Thank you, Josie Fernandez, for sharing your vision
We live in a hurry-up world now and have forgotten how to “chillout” and remove the noise around us, but in Hot Springs, we are blessed to have access to mountains, rivers and lakes. We are also fortunate to have access, without the usual cost at a gate, to one of the first national parks in the United States. Years ago, most doctors’ offices were downtown and they encouraged patients to utilize the health benefits of taking the thermal baths and even wrote prescriptions for a
“course” of baths.
Hot Springs National Park, all 5,550 acres of it, is within minutes from any direction to explore and enjoy at our leisure. This national park was established as a reservation protected by the federal government on April 20, 1832, even before the National Park Service itself was created, and it became a national park on March 4, 1921. Our national park has had many changes over the decades, since beginning with old shanties built over the creek with hot water flowing alongside what is now Central Avenue. Our present-day Hot Springs National Park exists as a product of a dedicated staff, professional park rangers and devoted volunteers, that make sure everything is taken care of in our park to give the tourists a memorable experience.
In 2004, Superintendent Josie Fernandez came here with a goal of seeing the American flag flying over all the buildings to indicate the building is occupied. Today, in 2018, there is only one building that still needs a flag, the Maurice Bath House, and it is available for lease. The Hale Bath House, located between the Maurice and the Superior bath houses, is currently under contract to become a boutique hotel and restaurant.
Having previously worked with the Friends of the Fordyce nonprofit board (now the Friends of Hot Springs National Park), I had the honor of getting to know Josie during her work here. She recently announced her retirement not only from HSNP, but also from the National Park Service after a 25-year career of service. She has a deep appreciation and respect for America after coming here as a political refugee from Cuba with her family, as a young girl, in 1969. We learned to have a mutual respect for each other’s love of HSNP, even when we did not always agree; there was always respect and appreciation of her attention to detail and proper planning on all levels for what was best for our park.
Josie’s career began with the U.S. Air Force after becoming a U.S. citizen on July 4, 1976, and she remained on active duty until 1982. In
1984, she re-enlisted in the Air Force Reserve and remained dedicated to the military until recently retiring in 2016 with the rank of colonel. She joined the National Park Service in May 1993, and has worked at several locations before coming to Hot Springs in 2004. She had a challenge from her first day in Hot Springs because many people were not accustomed to working with someone who was by-the-book military. In the end, everyone should agree about the amazing work accomplished during her tenure.
At Hot Springs National Park, Fernandez has led in the stabilization and restoration of the six historic buildings on Bathhouse Row, a National Historic Landmark District with the grandest collection of bath houses of its kind in America. Concurrent to her efforts to preserve the historic bathhouses, she has been instrumental in negotiating long-term leases of the buildings with private sector partners. Her efforts have resulted in the reopening of four of the six historic buildings that were vacant when she arrived. The success that HSNP had working with “park partners” to lease the bath houses, has come to the attention of other national parks to examine their historic buildings to see if the same model would help them improve and maintain their historic property.
Close examination of Josie Fernandez’s bio reveals that she is a lifetime member of the Reserve Officers Association and the Air Force Association, and served as president of the local AFA Chapter. She is a charter member of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation and a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow. Fernandez was a United Way of Garland County board member and a past member of the Ouachita Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. In May 1999, the New York state Senate named her a “1999 Woman of Distinction” and in
2007, the Arkansas Business and Professional Women presented her with the “Women Mean Business” state award in a nontraditional profession and in March 2008, the Arkansas Society of the Daughters of American Revolution awarded her with the DAR Patriotism Medal during its 100th state convention. In 2016, the NPS Traffic Safety Coalition named her Superintendent of the Year.
In the last 14 years that Josie Fernandez has been superintendent of Hot Springs National Park, there have been many conversations exploring the good, bad or different ways that things have been handled. We all have to admit that like the professional soldier she trained to be, she remained steady and focused on her call-of-duty, and the one undeniable truth that will go down in the history of HSNP and Hot Springs is that Superintendent Josie Fernandez is leaving the park in a much better condition than when she started.
Thank you, Josie, from my family to yours, for your vision, dedication and passion as superintendent of HSNP, and thank you for your service in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserve. We are glad to hear that Josie and her husband, Charles, will remain in Hot Springs and they will be able to enjoy the fruits of her labor.