By Anne H. Oman
Reporter-At-Large
December 21, 2018 1:00 a.m.
“This is a bittersweet evening,” began Dyanne Hughes, outgoing President of the outgoing island walking group, Walkin’ Nassau, addressing some forty of the faithful gathered in the upstairs room of the Café Karibo for a combination holiday party and wake.
“After ten years, we decided it had run its course,” she explained. “There are lots of things out there now for people that we’re competing with– the Bird Club, the Photography Group walks, the Newcomers’ Club…”
Walkin’ Nassau was the brain child of long time Fernandina resident, George E. “Ned” Tyson, who had captained the Fernandina Beach High School football team and lifeguarded at Main Beach.
“Ned was a real champion,” his widow, Jackie Tyson, told the Observer.
“Ned was an interesting guy—he was old Fernandina, but he embraced new people,” said Doug Bailey, a close friend of Mr. Tyson and the Trail Master of the walking group. “He was in the health insurance business and believed in wellness programs and was looking for inexpensive ways for people to exercise. At that time, there weren’t a lot of options.”
Mr. Tyson played tennis and golf and ran marathons and “wanted people to feel as good as he did,” said Jackie Tyson.
In 2004, together with friends Joe Gerrity and Steve Nicklas, he founded the annual Pirates on the Run 10 K race. And in 2009, he called an organizational meeting for a walking group at O’Kane’s, downtown.
“I went to that first meeting, and all of a sudden I was Treasurer,” said Ms. Hughes.
Tragically, just as the walking group was getting started, Mr. Tyson was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a progressive nervous system disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. When he was on a respirator, he asked Ms. Hughes and his friends and neighbors, Jane and Doug Bailey, to take over the group.
“We walk every day,” Jane Bailey, who became Membership/Communication Chair, told him. “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“How do you say no?” said Ms. Hughes.
Mr. Tyson died of ALS on November 1, 2010 at the age of 64, and the Baileys and Ms. Hughes, together with Treasurer Sue Koufakis and Board Members Bleecker Sealover and Karen Thompson, carried on. At first, Walkin’ Nassau was affiliated with the American Volkssport Association, a nationwide organization with roots in Germany.
The Associated had a lot of rules and required paperwork, Doug Bailey said. “We left it because we wanted to branch out.”
Eighteen times a year, on Saturday mornings or late Tuesday afternoons, with a recess in July and August, Doug Bailey led members on brisk 5-kilometer walks that he and Jane had researched and scouted out.
At first, they used a surveyor’s wheel to measure distance. Later, they found a computer program that eliminated that chore, but they still walked every walk in advance. Jane notified members of the walks by email and through newspaper notices. Some walks were local – on the Egan’s Creek Greenway, Old Town, Bosque Bello Cemetery, American Beach, Little Talbot – and others were in places farther afield, such as, Cumberland Island, Fort Caroline, the bridges of Jacksonville, and Washington Oaks, an estate overlooking the Matanzas River.
“I will miss the Walkin’ Nassau club,” said Jane Bailey. “We loved finding new places to walk and to share the magic. Washington Oaks was one of those magical places.”
At the farewell party Tuesday, members – who had exchanged their walking gear for holiday finery and shoes decidedly not made for walkin’ – talked about what they enjoyed about the group and what they would miss. Camaraderie, exercise, and adventure topped the list.
“I met nice people and saw new places – places I might not have gone to by myself,” said Melinda Willaford.
“I enjoyed meeting people who like to exercise,” said Genie Rostad, who moved here a few years ago from Madison, Wisconsin. “And I learned a lot about the island. On some walks, we had historical guides.”
In American Beach, local historian Marsha Phelts recounted the history of the early African American resort. Marie Santry and Adrienne Burke led members through Bosque Bello Cemetery, and, at the old pogy plant, Billy Burbank regaled walkers with tales of the shrimping industry and the net-making business. And often the group had lunch or dinner together after a walk – at Sliders after a beach trek, at Cap’s, on the St. John’s River after exploring the Guana River Wildlife Management Area in Ponte Vedra Beach, and at the historic Jekyll Island Hotel after a walking tour of the former playground of millionaires, for example.
But all this took planning and time, and the organizers have day jobs. Dyanne Hughes does event planning for non-profits, and the Baileys run an insurance agency. So, while they are not hanging up their walking shoes –they will keep walking on their own—they are disbanding the formal organization. The several hundred dollars left in the treasury – accrued through modest dues that paid for the group’s incorporation certificate, insurance, spring picnic and other administrative costs – will be donated to the Northeast Florida chapter of the ALS Association.
“We asked people if they wanted to take over, but no one stepped up,” said Ms. Bailey.
But, at the holiday party, member Martha Pennington indicated she might have a go at it, but in a more low-key manner.
“The part about insurance scares me,” she told the Observer. “But I might just send out an email saying ‘Martha is going to be walking at such and such a spot, and if you want to join me…’´”
So it may not be the end of the trail, and of this tale. Watch this space for future developments, and, as the club emails always signed off: Keep Walkin’.
Editor’s Note: Anne H. Oman relocated to Fernandina Beach from Washington, D.C. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Star, The Washington Times, Family Circle and other publications.