{"id":338306,"date":"2026-07-13T12:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/338306\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T12:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:04:09","slug":"founders-day-ceremony-celebrates-two-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/338306\/","title":{"rendered":"Founder\u2019s Day ceremony celebrates two legends"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Founder'sBonnie Bolton, daughter of Roxcy Bolton, (left) and HPACG president Karelia Martinez Carbonell, are pictured with George Merrick and Roxcy Bolton\u2019s birthday portraits.
(Photo credit: VCerda)<\/p>\n

Coral Gables founder George Edgar Merrick and American feminist and civil rights activist Roxcy Bolton share a birthday 40 years apart. Merrick was born June 3, 1886 and Bolton was born June 3, 1926. This year marks Bolton\u2019s Centennial Anniversary.<\/p>\n

Merrick was born less than 15 years before the turn of the century. He grew into the \u201cmodern man\u201d of the 20th Century \u2014 an entrepreneur and visionary, a millionaire who gave away most of his fortune before he lost the rest of it, a civic leader, and a poet.<\/p>\n

He was active in Coral Gables for less than a decade from 1920 to 1928 and in that time built a new city \u2014 the City Beautiful. In 1927, King Alfonso XIII of Spain decorated Merrick with the honorary title of \u201cReal Orden de Isabel la Cat\u00f3lica.\u201d A few years later, at a public conference, Merrick made reference to his being \u201cknighted\u201d as one of his proudest moments. The \u201cOrden de Isabel\u201d medal was displayed at the Founder\u2019s Ceremony along with several other artifacts.<\/p>\n

Bolton was an American feminist and civil rights activist hailed as Florida\u2019s pioneer feminist. She founded Florida\u2019s NOW chapter, Women in Distress, and the nation\u2019s first Rape Treatment Center. Bolton championed the Equal Rights Amendment, persuaded President Richard Nixon to proclaim Women\u2019s Equality Day, and campaigned to include men\u2019s names for hurricanes, influencing NOAA policy.<\/p>\n

Her advocacy tackled equal pay, anti-rape laws, maternity leave, and more. In fact, Bolton was an original influencer. In Coral Gables, legend has it that candidates seeking city elections coveted her endorsement and would make their way to her home for the honor. A Bolton endorsement was valued as a stamp of approval \u2014 and she was not shy to remind the candidate. In 2017, shortly before her passing, Bolton was presented with a \u201cKey to the City\u201d by the Coral Gables Commission. The \u201cKey\u201d was displayed at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Rita Tennyson for catered and hosted the party at Birdie Bistro, formerly known as \u201cBurger Bob\u2019s,\u201d Bolton\u2019s favorite eating and meeting spot.<\/p>\n

Among those attending the celebration were Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, Dorothy Thomson, Don Slesnick, James Cason, Bill Kerdyk, Chief Hudak, Vincent Damien and many others. Damien was a founding board member of HPACG when it was established in 1991 and a great friend of Bolton. Thomson was the first and (to date) only woman mayor in Coral Gables. She and Bolton worked together at Southern Bell in the 1950s as young women just starting their careers.<\/p>\n

Bonnie Bolton, Roxcy\u2019s daughter, was in attendance and shared some personal anecdotes about growing up with her remarkable mother. Damian and Chief Hudak also shared stories about their friendship with Roxcy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

ABOUT US:<\/p>\n

For more Miami community news, look no further than Miami Community Newspapers. This Miami online group of newspapers covers a variety of topics about the local community and beyond. Miami\u2019s Community Newspapers offers daily news, online resources, podcasts and other multimedia content to keep readers informed. With topics ranging from local news to community events, Miami\u2019s Community Newspapers is the ideal source for staying up to date with the latest news and happenings in the area.<\/p>\n

This family-owned media company publishes more than a dozen neighborhood publications, magazines, special sections on their websites, newsletters, as well as distributing them in print throughout Miami Dade County from Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, South Miami, Kendall, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and Homestead. Each online publication and print editions provide comprehensive coverage of local news, events, business updates, lifestyle features, and local initiatives within its respective community.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the newspaper has exclusive Miami community podcasts, providing listeners with an in-depth look into Miami\u2019s culture. Whether you\u2019re looking for local Miami news, or podcasts, Miami\u2019s Community Newspapers has you covered. For more information, be sure to check out: https:\/\/communitynewspapers.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions, feel free to email Michael@communitynewspapers.com<\/a> or Grant@communitynewspapers.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n Connect To Your Customers & Grow Your Business \n<\/p>\n

Click Here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bonnie Bolton, daughter of Roxcy Bolton, (left) and HPACG president Karelia Martinez Carbonell, are pictured with George Merrick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-338306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338306","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=338306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}