Organizing Regent

Mrs. Melvin H. Taube

Organizing Members

Dorothy S. Cheatle
Jean C. Gaunt
Joyce D. Haswell
Fleta B. Jackson
Edna H. Lane
Mary R. S. Lepper
Helen P. Taube
Evelyn Miller
Eva May B. Munger
Geneva B. Perry
Helen Beth Schafer
Florence Shepard
Mary S. W. Sirmay

When the thirteen organizing members met, they chose “Caladesi” as the official name of their new chapter. Caladesi is of Spanish origin, believed by some to mean, “Island of the Beautiful Bayou.” Its southernmost 156 acres were homesteaded by a Swiss native, Henry Scharrer, in 1888. Henry Scharrer received a title to the land after he became a naturalized citizen. After his death in 1934, the island slowly reverted to its original primitive condition. Its natural beauty is now being preserved by Caladesi State Park rangers.