Pomegranate Roundel
Phipps, Ball & Burnham 1920
7'2" x 29 1/2"
Drucilla Duke Williams May 11, 1827 - December 21, 1907
DESCRIPTION: The white pomegranate contrasted against a vivid background and encircled with shades of blue is fringed with leaves. It has often been mistaken for other symbols. However, the central shape is that of a pomegranate, and it appears to be bursting. The surrounding leaves appear to be palm fronds.
SYMBOLISM: This roundel is possibly a dual symbol. The bursting pomegranate is a symbol of immortality, hope and the Resurrection; the palm leaf is a sign of victory and heavenly rewards.
MEMORIAL: Drucilla Duke Williams was born in Alabama on May 11, 1827. Her parents were Reason and Jane Duke. The family moved to Florida, where they farmed land about three miles up the Miami River. In January 1836, when Drucilla was a small child, the family fled the Cape Florida Lighthouse, which marked the southern tip of the island which is now Key Biscayne, for protection against Indian attack.
In 1843, the same year that her father became the lighthouse keeper at Cape Florida, Drucilla, at age 16, married Franklin D. Phillips, but was soon widowed.
On October 2, 1846, Drucilla, now 19, married Cortland P. Williams, a Coast Pilot in Key West, remembered in the next window, Mitre Roundel (Window #11).
Source: The Golden Cockerel: The Art, Symbolism & History of the Stained Glass Windows, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Key West, Florida by Winifred Shine Fryzel.
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