- Eugene Petteway served as High Springs mayor from 1974 to 1975 and was honored posthumously by the city commission in 2026.
- Petteway was a pharmacist who owned Petteway's Drugs and Gifts and was deeply involved in community and church activities in High Springs.
The High Springs City Commission honored former Mayor-Commissioner Eugene “Gene” Holman Petteway Jr. with a proclamation on Thursday, following Petteway’s death at 82-years-old on Father’s Day, June 21.
The former pharmacist, drug store owner and elected official from 1973 to 1975 is remembered in an obituary as someone who never met a stranger, the best storyteller, sacrificial and loving, all leaving an impactful legacy.
A visitation and memorial service officiated by Petteway’s longtime friend, Rev. Charles Warren, celebrated his life on June 25 at First Baptist Church of High Springs, where Petteway was a member.
Donations to Plantation Oaks Memory Care in High Springs were encouraged in lieu of flowers as Roberts Funeral Home of Dunnellon handled funeral arrangements.
“The City of High Springs mourns the passing of Gene Pettaway, a dedicated public servant and community leader, whose contributions help shape the history of our city,” read Vice Mayor Wayne Bloodsworth Jr. for Thursday’s proclamation. “The City Commission encourages all residents to reflect upon his contributions to our community and to remember him with appreciation and respect.”
Petteway was born at his family’s home in Inverness on May 2, 1944, to Gene Petteway Sr. and Charlotte Petteway.
He grew up in Ocala as an avid athlete and outdoorsman, often spending time with friends at Silver Springs and hunting and fishing in the Ocala National Forest.
Petteway tried every sport available at the Ocala Recreation Center and joined the junior tennis circuit.
In baseball, he played outfield on a team that won a state championship in Babe Ruth Baseball. Petteway continued in the sport at Ocala High School, where he received the Most Outstanding Player Award as a junior and was voted captain his senior season. He later played for Ocala’s semi-professional team.
Petteway also excelled in football as a quarterback for the Wildcats, leading the 1961 season-opening game against Gainesville High School in front of 5,000 fans at Citizens Field.
Petteway’s 61-year marriage to Linda Cooper came after the second graders met at Wyomina Park Elementary School.
The two eventually “went steady” for a time in seventh grade, until Petteway made the mistake of trying to put his arm around Linda at a movie.
The friends eventually started dating again as seniors and graduated from Ocala High School in 1962. Petteway’s classmates voted him “wittiest” and many remained lifelong friends.
The couple married in 1964, graduated from Central Florida Junior College and moved to Gainesville, where Petteway graduated from the University of Florida’s pharmacy school in 1969.
After an internship at Wise’s Drug Store, Petteway moved his family to High Springs, where he became the pharmacist at Berry’s Drug Store.
He and Linda eventually bought the store and opened Petteway’s Drugs and Gifts, a pharmacy, bridal shop and old-fashioned soda fountain, which became a well-known fixture in the community.
Serendipity Vintage Soda & Sweets opened last year in the historic building. After owners Brad and John Millett restored and renovated the space, Linda gifted newspaper clippings and artifacts from the pharmacy and soda fountain history, which are now part of its archives.
“Like a lot of folks who come to High Springs from somewhere else, the Petteway’s entrenched themselves in daily lives, the community and the well-being of High Springs in general,” John said. “[Gene] definitely deserves a tribute.”
Petteway also worked as a pharmacist at Revco, Eckerd, CVS, Winn-Dixie, and Gainesville’s VA Hospital. He took pride in the pharmacy interns and techs he trained and mentored over the years.
In 1973, at 29 years old, High Springs citizens elected Petteway to the City Commission as one of two candidates voted in from a pool of six, which included High Springs Herald editor Bob Sharkey. One year later, Petteway was voted mayor.
“Since I’ve been here, we haven’t had any young people in government,” said Petteway in a Gainesville Sun article from 1973. “I’ve had a number of people ask me to run for city commissioner, and since I just felt the city needed some young people involved, I decided to run.”
Petteway voluntarily stepped down at the end of his term in 1975, citing challenges balancing commission demands with duties of his business.
But he remained actively involved in the community, coaching Little League baseball, serving as a member of the Rotary Club, the Lake Weir Yacht Club, and as president of the Loch Harbor Condo Association at Lake Weir, where he often fished with family and friends.
One of the most important memberships to Petteway was of his church.
He helped launch the Youth Program at First Baptist Church of High Springs and served as the first youth director. Other roles include chairman of the deacons, leading the College and Career Department and teaching Sunday School and new member classes.
Petteway also helped plant Fellowship Baptist Church in High Springs, which the Florida Baptist Convention would eventually recognize as one of its fastest-growing churches.
Gainesville Sun articles from the 1970s and 80s report stories of Petteway’s Christian service, such as supplying fish for a family of missionaries from Taiwan, narrating Christmas and Easter cantatas and using puppets in ministry.
On Thursday, Bloodsworth reflected on going to church with Petteway.
“I’ve been knowing him ever since I was a teenager,” he said. “He was a good man, good Christian man, and upheld himself very well in this community, and did a lot of work for this town and our community. We sadly miss him.”
Commissioner Tristan Grunder thanked Bloodsworth for proposing the proclamation for Petteway, who was Grunder’s next-door neighbor.
“He was one heck of a guiding light in this community for such a long time,” he said. “Anybody who knows Gene at all, the second you hear his name, you start thinking about all the stories he would tell and whatnot. It’s just been an honor to live next to him and I will truly miss my friend.”
Above all else, Petteway’s obituary said the dad and “Poppie” devoted himself to his family. He aimed to be intimately involved in every aspect of his children and grandchildren’s lives, passing down his love for sports and the outdoors and never missing games, programs or activities.
He remained especially close with his sister Carol, brother Lew, and their spouses.
Petteway is survived by his wife Linda Cooper Petteway, their children Kyle Petteway (Melody) and Jill Hager (Merle), grandchildren Faith Hager, Kaitlyn Moore (Jeshua), and Blake Petteway, siblings Carol Roland (Jack) and Lew Petteway (Janis), and numerous other in-laws, nephews and nieces.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his grandson, Jordan Hager.
Condolences can be written for his obituary at robertsofdunnellon.com.