‘We are missing our heart.’ Coral Springs vows to carry on vice mayor’s legacy
In the first Coral Springs City Commission meeting since Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen’s death, members of the public and elected officials shared their memories of the local leader’s immense kindness, intelligence and promise — and their immense grief at her loss.
Residents shared their memories during public comment, including local attorney, pastor and entrepreneur Antoine Dumas, who said Metayer gave his daughter a personal tour of City Hall.
“You let her sit in your seat, hold your gavel, and you looked her in the eyes and told her to dream big. That day changed something in her,” Dumas said.
“And as a father, I’ll never forget what it was like to watch my daughter see someone who looked like her. Beautiful, patient, intelligent, poised, confident, sitting in a position of leadership. You made it real for her, you made it possible.”
Commissioner and mayoral candidate Joshua Simmons, who has been one of the city’s public faces following Metayer’s death, spoke at length about how he and the commission as a whole have been impacted by her loss.
“Our commission, we pride ourselves on being strong and moving a certain way, and that’s because we had all our parts working together, like a body. And we are missing our heart,” he said. “It is unfair, because the world is going to keep spinning. Life is going to continue to go.”
Mayor Scott Brook also spoke at length about Metayer’s legacy.
“It’s hard to really put into words the losses that our community has suffered in 13 days,” he said. “Nothing can eliminate the contributions that Nancy made, and nothing can take away the impact that she’s already had and that she’ll continue to have by others, not just us, performing the work that she was performing and engaged in, in terms of sustainability, advocacy, mentoring, just showing up and being present.”
Members of the governing body also shared their condolences for former Coral Springs Mayor Vincent Boccard and his wife, whose son Nicholas Addis reportedly died following a head-on crash on April 11. He was 25.
“I’m going to do my best to continue to be present with love, compassion. Sometimes you might see me leading with a little ferocity, so I hope you’ll bear that,” Brook said.
Commissioner Shawn Cerra shared Linda Ellis’ “The Dash” — a poem he said helped him grieve his father when he died in 2008 — during his time at the end of the meeting.
The piece contemplates how much life is contained in the dash between a person’s birth and death dates on their gravestone, and urges readers to consider how they are spending the time they have left.
“Nancy had one hell of a dash,” Cerra said. “There’s no words that I can give that can bring her back, but I sure as hell will be working to preserve her memory, honor her through my actions and my life’s work.”
The City Commission, City Attorney J.J. Hearn and City Manager Catherine Givens will discuss how to fill Metayer’s seat during their retreat next week.
For now, her seat sits empty, draped with a black ribbon. Her nameplate has been updated to reflect her maiden name, and an electric candle and bouquet of flowers sit in front of her place on the dais.
