Trailblazing female captain dies in Ocala
Capt. Virginia Ferguson was the first female and first Black woman to hold a United States Coast Guard captain’s license in Florida and the first female glass-bottom boat captain at Silver Springs.
Capt. Virginia Ferguson [Photo by Mark Emery]
One of Marion County’s most remarkable women, Capt. Virginia Ferguson, has passed away.
Ferguson was born Sept. 11, 1941, in Donaldsonville, Georgia, and grew up in Homestead, Florida. Her family later moved to Ocala to join other family members who were already here. She died March 25, 2025, in Ocala.
Ferguson was the first female and first Black woman to hold a United States Coast Guard captain’s license in Florida and the first female glass-bottom boat captain at the Silver Springs Attraction.
She is survived by her children, Youlanda Green Jones, Robert “Rocky” Green and Jessica Hadley-Brown. She was predeceased by her son Bobby Eugene Ferguson and grandson Kenyatta “Bear” Jones. She has 30 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.
Hadley-Brown said her mother “loved the water.”
“She just had that aspiration of loving the water and would talk about, ‘navigating the current of the river.’ In 1973, she began studying to receive her Coast Guard license,” Hadley-Brown stated.
She said family members would often visit Silver Springs to go on boat rides with Ferguson, and bring friends along.
“She had a zest for Silver Springs,” she said. “In the early ‘70s, you could go there and choose an oyster that might have a pearl in it. We enjoyed doing that. She loved her job, and she would make sure we knew her speech that she so graciously gave to the visiting families.”
“In 2018, her tenure was 46 years, as of June 6, 2018. After the death of her grandson, she had a stroke that ended her career there,” Hadley-Brown said. “But she maintained her Coast Guard license and her Homeland Security clearance; she was very proud of that clearance.”
She also noted that Ferguson was an avid bowler, a great cook and at one time had a florist business in Ocala.
As for life lessons imparted to her children, she said her mother would tell them, “Never to give up. She would say, ‘Your journey will not always be easy, however, as you approach the milestones you will see the victory at the end.’”
Capt. Virginia Ferguson [Photo by Mark Emery]
“She is known for being capable and professional. Her demeanor is both tough and warm-hearted, and she was a fixture at Silver Springs for close to half a century. During the late 1960s, Ferguson was raising kids and working at Club Bali, a well-known African American night club in Ocala. Several of the Silver Springs glass-bottom boat captains encouraged her to apply for a job. She did—and made history. On June 6, 1973, Ferguson became the first female and the first Black woman to hold a United States Coast Guard captain’s license in Florida. This was no small feat given that the era of open racial and gender discrimination was not yet a thing of the past. By the time she retired, Ferguson had safely introduced tens of thousands of visitors to the beauty of the springs and opened the door for younger female captains to follow.”
One of those captains was Connie Mann.
“I met Capt. Virginia in early 2006, when I was hired as a glass-bottom boat captain at Silver Springs. Out of the 30 captains, there were only three ladies, so they sent me to train at the Pink Dock, also known as the Fort King River Cruise, under Capt. Virginia’s watchful eye. She was not only the first female captain ever hired at Silver Springs, she was the first African American woman in Florida to obtain a USCG-issued captain’s license. No small feat in 1973,” Mann recalled.
“Capt. Virginia had a warm smile, twinkling brown eyes, a wonderful laugh—and a spine of steel she showed when necessary. She never called herself a trailblazer or pioneer or mentor, but she was all of that and more, for me and so many other women. She not only trained me to handle a boat and deal with guests from around the world; she showed me how to step into the role of captain with skill, grace and confidence, despite those who didn’t welcome the idea of a woman at the helm. By her example, she taught me that humor can diffuse many a situation and a warm smile invites good conversation,” Mann added.
“I will never forget the first time she had me pull up to the main glass-bottom boat dock. As luck would have it, the park manager and every single captain working that day stood and watched the new girl try to navigate those tricky currents. Talk about intimidating. Capt. Virginia lifted her chin, sent me her wide smile and kept murmuring, ‘Just do it like I taught you, Connie. Just do it like I taught you.’ I did and earned my place amongst the other captains that day,” Mann stated.
Capt. Virginia Ferguson, left, is shown with Capt. Connie Mann, with Mark Emery in the background at right. [Submitted photo]
Another Ocalan who knew Ferguson through Silver Springs is award winning cinematographer Mark Emery, who also was a glass-bottom boat captain for a time and who included Ferguson in his movie “The Silver River Story.”
“I knew Virginia mainly from working with her in the early 70’s at Silver Springs. Virginia was a wonderful lady, tough, smart and with a big heart. More important than that was her sense of self-deprecating humor. She injected humor often into her talks at Silver Springs. She would say in her talks as a glass-bottom boat driver, ‘We have over 30 species of fish here at Silver Springs. Now I can’t remember all 30,” and she would laugh a bit and then say, “we have catfish, bream, bowfin, largemouth bass, you catch a batch and I’ll cook them up and we’ll call them fried fish,’” Emery shared. “She loved her work at Silver Springs and in her many years of sharing the beauty and lovely surprises she saw on the Silver River, her excitement and joy was real. She said, ‘Silver Springs is my home; I spend more time here than I do at my house.’”
She was also observant of others who worked with her, regardless of race, Emery said.
“She admired Leon Cheatom, her manager, who recently passed as well, saying, ‘I have always admired Leon. If we were having trouble with too many people in line and not enough drivers, he would jump on the boat take folks out to help us out, I have always enjoyed working with him.’ She was the driving force in having a retirement party for Leon when he retired,” Emery offered.
“She shared her joy with folks who worked in the park. When manatees started coming back to Silver Springs, they would at times be in easy sight of the boat dock. She would go tell the workers in the restaurant to come down because the manatees were where they could see them. Virginia was a wise woman and expressed herself well on growing up with the segregation that divided us in her early days. She spoke to many hundreds of thousands of people about wildlife, spreading her own personal style of grace, joy and humor. We need more like Virginia Ferguson. She will be missed by all who knew her,” Emery shared.
Local photographer and businesswoman Cynthia Wilson-Graham remembered Ferguson as a devoted mother, grandmother and aunt.
““Miss Virginia cherished her children and family above all else. She was a straightforward and honest individual, always speaking her mind and meaning what she said. Her words were as reliable as her actions,” Wilson-Graham said.
“With the unwavering support of her family and additional training from Capt. Roosevelt Faison, Miss Virginia shattered the glass ceiling for women aspiring to become boat captains. Her strength and determination were evident in her pursuit of this goal when she obtained her license from the U. S. Coast Guard, becoming the first female boat captain at the World-Famous as she Silver Springs, now Silver Springs State Park,” she added.
A life celebration for Ferguson will be held at 3 p.m. April 6 at Living Waters Church, 3801 N. US Highway 441, Ocala.
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