The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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S. Colquitt Pardee, father and son

For over four decades, the legal and civic administration of Avon Park was closely associated with two generations of the Pardee family. Moving from Maryland in the early 1920s, Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Sr. and his son Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Jr. directed municipal legal strategy, real estate developments, and community healthcare initiatives.[maxwell-1976]

Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Sr. (1886–1951)

Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Sr. (known locally as “Colonel Pardee”) established his law practice in Avon Park during the early 1920s, maintaining offices in the historic Avonian Block / Masonic Temple on Main Street shared with pioneering woman attorney Mattie W. Tompkins.[maxwell-1976]

  • Municipal Leadership: Served seventeen years as Avon Park City Attorney, representing the municipality in major bond validation suits (1928), the long annexation quo warranto proceedings (1932–1934), and regional voting rights litigation (State ex rel. Landis v. Gifford, 1934).
  • Glenada Hills Land Company (1925–1926): Served as president of the Glenada Hills Land Company, developing a planned subdivision featuring a central circular park and clubhouse along Lake Glenada marketed to northern investors through New Hope, Pennsylvania brokers D. B. and Clinton Oblinger.[lambertville-1926-05-06]
  • Founding of Walker Memorial Hospital (1946): In 1946, Pardee convened local civic leaders and representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to convert the vacant Highlands Lakes Hotel on Lake Lillian into a regional hospital, leading to the community campaign under Charles H. Walker that raised $150,000 in matching funds for the Walker Memorial Hospital.[maxwell-1976]
  • Passing: Died in 1951 and was interred in Bougainvillea Cemetery alongside his wife Helen B. Pardee (1888–1978).[findagrave-pardee-sr]

Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Jr. (1912–1987)

Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Jr. (born 21 October 1912, died 1 May 1987) was educated in law and joined his father’s Avon Park practice in the late 1930s.[findagrave-pardee-jr]

  • Early Practice: Appeared with his father and Mattie W. Tompkins in Kent v. Polk Grocery Co. (1938) and served as sole municipal counsel for Avon Park in City of Avon Park v. Giddens (1946).[kent-1938]
  • The 1951 Municipal Election Litigation: Served as City Attorney and counsel of record for the incumbent city council alongside Sumter Leitner in Gough v. State ex rel. Sauls, defending the council’s attempt to void the ballots of the African American precinct before the Supreme Court of Florida.[gough-1951][trib-1951-10-11]
  • Later Career: Continued active legal practice in Highlands County through the 1960s (including Fulmore v. State, 1967), while his wife Anne Pardee operated the Holiday Ranch Mobile Home Park.[maxwell-1976] He was buried in Bougainvillea Cemetery in May 1987.

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. Find a Grave contributors, Find a Grave memorial 35833661, S. Colquitt Pardee (1886-1951), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park (2026)
  2. Find a Grave contributors, Find a Grave memorial 35832538, Stephen Colquitt Pardee Jr. (21 October 1912 – 1 May 1987), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park (2026)
  3. Supreme Court of Florida, as reproduced by vLex and other mirrors, Kent v. Polk Grocery Co., 131 Fla. 139, 179 So. 136 (1938): counsel line naming both Pardees and Mattie W. Tompkins; and Moore v. State (Fla. 1949), Fulmore v. State, 198 So. 2d 101 (1967), City of Avon Park v. Giddens, 158 Fla. 130 (1946) (1967)
  4. Supreme Court of Florida, Special Division B (Chapman, J.), Gough et al. v. State ex rel. Sauls et al., 55 So. 2d 111 (Fla. 1951) (1951)
  5. The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Fla.), Supreme Court Halts Action Contested Avon Park Vote; Avon Park Council Action Questioned — The Tampa Tribune, 11 October 1951, page 17 (1951)
  6. Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida) (1976) · book
  7. The Lambertville Record (Lambertville, N.J.), The Lambertville Record (Lambertville, N.J.), 6 May 1926, page 8 — Glenada Hills Land Company promotion (1926)

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