Folk Historian
William Joshua Dreggors, Jr."Life has been good to me, everyday is a happy day."
~Bill Dreggors
The eyes of West Volusia historian Bill Dreggors store a wealth of history from his lifelong experiences in Volusia County.
As a respected record keeper, he has watched Volusia County grow to what it is today. A fourth generation Floridian and collector of artifacts, Dreggors is passionate about history.
Bill Dreggors was born June 30, 1926, on South Clake Avenue, DeLand, to Lois Lee Horn and William Dreggors Sr. He attended school in DeLand. The Dreggors family arrived from Darion, Georgia after the Civil War in 1866.
In 1945, Bill Dreggors was drafted to serve in the Navy at the age of 18 during World War II. He served as a Radar-man Third Class on the Aircraft Carrier USS Midway. He traveled to Greenland and throughout the Caribbean. He was discharged honorably in 1947. While in the Navy he married his High School sweetheart Emma Jo on January 2, 1946, and lived happily with her for 48 years until she passed away in 1994. They had a son Wayne Dreggors, in 1950 who is President of the ACT Corporation in Volusia and Flagler County.
After Bill Dreggors left the Navy, he found employment locally with Florida Power Corporation, where he worked as a lineman, foreman, and superintendent until his retirement in 1988.
On the morning of September 23, 1953 at 27 years of age Bill Dreggors, on a routine work day, was up on an electric pole doing his job. With pliers in his right hand and his left hand holding the ground wire, as suddenly as turning on a light switch, Bill Dreggors received 4800 volts of electricity through his body and died. The voltage of the Electric Chair is 2400 volts. The day Bill Dreggors died, on the ground was his friend, John Kelly (now deceased), quickly climbed up the pole and began artificial resuscitation while Mr. Dreggors was sitting on John Kelly's belt high up on the pole.
When Bill came to, which by all accounts to the imagination is a miracle, he climbed down a ladder and was transported by his friend to the Bert Fish Hospital. While it took him 2 years to recover, he lost all of one finger and half of another from his left hand, all feeling from his middle, index finger and thumb from his right hand, as well, as the attitude he had previous to his electrocution. Mr. Dreggors stated " I was a hard headed sucker and short tempered." He is still hard headed according to his current wife, Irene Ward, (who he married in 1996), a DeLand native who attended High School at the same time as Mr. Dreggors. (Mrs. Irene Dreggors' grandmother was the sister of Walt Disney's mother.) At the time his hospital stay cost $7.50 a day, Mr. Dreggors had a total of 18 operations. To this day, every moment of everyday is a joyful experience.
"The greatest thing on earth to me is family and growing up during the Great Depression" stated Mr. Dreggors. Equipped with a sling shot, an absolute sense of freedom, and just a couple rules from his father... "don't kill the red birds (Cardinals) or the Mockingbirds, and eat everything you kill." Bill Dreggors had a good time growing up in Volusia County.
1910 in his front porch in DeLand.
During this interview, October 2, 2002, he voiced concerns for the whole state of Florida. He cautions that we are moving too fast and carelessly. Natural wonders are disappearing, and if the memories of his generation are not preserved they will be all forgotten.
Mr. Dreggors considers FCAT schooling system and its dictates a major flaw in the education of children who no longer know anything about their immediate surroundings or their country. Very few know where Lake Monroe is or even the St. John's River, and even worse most do not know the capitols of every state or even Florida.
The Daughters of the American Revolution awarded Bill Dreggors the National Historian Award, only 2 have ever been given in the State of Florida and since its inception, a total of twenty-one. He is also honored and much loved by everyone in Volusia County, and was pleased and tickled that a park was named in his honor, The Bill Dreggors Park" in DeLand.
Mr. Dreggors has produced 35 videos, and was in the three Blair Witch Project trailers and has 130 slide programs on the history of the area. He impersonates, Frederick DeBary and Henry DeLand, during numerous and varied functions throughout Volusia County and Central Florida.
Bill Dreggors has served as president of the West Volusia Historical Society for 5 terms and is presently Executive Director. Bill Dreggors is a great man.
You Can Order Bill Dreggors' Videos and Books from:
DeLand House Museum
West Volusia Historical Society, Inc.
137 West Michigan Avenue,
DeLand, Florida 32720
Phone: 386-740-6813
FAX: 386-740-6813e-mail:
delandhouse@msn.comVisit the website for more information.
http://www.delandhouse.comVisiting Hours:
Tuesday-Saturday
12:00 Noon to 4:00 P.M.
Closed Sunday and Monday
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VolusiaHistory.com is a partnership between the
Volusia County Historic Preservation Board
and the Volusia County Government
