Wilhelmina Celeste Goehring Harvey (1912 - May 3, 2005) was a philanthropist and the first female mayor of Monroe County, Florida. A "grand dame of Keys politics", she was frequently a public face of the Conch Republic. [1] Outside of politics, she was a science teacher and scuba diver. [2]
She was born in 1912 to one of Key West's original families. [3] [4] By 1935, she was a science teacher and taught summer school at Tulane University. She graduated from Florida State College for Women in 1937. [5] She served as treasurer and board member of a local volunteer credit union (later Keys Federal Credit Union) in the 1940s. [6] She married C.B. Harvey, who served as mayor of Key West in the 1950s. [3]
Harvey earned a master's degree in public administration in 1980. [5] In 1982, she was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in its first year. [5] She served as the first female mayor and the first female commissioner of Monroe County, and was the first to be elected Mayor Emeritus. [7] [5]
In April 1982, citizens of Key West formed the Conch Republic, a satirical micronation, in response to a Border Patrol checkpoint that disrupted travel and tourist activity. Harvey became Admiral and First Sea Lord of the Conch Republic's navy, whose actions included attacking a Coast Guard cutter with loaves of stale Cuban bread. [8] [4] The Conch Republic became a Key West mainstay as a tourist attraction and a humorous method for the city to negotiate with state and federal governments. During the 1995 "invasion", she stopped and accepted surrender from Army Reserve troops. [9] She often served as the Republic's ambassador and met several presidents and foreign leaders in that capacity. [3] In 1991, she hosted Queen Elizabeth at Dry Tortugas National Park, acting as both Monroe County mayor and Conch Republic ambassador. [3] [2]
In 1986, she ran for Florida House of Representatives from the 120th District, ultimately losing to Ron Saunders in the Democratic primary runoff. [10] [11] In 1997, the Monroe County commissioners voted to name the new county government building as Harvey Government Center at Historic Truman School after Harvey and her husband. [1] In November 2000, she lost her re-election bid as Monroe County Commissioner, but remained a popular local figure. [3]
Harvey died on May 3, 2005, at the age of 93. She received a large public funeral. [4]
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it constitutes the City of Key West.
The Conch Republic is a micronation declared as a tongue-in-cheek secession of the city of Key West, Florida, from the United States on April 23, 1982. It has been maintained as a tourism booster for the city. Since then, the term "Conch Republic" has been expanded to refer to "all of the Florida Keys, or, that geographic apportionment of land that falls within the legally defined boundaries of Monroe County, Florida, northward to 'Skeeter's Last Chance Saloon' in Florida City, Dade County, Florida, with Key West as the micronation's capital and all territories north of Key West being referred to as 'The Northern Territories'".
The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. At the nearest point, the southern part of Key West is just 93 miles (150 km) from Cuba. The Keys are between about 24.3 and 25.5 degrees North latitude.
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