01/20/2026
This is farewell! 🫂❤️💧
My time at WAIA is up, but before I hand over the reigns of WAIA's social media accounts, I want to give a special thank you to some very special people.
🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️
They mostly work behind the scenes creating ripples in our community, being trailblazers and changemakers one little step at a time, giving light to so many, even those voices lost to time.
When asked to become the faces of their mission to do good for the West Augustine community and two of the oldest African American cemeteries in Florida, they stepped up with a little hestitation - not wanting themselves to outshine the cause.
Time and time again they stepped in front of the camera, they agreed to be interviewed for newspapers, local TV, and even to appear on live TV. They became the faces of a fundraising campaign to save the lost graves of St. Augustine now and in the future.
❤️ Willie Cooper, Sr. (And your amazing family) - you've embraced my family and our mission to make a difference even before we knew you. You will always be an inspiration! You work quietly without the need for accolades, unable to not help those around you.
❤️ Thomas Jackson - you are a trailblazer showing generations coming behind you how it's done. Never stopping, always persisting, always building bridges.
❤️ Lisa Lewis & Brett Lewis - Lisa Lewis without you...I don't even have the words, the difference you make in our community and in the world is unfathomable.
❤️ Dewin Anguas Barnette & Story - two quite voices in a loud world - hard-in-hand I know you will keep on making a difference in this world and in the community.
❤️ John Lyons - a quiet giant in our community, always showing up when you're needed the most - not looking for awards or thanks, but always eager to feed changemakers and to lend a helping hand.
❤️ Ms. Doretha "Dodie" Smith - forever young at heart, a true alpha female in a time before it was acceptable to be one. Your wisdom will always echo in my heart.
❤️ Stephen Johnsons & Ella Johnson - pillars of our community, voices of all, rays of sunshine to many.
❤️ Wynn Legault & Debra Silbar - my fellow alphas, you connect, make change, and forge a way forward toward change, community, and collaboration - bending the arch of history toward the light.
❤️ Ramona Pearl Fisher - you are always with us in our hearts - a bright light that cannot be extinguished.
And last but not least
❤️ Nellie Meade, the founder of the West Augustine Improvement Association, the oldest non-profit on St. Augustine's west side, founded in 1956.
I never got to meet you, but you continue to shine a light in your community long after you left this world, leaving behind seeds of courage and the need to make a difference for so many of those who crossed your path.
🫱🏾🫲🏻🫱🏾🫲🏻🫱🏾🫲🏻🫱🏾🫲🏻🫱🏾🫲🏻🫱🏾🫲🏻🫱🏾🫲🏻🫱🏾🫲🏻🫱🏾🫲🏻🫱🏾🫲🏻
Thank you to everyone single one of you, and thank you to those I haven't mentioned - all of those amazing people I've met through my time with WAIA, You will always have a special place in my heart, your wisdom and the examples you've set will continue to inspire me to do good as I begin a new chapter.
The world needs trailblazers, young and old, quiet and loud, and only when we work together will we be victorious in shining a light that can brighten the dark to build bridges across rivers once too wide to cross.
🫂❤️💧 Sine Boe
