Decades before Rose Tydus\u2019 name was placed on a public prayer garden in Opa-locka, she was carrying her Bible to the track at Carol City Senior High School.<\/p>\n
After walking the track, she would sit beneath a tree to read Scripture. It was there, she said, that she first imagined having a garden closer to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Lord, it would be so nice if I had a garden that I wouldn\u2019t have to walk so far because I love meeting you here in this atmosphere,\u2019\u201d Tydus told The Miami Times.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Rose Tydus alongside Opa-locka city officials cutting the ribbon on July 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
(Amelia Orjuela Da Silva for The Miami Times)<\/p>\n
Decades later, the city she served as its first Black city clerk, commissioner and vice mayor dedicated a public prayer garden in her name just a block from her home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis garden will be a place where anyone can come pray, reflect and seek God’s presence and find peace,\u201d Opa-locka Mayor John H. Taylor Jr. told attendees during the ceremony.<\/p>\n
Tydus said she first proposed transforming an overgrown city-owned lot into a prayer garden while serving on the commission, but the idea was rejected six times.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Opa-locka city officials with Rose Tydus in the newly renamed Commissioner Rose Tydus Prayer Garden.<\/p>\n
(Amelia Orjuela Da Silva for The Miami Times)<\/p>\n
She later proposed creating the Butterfly Garden, which was approved and occupied the site until 2023, when the city commission approved renaming it to the Commissioner Rose Tydus Prayer Garden.<\/p>\n
From the stage to City Hall<\/p>\n
Long before she entered government, Tydus envisioned a different future.<\/p>\n
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Opa-locka city officials and Rose Tydus unveiling the new plaque at the garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Amelia Orjuela Da Silva for The Miami Times)<\/p>\n
Born in Paducah, Kentucky and raised in Milwaukee, she danced professionally in hotels, resorts, cruise lines and television productions before experiencing what she describes as a spiritual calling in 1975.<\/p>\n
\u201cShortly after, I gave my life to the Lord,” she said. “He said, ‘I don’t want you doing that anymore.'”<\/p>\n
After several months without work and a trip to care for her grandmother in Kentucky, a friend handed her a business card for an assistant city clerk opening in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Former Vice Mayor Rose Tydus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Amelia Orjuela Da Silva for The Miami Times)<\/p>\n
“I didn’t know anything about Opa-locka,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about government.”<\/p>\n
She was hired in 1976.<\/p>\n
Her first months on the job proved challenging. Tydus said her supervisor, the city clerk, refused to train her after threatening to resign unless she received a raise, telling officials they would be “stuck with Rose” if she left.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Rose Tydus sitting with friends and community members at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Amelia Orjuela Da Silva for The Miami Times)<\/p>\n
“She went out of her way not to teach me anything,” Tydus recalled. “But she didn’t know me. If I’m going to be in a room for any amount of time, I’m going to scout it out and know something about that room.”<\/p>\n
When the clerk resigned, Tydus became interim clerk, often working until 3 a.m. to keep city records current. The commission later appointed her city clerk, making her the first Black city clerk in Opa-locka and in Miami-Dade County.<\/p>\n
Her promotion came during one of the city’s most turbulent periods.<\/p>\n
“Opa-locka back in the ’70s was so racial,” Tydus said. “It was terrible.”<\/p>\n
Commission meetings often stretched into the early morning, prolonged by political infighting and personal attacks, leaving Tydus questioning whether she wanted to remain in public service.<\/p>\n
Before one meeting, while waiting for dinner at a restaurant, she felt prompted to pray and opened her daily devotional. The reading focused on the biblical call of the prophet Isaiah, ending with the words, “Here I am, Lord, send me.”<\/p>\n
“I said, ‘I’m going to stop complaining. Here I am, Lord, send me,'” Tydus recalled. “And I haven’t complained since.”<\/p>\n
She described that moment as the turning point that transformed her view of public service.<\/p>\n
“I made a commitment to God,” she said. “I’ll just stay here until I see your handiwork done to change things around.”<\/p>\n
\u2019I\u2019m not a politician\u2019<\/p>\n
Tydus’ tenure as city clerk ended in 1984 when she was fired after reminding commissioners that they were “ultimately responsible” to God for how they governed the city. She later filed a religious discrimination complaint that resulted in a finding of probable cause.<\/p>\n
Tydus remained active in ministry and community service while one neighbor repeatedly encouraged her to run for the City Commission. It was that same neighbor who helped Tydus find a home within Opa-locka’s city limits so that she could qualify.<\/p>\n
After establishing residency, Tydus was elected to the commission in 2000 and went on to serve three four-year terms, including as vice mayor.<\/p>\n
Rather than viewing elected office as a political achievement, she saw it as an extension of the mission she had embraced decades earlier.<\/p>\n
“I used to say all the time, ‘I’m not a politician. I’m a woman that loves God and loves people, and this position allows me to serve both of them \u2014 God and people.'”<\/p>\n
That philosophy shaped her years in public office.<\/p>\n
She organized daily noonday prayer meetings and lunchtime Bible studies inside City Hall, hosted a live Nativity scene for the city and served on numerous community service boards. As commissioner, she said every vote came down to one question:<\/p>\n
“What’s going to be best for the people?”<\/p>\n
She recalls opposing plans for a 10-story senior housing development near City Hall because she believed it would create parking problems and overwhelm the surrounding neighborhood.<\/p>\n
“It was too dense,” she said.<\/p>\n
The proposal was ultimately reduced to four stories.<\/p>\n
A place for everyone<\/p>\n
Janie Russell, chair of the Opa-locka Community Redevelopment Agency, said the garden represents far more than a monument to one person.<\/p>\n
“This garden is more than just a place of beauty,” Russell said. “It is a living reminder of faith, service and the strength of a community.”<\/p>\n
She said the space invites residents to “slow down, breathe, remember and connect with God, with one another and with ourselves.”<\/p>\n
Tydus said she has already watched residents embrace the space, including a young couple who described it as peaceful and a new neighbor who spent an entire day sitting on one of its benches.<\/p>\n
“It’s a garden for prayer,” Tydus said. “It’s a garden for reflection. It’s a garden for community connection.”<\/p>\n
Looking across the completed garden, she thought back to the prayer she made beneath a tree decades earlier.<\/p>\n
“I was just overwhelmed,” she said. “This is just giving me the desires of my heart. Doesn’t matter if it takes 50 years, 10 years or 10 days; persevere to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Decades before Rose Tydus\u2019 name was placed on a public prayer garden in Opa-locka, she was carrying her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[137252,137243,137251,137241,137237,45490,5957,137235,83355,177,137244,3754,137234,137231,137232,225,227,226,137248,137247,137238,373,137253,94973,69746,137236,137249,137239,137230,137250,137240,3782,131258,137242,137246,137228,137229,74183,137233,137245],"class_list":["post-332573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-bible-study","tag-bible-study-at-city-hall","tag-black-city-leadership","tag-butterfly-garden","tag-carol-city-senior-high-school","tag-city-clerk","tag-city-hall","tag-commissioner-rose-tydus-prayer-garden","tag-community-garden","tag-community-redevelopment","tag-community-reflection-space","tag-faith","tag-faith-and-public-service","tag-first-black-city-clerk","tag-first-black-commissioner","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news","tag-janie-russell","tag-john-h-taylor-jr","tag-mayor-john-h-taylor-jr","tag-miami-dade-county","tag-noonday-prayer-meetings","tag-opa-locka-history","tag-opa-locka","tag-opa-locka-city-government","tag-opa-locka-commission","tag-opa-locka-community-redevelopment-agency","tag-opa-locka-prayer-garden","tag-prayer-garden","tag-public-prayer-garden","tag-public-service","tag-religious-discrimination","tag-religious-discrimination-complaint","tag-rose-tydus","tag-rose-tydus-prayer-garden","tag-supporting-keywords","tag-vice-mayor","tag-vice-mayor-of-opa-locka","tag-whats-going-to-be-best-for-the-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332573","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=332573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}