Veronica Shoemaker, Fort Myers civil rights activist, dies
Veronica Shoemaker, the first black member of the Fort Myers City Council and well-known community activist, died Thursday.
Shoemaker, 86, died from cardiac arrest, according to her daughter Mattie Young.
“She has fulfilled her purpose, which was to be of service to those who could not help themselves,” Young said. “And when she completed her purpose here on Earth, she went home to be with the Lord.”
Shoemaker, an independent florist, first ran for office in 1966. She ran 17 times - for school board and other council races - before finally winning the 1982 citywide Fort Myers council election. She ran to control the junkyards that were acting as a ball and chain in the Dunbar community, but once she got there, the sky was the limit.
Social media: Tributes honor Fort Myers activist Veronica Shoemaker
When she went to voters' homes, "I always went to the back door," she said in a 2007 News-Press interview. "Even then, for years, I knew I had to go to the back door. But I went, and I asked people to vote for me. People would say I was just a born loser. But every time I ran, I got a few more votes, and that kept me going."
Former State Attorney Joe D'Alessandro was instrumental in her victory, she said in 2007.
"I was getting ready to run again for the city council, and I got word that Joe D. wanted to meet with me," Shoemaker said. "I was scared. Things were different even then. When a black person hears the state attorney wants to see them, you got scared. But I went, and it turned out good -- really good."
“It was nearly impossible for a black person to win office,” said former Fort Myers Mayor Wilbur Smith, who served on the council with Shoemaker for 14 years. “But Veronica Shoemaker never gave up on anything or anyone.”
After taking office, Shoemaker supported a lawsuit that led to a court order creating the city’s current ward system, where candidates run in, and are elected by, voters in designated geographic areas. That push paved the way for other black members to serve on council.
A 2007 News-Press Q&A with Veronica Shoemaker
“Thomas Edison can’t hold a candle to her; Henry Ford can’t compare to her,” Smith said. “In my mind, she is the most important person in Fort Myers history… Nothing deterred her from her quest to bring equality to the black citizens of Fort Myers.”
If it was not for Shoemaker on the city council, Smith said, many of the city’s projects that are admired today may not have ever come to fruition. The Harborside Event Center in downtown; the Imaginarium Science Center in Dunbar; and she was the “driving force” behind the City of Palms Park and bringing the Boston Red Sox to Fort Myers for spring training.
"She had the same power in Fort Myers that Martin Luther King Jr. had in Alabama," Smith said.
Shoemaker served on council until 2007, when she lost her re-election bid to Councilman Johnny Streets.
“We lost a giant who ran interference for us many years ago to improve the quality of life for all,” Streets said. “She was loved by everyone.”
Shoemaker’s activism sent ripples throughout the community, and not just Fort Myers. She served as the NAACP president and ended segregation of Lee County schools. She was also a member of the Lee County committee that recommended the county manager style of government. She received Hodges University's first luminary award in 2010.
“She was the type to walk down the street and people would cross the street to hug her,” Smith said. “I had so much love for her… Other than family, she was the most important person in my life.”
Shoemaker was born in 1929 on a dirt street in Dunbar, the daughter of a preacher.Her parents had 11 children, living in a home her father had built by hand of Florida pine.
"Back then, we were Negroes," she said in the 2007 interview. "We had separate drinking fountains, separate schools, separate hospitals. We had curfews that made us be back on this side of the tracks after dark."
A 2014 News-Press story said plants were always a part of her life; her family grew mustard, turnips, collards; and fruit trees such as oranges, guavas, Key limes, Japanese plums and avocados. Her florist shop sat on the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard and Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard, the street the city named after her.
Funeral service details are pending,, her daughter said.
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