As a Mizell family descendant who married and had children with a Barber, author Mary Ida Bass Barber Shearhart has a personal interest in the infamous Barber-Mizell Family Feud. 

A fifth generation Floridian, Mrs. Shearhart was born the daughter of Clint and Coralie Bass in their family home on Boggy Creek in Kissimmee, Florida. After graduating from Osceola High School (1943), she was active in the Civil Service during WWII, later employed by Dyer Air Force Base, then Tupperware, and Broadway Pharmacy.  Mary Ida, “Idie”, was a charter member of Beta Sigma Phi Sorority, an early member of the Silver Spurs Rodeo, rode in the Quadrille, and helped drive cattle in Osceola County’s early years with her father, Clint Bass.

She received her RN degree in Fort Worth, Texas, at the age of 43, graduating at the top of her class, then practiced nursing in both Texas and North Carolina.  Returning to Florida, she became a member of the Florida Historical Society and received numerous Florida Pioneer Certificates; her favorite validated that her grandfather was born in Duvall County prior to Florida becoming a state.  As an author, she received the Patrick D. Smith Award for her book, Florida’s Frontier, The Way Hit Wuz.

Mary Ida Bass Barber Shearhart, 92, of Kissimmee, Florida passed away on February 1, 2017.