| Susan Beaudette could not be happier. She has found you can come
home again, although she will tell you she never left. She now lives in her childhood home
on South Seventh Street in the historic district of Fernandina Beach. Beaudette is the
daughter of Grace and Gordon Butler. Her father was long time bookkeeper for the W.M.
Brooks Shrimping Company, and her mother was a beloved teacher and in later life a
community activist.
Susan Beaudette has returned to her hometown and is The Butlers were a big part of the community. Beaudette's father served as Mayor and later was the executive director of the Florida League of Cities. Clearly proud of her mother, Grace Butler, Beaudette loves to tell the story of how her mother became the first female city commissioner. After a political scandal, several commissioners were removed, and new ones were appointed. Butler was named and thrived making a difference on the island. Beaudette graduated from Fernandina Beach High School, received her bachelor's degree in Music Education from LaGrange College (Georgia), and taught for several years before beginning her arts management career at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta. In 1979, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she created new programs and development offices at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of American History, and the national children's literacy program, Reading Is Fundamental.
After her mother's death, Beaudette rented her childhood home. After many years, she decided to sell and found an enthusiastic buyer. When she returned to the island for a final look at the house she tells of walking in the then empty house and saying to herself "I just can't". That decision not only committed her to keeping the house, but coming back to the island where she grew up. "I never really left," she shares. Holidays and visits to her mother through the years kept her in touch with her childhood friends and the island that had been home her whole life. Growing up on Amelia Island was very special, and Beaudette smiles her trademark beaming smile as she mentions specific things that stand out. She remembers the thriving shrimp industry, the boat builders and how far from downtown Five Points (Sadler Road at 8th Street) seemed to be.
Susan (far left) and friends on the beach So Beaudette settled into her renovated house with her three cats and became involved in her community, volunteering for the Amelia Island Fernandina Restoration Foundation, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, the Nassau County United Way Resource Team, the Amelia Arts Academy's Community Chorale, and was recently named to the city's Board of Adjustments. Beaudette knew the right career opportunity would come along. And it did. Named in spring of 2004 as Executive Director of the Amelia Arts Centre, Inc. Beaudette will oversee the local non-profit corporation. A perfect match? Take one highly energized, experienced fundraiser event planner and match her to the development of the Amelia Arts Centre, an ambitious vision of a group of island entrepreneurs. She combines a lifetime interest in the town and the island which brings a valued perspective gained from her responsibilities working for Atlanta's High Museum and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
The Amelia Arts Centre will make its home in The First Baptist Church building located in downtown Fernandina Beach has long been a community landmark. When the church announced its plans to build a new church and offered the building for sale, a group of community leaders came together to create an arts center that will serve a variety of options to performing and visual arts groups in the community. As Executive Director of the Arts Centre, Beaudette will be responsible for the overall management of the Centre, including coordination of its fund-raising, marketing and public relations efforts, and execution of plans for its artistic programs. "I am proud to be part of this exciting new addition to our community," Beaudette shared. "We have come a long way from the Quonset hut on Atlantic Avenue where we used to watch movies as kids growing up on the island."  .. |
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