7 minute read
Hands Together in Tribute
BY TRISH WIELAND
There are certain facts about Frances “Dolly” (’49 LLB, ’08 Hon.) and Homer Hand that are steadfast and unwavering: their deep faith in God, their love for each other, and their generous support for their community and education.
Such devotion remains widely evident at Stetson.
As a grandson of some of Southwest Florida’s early pioneers, Homer was born in the small town of LaBelle on Jan. 15, 1928, to Homer G. Hand Sr. and Pauline Manning Hand. He attended Clewiston High School and left to join the U.S. Navy in 1945 as World War II was coming to a climax. He served in the Pacific through 1946.
Frances Rutledge was born in, appropriately, Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach to her pioneering parents, Fleming L. “Slim” Rutledge and Frances Post Rutledge. The Rutledges moved to Belle Glade in 1926 and experienced the “Killer Hurricane of 1928.” Barely surviving the storm herself, Mrs. Rutledge gave birth three months later to a tiny baby girl who would affectionately be known as “Dolly.”
Dolly grew up in Belle Glade and graduated from Belle Glade High School at age 15. She graduated from Palm Beach Junior College (now Palm Beach State College) and Stetson, receiving a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1949 (attending the law school when it was on the DeLand campus). She became not only the youngest to obtain a Stetson law degree at 20, but also was the only woman in her class.
The couple met in the early 1950s at a skating rink in Clewiston, about a 20-minute drive for Dolly from Belle Glade, recalls their niece, Brenda Herring Lopez ’75. Not coincidentally, it turned out, Lopez now serves as a Stetson trustee.
“Their relationship was very special for several reasons,” Lopez recalls. “They tried to be always totally honest with each other. They made it their policy to never speak negatively of each other to anyone. They trusted each other completely. And, if they had a disagreement, it was discussed privately, never publicly. Their relationship with each other and others was always more important than any material possessions or wealth.”
The couple was married on June 6, 1954, the 10th anniversary of D-Day and made their home in Belle Glade.
With their passings — Dolly at age 95 in January and Homer in November 2022 at age 94 — it can be said now they were a match made in Stetson heaven.
‘An Amazing Force’
“I would say they were both humble and grateful people,” comments Linda Davis, now retired as a longtime Stetson staffer (in a variety of roles) who befriended the Hands when she started working with the Stetson Board of Trustees in 1979. “That was clear if you spent any time with them at all. Homer had a quiet, strong confidence and deeply loved Dolly. Dolly was more animated and was a strong voice in her community. Their love was very evident.
“They served on community, local and regional boards and were very active in serving others. Together, they were an amazing force in the world, generous and quiet philanthropists with a deep faith. They earnestly lived out their faith and lived life with a purpose. If you had met them, they were truly authentic people living life with purpose. They ‘let their life speak’ in many ways.”
And the Hands together (quite literally) spoke loudly for Stetson.
Dolly and Homer were noted philanthropists, generously supporting her alma mater and their community through the years. They led the effort to create a performing arts center for the Belle Glade community, which opened in 1982 and now bears Dolly’s name. Her educational and cultural commitments have led to vital community programs, such as the Center’s CAFE (Cultural Arts for Education) Series on the Palm Beach State College campus, serving more than 12,000 students each year.
Dolly received numerous awards and recognitions, such as the CHIEF (Champion of Higher Independent Education in Florida) Award, Belle Glade Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award, Distinguished Service Award from the Belle Glade Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Arts Recognition Award and more.
At Stetson, Dolly was elected to Stetson’s Board of Trustees in 1994 and received an honorary doctorate in 2008. She was named Trustee Emerita in 2012. Among her Stetson honors were the Distinguished Alumni Award and being inducted into the College of Law’s Hall of Fame.
During his many years of public service, Homer served as the chair of several community organizations, ranging from the Palm Beach County Planning & Zoning Board and the Palm Beach Community College Board of Trustees to the City of Belle Glade Planning & Zoning Board. He was named Belle Glade Citizen of the Year in 1994. Also, he was a recipient of the Governor’s Heartland Award in 1997 and was selected as Champion of Higher Education in 1996 by the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida. At Stetson, he was made an Honorary Alumnus in 2010.
In sum, the Hands’ contributions to Stetson are almost incalculable.
They were financially generous to Stetson through scholarships, grants, faculty awards, and buildings on both the DeLand and Gulfport campuses. They donated funds for the construction of the Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center on the DeLand campus. Their support also brought the Hand Awards for Distinguished Faculty Achievements, the Dolly and Homer Hand Scholarship and Global Awareness Scholarship for Study Abroad, and the University Chaplain Endowment Fund.
“They viewed philanthropy as being good stewards as to how they’ve been blessed by God,” Davis describes. “Countless students have been supported through their generosity. Part of their legacy was students receiving this life-changing education at Stetson. That was an important part of their legacy: that their values continue through all these students.”
Says Lopez, “They would be quick to add that their goal was to also be generous with their time and talents to loyally support the educational mission that Stetson espoused.”
In October 2010, the College of Law named the Dolly and Homer Hand Law Library in their honor.
“It seems like just a few short years ago that I was a student in the law school back when it was located in DeLand,” Dolly said in her poignant remarks that day. “Stetson provided a unique opportunity for this young country gal of the Depression and World War II. My heart has been here ever since. The greatest honor I have received on this day is to look up on that wall and see my name next to Homer’s. For that is the way it has always been and that is the way it will always be … Homer and Dolly, side by side.”
‘Lasting Contributions’
Dolly and Homer also loved the arts and were well-versed and knowledgeable about the world through different cultures.
“My husband, Pepe, and I traveled the world with the Hands,” says Lopez. “From Europe to Africa to Asia to Australia, we walked many miles and tried to immerse ourselves in the cultures we experienced. We tried many kinds of food and talked to many wonderful strangers about their lives. We ended every day with ’Happy Hour,’ talking about what we saw, laughing at ourselves and our reactions to new cultures, and making plans for the following day.”
Yet, for as far and wide as they traveled, the Belle Glade community and Stetson were always home to them.
Lopez graduated from Stetson with a double major in English and Spanish. It didn’t happen by accident.
“Family lore has it that Dolly would lean over my crib and whisper, ‘Stetson, Stetson, Stetson,’” Lopez says. “Her strategy obviously worked! In fact, I never applied to any other college or university.”
The Hands always put Stetson near the top of their list.
“Stetson was important to them because it provided wonderful educational opportunities to many students in the hope that they would become productive, upstanding citizens in this country which they so fervently loved and supported, and steeped in the principles which made it so great,” Lopez says. “I would hope their legacy would be to be remembered as a couple that made significantly meaningful and lasting contributions to Stetson University and its students in a deliberate effort to support education, which they saw as a necessary tool to make our world a better place for us all.”
