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The Republican Club of Greater Largo invites...Elected Officials Sold Out |
2011 RECIPIENT OF THE The Honorable W. Fred Petty |
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| REPUBLICAN
CLUB OF GREATER LARGO HONORS W. FRED PETTY 2011 RECIPIENT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN - MAC NORCROSS MEMORIAL SERVICE AWARD MAY 16, 2011 The Abraham Lincoln - Mac Norcross Memorial Service Award is an award bestowed annually by the Republican Club of Greater Largo, and one of the most prestigious in all of Pinellas County. This Award was established in 1990 and the list of past recipients tells the story of over two decades of public service, and only a few elected officials have made the list: Jim Miles, Walter Hammond, Leroy Norman, O. Sanford Jasper, Mac Norcross, Mary Grizzle, Vernon Kuhl, Rusty Runyan, Cheryl Bowman, Marcelle Tilton, Joanne Kavanagh, Rita Friess, Mildred Branham, Evelyn Bartoscek, Ruby Brooks, Keith Bailey, Janice Hill, Charlie Harper, Sam McClelland, Toni Wolff, Jean Halvorsen, and Sandy Harper) This year we add the name of the Honorable W. Fred Petty. Charles “Carlos” Thomas, Chief Deputy Tax Collector, did a great job with the presentation including the following information about Mr. Petty: Fred Petty is a Florida native, a true son of the Panhandle, where so many military installations can be found and the patriotism of its residents is as natural as their Florida cracker accents, something Fred Petty is also famous for. It seemed natural that Fred Petty would make a career out of the U.S. Navy, serving during the Korean War, and retiring as a Chief Petty Officer. In 1969, he begins his work in the Tax Collector’s Office at the beginning of O. Sanford Jasper’s third term, and will serve him as Chief Deputy through six terms before being elected to the top job himself in 1992. As Tax Collector, he will expand customer service centers in a growing North County with two new tag agencies, one on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater, and one on US 19 in Countryside. As tribute to his foresight, these two have consistently posted high customer service usage and satisfaction ratings in the nearly two decades since he established them. He also gained the help of then-State Rep. John Morroni to introduce legislation to bring the Tax Collector employees civil service reforms for the first time, and to open up the whole employment process to public review. Along the way, Fred Petty has been the President of the Largo Rotary Club, a Founder and President of the Board of Deacons of Feather Sound Community Church, State President of the Florida Tax Collectors Association—which shows you the high regard his peer Tax Collectors in the 67 counties have for him—and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Pinellas Federal Credit Union (and still serve as a member), and as a leading advocate of the Florida Farm Bureau. In 1996, Mr. Petty asked Mac Norcross to be his Campaign Chair for his re-election and won with the highest margin of victory of any election that night, turning away two challengers and winning every precinct in Pinellas County. Tragically, Mac died in automobile accident while he was enjoying a well-earned vacation that he and his wife had delayed to work on the campaign. Mr. Petty and Mac’s friendship grew during the course of that campaign, and being honored with this special award in Mac’s name is very meaningful to Mr. Petty. Did you know that there is another award named after Mac - the Greater Largo Chamber of Commerce bestows one of their annual Business Person of the Year Awards in the name of Mac Norcross? President Lincoln will always be an icon in the history of our great country. This Club and everyone who knew and worked with Mac Norcross will remember him for his many professional, political, and business achievements, yet it was his character that he will be remembered for. Mr. Petty was surprised with the number of elected officials or their representatives who personally attended this ceremony: Shirley Mioulis representing Congressman Bill Young, State Senator Jim Frishe (Majority Whip), State Representatives Ed Hooper and Larry Ahern, County Commissioners Nancy Bostock, Neil Brickfield and John Morroni, and Woody Brown, Largo City Commissioner. There were a number of congratulatory letters received from the following elected officials who could not attend: Adam Putnam, Commissioner of Agriculture; State Representative Jeff Brandes; Deborah Clark, Supervisor of Elections; Pam Dubov, Property Appraiser, Diane Nelson, Tax Collector; and County Commissioner Karen Seel. In addition, there were a number of congratulatory letters from family members and friends, one very touching letter from Mr. Petty’s stepson, Dennis Sheffield, written on behalf of his brothers and sisters. In addition to the Award, the Club surprised Mr. Petty by arranging for his daughter Jackie, and his stepdaughter Denise Rose and her husband, Mark Rose, to attend the ceremony with a little help from Mr. Petty’s wife, Sylvia. Can you imagine how meaningful it must be for Mr. Petty to receive this award? As he said in his acceptance speech, he has kept a special place on a wall in his North Carolina home for this award. The Club takes this opportunity
to thank Sylvia Petty for her time and efforts to help us make this a
very special remembrance for the Honorable W. Fred Petty. |
Recent Recepients of the ABRAHAM LINCOLN- MAC NORCROSS MEMORIAL SERVICE AWARD:
THE CLUB HONORS
JEAN HALVORSEN
Toni Wolff
The list of previous recipients
includes: |
The
2008 recipient of the Abraham Lincoln/Mac Norcross Memorial Award
 PRESENTATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN- MAC NORCROSS MEMORIAL SERVICE AWARD The annual presentation of the Abraham Lincoln – Mac Norcross Memorial Service Award is typically made at our May general meeting by one of our prominent Appointing Authorities. The recipient for this award must meet certain requirements and criteria for consideration and receive the largest number of nomination forms received by the Award Committee. The first recipient of this was award was the Honorable Jim Miles. Other recipients have included O. Sanford Jasper, the Honorable Mary Grizzle, Rusty Runyan, Joanne Kavanagh, Rita Friess, Evelyn Bartoszek, Ruby Brooks, Janice Hill and Keith Bailey. This award is named after two prominent Americans, one recognized around the world as one of the greatest Republican Presidents in American History, and the other who was a highly respected and recognized Republican and civic activist in Pinellas County. Abraham Lincoln will be remembered as the Great Emancipator, who led our country through a civil war between the North and South, and stood firm on the restoration and preservation of the Union that followed. During his tenure in office he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. And who is Mac Norcross? MAC NORCROSS, 71, of Largo, former chairman
of Pinellas County's Republican Party, worker in various local campaigns,
Largo Chamber of Commerce president in 1985 and its Citizen of the Year
in 1988, was killed in an auto accident Sept. 18. Mac Norcross, a former Pinellas
Republican chairman, Largo Chamber of Commerce president and businessman,
died in an auto accident near Douglas, Ga., on Wednesday. He was 71. His wife, Louise, who
was also in the car, was listed in fair condition at a Savannah hospital
Thursday.
"It's just a terrible, terrible shock," Pinellas Republican Chairman Paul Bedinghaus said. The Norcrosses were returning home from Maggie Valley, N.C., on Wednesday, and were driving on U.S. 441 a few miles south of Pearson, Ga. According to the Georgia
State Patrol, a witness said Mr. Norcross swerved in his 1990 Plymouth
Voyager to avoid hitting a dog in the road. His vehicle ran into a 1989
Nissan 240SX driven by Scott William Mrs. Norcross was taken to Coffee Regional Medical Center near Douglas and later to Savannah Memorial Medical Center, where relatives were at her side Thursday. In Pinellas political circles, Mr. Norcross was remembered as a man who was hardworking and businesslike, not flamboyant or self-promoting. "I would never even have considered running a race if Mac Norcross had not been on board," said Florida Secretary of State Sandra Mortham, a former state representative and Largo commissioner. "I would consider Mac probably one of a handful of the closest friends I've got in the world," she said. "I truly love the guy." "In what usually is
an ocean full of sharks, in this political arena, Mac Norcross always
managed to be a consummate gentleman," said political consultant
Mary Repper. Former Pinellas Democratic Chairman Bedinghaus said, "Mac
was one of those people that I sometimes called for advice or perspective.
. . . He gave me a lot of aid and comfort and criticism when I needed
it. I just hope that the good Lord provides Mr. Norcross was born in Torrington, Conn., in 1925 and grew up in northern Vermont. An Army veteran of World War II, he attended George Washington University in Washington and married Louise in 1947. Mr. Norcross worked for an automobile appraisal company in Washington, and from 1965 to 1970 owned his own appraisal service there. Mr. Norcross survived a commuter airplane crash in the early 1970s and moved to Florida in 1973. He owned service stations in the Largo area, including Midway Exxon, and was a co-owner of Sanford Norcross Realty. His business involvement led him to participate in the Largo Chamber of Commerce, heading its government committee in the late 1980s. In that role, he pushed for the chamber to keep better tabs on City Hall, arguing that the scrutiny would be better for both the city and the chamber. "There are times when we are adversaries, and that is good," he said in 1988. "It means we are both performing our roles more effectively." He became chamber president in 1985 and was named the chamber's citizen of the year in 1988. He went on to volunteer in politics and ran Mortham's first House campaign in 1986. Largo Mayor Thomas "Thom" Feaster said Mr. Norcross worked on all his campaigns. Feaster called him "my mentor." "Mac was always there steering you in the right direction," Feaster said. Mr. Norcross served as Pinellas Republican chairman for a year, ending just after the 1992 elections. Most recently, Mr. Norcross managed Tax Collector W. Fred Petty's successful campaign for re-election. Petty said Mr. Norcross
was adept at strategy and details: He set up 140 campaign meetings for
Petty from January to September. But he also could share a laugh. Petty
said the two were holding up campaign signs "We should not have really been there, but we got more attention being chased out," Petty said with a chuckle. Bedinghaus said a previously scheduled Republican "Unity Dinner," which will be held near Largo tonight, will be dedicated to Mr. Norcross. "Tomorrow's for Mac," he said Thursday. Mr. Norcross' survivors include his son, Douglas, Indian Rocks Beach; three daughters, Barbara L. Peckham, Largo, Elizabeth J. Norcross, Arlington, Va., and Susan L. Fixico, Choctaw, Okla.; a sister, Jean Norcross, Washington; and eight grandchildren. |