LIVING HISTORY
68
IRIS WALL COLLECTION
In 2006, the Florida Department of Agriculture awarded Wall, who lives in
Indiantown, its Woman of the Year in Agriculture award.
— poor. Nobody had any money, but we had everything else
in the world we needed. We had such a good time living that
we rarely thought about what we didn’t have.”
South Florida back then was mostly one big swamp and
hammock. As a girl, Wall was a red-haired, freckle-faced
tomboy — with a fiery disposition to match. She loved nothing
more than to freely explore the outdoors. While most girls
were learning to sew, crochet and quilt, she preferred life in
the saddle.
“I cried every time I had to learn to quilt,” she says.
“Grandma would finally get enough of it and say, ‘Go on
outside!’ I was a cowboy — still am an old cowboy.”
The Florida landscape was her playground. Wall’s sister,
June, John and James Holt, who later became the sheriff for
Martin County, were her constant companions, and they had
good old-fashioned fun. They swam and fished for trout in
sand-bottomed ponds, hunted, camped out in the woods and
rode their horses until the sun set.
“That’s the way we played,” Wall remembers. “People ask,
‘What hobbies did you have?’ I didn’t even know what a
hobby was!”
CRACKER COW HUNTING
Wall and her family were cow hunters, which meant they
were Florida cowboys who track cows through dense woods
or swamp and return them to the herd. Those were the days
of open range before the state required cows to be fenced
in. They would hunt, pen, brand, doctor and drive cattle all
day long.
“I just pure loved to cow hunt,” Wall says. “I wouldn’t >>
/www.johnsislandrealestate.com
/www.johnsislandrealestate.com