MALCOLM N. YANCEY
Source: Florida Historic Dramatic Contemporary, page 321
MALCOLM N. YANCEY-Tallahassee, hub of the political and legal life of the
state of Florida, is governed under what is considered in most parts of the
world as the most progressive form of municipal administration, the city
manager plan, a system which originated in the American South. And the City
Manager of that capital city is Malcolm N. Yancey, born in the very state
where the city manager plan got its start, the Old Dominion. Like many another
city manager in the United States, Mr. Yancey is an engineer. Before he
accepted the municipal office he served the State Road Department of Florida
in numerous capacities, most of them executive, for twenty years. He is a
military veteran of World War I and is well known in veterans' organizations.
Mr. Yancey's birth occurred at Port Republic, Virginia, on August 29, 1896. He
is the son of Dr. Stuart Mauzy Yancey, a physician and surgeon, and Bessie
Lincoln (Nicholas) Yancey. In 1915, Mr. Yancey was graduated from the Plant
City (Florida) High School. He then went to the University of Florida, at
Gainesville, where in 1920 he took the degree of Bachelor of Science in Civil
Engineering. Only seven years later the university conferred upon him the full
degree of Civil Engineer. In 1915, Mr. Yancey went to work, in an engineering
capacity, for the State Road Department. He rose, successively from inspector
to project engineer, to assistant division engineer and finally to division
engineer. He resigned the last named post in 1939 and on the first of the
following year took office as City Manager of Tallahassee. He has since given
that community an exceptional administration and taken it far forward on its
path of public welfare and prosperity.
Mr. Yancey was in the United States Infantry in World War I and attended the
Officers Training Camp at Plattsburg, New York. In September, 1918, he was
assigned as an instructor to Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, and remained there until the end of the war. He is active in the
American Legion and its La Societe des 40 Hommes et 8 Chevaux. Also, he is a
member of the Tallahassee Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and
the Lions Club of Tallahassee. He worships in the Presbyterian Church.
At Whitmell, Virginia, on May 22, 1922, Mr. Yancey married Anne Mae Mitchell,
the daughter of James C. and Emma Mitchell. Ten children were born to the
marriage: Mary Stuart Yancey, Frances Luciel Yancey, Malcolm N. Yancey, Jr.,
James M. Yancey, Joyce Yancey, Caroline Elizabeth Yancey, Jane Yancey, Albert
Winsborrow Yancey, William Layton Yancey and Susan Yancey. Mr. Yancey's office
is in the Tallahassee City Hall.
The Towle, Whitaker, Blake, Yancey home at 517 North Calhoun Street - Tallahassee, Florida
Built for attorney and State Comptroller Simon Towle in
1847.Later sold to Richard Whitaker in 1854.
Sold to Miss Sallie Blake in 1906 and then to City Manager Malcolm Yancey
in 1942.
In 1968 it was sold to Lucille Givhan and finally to the the Democrat Executive
Committee of Florida in 1976.
Left rear is City Manager Malcolm Yancey. Rainey Cawthon is in the wheelbarrow being pushed by "Red" Coleman. Chief of Police John Montgomery is at the right front. This was the result from a wager between Cawthon and Coleman (of Coleman Faulk Construction Company) in which the loser was to give the winner a ride down Monroe Street if the paving around Doak Campbell Stadium was not completed for the opening game of the season. Red lost by 2 days and used a decrepit wheelbarrow with a wheel that was flat on one side. Chief Montgomery is giving Cawthon a traffic ticket for using a non-registered vehicle.
Additional Info concerning Malcolm's son Albert "Bert" W. Yancey - Golfer.