The Bradshaws

Eagle News is introducing a series of articles about President Wilson G. Bradshaw and his wife, Jo Anna Bradshaw. The goal is to give students insight into the lives of two leading members of the FGCU community.

President Wilson Bradshaw and his wife, Jo Anna, met while they waited for a commuter train from Miami to Boca Raton on their way to and from work.

"(It was) a couple hours a day if the train was late," Jo Anna said.

At first, the two paid little attention to each other. Wilson was then dean of graduate studies at Florida Atlantic University. Jo Anna had worked her way up the career ladder and was a bank executive. They blended among the other travelers who waited for the train in the early mornings and late evenings.

The anonymity between them ended when they separately befriended another commuter named Al. He had a neurological disorder because of his exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Al introduced Jo Anna and Bradshaw to one another.

"We all had … a little clique," Jo Anna said. "If the train was late … sometimes we would be there until 6:30 p.m. and ... we all would sit and talk about our day and the world."

The group, including Wilson and Jo Anna, would see each other during the workweek but went their separate ways on the weekends. When their schedules overlapped they would talk on their way to and from work. They started to form bonds through their conversations.

"For the next two years we kinda … just hung out on the train," Jo Anna said. Wilson's sense of humor endeared her.

"He always thought he was witty, but I always thought he was corny," she said. All their friends declared Wilson and Jo Anna were already in a relationship but they claimed they were "just good friends."

"We were in denial," Wilson said.

It wasn't until their friends tricked them into a first date that they realized there was more than just a friendship between them. Their friends decided to plan a dinner - but Jo Anna and Wilson were the only ones that showed up.

After dinner, they shared a car ride. "At that point, I was riding the train and I didn't have a car, so he had to take me home," Jo Anna said.

By time he dropped her off, their relationship had changed.

Their first date may have been a sneaky set-up, but the Bradshaws aren't mad at their matchmakers. Instead, they are grateful the plot worked so well.

"It was great," Wilson said.

"We've been together ever since," Jo Anna said.

They married in 1992 and they lived in college towns before Wilson became the president of FGCU. The move to Southwest Florida was a chance for them to return to their roots. Both Wilson and Jo Anna grew up in Florida.

"Coming here was like coming full circle," she said.

They admit their communication isn't perfect, but they put a lot of value in being able to speak their minds with each other.

"You can never have too good of a communication. You get to communicate in different ways at different stages of a relationship, but it's always important," he said.

Jo Anna said she admires his honesty and fairness. She describes him as a clear thinker with a "good heart" and "no hidden agendas."

"What you see is what you get," she said. Though Jo Anna thinks sometimes Wilson 's tendency to trust others gets him into trouble, he shrugged.

"I just genuinely believe that most people are good and have good motivations and I'm not always right," he said.

Her accuracy in discerning others and her practical sense make her invaluable to Wilson.

"Heck, I'm challenged from time to time by Jo Anna with 'Are you sure this is the right thing to do?' and then I think about it, it probably isn't," he said. "She has a keen sense with reading people."

Jo Anna teased her husband for his difficulty with day-to-day things.

"He's got the book sense, I've got the common sense," she said.

Read PART I: Beginnings