A Girl Called Tommie
A Girl Called Tommie, Queen of Marco Island
published 1999
Tommie Barfield, a remarkable woman for any age, was a businesswoman, wife, mother and early Lee County lobbyist who lobbied for schools, roads and ferries to help bring southwest Florida out of isolation; she was instrumental in helping billionaire Barron Gift Collier carve out Collier County. She believed Mr. Collier’s promise to the legislators that he would complete the “Tamiami Trail” and that he would develop the area as it should be developed. The Great Depression and the illness and death of Mr. Collier caused Tommie to struggle on with her problems. The book is a combination of history and biography. It forges historical facts, anecdotes, folklore, and author invention into a unique amalgam to portray the life and times of Tommie Camilla Stephens Barfield. The time span is 1895 to 1947. Her story has never been told.
Reader’s Comments
I just finished reading A Girl Named Tommie. What a very fine piece of work!
I am helping write a summary of material pertinent to the presentation of Marco’s history for your new museum. and I learned more about Marco during the century from 1850 to 1950 from your book. than from any other source. It needed to be written. And writing readable non-fiction is not easy. Your combination of dry historical fact with poignant human detail is well crafted. Dr. Robin Brown
ISBN 978-0-9677281-6-2 $19.95 (Soft Cover)
ISBN 978-0-9677281-5-5 $24.95 (Hard Cover)