Outstanding business and civic leader; pioneer in pulp and paper production; naval stores and land developer; yachtsman and golfer; Fiesta DeLuna for Quadri-centennial Celebration in 1959

(This information was submitted by Ashley D. Pace, Jr. (Dick).

Ashley D. Pace was born 1896 in Hazlehurst, Georgia. He moved to Pensacola with his father, two brothers and one sister about 1902, following the death of his mother. He attended several schools (Bell Buckle Academy, Stone Mountain Academy, and Riverside Military Academy); he graduated from Wake Forest College in 1918, where he was football captain and quarterback. He entered Naval Aviation flight training at M.I.T. in Boston, but was released for recuperation following a near fatal case of flu.

He married Grace Owen of Pensacola in 1918, and they had two sons, Ashley D., Jr. (�Dick�) and Thomas M. (�Tom�). In 1929 he moved with his family to Savannah, Georgia., to engage in the turpentine and rosin business. While there he learned that the Savannah paper mill of Union Bag and Paper Co. was making paper out of Southern pine by a new process. This gave him the idea of a paper mill in Pensacola, using his father�s cut over and reforested timberlands.

After four years in Savannah, he moved back to Pensacola, where he continued to pursue his dream of a paper mill. Finally, with his brother John and Jim Allen, an experienced paper executive, they founded at Cantonment, Florida the Florida Pulp and Paper Company which commenced production in 1941. This was merged with St. Regis Paper Company in 1946, but the two Pace brothers remained active and were members of its board of directors for many years.

Dick Pace also influenced Monsanto and Escambia Bay Chemical to locate plants in the area; he helped facilitate land acquisition and negotiations with local officials.

He was an avid golfer and yachtsman; a long-time member of the Pensacola Country Club and the Pensacola Yacht Club. He located and arranged for the purchase from the Muldon family of the present site of the Yacht Club. He was given the honor of portraying DeLuna in the Fiesta of Five Flags for Pensacola�s Quadri-centennial in 1959.

Mr. Pace died in 1984; his wife, Grace, preceded him in death. They are buried side by side at St. John�s Historic Cemetery in 5 North, Section 65, Lot 7.