REUNION 2003 - "PUBLISHED
ARTICLES"
"KMI is gone but not forgotten"
By Kim Cool
Without drawing a sword or firing a shot, a cadre of cadets saved the city of Venice. The year was 1932. The city was reeling. It had been dealt a double whammy -- the end of the Florida land boom and the onset of the Great Depression. Overnight, the city's population plummeted from 4,000 to 400. The cadets were students of the Kentucky Military Institute, the oldest military school in the country. "Things were so bad that you could rent a new house in Venice for $5 a month and some people could not afford that," KMI alumnus Sidney Eline, class of 1962, said. "Venice was a town that was built overnight and almost disappeared overnight." The KMI-Venice tie was knotted soon after the military school's East Coast Florida campus was damaged by fire in 1931. When members of the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce learned that the school was looking for a new home, they invited KMI's commander, Col. C.B. Richmond, to Venice. Two empty hotels that could house students and a large lawn suitable for dress parades were the enticement. The colonel found the city and its location ideal. Within days of his visit in fall 1932, Richmond signed a seven-year lease on the empty Hotel Venice (now Park Place Retirement Center) and the former San Marco Hotel (now the Venice Centre Mall). The first cadets arrived shortly after Christmas that year. There were three companies and a band, a total of some 150 cadets. The students' average age was 16. The KMI purchased the leased buildings for $40,000 in 1939. The school also purchased Haney's garage to the east of the San Marco. That building was converted into a gymnasium and headquarters for the school's military program. By 1940, the student population had increased to 325. The United States was on the verge of entering World War II. At its peak, the school had some 350 students. Classes were held in both the former hotels, which also served as dormitories. Three smaller buildings between the two former hotels housed the school's nurse and infirmary, custodial staff and the seventh and eighth grades, local alumnus Charles Wheeler, class of 1958, said. "I think military schools got a bad rap over the years," KMI graduate Leon Hirsh, class of 1968, said. "They had a reputation for accepting incorrigibles but less than 5 percent were incorrigible. "We had good academic motivation, better opportunities in athletics and the discipline and regimentation didn't hurt anything. The reason I am able to work a 50-hour-a-week career and put a reunion together is because I learned to juggle a schedule while a student. We had to get everything done." Students came primarily from Kentucky and other Southern states but also from around the United States and several foreign countries, Wheeler said. Many were from wealthy families. Wheeler enjoyed the small class sizes (12-15 students), having come from an overcrowded school in a small Kentucky town. "We got such individual attention from teachers that I could have skipped the first year of college," he said. "It was an excellent education. I learned to think on my feet. We did not learn by rote but by discussions in class. "We also had to learn how to take care of ourselves. There was no mom and dad there. Sometimes it was very lonely." Wheeler and Hirsh both said that they learned leadership skills at KMI. Both also learned that they liked Florida. Hirsh is a broker and certified financial planner with A.G. Edwards in Pensacola and Wheeler is an attorney in Venice. Wheeler's biggest complaint was the lack of heat in the dorms. There were radiators in all the rooms but they didn't always work. From 1932-1971, students, faculty and staff would converge on the gulf community after Christmas. They would return to the Lyndon, Ky., campus in early April. During their months in Venice, they provided an economic shot in the arm to the community. "If you could walk and chew gum at the same time, they needed you on a team," Hirsh said. "We had the front-line players but we lacked the depth. Yet, some of the things we pulled off considering our size were pretty incredible." What the school did for the town might also be considered incredible by some. Many of the wealthy parents spent part of the winter here. Day-trippers came from surrounding communities to witness the military parades, often staying for lunch or dinner. Some parents bought winter homes in Venice and later, KMI graduates returned to Venice to live and work or to retire. The city's population began to grow. So did the school's student population. The advent of World War II and military personnel at the new Venice air base in 1943 swelled the city's population still more, effectively saving Venice and paving the way to its future as the Sharks Tooth Capital of the World. In return, Venice and Florida had an impact on the cadets. Of some 1,500 living alumni, more than 240 have Florida addresses and a high percentage of those live in or near Venice. Since May 14, more than 200 alumni have arrived in Venice for their all-class reunion which will culminate with class meetings Sunday morning. Tonight, May 17, there will be a banquet at the Plantation Golf & Country Club. The last class in Venice graduated in 1971. That also was the last all-male class. The following year, the military school became a coed preparatory school with a volunteer ROTC program. All classes were held on the Lyndon campus until the school closed its doors for good in 1973. "I don't know how many schools we lost in the aftermath of Vietnam," reunion chairman Hirsh said. "Possibly as many as 300. Admiral Farragut in St. Pete and the Florida Air Academy are the only surviving military schools in Florida. "Now we need them more than ever." (A charter school, Sarasota Military Academy, recently opened for Sarasota County students in grades nine-12.) During KMI's 126-year history, there were 13 superintendents. Some 12,000 students were enrolled. A high percentage went on to military colleges or service academies, Wheeler said. Founded in 1845, the school was chartered on Jan. 20, 1847, to be operated as a "quasi-military school of the commonwealth" of Kentucky. The state's governor was authorized to issue a commission of colonel to the school's superintendent. To be accepted as cadets, potential students had to qualify by taking exams in the arts, science and literature. In 1847, the charter was amended to include the Franklin Institute in the school's organization and changed the school's name to the Kentucky Collegiate and Military Institute, which operated for many years at the college level, with Greek letter fraternities such as Chi Phi, Delta kappa Epsilon, Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The school was patterned after military schools that were being established throughout the South in those pre-Civil War years. Graduates acquitted themselves well as enlisted men and officers from the Civil War era through the fighting in Vietnam, school historian James Darwin Stephens said. "The most unique thing about this school," Hirsh said. "is that it is different when you live together with these guys rather than just going to school with them. "You see someone after 20 years and after five minutes you pick up right where you left off." A few years after the KMI closed, a fire destroyed Ormsby Hall, the Lyndon campus building that housed the school's records. Assembling a list of alumni was a painstaking process begun by Wheeler and another Venice resident, Fred Francis, also in the class of 1958. They were the co-chairmen of KMI's first all-class Venice reunion in the mid 1980s. The old mansion and grounds in Lyndon are now home to Ten Broeck Hospital, which specializes in drug and alcohol treatment. To learn more about the KMI's days in Venice, visit the Triangle Inn to see KMI: Four Decades in Venice, on display through the end of May. The Triangle Inn, 351 S. Nassau St., is home to the Venice Archives and Area Historical Collection. It is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. "Reprinted from the Venice Gondolier Sun, Venice, Fla., 5/17/2003
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By Kim Cool
5/14/2003
They say you can never go home again. More than 200 former cadets of the Kentucky Military Institute, gathering today, May 15, in Venice, would disagree. The occasion is an all-class reunion. Venice was chosen for this reunion because the Lyndon, Ky., preparatory school held its winter quarter classes in Venice from 1931-1971. Faculty and staff would arrive in Venice shortly after Christmas each year. The students would arrive a week later, staying in Venice until April when they would reboard the Seaboard Airline Railroad train at the old Venice Train Depot for their return to the Kentucky campus. While in Venice, KMI would hold Sunday afternoon military dress parades on the lawn across Tampa Avenue from the dormitories. Students lived in rooms on the upper floors of what are now the Park Place Retirement Center and the Venice Centre Mall. Classes were held on the first floor of the latter building and meals were served in what continues to be a dining room at Park Place. For KMI students, the room was referred to as the mess hall. After spending so much time in Venice, many former students returned often to Venice for vacations, some for work and many more for retirement. Reunion organizer Leon Hirsh said there are more than 240 former students who list Florida as their primary address. "The most unique thing about this school was that it is different when you live together with these guys rather than just going to school with them," Hirsh said. "You see someone after 20 years and after five minutes you pick right up where you left off." Hirsh, member of the KMI class of 1968, is a certified financial planner with A.G. Edwards in Pensacola, Fla. He said that he lives in Florida today because of the years he spent in Venice as a KMI cadet. Venice resident Fred Francis, KMI class of 1958, established his BW Francis clothing store soon after college graduation. He was influenced to move to Venice because of his own school days at KMI. Reunion planners utilized the Internet and old yearbooks to round up some 1,500 living alumni in the U.S. and elsewhere, Frank Lively of the class of 1963 said. "We are trying to round up as many instructors as can be found," he said. Lively will come from Cincinnati, Ohio, for the reunion. He has served as editor of the reunion's Web site. The oldest former cadet expected at the reunion is James Codell of the class of 1936. Like Francis and Wheeler, the former Winchester, Kentucky resident moved to Venice after graduation. "Went to college in Transylvania, Ky., with both of his kids," Hirsh said. Next oldest graduate expected at reunion is J.W. Dixon, class of 1938, coming from Charleston, W.Va. "I have been in touch with two living grads from the class of 1927," Hirsh said. "One lives in Alexandria, Va., and the other in Fort Lauderdale. In Cocoa Beach, there is a guy, 93, who taught music and directed the band in 1935." Stepehn Sather, class of 1966, is coming the reatest distance to the reunion -- from Carlsbad, Calif. The last class to winter in Venice graduated in 1971. That also was the last all-male class. The following year, the military school became a co-ed preparatory school with a volunteer ROTC program. All classes were held on the Lyndon, Ky., campus. The school closed its doors in 1973. "We had no idea the school was closing," Hirsh said. He had graduated
just three years before KMI's final year in Venice.
Reunion activities While here, the former cadets will take bus tours around Venice, hold individual class reunions, attend a reception at Park Place Thursday evening, have a party at Nokomis Beach on Friday afternoon, attend a banquet at the Plantation Golf & Country Club on Saturday and attend a short alumni meeting Sunday morning at the Venice Little Theatre , site of the former KMI gymnasium and rifle range. Registration will take place in the lobby of the Venice Little Theatre, 1-5 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, May 14-15, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Friday, May 16, and 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday, May 17. There is a registration fee of $175 per cadet and $125 per non-cadet adult. "There will be lots of free time," Hirsh said. "We tried to give everyone lots of free time so they can shop the area. Someone was assigned as a class representative for each class and they were told to keep activities local. "We did suggest that people visit the Ringling Museum." Thursday, Friday and Saturday, there will be 90-minute air-conditioned guided bus tours of the Venice/Nokomis area. There also will be golf outings and bridge games. Thursday, from 5-8 p.m., Park Place will host the first official reunion function, a reception and cocktail party with piano entertainment. Friday afternoon's beach party will include a picnic of grilled food, kegs of beer and a live band. Friday evening is being devoted to individual class activities and is expected to include voice recognition contests, cadet roasts and skits. Some party-goers might be wearing special KMI logo caps created by Ken Harper, class of 1948. One group is preparing "My Big Fat Greek Reunion," a production based on last year's popular film, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Several of the former KMI students are planning to attend the Friday evening performance of "The Miracle Worker" at the VLT. Saturday night's banquet will feature keynote speaker Bernard Hewes, an 87-year-old former teacher who began his KMI career in 1941, teaching American history and French. "He really prepared us for the way it would be in college," Hirsh said. Hewes was associated with KMI through its final graduation. Other faculty members expected at the reunion include former commandant Owen Pillans, staff member Marguerite Twyman, military department employee SFC William Brand and teachers Gary Martin, Yandell Martin and Jay Creech. Expected to be running continuously throughout the reunion will be audio and video presentations prepared for the reunion by many of the former cadets. To learn more about the KMI and its Venice history, visit the Triangle Inn, home of the Venice Archives and Area Historical Society, 351 S. Nassau St. Currently on display is a collection of photos and memorabilia, including uniforms, relating to the three decades during which the KMI had a Venice presence.
You can e-mail Kim Cool at: kcool@venicegondolier.com. By Kim Cool |
