LOCAL LEGEND BY KAREN MILLER

LOCAL LEGEND BY KAREN MILLER

PHOTOS BY SHERRY CARTER

Over the course of her long life, Dee Dee Bartels has made an impact on Fernandina as a shrimp boat captain, preservationist, and a driving force behind the start of the Shrimp Festival.

Dee Dee Bartels is a Renaissance woman, whose love of the sea and coastal communities planted the seeds that would form her fascinating life. At 99 years-young, Bartels is still a force to be reckoned with, with no slowing down in sight. Bartels claims it was her mother who blessed her with “magical thinking,” encouraging her to believe that anything is possible in this world.

“My mother used to read me fairy tales, and made me believe in things I couldn’t see,” says Bartels. “The unknown, it was magical to me, a special way of looking at the world.”

Bartels was born in Victoria, British Columbia, but eventually the family moved to Miami, where her father was one of the charter members of the Key Biscayne Yacht Club. “I grew up in a house with no other children, so I spent most of my time with adults,” says Bartels. “My father had a huge library, and I spent a lot of time in there, reading about all sorts of things. And we sailed whenever we could.”

But Bartels life wasn’t always easy. Her beloved father died when she was 8-years-old, and she was sent to a Catholic boarding school. “When my father died, my mother remarried and moved to Atlanta. I was sent to the Convent of Mary Immaculate, a Catholic boarding school in Key West,” says Bartels. “I did well in school, but I didn’t come out of school with any idea of what I wanted to do. I had so many interests.”

Coming from a family of seafaring folks, Bartels learned to sail at a very young age, and she developed a keen interest in marine biology. That interest would eventually lead her into the shrimping industry. Bartels and her husband moved to Fernandina Beach in the mid-1950s with their two boys in tow. However, her husband’s work took them to California and Germany, before they returned to Fernandina. Bartels worked as a shrimp boat captain and owned two shrimp boats, Sunrise and Lady Wesa, becoming completely enmeshed in Fernandina’s coastal community. “When we first moved to Fernandina, a friend took me out on a shrimp boat,” says Bartels. “I fell completely in love with shrimping, and Fernandina.”

The first Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival took place in 1964, featuring the Shrimp Boat Races for the promotion of tourism. But many people don’t realize that Bartels was the force behind the inaugural festival.

“Some people thought I was crazy when I suggested we have shrimp boat races,” laughs Bartels. “But we did it, and it was a huge success. Everyone turned out to watch the races. The New York Times even wrote an article about it.”

Bartels was also a community activist, fighting to preserve Old Town and to keep the railroad company from tearing down the depot on Centre Street. The railroad gave the depot to the Historical Society, and they in turn gave it to the City of Fernandina Beach. She was also president of the local Historical Society and started the Restoration Commission.

After being captain and owner of shrimp boats in Fernandina, a contract with the marine division of the Smithsonian led her to another island, Carriacou, one of the Grenadine Islands. “I moved there in 1980 and started my own business, West Indian Sea Farms Limited, for raising crabs and sea moss,” says Bartels. “I fell in love with that island, too. It was so untouched. The people were wonderful. I lived there for 11 years.”

Bartels’ experience in Carriacou so moved her that she wrote a book about her life there, called Island Rhythms. The book contains Bartels’ art and poetry, and her reflections on island life. She’s also written other books, one called Christopher’s Stories, dedicated to her grandson, and a book about aging. “In total, I’ve written over a thousand poems,” says Bartels. “I’m always working on something new, either poetry, stories, or paintings.”

So, what’s next for this Renaissance woman? “I told my son I wanted to buy a van and drive all over the country in it,” laughs Bartels. “He was not amused by that idea.”

Bartels’ book, Island Rhythms, is available locally at Story and Song Bookstore Bistro at 1430 Park Avenue.