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Document Type
Video
Abstract
This interview, conducted by Gordon Patterson on August 5, 2025, features Allyn Saunders, a Florida Institute of Technology alumnus with a long and storied history with the university. Mr. Saunders initially arrived at Florida Tech in 1972 to study oceanography, drawn by the school's location and reputation. After a year, he switched his major to the burgeoning management program, eventually earning three degrees: a B.S. in Management Science, an MBA, and a Master's in Contracts and Acquisition Management.
The core of the interview focuses on Mr. Saunders' experiences working in the university's botanical gardens from 1972 to 1976. As a student employee in the facilities department, he became an "understudy" to university President Dr. Jerome P. Keuper, who had a deep, personal passion for the gardens. Mr. Saunders recounts numerous anecdotes, including planting seeds from the Palm Society in old cafeteria vegetable cans, the meticulous process of relocating mature palms donated to the university, and the constant challenge of learning the correct Latin botanical names for the plants to satisfy Dr. Keuper. He shares detailed stories about protecting a prized palm with heating blankets during a frost, digging a large hole for a donated tree for two days, and his ambitious project of planting 75 Royal Palms. Mr. Saunders also discusses his ideas for the gardens, such as mapping the collection and placing potted plants in offices, and Dr. Keuper's pragmatic reasons for rejecting them. The interview provides a vivid, firsthand account of the development of the botanical gardens, the hands-on involvement of Dr. Keuper, and the unique campus atmosphere of Florida Tech in the 1970s.
Publication Date
8-5-2025
Recommended Citation
Saunders, Allyn and Patterson, Gordon, "Oral History Interview with Allyn Saunders - Alumnus on Botanical Gardens" (2025). Oral History Videos. 9.
https://repository.fit.edu/oh_videos/9
Transcription of Interview- Ally Saunders