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Officers
President:
Treasurer: Nicole Spence
Secretary: Amanda Hersem
Board members at large
Berkeley Grimball • Amanda Hagood
Past President: Cathy Salustri Loper
The board meets at the Gulfport History Museum (5301 28th Ave. S., Gulfport, Florida) quarterly. Paid members in good standing are invited to speak about items on the agenda after the board has discussed the agenda item, but before the meeting chair calls a board vote. The board may, from time to time, limit the time of such member discussion. Non-members may also speak during the “public discussion” portion of the meeting, and the board may also limit how long each person may speak. Please note: We do not adhere to Robert’s Rules of Order.
We have one annual membership meeting, every April, at the end of our fiscal year. Anyone who wants to know more about any of the Society’s activities can attend any of our meetings, come to our events or email us. You may also review our constitution and bylaws.
Learn more about your board
About Nicole (Treasurer): Nicole has a B.A. in Art History from Emory University. She lives in Gulfport with her family dog, Dougal, who sits at the table for dinner and has a penchant for sweaters.
About Amanda Hersem (Secretary): Amanda is a Florida native, a nearly lifelong Pinellas County resident, and has celebrated living in Gulfport since 2006. She has a psychology degree from University of Florida (Go Gators!) and a J.D. from Stetson Law School, is an active member with the Florida Bar Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law section, and is a Board Certified Real Estate Attorney. She spends her time enjoying the local nature, our robust arts and music scene, and our wonderful restaurants. You will usually find her wandering about town meeting dogs and their owners with her always-enthusiastic Yorkie-Pomeranian mix, Murphy, or getting stretchy with a yoga class on Gulfport Beach. She is excited to be a part of the next chapter of the Gulfport Historical Society and its development of the new Art Center.
About Amanda Hagood : Amanda teaches courses in Environmental Humanities at Eckerd College and writes for local news media. She holds a PhD in American Literature from Vanderbilt University, but she has always been a history junkie. It runs in the family: she can count among her relatives several amateur historians, a couple of living history performers, and one Alabama History teacher. She has published scholarly work in Shenandoah, Environmental Humanities, and Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment. She is fascinated by Florida’s unique environmental history and has recently begun to explore her adopted home through creative projects including and essay published in Salt Creek Journal and “Wood Parade”, a poem honoring the work of St. Petersburg artist Earl Gresh.
Berkeley Grimball founded and ran Grimball Jewelers in Chapel Hill, NC for thirty three years until retiring to Gulfport in 2019. He currently spends his time making jewelry using recycled clarinets and making music on a variety on instruments, one of his own invention.
About Cathy (Past President): When she was seven, Cathy’s parents moved to Florida from New York and decided to bring her along. With the exception of college, Cathy has lived in Pinellas County ever since. She grew up in Clearwater and first moved to Gulfport in 2003. Since that time, she has also lived in St. Petersburg and on St. Pete Beach, but now lives in the northeast section of Gulfport. She worked for the local paper for 12 years, in which time she developed a deep attachment to Gulfport’s eclectic community. She now owns that local paper. In 2016, Cathy writes about Florida (Backroads of Paradise, 2016, UPF and Florida Spectacular, 2024, UPF).
She has an MLA with a focus in Florida Studies from the University of South Florida St. Pete, where she studied Florida history and culture under Drs. Gary Mormino and Ray Arsenault. She also speaks about her research, the WPA work in Florida, historic driving tours and vintage roadside attractions, across the state.