Hernando Sun Profiles Local Women Who Shaped County History, Culture

When the Florida Audubon Society was hemorrhaging members in the 1950s and teetering on collapse, it was a Brooksville groundskeeper who stepped in and paid to keep it alive. Lisa von Borowsky, a German immigrant who arrived in Hernando County in 1924, had come to Chinsegut Hill to work as a housekeeper for Margaret Dreier Robins. Her employer quickly noticed something more than domestic skill and moved her to groundskeeping, where von Borowsky built a decades-long career in conservation. She co-founded the Hernando Audubon Society in 1929 and later the Chinsegut Conservation Center, and when the statewide Florida Audubon Society faced financial ruin, she reached into her own pocket to hire an experienced executive director and stabilize the organization. She lived to 97, dying in 2001, but the conservation infrastructure she funded still shapes Hernando County's environmental landscape.

Von Borowsky is one of five women profiled in the third installment of the Hernando Sun's "Notable Hernando County Women" series, published April 2 as the final piece in the paper's Women's History Month coverage. The others are Margaret Rogers Ghiotto (1916-2006), Virginia Michael Jackson (1930-2014), Hazel Mae Land (1932-2026), and Mable Lee Holloway Huggins (1946-2023).

Hazel Mae Land's impact was measured in courtrooms, not acres. As one of the county's few female attorneys in the post-desegregation era, Land took on school busing disputes, landlord-tenant conflicts, and civil rights cases, often on a pro bono basis, steering Hernando County through some of its most fractious legal terrain. She died earlier this year at 93.

Mable Lee Holloway Huggins built her legacy inside school buildings. After years working with Head Start, Huggins launched "History on Wheels," bringing cultural and historical presentations to elementary, middle, and high schools across the county. She also portrayed Aunt Lizzie Washington at Chinsegut Hill for years, connecting students directly to one of Hernando's most storied properties.

Margaret Rogers Ghiotto taught at Hernando High School after graduating from Florida State University and later, with her sister Mary Belle, kept the family's Rogers' Department Store running after their father's death. She carved out a corner of that store for a holiday display that grew into Rogers' Christmas House, a Brooksville institution that ran for more than 30 years. She sat on the boards of Lykes Memorial Hospital and First National Bank, and in 2003 the city named her Great Brooksvillian of the Year.

The Hernando Sun has invited readers to submit nominations for future profiles of notable women in Hernando County. Nominations can be submitted through the paper's website at hernandosun.com.