By Starr Munro Riverbend News
There are certain people in history who may not be what some picture when they think of the word "pioneer." The image of a pioneer is usually accompanied by a burly, bearded man with buckskins on. The truth is, some pioneers from history look just like folklorist Thelma Boltin. Boltin was well-known for the sun bonnets she would wear every year as the Mistress of Ceremonies at the Florida Folk Festival, so one could say if you looked at her in the right light, you'd see her for the pioneer she was and not just the sweet elderly lady she was well-known for being.
Born in Beaufort, S.C, in 1904, Boltin moved to Gainesville in 1907 when she was just three years old. For the rest of her life, she sought to collect and absorb the areas culture and history. As one of the founders of the Florida Folk Festival, hundreds of attendants have benefitted from the extensive knowledge she collected over her 81 years of life. In the early 1950's, Boltin helped begin the Florida Folk Festival that takes place every year at the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center located in White Springs. She became director of special events and was a staple to the annual event from the very beginning, eventually becoming the festivals emcee. Her sun bonnets, pioneer dresses and warm disposition eventually inspired the pet name, "Cousin Thelma," used by regular attendants and those who knew and worked with her.
Her gift of storytelling is immortalized with her being remembered as Gainesville's first recreational director, Childrens Creative Theatre director and a founding member of the Gainesville Little Theater. Boltin never did marry or have children, but she was beloved by many different communities around the banks of the Suwannee. The people who participated in the festival every year became her kin and looked up to her as a matriarch of sorts. Boltin was a gifted orator herself, telling bewitching ghost stories, songs and legends that continue to be repeated today and with any luck, will be told as long as there are people alive to remember that some stories will always be worth remembering.