Tag Archives: Seminole Indians

Helen Engebretsen wants her friend to be remembered

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I recently visited the basement of the Stuart Heritage Museum that is entered from the back of the building. It was a beautiful day and when I looked toward the St. Lucie River, I admired the Seminole Chickee-like picnic pavilion.

So many years have passed since the chickee honoring Juanita Geary was built, some of the present leaders of Stuart Heritage are unaware of its significance and all planning and work involved in making it a reality.

Juanita DeBerry Geary 1934-2003
Helen Jean Fleming Gilliard Engebretsen

Helen Engebretsen, with her quiet ladylike manner may not seem like a globe trotting business woman but that is exactly what she became. She first worked for then bought the an early travel agency from Stanley Smith. She was the registered agent of Stuart Travel Service in 1965 and her offshoot “Jensen Breach Travel Service” did not close its doors until 2015. https://archive.tcpalm.com/yournews/martin-county/martin-county-world-traveler-retires-ep-1018362440-340783311.html?page=1

After a house fire resulted in Juanita Geary’s death in 2003, Helen Engebretsen spearheaded the fundraising, planning and construction of Seminole chickee picnic pavilion dedicated to Juanita’s memory.

After Juanita Geary’s unexpected death resulting from space heater fire, her grieving friends wanted something to be done in her memory. Juanita was an early and active member of Stuart Heritage whose family tree includes a number of pioneer families—Stuart, Greene, Wells and DeBerry. At the time of her death Juanita had assumed the responsibility of the Stuart Heritage Museum gift shop. It included items made by the Seminole Indians in Ft. Pierce and the Brighton Reservation north of Lake Okeechobee. Juanita was especially interested in these, because the Seminole Indians often visited the south Florida towns where her family lived during her formative years.   

Juanita Geary’s memorial chickee had to be placed far away from the 1901 building housing the Stuart Heritage Museum for safety reasons.

Helen Engebretsen spearheaded the effort to build the chickee as a memorial to Juanita. It was not easy. The City of Stuart required permitting and said that the Chickee had to be built near the St. Lucie River,  a distance from the 1901 historic commercial building that houses the Stuart Heritage Museum. Donations were collected and contractors hired to pour a slab and build the wooden part of the pavilion. Finding Seminole Indians who specialized in authentic Sabal Palm thatching was a challenge.  It is becoming a lost art.

A muralist from Okeechobee painted the fence that screens the trash dumpsters.

Juanita’s friends were saddened when garbage dumpsters were placed beside the chickee. More fund raising followed and a muralist was hired to paint an Everglades scene to improve the setting of the Seminole chickee pavilion.

Toley Alfred Engebretsen
1928-2023

Helen’s husband, Toley Engebretsen, was a longtime volunteer at the Stuart Heritage Museum serving on the board of directors of Stuart Heritage, Inc. beginning in 1996 and as president from 2012 until shortly before his death in 2023. http://Stuart Heritage Museum.com

Serge Nekrassoff Shared His Skills with the Hutchinsons

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In the early 1960s Jim and Joan Hutchinson lived among the Seminole Indians on the Brighton Reservation near Lake Okeechobee.

Jim and Joan Hutchinson built a home in Golden Gate not far from the Nekrassoff home on Willoughby Creek. As kindred artists they became friends and Serge taught both Jim and Joan the basics of copper enameling.

Jim Hutchinson gained fame as a fine artist and was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

https://dos.fl.gov/cultural/programs/florida-artists-hall-of-fame/james-f-hutchinson//

Joan and Jim built their rustic home on Delmar Street in Golden Gate in stages.

I think I first heard about Joan and Jim from “Babe” Hudson, the mother of my brother-in-law, Dale Hudson. Mrs. Hudson was very worried about the “starving artists” who had been living on the Seminole Reservation at Brighton and now had a baby boy.

After Serge Nekrassoff taught Joan enameling skills, and allowed her to use his kiln,  she began taking commissions to paint people’s homes on copper trays. Mrs. Hudson became a patron, commissioning Joan’s pieces for gifts for friends and relatives. Two of Joan’s trays have remained in our family. One is of the Thurlow home on Riverside Drive and one was of Dale and Mary Hudson’s home Krueger Parkway.

Joan Hutchinson painted the home of Jane and Tom Thurlow . The house, though much modified, still stands on Riverside Drive at the end of Hibiscus Avenue.
This was Mary and Dales first home on Krueger Parkway. It has been demolished. Dale Hudson’s mother, Mrs. Dennis S. Hudson, Sr., commissioned the enameled tray .

I was able to photograph examples of Joan Hutchinson’s enameling but I did not know where I could find an example of Jim’s.

As is often the case, serendipity rules my life. Right after I visited Mary and Dale Hudson to photograph Joan’s enameled pieces, I drove to Florida Classics Library in Hobe Sound to buy books. When I stood at the counter to pay for my books, I glanced down and saw a copper enameled dish. It was Jim’s work! Val Martin, who founded Florida Classics Library was a close friend of the Hutchinsons. Jim had given the dish to Val Martin when his book store was across from Memorial Park in Stuart.

There is one other local person who learned copper enameling under Serge Nekrassoff, Jane Morrison, the granddaughter of George W. Parks who founded the merchandise store that is now Stuart Heritage Museum. Even though Jane lived all over the world after her marriage to Ray Fentriss, her experience with Serge Nekrassoff was mentioned in her obituary. The obituary, published in The Stuart News on August 24, 2017 stated “She also assisted and trained in copper enamel art under Serge Nekrassoff.”

Jane Morrison Fentriss stands in the Washington Square Gallery in New York City where a Nekrassoff exhibit was featured.

Today, an Internet search of “Serge Necrassoff” bring up many things. There are items for sale on eBay. My interest is primarily his copper enameling but the pewter pieces that cannot be replicated today are of interest to collectors and authorities on metalcraft.

https://www.kellscraft.com/Nekrassoff/nekrassoff.html

Serge Nekrassoff’s son, Boris and his wife, Lois, presented a program for Stuart Heritage Inc. in April 2000.. To complete this blog I am featuring the Nekrassoff display that is there for all to see at the Stuart Heritage Museum, located in the commercial building constructed for Jane Fentriss’ grandfather, George Washington Parks, in 1901.

https://www.stuartheritagemuseum.com

Billy Bowlegs’ Family Portrait taken in Hill Studio

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One of the most important postcards in my collection is of Billy Bowlegs with his sister, Lucy Pearce and her daughters, Ada and Annie. I knew the portrait was the work of Harry Hill because his name is on another version of the postcard. The group portrait also appears on page 100 in A Portrait of St. Lucie County, Florida by Lucille Rieley Rights.

This full color postcard was published by H. & W.B. Drew Co. of Jacksonville, Florida.

Imagine my delight when among the images in a photo album my husband, Tom Thurlow, purchase on eBay in 2006 is one showing the Indians walking down a road after their photo session.

The Indian River can be seen in the distance.

I will write more about the album that contained the photograph of the Seminole Indians in Ft. Pierce in my next blog.