{"id":281118,"date":"2026-05-22T18:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/281118\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T18:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:14:10","slug":"family-and-friends-celebrate-ronald-riffs-free-press-of-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/281118\/","title":{"rendered":"Family and Friends Celebrate Ronald \u201cRiffs\u201d \u2013 Free Press of Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nShown celebrating the milestone occasion is birthday honoree Robert Flowers (center), surrounded by guests Russ Campbell, Tonie Edwards, Kristie Forshee, Shanika Gatewood, and Darryl Waters.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Happy 60th<\/p>\n

Friends and family members gathered Saturday, May 16, to surprise Navy veteran Ronald Flowers with an unforgettable 60th birthday celebration held at Karpeles Grand in downtown Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

The elegant evening featured a sophisticated black-and-gold theme, creating an atmosphere of style, celebration, and appreciation for Flowers\u2019 remarkable life and service. Guests say his only assignment for the evening was simple \u2014 \u201cjust show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The celebration honored Flowers\u2019 illustrious 20-year career in the United States Navy, where he served as an Aviation Storekeeper Logistics Manager. Affectionately known as \u201cRiff,\u201d Flowers enjoyed an evening filled with heartfelt tributes, dancing, cocktails, live music, and fellowship among more than 140 guests who attended the memorable affair. A stunning designer birthday cake added to the evening\u2019s elegance and excitement.<\/p>\n

A graduate of Valdosta State University, Flowers expressed gratitude and joy during remarks to attendees. \u201cAll I wanted to do was walk into the party and enjoy my birthday,\u201d he said with a smile.<\/p>\n

A resident of Jacksonville since 1987, Flowers has remained active in the community through volunteer service with nonprofit organizations and is also known as an avid cigar aficionado. As a proud father of five, two of his children also proudly call Jacksonville home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shown celebrating the milestone occasion is birthday honoree Robert Flowers (center), surrounded by guests Russ Campbell, Tonie Edwards,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-281118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}