Special tribute for Rhea Chiles to be held Feb. 23
The USF College of Public Health’s Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies will host a special tribute for Rhea Chiles on Tuesday, Feb. 23. The program includes a mini-symposium focusing on the current needs of maternal and child health, followed by a reception.
Chiles, wife of the late Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, passed away at age 84 at her home in Anna Maria Island on Nov. 8 of natural causes.
She will be remembered for her dedication to children, a common advocacy she held with her husband, leading to the founding of the Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies in 1996. The center gained a permanent building on the USF campus in 2001. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the center’s creation.
Rhea Chiles with Dr. Charles Mahan, founding director of the Chiles Center.
(Photo courtesy of USF Health Communications)
The Chiles Center houses programs dedicated to determining the most effective strategies and systems for reducing illness and death among mothers, infants and children.
“We are fortunate that the legacy of Rhea Chiles and her late husband, Lawton Chiles, has a permanent place on our campus,” said USF System President Judy Genshaft. “Through a life of service, these individuals shared a deep commitment to the state of Florida and its future and they understood that the best way to secure that future was by investing in children. At USF we share that commitment and pledge to act upon it for decades to come.”
Chiles served as the visionary of a large anti-tobacco youth program, resulting in Gov. Chiles’ historic tobacco settlement and the creation of the Truth campaign. The campaign has been credited for decreasing youth smoking and becoming a model for the nation.
She also left her mark in Washington, D.C., when she founded the Florida House in 1972, a non-profit organization, serving Floridians visiting the nation’s capital by providing meeting, classroom and reception space, as well educational and informational resources. Chiles envisioned it “offering a hospitable respite for weary travelers.”
Originally from Pennsylvania, Chiles grew up in south Florida and attended school in Dade County.
She met Lawton Chiles in 1948 while attending the University of Florida where she served as a staff member on the student newspaper, The Alligator, and president of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
The couple married in Lakeland, Fla. on Jan. 25, 1951 and shared a partnership in both life and politics before Gov. Chiles’ passing in 1998.
She supported Gov. Chiles during his political campaigns for seats in the Florida House of Representatives, Florida Senate, U.S. Senate and the Governor’s office.
Gov. Chiles often said she was “the best political sounding board that I have,” talking frequently about “inner voices” helping guide him through his political career.
“Walkin’ Lawton” shoes
She was also was behind the nickname Gov. Chiles earned in 1970 as “Walkin’ Lawton” during his race for the Senate seat when she decided they should walk from Jay, Fla., in the upper northwest corner of Florida’s panhandle to Key West, more than 1,000 miles.
“For me, Lawton and Rhea Chiles will always be heroes of mine as they so supported the Bicycle Helmet Law for children in the state of Florida,” said Dr. Karen Liller, a child and adolescent injury professor in the Department of Community and Family Health. “Our passage of that law surely was helped and advocated by Gov. Chiles and his staunch support of children’s health will always be remembered. It is an honor that today I work in the Lawton and Rhea Chiles Building at USF.”
Rhea Chiles, third from right, at the groundbreaking for the Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies at USF. (Photo courtesy of USF Health Communications)
Dr. William Sappenfield, professor and chair of the Department of Community and Family Health and director of the Chiles Center, said Rhea and Lawton Chiles clearly put children first.
“Upon coming to USF to serve as the new Chiles Center director, I was inspired when I learned more about Lawton and Rhea Chiles’ lives, their contributions and their dedication to the advancement of mothers and children,” Sappenfield said.
Chiles is survived by her four children, Tandy, Bud, Ed and Rhea, as well as ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Rhea Chiles with her son Ed Chiles at the 10-year anniversary celebration of the Chiles Center.
(Photo courtesy of USF Health Communications)
Her public health contributions will continue to impact the COPH for years to come, according to COPH Dean Dr. Donna Petersen.
“The USF Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies will continue to provide a locus for critical scholarship and translation of knowledge to the betterment of our community, fully in the spirit with which they practiced their passions,” Petersen said. “We mourn the loss of these incredible leaders but rejoice in the gift they left to us in their vision for a better future.”
The tribute to Rhea Chiles will begin at 1:00 p.m on Feb. 23. To RSVP please email Ms. Caitlin Keough at caitlinkeough@health.usf.edu by Feb. 16.
Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health.