Englewood Shell Club March 2024 Speaker Homer Rhode III
Growing up in Coral Gables located in South Florida, Homer Rhode spent a lot of time in the Everglades with his father, who was the first game warden in the park. As a boy, Homer would catch snakes for a local biologist and get paid .35¢ a foot for his efforts. With Biscayne Bay and the Everglades as his backyard, Homer became a true gladesmen at a young age. His father would keep racoons, possums, and armadillos in their yard. In the garage were terrariums loaded with live snakes; and in the house, snake skins adorned the walls. Homer’s lifelong fascination with nature moved its focus over the years to shells but especially land snails in particular. Homer is fascinated with the land snails' variety of colors, shapes and sizes. A snail that Homer found in the Dominican Republic was named for him. He is considered a worldwide expert on land snails by his peers. Before moving to Englewood, Homer lived in the Keys for many years where he was an Environmental Administrator for the Everglades and the Keys. Homer and his late wife Ann have traveled to seven continents over the years where they snorkeled and scuba dived for seashells. Homer has criss-crossed the U.S. judging Shell Shows and recently judged the scientific division of the 2024 Sarasota Shell Show. In the past, he has also taught seminars on collecting, cleaning, and maintaining a shell collection. Homer was awarded the highest honor from the Conchologist of America organization where he received the 2016 Neptunia Award for service to the conchology and malacology community. Homer has been a member of the Englewood Shell Club since 2000. If you are fortunate enough to talk with Homer, you’ll soon find out that he is a quiet observer to the world around him and has a deep well of information and stories to tell.
Homer shares on his favorite shells from 7 continents. Thank you to Seashell Photographer Meredith Blain (IG @sunshineSheller) for the use of her stunning photography.