Meet Wilhelmina Goehring Harvey

Saying her name, Wilhelmina Goehring Harvey, makes her sound like Someone Important. And, in Key West, she was. But in Key West, Someone Important can also be Someone Who Is a Lot of Fun, and this lady definitely was.

Some of the earliest white people to live in Key West, Bahamian refugees, were her ancestors on her mother’s side.

But that’s not what makes Wilhelmina Goehring Harvey fun.

In addition to giving over 50 years of her life to volunteer work in the Keys, making significant donations to the Key West Art and Historical Society, and championing her community, she had deep roots in the Keys. Wilhelmina Goehring Harvey became the first woman elected to the Monroe County Commission.

She was also the first female juror in Monroe County. When she was  25, she graduated from what is now Florida State University but in 1937 was Florida State College for Women.  Forty-three years later, when was 68, she graduated with a Masters in Public Administration.

That’s awesome, but that’s not why I think she was fun.

When Queen Elizabeth visited Fort Jefferson, a military outpost 70 miles offshore from Key West, Wilhelmina Harvey presented her with a conch shell and named her an honorary Conch.

A wire story about the visit that appeared in the May 19, 1991 edition of the L.A. Times described her only as the mayor and “a 79-year-old scuba diver” who presented the Queen with the conch shell, saying she told the Queen “It’s the prettiest of all the conch species.”

Even that, though, is not why she’s fun.

After her term as mayor ended, she had one more official role in Key West.

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In March 1982,  the US Border Patrol set up a roadblock on US 1 at the Last Chance Saloon.

According to ConchRepulic.com, “a seventeen mile traffic jam immediately ensued as the Border Patrol stopped every car leaving or entering the Keys, supposedly searching for illegal drugs and aliens who might be hiding under the front seats, in glove compartments, and in trunks.

“The media starting reporting on the unprecedented action of the Border Patrol in setting up a Border Roadblock within the United States, itself (after all, most everyone believed that the Florida Keys were indeed part of the United States!) As the stories of the traffic jam poured out across the nation and the world, visitors started canceling reservations to come to the Keys.”

Neither the frustration of getting on our off the Florida Keys nor the blow to tourism sat well with the Conchs.

Key West mayor Dennis Wardlow filed an injunction against the roadblock, but the Miami Federal Court didn’t stop Border Patrol. When the press asked Wardlow what he intended to do about it, he told them, “We are going to go home and secede.”

At Key West City Hall, rebels hoisted the flag of the Conch Republic on April 23, 1982 — 44 years ago this month.

The Great Battle of the Conch Republic

They announced their secession from the United States and a lone boat, the Western Union, attacked the USCG Cutter Diligence, reportedly with conch fritters, Cuban bread, and water balloons (this was before we all realized what a horrible idea balloons are around sea turtles). The Coast Guard turned water hoses on the boat and the Conch Republic surrendered, demanding reparations.

The Conch Republic never received any reparations, but every April 23 Conchs celebrate their Independence Day.

That’s a lot of fun, but by now you’re probably wondering where Wilhelmina Goehring Harvey fits in.

She fits right here, because of all the things I’ve read about her doing with her time on this planet, my favorite is her commission as Admiral and First Sea Lord of the Conch Republic’s Navy.

Clearly, Wilhelmina Harvey had a sense of humor.

Well before she died, she arranged her own funeral, which included a riderless horse that carried her Admiral’s hat from her “service” in the Conch Republic, and a musician playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” on a conch shell. 

She was the one of the first women inducted in the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame, in the first year it existed.  Her entry does not mention her time with the Conch Republic Navy, which is a real shame.