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The Tampa Tribune
July 25, 1996
Beekeeper tries to keep Southern heritage alive
Author: PAUL CATALA; Tribune correspondent
Edition: FINAL
Section: SOUTH TAMPA
Page: 1
Index Terms:
PROFILE
MARION LAMBERT
BEEKEEPINGPROFILE
Estimated printed pages: 3
Article Text:
SUMMARY: The great-grandson of Confederate soldiers tries to preserve his
past on a five-acre farm surrounded by development.
INTERBAY -- For Marion Lambert IV, it's not about racism or rednecks --
it's about heritage.
On his five-acre farm off Second Street, Lambert makes a quiet living
tending to bee hives. Signs of his Southern background are spread over the
property, a rural island amid the apartments and new houses nearby.
Old-fashioned, hand-held tools line the barn walls. The family's water is
heated by a wood-burning heater. A wood-burning stove sits next to the
house.
Inside the wooden house, evidence of the Cracker lifestyle adorns each of
the four rooms. Oil lamps supplement electric lights. Old black-and-white
portraits of Lambert's ancestors look out from behind glass frames.
Portraits of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Commander-in-Chief
Robert E. Lee seem to keep watch over the homestead.!
"I hate to see our [Confederate] heritage die out. We need to preserve our
proud past before it's gone," said Lambert, 48, the first lieutenant of
the John T. Lesley Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Born in Pensacola in 1947, Lambert was the only son of a general
contractor and housemother. He traces his Confederate roots to
great-grandfathers who served in northern Virginia and northern Alabama.
His family settled in north Florida just after the South surrendered in
1865.
Lambert has lived on his Interbay farm for 25 years. He and his wife,
Nancy, have a 15-year-old daughter, Blue.
Lambert reckons it's the tranquillity of the area that keeps him there. He
says it's also the challenge of preserving a bit of Florida's rapidly
diminishing Southern lifestyle.
The farm was established by F.H. Hebb in 1906, and the K.W. O'Haber family
bought it in the 1930s.
Lambert started leasing the farm from the O'Habers in 1972! and besides
keeping bees, tends to a small vegetable garden and three cows.
Although he has a degree in psychology from the University of West
Florida, he's always found more joy in working on his own schedule.
"My wife sometimes criticizes me for a lack of goals. Thing is, sir, I'm
pretty much content watching the lizards jump around and the flies go back
and forth."
Financially, it's the bees flying back and forth that keep Lambert
occupied. As he puts a netted face protector over his head, he says he's
only been bitten "a couple of thousand times."
"Don't worry, though. Most of the time, they got better things to do than
mess with us," Lambert reassures a nervous visitor.
Lambert's hives are situated among large Brazilian pepper plants in the
back end of the farm. These exotic plants, considered a nuisance by many
area residents, are good pollinators and attract bees, he says.
After lighting his "smoker" -- used to distract the bees while the honey
combs are being extracted -- he heads ! toward his 200 hives in sweltering
summer heat.
"It's hot out here, stressful to the comfort levels. I call it the "Deacon
Test.' If you find someone who uses profanity while moving bees, they
don't pass the "Deacon Test,' and I don't like working with them," he
says.
One person who consistently passes Lambert's "Deacon Test" is his friend
Bob Fitzpatrick, the deacon of Ballast Point Baptist Church. Twice a year,
Fitzpatrick helps extract honey and move the hives to an orange grove in
Turkey Creek.
Lambert is "a very decent, God-fearing man and very hard-working,"
Fitzpatrick says.
When he's not working on the farm, tending bees or repairing equipment,
Lambert stays busy with the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He's editor of
the group's Fort Brooke Newsletter, chairman of the Tampa Bay chapter of
Preserve Our Heritage Inc. and on the board of directors of the Southern
League of Florida, a group dedicated to the preservation of Southern cul!
ture.
"His involvement [with the Sons of Confederate Veterans ] is one of a true
patriot of the South," says Jake English, quartermaster of the John T.
Lesley Camp. "He still lives in the 19th century when a man was a
gentleman and a good Christian."
As Lambert leaves his hives and dusk settles over the farm, he heads
toward the house for some sweet tea. Like the sun, the "South will rise
again," he says, noting the Confederate flag flapping in the wind.
"The flag's always up. The Yankees next door always say, "Why do you have
that flag up and not the U.S. flag?' They forget this is the South. We
used to be a country."
Caption:
(C) Dressed in protective netting, Marion Lambert uses a smoker to
distract bees while he checks the honeycombs. Lambert, who has 200 hives
on his Interbay farm, says he's only been bitten "a couple of thousand
times." GARY RINGS/Tribune photos <FILED: BEES AND BEE HIVES>
(C) Marion Lambert loads his 1858 English Enfield replica while decked out
as a Confederate private. Lambert takes pride in his Southern roots.
<FILED: CONFEDERACY>PHOTO(2C)
Memo:
FACES AND PLACES
Copyright 1996 The Tribune Co.
Record Number: 071
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