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Who is Kika Silva Pla?
Kika was born in Curico, Chile on November 16, 1920 to General Jose Miguel Silva Plazas
and Maria Bertha Chereau de Silva. After Kika graduated from Santiago College, a girls'
prep school in Chile, her family moved to Bogota, Colombia where she eventually became
one of the first stewardesses for Avianca Airlines. She married Ramon Pratts Pla,
whom she always called "Honey", at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on January
15, 1948. After living in Puerto Rico where their first child, Richard, was born,
Kika and Ramon moved to and then expanded their family in Bogota. Kika was a very
active fighter for a woman's right to vote in Colombia, which was finally granted
in 1957. In 1965 Kika, Ramon and their five children moved to McLean, Virginia. While
raising her family and working at the American Bankers Association (ABA) she became
very active in Virginia Democratic politics and in the Hispanic Community of Northern
Virginia.
After her retirement from the ABA and the subsequent death of Ramon (1984), Kika moved to Richmond, Virginia, enrolled at Sgt. Reynolds College, and graduated with a degree in Hospitality Management in 1987. She was one of the oldest graduates of the College at the time. Kika then moved to Hatteras, North Carolina to help her daughter Belinda with her business and especially to help raise her third grandchild, Christina. While in Hatteras she had many friends, was very active with the bird club, and enjoyed gardening, astronomy and exercise classes. Kika lived in Hatteras until 1997 when she decided to move to Gainesville, Florida to be with her sons Richard and John. Two years later her daughter Birdie's family moved to Gainesville as well. In 2005, her family provided a generous donation to Santa Fe College and in 2006 the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium at Santa Fe College was dedicated on her behalf.
Kika's zeal for life was amazing. She worked very hard to achieve many great things and lifted others to do so as well. She had a great personality, her most prevalent trait being her honesty. She inspired her children to work hard, to be politically involved and to try to make a difference in the world. She loved Gainesville especially Kanapaha Gardens, her fish pond, and her family. Kika was an avid naturalist, bird watcher, gardener, and advocate.
Maria Bertha "Kika" Silva Pla, 89, of Gainesville, passed away on Monday, June 28, 2010. She was in the hands of the amazing and caring staff at the E.T. York Haven Hospice Center.
Her family will always carry Mama Kika's motto, always the General's daughter: Adelante, Soldado Valiente! Forward, Valiant Soldier!
Excerpt originally published in The Gainesville Sun from July 4 to July 5, 2010.
Who is James C. Albury?
James Albury spends a lot of time in the dark. Leaning back and surrounded by stars, he juggles
whether to fly to Neptune or Saturn. Neptune it is. Stars rush forward and planets
swing by as Albury moves at speeds NASA can only dream of. This is the life of a planetarium
director, and Albury is the man in charge at SF's Kika Silva Pla Planetarium.
Albury took over the helm at the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium in October 2009 and spent the first few weeks testing it out to see what his new baby can do. His first creation, "Meteors!," opened Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 and not only supplied an explanation and history of meteor showers, past and present, but also came with its own 5,000-year-old, 75-pound meteorite. Listening to Albury during the show, you could hear the enthusiasm in his voice. This is a man in his element.
"I get to do something I have been passionate about since I was a child," says Albury.
Indeed, he has been making a living under these celestial recreations since he was barely into his teens. He was born in Denver, CO but grew up in Miami, FL where he started volunteering at the Miami Museum of Science's planetarium at age 14. He began by helping with seating, but by age 15 he was behind the console and on the payroll. While he quickly learned the mechanics, he could not take on narration duties until his voice changed. Albury stayed with the Miami Museum until age 22.
At 21, he arrived in Gainesville for his first tour of duty as a recruit in the UF Astronomy program. He knocked off his bachelor's degree and one year of master's work before re-entering the work force as part of UF's Office of Academic Technology. Thirteen years later, Albury left UF for a management position at Lifestyle Family Fitness in Jacksonville. The change let him reduce his cross state commute --he lived in the Green Cove Springs area at the time-- and spend more time with his wife, Kandra, two daughters, Drea, Mira, and son, Bryce.
As if having a family and racing across solar systems were not enough, Albury also helps his wife in her crusade to prevent sexual abuse, bullying and illegal drug use, in children. Albury becomes a superhero when he dresses as Spider-Man when Kandra reads her book "Don't You Dare Touch Me There!" to children around the country. So far she's read her book to over 5000 adults and children.
From October 2011 through November 2019, Albury co-hosted the nationally syndicated PBS television series "Star Gazers". It's the first and only weekly television program on naked-eye astronomy. Albury now introduces and explains upcoming astronomical events on his website TheSkyAboveUs.org.
Albury plans to channel some of that boundless energy into expanding public awareness of the planetarium. Within the next year he would like to double attendance. One thing that surprised him when he arrived on campus was how few students knew about what was going on at the planetarium, or had recently seen a show. He would like to add four to five new shows to the current lineup this year, and every year if the budget permits.