Artist Maxine Hadfield Graces
OWC with Distinctive Displays

Elegant and stylish from head to toe, she was dressed exactly as you would expect an artist to dress. With a leopard print blouse and hair pulled back into a classic bun, she sat at my desk and talked. I asked a few questions every now and then for a change of pace, but mostly I listened. I could have done so for hours.

Maxine Hadfield, a local prolific artist who has decorated Okaloosa-Walton College’s display cases for years, has lived a life of adventure, continuous education and artistic endeavors galore. When she speaks about her life and things she enjoys, the humor comes out in her speech and in her eyes.

From her friendship with the famed Emil Holzhauer and with local watercolorist, Marie Green, to attending more than 50 Elderhostels across the United States and in Europe, she is art and education in motion. She has studied the famed Bayeaux Tapestry since the 1960’s and is a breathing encyclopedia about this well-known work depicting the Battle of Hastings fought in 1066.

Former OWC art instructors, David Owens and Arnie Hart, knowing that her art interests covered every medium (“There’s not a one I haven’t tried”, she said) asked the artist to fill the college’s display cases from time to time to add interest to the library’s hallways, then to the Administration Building on the Niceville Campus.

Hadfield and her husband, Ed, have lived in Fort Walton Beach since the 1960’s. Ed, now 90 years young, designed and built their first home on the bayou entirely by himself, including the electrical and plumbing work. He currently fills his time with writing short stories, seven of which have been published. Maxine’s eyes sparkle when she talks about him.

Ed was the test pilot who tested the very first jet engine. His wife was the consummate military spouse, volunteering at every turn of the road and perfecting her art. She was a Red Cross volunteer for more than 20 years and was a member of the Arts and Design Society from its inception and the Embroiders Guild.

Originally from Indiana, Hadfield attended the University of Indianapolis studying to become a designer for children’s clothing where she was once chastised for putting a pinafore on everything just because she loved the pinafore look. The photos she carries with her show many of her favorite pieces, including the counted cross stitch she creates. Maxine charts her own designs and famous works of art are often the selections she chooses to replicate. Sunday in the Park by Seurat and American Gothic by Grant Wood have been stitched by her hands; Sunday in the Park taking more than 300 hours to complete.

Upon his retirement, Dr. Ed McCracken, OWC’s founding president, was given a cross stitch replica of the Administration Building, charted and stitched by the nimble fingers of Maxine Hadfield.

Maxine currently enjoys teaching “All About Art” for the University of West Florida’s Center for Lifelong Learning, where she served on the center’s inaugural steering committee. “I’m going to change the course around a bit now because I don’t like to talk for an hour and a half anymore,” she quipped.

Having lived and traveled all over the world and having been married for 63 years to a pilot, builder and author, one would think this mother and grandmother would be thinking about kicking back and relaxing. Not Maxine – she’s installing her most current postcard display in the Administration Building display case and is already planning her next.

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La Societe Des Quarante Hommes at Huit Chevaux Delivers Nursing Scholarships for OWC

For more than a half a century, La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux – translated the Society of Forty Men and Eight Horses – has been delivering nursing scholarships among other things much like its namesake did during World War I.

Recently the Voyageurs Militarie (Military Travelers) of Voiture #1490 of Crestview and Niceville awarded three scholarships to the new class of nursing students at Okaloosa-Walton College. Students who received the awards this year include Kethryn Hogg, Lindsey Hogg, Andrea Just and Andrea Rinke.

“It’s sort of ironic that our area and the country are going through a nursing shortage,” said Ben Meridith of the local Forty & Eight Voiture. “That was the same reason the Forty & Eight adopted a national program in 1942 to provide assistance to individuals enrolled in Registered Nursing training.”

Meridith explained the Forty & Eight group is an independent fraternal organization which draws members from the Niceville and Crestview American Legion Posts. Using funds from the Legion Posts, the local Voiture and state matching funds, scholarship funds have grown. In addition, one OWC nursing student received a grant from the national Forty & Eight’s George Borland fund for nursing students.

According to Meridith, the Forty & Eight title reflects its World War I origins. “American soldiers in France were transported to the battle front on narrow gauge French railroads inside boxcars (Voitures) that were half the size of American rail cars,” he said. “Each of the French boxcars was stenciled 40/8, meaning it had the capacity to hold either forty men or eight horses.”

OWC Foundation president Dale Rice Jr. commended the Forty & Eight and Legion Posts for “continuing their tradition of service by supporting OWC’s nursing program at another critical time of shortages.”

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