| St. Augustine Record By LORRAINE THOMPSON ST. AUGUSTINE -- Isabella (Ingraham) Heard was 10 years old when the Bridge of Lions officially opened in 1927. She was there as one of several 9- and 10-year-old girls selected to ride on the float to the center of the drawbridge. That's where Jeanne (Rodenbaugh) Sanders was to cut the ribbon that officially opened the now-historic bridge. Now 89, she was back on the bridge to attend Friday's Bridge of Lions Closing Ceremony. She recalled what it was like on the bridge almost 80 years ago when she and her friends rode on the float. "Jeanne sat in a big shell and we sat in little chairs around her," she recalled. Isabella's father, James E. Ingraham, and Jeanne's father, Henry Rodenbaugh, were officers of the Florida East Coast Railway. The other girls on the float, also from local prominent families, included Clarinda Jackson, Molly (Lewis) Wiley, Betty Lamont, and Lenora (Hopkins) Stoddard. Isabella remembered that the girls were dressed in fancy pastel colored organdy dresses. Jeanne was in pink, Isabella in blue. "I think we had bonnets on," she said. "And we all had baskets of flowers. It was an exciting and great day for us young girls. But rain cut the ceremony short and we went right back to town." "Through the years, we've always stayed in touch," she said of her friendship with the women. Isabella went on to graduate from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N. Y. She married William C. Heard in 1941. William Heard was in sales, which resulted in a lot of moving. Early in their married life they lived in New England and Ohio. The Herds returned to Florida in 1982. In 1988 they retired to Vicar's Landing, a life care residence in Ponte Vedra. William and Isabella had three children: William C. Heard Jr., James Heard, and Francie Clough. There are eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Isabella's husband, William, died last year. Two of her great granddaughters, Gracie West, age 3, and Hanna West, age 7, and grandson-in-law, Rob West, joined Isabella at Friday's ceremony. After Isabella assisted in the "reuniting of the ribbon" ceremony, she was presented the last American flag to fly over the Bridge of Lions before the rehabilitation project begins. As she accepted the flag from Theresa Segal of the Save Our Bridge organization, Isabella said, "I didn't deserve all this honor and attention. I'm just a survivor."
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Final crossing