Page 264 - lake-city-florida-a-sesquicentennial-tribute-(h-morris-williams-kevin-mccarthy)-2009

Lake City, Florida: A Sesquicentennial Tribute (2009) H. Morris Williams, Dr. Kevin M. McCarthy

Local people in the 1990s

In 1993 CHS defeated St. Augustine in the last CHS game
played at Memorial Stadium. Skip Wolf was the CHS coach.

In 1997, Miami attorney George J. “Duke” Baya, a 1925

graduate of the University of Florida (UF) law school, donated
$500,000 to that law school to establish an Eminent Scholar Chair.
The Baya Family, who are honored in the naming of Lake City’s Baya
Avenue, used to live in this city. George’s uncle, Joseph Baya, was
one of the Lake City men who gave some one hundred acres to establish
Florida Agricultural College, which later became the University of
Florida and moved to Gainesville in 1906.

When prominent citizen Nettie Black Ozaki died in January
1999, her part in founding the Columbia County Historical Society
was recognized by Club Officer Esther Moore as follows: “It was
Nettie’s energy, her know-how, her talents at organizing, her vision,
and her aims that set the course for what we have accomplished.

Nettie inspired our youth as well as the rest of us in bringing out a
greater awareness of and deeper
appreciation for our heritage. Nettie had
played a major role in helping Columbia
th
County prepare for its 100 birthday in
1959 and her name now frequently and
nostalgically comes to mind in the midst
of our 150 anniversary.”
th

In 1994 a book about
one of the city’s most
beloved citizens, Dr.
Edwin Montgomery
Sr., was published.

260

www.LakeCityHistory.com LCH-UUID: 7C3282B3-DDE1-49C3-985A-3A9C9467368D