SPOTLIGHT ON...
Joan Harvey
Story written by Gary Fletcher
One of the first things you’ll notice when you meet Joan Harvey is her wonderfully friendly nature. You’ll realize right away that she really likes people. It probably won’t be long until you also notice her contagious enthusiasm. Joan is so full of positive energy! If you know her it probably will not surprise you to learn of the many significant contributions she has made to the life and ministry of our church in her six-plus decades at Coronado UMC.
Joan was raised in East Meadow, Long Island. Her father Glenn, a welder, and her mother Hazel, a homemaker, had immigrated from Newfoundland before she was born. After high school Joan completed college training in Nursing and Teaching. When she was 19 years old her family moved to New Smyrna Beach where they lived within walking distance of Coronado UMC. She and her brother would wait until they heard the church bell ring on Sunday mornings, then run to the church.
Joan was 21 when she was married in Coronado UMC to her husband Carter P. Harvey, a fourth-generation Floridian. Joan planned their wedding around pit crew schedules of the races that were held on the beach then. Joan and Carter were blessed with a son, Fred. Sadly, Carter was lost in an accident about two years after they were married.
Joan has devoted herself from the very beginning to her church. She taught Sunday School from her first year at Coronado and has taught every age group. Joan was a member of the Charter Board of the Day School, then a teacher, and then Director of the Day School from 1973 to 2003. She served three terms with the United Methodist Association of Preschools (UMAP).
Joan gets things done. She was involved in the Community Hot Meals program and served as Director of the ‘Feeding the Hungry’ program from 2005 to 2017. She helped establish Colegio Susanna Wesley (the school of the ‘Salud y Paz’ mission in Guatemala) in 2008 by writing mission and vision statements for the school. She was instrumental in establishing the Boutique and served as Manager from its beginning in the early 1970s until 2008. Joan was the church Historian from 2003 to 2021.
Professionally, Joan has been a hospital admissions officer, a medical office secretary and nurse, a local correspondent, and adjunct faculty at Daytona Beach Community College, providing training in Early Childhood Education for preschool teachers.
Joan has always been active in her community. She volunteered as a tutor at NSB High School and as a mentor in the Boys and Girls Club. She represented the church to the Merchants of Flagler Association. She was honored for 35 years of volunteer service in Volusia County Schools and volunteered in support of the Florida UMC Children’s Home for over 50 years.
Today, Joan remains active and gets to church as often as she can. She smiles when she mentions her family: grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a brother.
Joan is quick to point out a few things. “I took on challenges,” she says, her eyes twinkling with quiet satisfaction. Then, with a bit of wonder in her voice, “I really did all that.” And still, she remains humble. Emphatically she states, “I did not do any of this alone.” She is right about that. She did have a lot of help. Because she knew how to build teams and share her vision. Joan Harvey knows how to care about people, and she knows how to motivate people to accomplish things – things they never thought they could do until Joan showed them what’s possible.
JOAN’S HISTORICAL SCAVENGER HUNT
Joan Harvey was the Church Historian for 18 years. In her unassuming way, she asked that this “Spotlight” shine more on the history of Coronado UMC than on herself. To honor her wishes, we present some facts about our history and a “scavenger hunt” in which you can look for historical artifacts of Coronado UMC.
Our church was established in 1904. It first met in the one room schoolhouse of the Village of Coronado Beach. In later years when the building was no longer needed by Volusia County Schools it was moved to the Coronado UMC campus. The church had previously acquired the former ‘Coronado Beach Club’ building at the corner of Peninsula and Flagler, and the schoolhouse was incorporated into that structure, which is now our Boutique.
The first church sanctuary was completed in 1907 at the corner of South Peninsula and Columbus. It served for eight decades. When the new building was completed in 1988,some items of historical significance were brought over from the old church.
Joan was our Historian at the centennial of Coronado UMC in 2004. She wants everyone to be aware that our church will observe a major milestone when we turn 125 years old in 2029. In that year our church will be recognized at the Florida United Methodist Annual Conference.
Joan has provided us with a list of some “hidden historical treasures” that remain here on the campus of Coronado UMC. She wants to encourage people to seek them out and appreciate their beauty and significance.
- The bell from the original church building
- The pulpit table from the original sanctuary
- Two freestanding stained-glass windows from the original building
- The stained-glass window which was over the first sanctuary door (found in an attic)
- Pulpit chairs from the original sanctuary
- An oak tree that is well over a century old (verified by a state forester)
- The one room schoolhouse where our church began
- A display case of artifacts from our 122-year history
See how many you can find.
We’ll finish with one more bit of historical trivia. We are all familiar with the chickens that roam the neighborhood around Coronado, sometimes welcoming us to church with their crowing. I learned from Joan that long ago, before there were chickens, there were peacocks!
Next time you see her, thank Joan for educating and enlightening us about so many things.
