Honoring The Rev. Canon Dr. J. Allison DeFoor

Poet Maya Angelou once gracefully explained that “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

While Allison DeFoor’s professional resume is nothing short of legendary – from North Florida Land Trust and Monroe County Sheriff to Everglades czar, author and Episcopal Priest – the most attractive quality about a person is the size of the mark they leave on the hearts of others.

By virtue of the positive influence and spirited impact Allison made on others, the feelings he brought to life in those others is something they will have to be inspired by forever.

My dad, Doug Milne, Sr., is among those who proudly reflect Allison’s light.

“I knew Allison for a long time and admired him greatly for the person he was,” said Doug. “He was multi-talented and multi-accomplished. He was a man for all seasons. And, every one of those many accomplishments was designed to benefit other people, rather than himself.”

My dad furthered that when he thinks of Allison, he is reminded of one of his role models, John Muir. The founder of the Sierra Club, Muir was one of the earliest conservationists in American history, who traveled all over in an effort to benefit the preservation of nature.

Many years ago, my dad read a book by Bennett Sims who, at the time, was the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta. In the book, Sims noted that Muir had the inalienable ability to make people think more of themselves than they’d originally perceived.

“That's the same trait Allison Defoor had,” said Doug. “I've always thought it was neat that, essentially 100+ years later, Allison followed in the footsteps of John Muir, Bennett Sims' hero. Allison had an uncanny way of making you think more of yourself than you ever thought you were, precisely what Sam said about John Muir.”

In August of last year, my dad was visiting family in an area just north of Gainesville, FL. While on a walk one afternoon, Doug struck up a conversation with some neighboring folks in their yard.

“One of them mentioned being from Key West and having worked in federal court for Hugh Moran, a law school classmate of mine at UF,” Doug wrote in an ensuing email to Allison about the encounter. “My next question, of course, was if she knew you. I believe I’d still be there listening if bad weather hadn’t ended the conversation. She waxed about you and what a fine, accomplished person you are. Of course, I readily agreed.”

“I first met Alison 10-15 years ago when he was canon to the ordinary to Bishop Howard. He was trying to recruit me to come and be a priest in the diocese of Florida,” said St. Mark’s Rector, Charlie Holt.

At the time, Allison was trying to get Charlie to come back to his hometown of Jacksonville.

“One of the things he would say is, ‘I'm a pirate out trying to steal clergy from other dioceses and bring people that can preach the gospel to the diocese of Florida’. It was a very inspiring vision to me that he was casting, that of renewing the churches and the diocese of Florida. I think one of his biggest contributions was giving a lot of himself to the renewal of the congregations in our area. And, one of the amazing aspects of that effort was his passion to put a church and a priest in every prison in the diocese of Florida…someone that would care for the incarcerated. He accomplished that to a large degree during his tenure, and I believe it was the largest Episcopal prison ministry in the country.”

According to Charlie, Allison’s strongest passion was to reach the broken, hurting or those feeling down and out. Again, how he made people feel made the difference.

“Even up until this past year, he would go every month and lead a worship service at a recovery center to give hope and encouragement to people in the process of recovery from addiction,” Charlie added. “So, Allison’s reach as a pirate went far and wide as he was trying to steal or at least borrow people to join in the kingdom of God for Jesus.”

“Allison was a force of nature, but what I found most beautiful about him was not just the victories, but the way he journeyed through his failures,” said St. Mark’s Reverend, Billy Cerveny. “He knew what it meant to need a savior and was a living example of how God uses the broken things in this world to display His glory. Knowing a man like Allison gave a man like me permission to do what I do.”

While the passing of an incredible individual does bring with it feelings of grief and sadness, there is another side to it…and it is one of joy. There is joy for the life Allison had to live. There is joy for the lives he enhanced and even changed while living that life. And, there is joy that Allison’s light naturally shined on people in ways that his life and legacy will forever represent the true gem he was and will always be.