and Mark spent the next eight years abroad, living in Cebu City and Davao City, and experiencing all the benefits of a foreign culture and international travel, at a time when relatively few Americans were leaving the shores of the USA. In 1963 they returned to the United States and for the next fifteen years lived in Rochester (where Rita was a docent at the museum), as well as Medfield and Mendon, New York.

In 1978 Rita and Mark moved to Jacksonville and opened the office of Sales Consultants (an Executive Recruiters firm). Working together, they grew the company and eventually added an office in Orlando. In 1995 it was time to retire and enjoy life so they sold their successful business. Rita had always been active in her community, but now there was more time to become involved.

In those early years, Rita began volunteering as the Elderhostel coordinator at Marywood in Switzerland (just south of Jacksonville) where she functioned as the contact person, seeing to the needs and schedules of touring groups.
At about this time Rita and Mark began looking for a new place to live. Rita was not looking forward to a change, and she gives Mark full credit for the move to Deercreek. They moved into their home on Heather Lake in July 1997, and invited by Mary Louise Selzer, Rita joined the Home and Garden Club and was immediately an active member. Over the years her positions have included Secretary, Vice President of Programs, Communications Chair, and two years as President. During her tenure as President, the membership of the club grew to nearly 100.

Here in Deercreek, in addition to her garden club involvement, Rita is a member of the Women’s Alliance and the Deercreek Literary Circle, where her insights always add to the discussion.

But a big part of Rita’s activism takes place outside of Deercreek. From 2001 to 2003, as a Library Guild Board Member and President, Rita was involved in Much Ado About Books, the Jacksonville Public Library’s annual literary and fundraising event. This event hasn’t been the same since she left. In addition, Rita has been a Board Member of the Catholic Foundation, established to provide a permanent endowment to meet diocese needs.
One of Rita’s most recent involvements has been with OLLI, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute which opened its doors at the University of North Florida with classes for seniors. Rita has served as both Membership Committee Chair and as an OLLI Board Member.

In addition, Rita avidly supports the Cummer Museum and all its activities. She is an enthusiastic patron of the Jacksonville Symphony. With Mark, she has worked to heighten awareness of our dwindling natural habitats through work with the North Florida Land Trust.

Dottie Patterson—Golden Acorn Award Winner 2008

Each August the Deercreek Home and Garden Club opens its year by honoring a resident whom members want to recognize for his or her dedication to our community. This year we honor Dottie Patterson. Dottie and Dick Patterson have been Heather Lake residents since 1993. Dottie’s outstanding involvement in Deercreek and the wider Jacksonville community was recognized in an interview with the Deercreek Community News for a front-page article in July 2004. In honor of her receiving the Golden Acorn Award, that 2004 article is reprinted on the Home and Garden Club page of our website at www.deercreekcc.com. Now we have the opportunity to fill in some of the details.

Originally growing up on an Illinois farm, Dottie and her family moved to Chicago in 1939, where she met Dick in 1949. They married in 1950, and at that time, Dick, originally from Texas and looking for a warmer climate, asked Dottie, “How long do I have to stay in Chicago?” “Fifteen years,” was Dottie’s reply. Sixteen years later, in 1966, Dottie and Dick and their three children, Gary, Gail and Guy, moved to Jacksonville. They feel very fortunate that all three of their children and seven grandchildren live in Florida.

The Home and Garden Club has benefited from Dottie’s involvement from the beginning. She served as its president, vice-president, and luminaries program chairman, and she regularly decorates the guardhouse for holidays. In 1999 she found the deer statue that is on Deercreek Club Road near the Edgewater entrance. She has been a model for many fashion shows, and she annually swears in all new board members with her personally written oath. And that only covers her Home and Garden Club activities. Dottie has also served on the board of the Women’s Alliance and has worked at the Treasure Chest, the hospice thrift shop that the Alliance supports.

Dottie’s involvement extends beyond the Deercreek gate. She is a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Guild and volunteers as a docent at the annual Showcase Home that raises funds for the symphony. She regularly attends the Coffee Series at the symphony. Though her mother, a resident at the assisted living facility Taylor Home, passed away two years ago, Dottie continues to volunteer at Taylor Home by conducting bunko games for residents each month. Her familiar face must brighten lives there.

Dottie’s influence reaches even beyond the Jacksonville area. She is president of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA—affectionately known as “A Broad With Ambition”). She has been a member for thirty-five years and is in her twenty-sixth year of hosting ABWA’s annual conference for the Florida and Georgia region. This year’s topic will be “Engage, Entice and Experience.” For 43 years, Dottie has also been a member of Beta Sigma Phi, a sorority that, along with the ABWA, raises money for scholarships.

Always ready with a smile, a joke (some of which are not printable here) and a wonderful outlook, Dottie exemplifies what it means to live life to the fullest while making the world a better place.

 Congratulations, Dottie, on a well-deserved award!