Baptist Heritage Award

Baptist Heritage Award


Since 1997 the Florida Baptist Historical Society has conferred the Baptist Heritage Award upon persons who have exhibited rare and unusual dedication to the cause of Florida Southern Baptist history and also have made a significant impact through such means as writing Baptist history, teaching Baptist history, and/or promoting the importance of Florida Southern Baptist history. The following individuals have been so honored.

1997-Earl Joiner
1998-Adolph Bedsole
1999-Joe Bamberg
2000-Ruth Bagwell
2001-John Hillhouse
2002-Martha Trotter
2003-Wiley Richards
2004-E. B. Browning, Sr.
2005-E. H. Rennolds, Sr.
2006-Harry Crawford Garwood
2007-Pope Duncan
2008-John Leonidas Rosser
2009-Doak Campbell
2010-Judith Jolly
2011-Jack Dalton
2012-James C. Bryant
2013-David Elder
2014-Mark Rathel
2015 No recipient
2016-David Lema and Roger Richards
2017-Jerry M. Windsor
2018-Sid Smith
2019-Thomas Kinchen
2020-L. David Cunningham
2021-Donald S. Hepburn
2022-Carolyn L. (Mrs. Edward) Calhoun
2023-Linda Gramling (Mrs. Herbert) Demott

Baptist Heritage Award

2023 Baptist Heritage Award Recipient: Linda Gramling (Mrs. Herbert) Demott

The Florida Baptist Historical Society, for the past 27 years, has recognized an individual for their effective preservation and promotion of Florida Baptist history. The Society’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce that their selection as the recipient of the 2023 Baptist Heritage Award is Linda Gramling (Mrs. Herbert) Demott of the community of Elizabeth in Jefferson County, Florida.
The Baptist Heritage Award seeks to recognize and honor those Florida Baptists who have exhibited rare and unusual dedication to the cause of Florida Southern Baptist history by having made a significant impact through such means as researching and writing Baptist history, teaching Baptist history, preserving Baptist history, and/or promoting the importance of Florida Southern Baptist history.
The 2023 Baptist Heritage Award recipient, is a noteworthy individual who has committed herself to the preservation and promotion of her local church’s history. Mrs. Demott, age 84, is a lifelong member of the Elizabeth Baptist Church, Monticello, who has worked diligently since the early 1990s to collect, organize and develop material for a history book on the church that was established in 1831. Mrs. Demott made it a goal to write and publish a church history book, making it the first narrative of its type for the congregation. Publication of the book is set to occur in June, this year. In 2022 a special project Mrs. Demott undertook was the planned creation of a bronze plaque containing a replica of the church’s original constitution handwritten in nineteenth century English alongside a contemporary language translation. She single-handedly raised the necessary funds to have the bronze display produced by a third-party vendor. The plaque was dedicated by the church members during the May 21 morning worship service. As the Elizabeth Baptist Church-designated historian since the 1950s, Mrs. Demott has prepared church anniversary observance material each year including the development of skits to “bring to life” the church’s historical leaders and events. Additionally, to promote the church’s history and to educate current members, Mrs. Demott enlisted other volunteers to establish a designated history display of early information and memorabilia about the Elizabeth Baptist Church. This task required the identification and collection of material for preservation. In her committed volunteer service to the church, Mrs. Demott, since 1955 also has served as the volunteer music leader and pianist. Her high level of interest in music resulted in her being enlisted year-after-year as the associational music director for the Middle Florida Baptist Association. Additionally, for many years she was enlisted by the Church Music Department, Florida Baptist Convention, to serve as a leader of specialty conferences designed for the small church music leaders. For 25 years Mrs. Demott taught piano at the Aucilla Christian Academy. Throughout her married life Mrs. Demott was a committed spouse, fulltime homemaker, and a mother of four children. Because of her interest and abilities in music, at middle-age, Mrs. Demott pursued formal academic training in music at the North Florida Junior College and the Florida State University School of Music. According to Mr. Hepburn, the Baptist Heritage Award “seeks to recognize and honor those Florida Baptists who have exhibited rare and unusual dedication to the cause of Florida Southern Baptist history.” This includes having made a significant impact through such tasks as researching and writing Baptist history, teaching Baptist history, preserving Baptist history, and/or promoting the importance of Florida Southern Baptist history. Twenty-six individuals, since 1997, have been conferred the Baptist Heritage Award by the Florida Baptist Historical Society. These persons represented a broad range of Florida Baptists including pastors, denominational workers, college and seminary professors, and laypersons, all of whom had an interest and commitment to preserving, researching and publishing about Florida Baptist history.

Twenty-six individuals, since 1997, have been conferred the Baptist Heritage Award by the Florida Baptist Historical Society. These persons represented a broad range of Florida Baptists including pastors, denominational workers, college and seminary professors, and laypersons, all of whom had an interest and commitment to researching and publishing Florida Baptist history.