Go Givers: Deborah Stapp

By Julie Kerns Garmendia –
Resident Community News –

Deborah Stapp, 61, who has lived in her Christopher Creek home 22 years, was a passionate college classical archeology major who has had a fulfilling archeology career in North Florida while raising a family. She credits the support of her husband Fred, a local attorney, with making that possible. This accomplished grandmother also earned many other accolades during her life — including a masters degree in teaching, a Realtor license and a reputation for important volunteer work across Jacksonville. Her volunteer work in Jacksonville has been a melding of many interests.
“I was interested in art from an early age, but was never an artist, although I liked to draw and sketched a lot. I thought I would go into textile design, although mother really wanted me to get a liberal arts degree. Instead I studied art, art history and focused on Greek and Roman classical archeology,” Stapp said. “While the children were young I was able to work on some projects while I completed my masters degree. I became a Realtor after the kids were out of school.”
Some of her work included investigating Etruscan sites in Chianti, Italy (Tuscany) and working with St. Augustine City Archeologist Carl D. Halbirt in St. Augustine. Halbirt, the historic city’s chief archeologist since 1990, is highly respected by Stapp.
“Every time they put a shovel in the dirt down in St. Augustine there is always something there. I also did lab work on the Maple Leaf Project, sketching and photographing leather boots in case they disintegrated during the restoration process. There were beautiful stained glass fragments that we worked on with a stained glass expert to try to recreate what the original windows might have looked like,” she said. The Maple Leaf was an 1850 Great Lakes Steamship, carrying 400 pounds of Union military and personal items that sank near Mandarin Point in 1864 when it hit a Confederate mine. Maple Leaf artifacts recovered from 1988 to 1994 are considered among the most important Civil War collections ever found.
Stapp’s most important contribution to Jacksonville might be seen in the Art Connections Program at The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens.
“I began to volunteer ages ago as a young person in my twenties. I served as chair of the Children in Arts Program for the Junior League of Jacksonville and also worked with JMOCA art enrichment programs, especially as “Picture Lady” and doing all kinds of art activities,” she said.
At that time local art patrons discussed the need for a hands-on children’s museum with the Junior League, so I was involved from the beginning. When the Cummer accepted the idea and offered space we visited other city’s museums and programs to develop our own Art Connections.” Art Connections, which Stapp worked on for four years, opened in 1990 and is now a nationally recognized interactive art educational facility located at The Cummer Museum.
Stapp, who noted that she is always doing something, has also served on the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, with the MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation and participated in Leadership Jacksonville. She especially enjoyed working as a volunteer at the Arts Mania daylong free events for families and children that used to be held at The Jacksonville Landing.
Her current volunteer commitments include the Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital (twenty years), St. Johns Riverkeeper (she is deeply concerned about the condition of Christopher Creek and the St. Johns River) and The Cummer Museum.
When not working for one of her charities, Stapp loves flowers and enjoys gardening although she said it is not easy in Jacksonville. Or she could be with a cherished group of longtime friends who have dubbed themselves “the shabby chicks”. The women regularly lunch together to reconnect, discuss issues and problems with no topic off limits.
“Everyone who knows Fred and me knows we’re always going somewhere. We travel to Italy frequently in summer and to ski in winter. We like to hike out West and in the National Parks (just returned from the Smokey Mountains) and we visit our five children and three grandchildren who live all over… they like to come stay with us…and Fred really likes golf,” she said.
The couple enjoys their San Jose neighborhood and home although the creek floods a lot. They love to see the fish and turtles, snakes, owls and hawks with whom they peacefully coexist on the acre site. Their late 60s one story brick ranch was remodeled, as Deborah puts it, “to appear as Tuscan as possible”.
When asked about the impact of her longtime volunteerism on her personal life, Stapp said that she believed the more she gives the more she gets back from those experiences.
“I believe that we can all do more to help others and to be part of our community. It is true that I have gained so much from volunteering and have learned so much too. Just the other night during one of the Cummer tours I was talking about a statue made from Lime wood. A gentleman in the group used his iPhone to research the tree and said that it was used extensively for statues because it is strong, perfect for intricate carving, resistant to splitting and worm damage,” she said. “It was so cool to know that and be able to share it.” During the Middle Ages Lime wood was also considered a sacred wood and was typically used to carve statues of the Virgin Mary.

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