People: Linda Chapin
BOSS OF ORANGE COUNTY
Disney World, Sea World and Universal Studios in Orlando, FL, are all part of Orange County, a self-governing 'charter' county with its own constitution. Its 1,000 square miles include 13 municipalities and the 16th largest school district out of 16,000 in the nation. The area is ruled by Linda W. Chapin, '63, Orange County's first chairman, who won her second four-year term in 1994 with a 61 percent landslide. 'We're delighted,' says Chapin, who lives in a 1914 farm house on Lake Convway. 'I think it reflects our record of accomplishment.'
It includes the creation of 11 new parks, lots of family-oriented projects, such as 'Rails to Trails.' Explains Linda, 'We purchased the old citrus railroad and created a 26-mile recreational trail for hiking, biking and roller blading. People--families--just love it.' She also spurred economic development, opening a $4 million convention center that's 'the 6th largest in the nation and has business booked through the year 2024.'
Linda is a fourth generation Spartan; her great grand-uncle came to MSU in the 1880s, her grandfather graduated in 1913, and her parents both graduated in 1938. 'My gradfather moved to Florida during the depression,' she notes. 'But our family roots are in Marshall.'
She majored in communications at MSU, having been recruited by then dean Gordon Sabine. 'I became very active in the civil rights movement,' recalls Linda, who attended Martin Luther King's famous 'I Have A Dream' speech in Washington DC in 1963, shortly after graduation. 'MSU set me on a path where I became very involved with political issues, and that stayed with me to this point. After Bruce and I raised our four children, I became very involved politically again.'
A lifelong Democrat who has been named by several Florida governors to commissions, Linda maintains further political aspirations. 'But I don't want to be in Washington DC,' she hastens to add. 'You can't get anything done! You can get a whole lot done at the local level.'
