DELRAY BEACH — Vera Rolle Farrington, a lifelong educator and guardian of the history of Black lives and events in Delray Beach and Palm Beach County, died Jan. 14. She was 95.
She was recalled as a remarkable leader and visionary who cared deeply about the city she lived in.
Mrs. Farrington founded Expanding & Preserving Our Cultural Heritage Inc., a nonprofit organization that established the S.D. Spady Cultural Heritage Museum and the West Settlers Historic District.
She served for many years as the executive director of the museum, which opened in 2001.
She received a master’s degree from Florida Atlantic University. She also was a graduate of George Washington Carver High School in Delray Beach and the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Her teaching career started in 1958 and she taught at Poinciana and Boca Raton junior high schools and later served as dean of students and assistant principal at Boca Raton High School.
She retired in 1992.
Mrs. Farrington always sought ways to encourage and motivate achievement among youths, especially teenagers. She organized a community girls club, the Y-Teens.
To help soothe the pains and challenges of integration, she organized an interracial girls club at Boca Raton Middle School called the Boca-Del Organizers.
She directed the African American Brain Bowl at Boca Raton High School, served on the board of directors of the countywide Planned Parenthood organization and organized chapters in Boca Raton and at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Delray Beach.
Mrs. Farrington was born in West Palm Beach on March 3, 1929, the daughter of Lillian Dames Rolle and Reuben Rolle of the Bahamas. Upon the death of her father, she moved to Delray Beach with her mother and sister in 1932.
She was married to Paul Ellis Smith in 1950 and the couple had a son, Byron.
In 1960, she married Charles A. Farrington and the couple had a daughter, Charlene. Today, Charlene Farrington is the executive director of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, which is dedicated to discovering, collecting and sharing the Black history and heritage of Palm Beach County.
Mrs. Farrington was a musician at the Church of God and music director for the junior choir at her church, Mount Olive Baptist Church.
She was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa and Zeta Phi Beta sororities.
She is survived by a sister, Mary Rolle Alford; daughter, Charlene; two grandsons, Joshua Byron Jones and Eddie Alexander Jones; a niece; four nephews, and a host of other family members and friends.
A funeral was held Jan. 25 at Mount Olive. In her memory, the family suggests donations to the S.D. Spady museum.
— Staff report
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