Celebrating a Neighborhood Hero

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By Arleen Hadden

Allendale Neighborhood family and friends honored Nina & Jim Light on May 30th, 2024 at Grace Lutheran Church for their years of dedicated activism, support, and persistent efforts to make Allendale a safe neighborhood to live. Nina and Jim lived in the neighborhood from 1977 to 2024, establishing the Allendale Crime Watch Association in 2007 after sustaining a home invasion. The following poem highlights their many contributions.

The master of ceremonies for the evening was Nick Grasso. Special guest speakers for the event included:

• Former Mayor Bill Foster
• City of Saint Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway
• District 3 City Councilman Ed Montanari
• City of Saint Petersburg Community Services Director Suzy Ajoc
• City of Saint Petersburg Director of Planning and Development Services Elizabeth Abernathy
• President of Allendale Neighborhood Association Jim Stitt

The invocation was provided by long-time neighbor Kathy Markwood with her husband, Dave Markwood, reading the biographies of Nina and Jim. Nanette Grasso and Michael Hadden read the poem “When You Thought We Weren’t Looking”. [Click here to read the poem.] Neighbors and guests signed a memory book highlighting the neighborhood and poem.  And there are lots of photos on our Photo page.

A big thank you goes out to the planning committee consisting of the following people: Cathy Stevens, Nick and Nanette Grasso, Martin Banspach, Alex Thorpe and Phil Lavelle, Arleen and Michael Hadden

We appreciate all the neighbors who signed up to bring food to the event and all those who contributed money to cover expenses. Thanks to Elaine Foster for providing the beautiful centerpieces. In addition, we recognize the board members of the Allendale Neighborhood Association for their support, including financial to make this event happen. There is now a beautiful bench in the Memorial Triangle honoring Nina and Jim Light made possible through the efforts of Nick Grasso and Brad Bohnert.

Nina & Jim worked very hard for many years to establish Allendale as the safest neighborhood to live in Saint Petersburg. This was through vigilance, dedication and their leadership with many people contributing. We can only keep this by knowing our neighbors, diligence, and awareness.