On Monday, February 10, 2025, the St. Augustine City Commission will honor the Forson Family with one of the city's highest awards, the de Avilés Award.  The presentation will be held at 4:30pm in The Alcazar Room, City Hall, 75 King Street., just prior the City Commission’s regularly scheduled meeting which begins at 5:00pm.. The presentation will be streamed live online at www.CityStAugTV.com, where it also will be available for on-demand viewing the following day.

City Commissioner Jim Springfield nominated the Forson Family for this prestigious honor.  With three generations of their family serving and working in this community, they are well-known and respected by their fellow citizens as having dedicated themselves with honorable service to this community, not only in the City of St. Augustine, but in St. Johns County.

Mr. and Mrs. Ken Forson first established the family in St. Augustine following World War II, living on Seville Street.  They were involved in school activities and served the Cathedral parish through mission work and jail ministry.  Mr. Forson worked his career at the St. Augustine Post Office and Mrs. Forson was a career educator, retiring as the Coordinator of Secondary Vocational Programs at the St. Augustine Technical Center (SATC).

Service and education have been the centerpiece of the lives and careers of the Forson’s children, who are now themselves in the sunsets of their own careers, with grown children as well.  Their commitment to education extends beyond traditional teaching and reaches to being leaders and teachers at First Coast Technical College, and in the deaf education community locally at Florida School for The Deaf and The Blind.

Most notably, the family’s legacy in the St. Johns County School District continues as the current Superintendent, Tim Forson, is in his 45th year, having started as a teacher and coach.  He is now completing his eighth year as Superintendent and will be retiring at the end of June this year.

The de Avilés Award

The de Avilés Award was initiated by the commission in 1988 and, since 2002, its presentation has been limited to one per year.  Since its inception the award has been presented 35 times to recipients who have been “...identified in the field of public service or those well-known and respected by the citizenry who have dedicated and honorable service to the community of St. Augustine and St. Johns County.”

A nomination for the de Avilés Award originates with a member of the city commission that is presented to the city manager who then puts it before the entire commission for confirmation.

For media inquiries, contact Melissa Wissel, Communications Director, at 904.293.3307 or via email at mwissel@citystaug.com.