The Wolfe family is well known among those who help curate Orlando’s history. Claude was born in 1934 at Orlando’s “Orange General Hospital” to his father, Claude H. Wolfe and mother, Isabelle Wolfe.
As a young boy, Claude spend many of his days working in the family orange grove, hoeing young trees, irrigating them and working to make sure the grove was pest-free. Back in those days it was all manual labor.
As he got older, Claude worked in the family appliance store business delivering refrigerators, washing machines and TVs. In the 1960s, he switched to real estate which he continues to practice today some 50 years later.
Claude was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, President of Yowell’s Young Presbyters and President of the Orlando Jaycees. He was actively involved as a member of the Orange County Regional History Center and former president of Orlando Remembered.
Claude attended Delaney Elementary, Cherokee Junior High School, Orlando High School and the Riverside Military Academy in 1952. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1956 and was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He served on the ROTC Billy Mitchell Drill Team, Scabbard and Blade Honor Society.
Listen to an oral history with Claude Wolfe here.