Miss Rachel and her family moved to Fort Meade in Polk County when she
was young, and it was there that she learned the art and skills of
millinery and dressmaking. She arrived in Boca Grande by
way of the CH&N Railroad and quickly became popular
with the island’s younger social set. Rachel already
had friends here whom she would occasionally
visit, but when she was offered a position in
the dry goods department of a new store
and she moved here permanently, she
quickly found more. Some of her friends
included the Riley girls, Jenny Guerard
(Davis), Kingsmore and Clem Johnson
(the latter of which she was allegedly
romantically linked to), Mark Tillis,
Clara Tillis (Mrs. Jefferson Gaines
Sr.), Ernest Gaines, Jerome Fugate
Sr., Charles LeRoy, Elliot Atwork,
Blanch McGeechey, Charles and
Thelma Johnson, Jenny Davies
and Nell Padilla (Kuhl).
After a year or two conducting
the Mercantile’s dry goods
department, which sold
everything from fi le ribbon for
“my-ladies” hats, to overalls
and brogan work shoes,
to men’s spats and sleeveholders,
Rachel went to work
in a millinery shop operated
by a friend of hers, that was
located in the east end of the
old Fugate’s Drug Store building
on 4th Street.
Cary Johnson wrote that he
remembered visiting Miss Rachel
at the millinery shop with his mother
when he was 5 years old.
“I was intrigued as she shaped and
decorated my mother’s hat, all while
watching me to make sure that I did not
break or soil anything,” Johnson wrote.
“She was, I thought, very fastidious, but very
nice.”
Rachel did have her share of ardent admirers
of the male persuasion, and a few times things
got serious enough for the townsfolk to speculate
whether wedding bells would be ringing soon at the
Methodist Church where she was a member and sang in the
choir. She was a free spirit, though, and could not be tied down.
March/April • 2021 • GASPARILLA MAGAZINE 69