Vera Rolle Farrington, the founder of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum and a legend in the Delray Beach community, died Jan. 12, 2025 at the age of 95.
A public viewing was hosted at the RLF Church of God on Jan. 24 with a homegoing service the following morning at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church. Her life and legacy was also honored at the museum’s annual Dr. King Brunch, hosted Jan. 20 at Indian Spring Country Club.
“In honor of my mother, we will continue to bring people together around Black history,” Charlene Farrington, Vera’s daughter and the executive director of the Spady Museum, said in a press release.
Born in 1929 in West Palm Beach to Bahamian parents, Farrington moved to Delray Beach with her family in 1932. She started her education at Mrs. Belle S. Evans kindergarten school and eventually graduated from George Washington Carver High School in 1947. She earned her associate’s degree from the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama, and later, her master of education at Florida Atlantic University. Farrington married her husband, Charles, in 1961 and they had a daughter, Charlene, together.
Farrington was a school teacher for almost four decades, including teaching life science at Poinciana Jr. High School, homemaking at Boca Raton High School, and then serving as the Dean of Girls at Boca Raton Junior High School and then the Dean of Students and assistant principal back at Boca High. She retired in 1992, but her work was not done.
Her accolades and community involvement is a long list, including working with young people at her church and founding the interracial Girl’s Club at Boca Raton Middle school called the Boca-Del Organizers, directing the African American Brain Bowl at Boca High, and serving on the board directors for the county’s Planned Parenthood. She also served on the Board of the Delray Beach Historical Society, Delray Beach Historic Preservation, Storm of ’28 Memorial Coalition, and the Palm Beach County Historical Society.
Farrington founded EPOCH (Expanding and Preserving our Cultural Heritage), which led to the creation of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum at the historic 1926 home of Solomon D. Spady in 2001 (Spady was the third Black public school principal or teacher assigned in Delray Beach). At the museum, visitors can take part in guided tours to learn about the Black community and history in Palm Beach County, as well as lunch and learn events, art exhibits, a community Kwanzaa celebration, the annual MLK Jr. Brunch, a Black History study and Cultural Immersion project for middle and high school students, and a Youth Cultural Leadership Academy. In 2026, the museum is celebrating the Spady House’s centenary with a series of fundraisers and events. In Farrington’s obituary, donations were requested to be made in her honor to the Spady Museum.
“Vera’s legacy will endure through the countless lives she touched and the history she so passionately preserved. Rest in power, Vera Farrington. Your vision and spirit will continue to inspire us all,” the museum said on social media.
