Meet Your Neighbor: Abbe Justus Flynn

Heather Ainsley
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Monticello is a small city, and while we may not have a lot of people, we certainly have some of the best people! While individual members of our community make up our town as a collective, each citizen shines brightly with unique and vibrant light that is all their own, adding to their neighborhoods and enriching the lives of those around them. One of the wonderful neighbors that makes up our community is Abbe Justus Flynn.
Flynn grew up in a small town in Ohio that is similar to Monticello in many ways. After high school, she attended Kent State University and pursued degrees in writing and criminal justice, intent on becoming a law enforcement officer. She completed her certification twice, once in Ohio, and once more when she moved to Florida for graduate school. In a comical twist of coincidence, Flynn lived up to her middle name, earning her Master of Science degree from Florida State University (FSU) in Criminology. She taught at FSU and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) before going to work for the state, all the while working on her Ph.D in Criminology, but ended up not completing her dissertation, and eventually switching fields altogether.
“What drew me to studying crime is that it is the study of the exercise of power,” Flynn stated, “This was especially interesting to me since, as the youngest (and female), I never felt like I had any power... I worked on my Ph.D., but after my committee fell apart for the second time I decided that the professor life was not for me.” Flynn regrouped, deciding to use her skills to instead help people through realty.
In 2013, Flynn became a Realtor, and the switch surprised even her. “I am an introvert by nature, and am much more comfortable behind a keyboard,” she admitted, “ I never pictured myself in sales!
The image I had of salespeople was that they were pushy and forced others into making decisions.” Flynn strives to break that stereotype, saying that she not only likes people, but loves helping them, and has never had any interest in telling anyone what to do (unless you were a younger cousin of hers). “It turns out,” she said, “that providing options and listening to people is perfect for helping others make one of the biggest investments of their lives. I love being a Realtor. It is the perfect combination of investigation, negotiation and teaching.”
Her pursuit of a writing degree also paid off, with the recent publication of her first book, titled, “How to buy a Home: Tips to Save You Time, Money and Avoid Heartache When Buying Your Tallahassee Home,” which she has available through Amazon. It has always been a dream of hers to write a book, but Flynn struggled for many years with finding commitment to a deadline while working for herself.
“When it came to writing that book I always wanted to write, something else always was more important,” she said, “I work for myself, and it is really hard to impose a deadline for such a thing because it really didn't matter to anyone but me if I missed yet another arbitrary deadline.” Flynn conquered her goals this year, however, when she set two strict deadlines, one for a final draft and one for publication, and treated them like real deadlines. “For all of you that still have that desire to write hanging over your head, get to it! Don't wait. We never know how much time we will be given on this dirt,” she recommends, admitting that the topic of her first publication wasn't exactly what she had originally had in mind. “If you had told me when I graduated with my writing degree that my first book would not come until I was in my 50s and that it would be about buying a home, I'm not sure whether I would have laughed or cried.”
When she isn't working or writing, Flynn is likely to be reading a great number of books in a variety of genres. While she and her husband Daniel have known one another since kindergarten, they didn't get married right away, as he went off to become an Army Ranger and she traveled for college. Life continued on, and the two of them each married others, and moved apart, but always remained friends. Fast forward to today, and they are happily remarried and have three sons and a daughter who are now all grown and have left home. Their nest is far from empty though, with the beginnings of a small farm on their property off of Boston Highway. Currently in addition to their dogs and cats, they have a variety of chickens and guinea fowl, and plan to add goats and cows into the mix. Flynn has become quite the collector of different colored egg-layers, and really enjoys spending time with her flock. “We have some really beautiful birds and egg colors,” she says, “The chickens make me laugh, and I enjoy hanging out and watching them so much. We often have more eggs than we can eat ourselves, so we give eggs away to anyone who asks.”
Her favorite part of living in Monticello is the people, who, she admits, can also sometimes be the downside to living in a small town. “As much as I might wish for everyone to judge others by the content of their character rather than their political party or skin color, we (like the rest of the U.S.) have a long way to go.” Flynn states, continuing to say that, for the most part though, members of the community moved to or stayed in such a rural place to enjoy the freedom, space and privacy you just can’t seem to find in large cities. For her and her husband, the trade off of a lengthy “trip to town” was well worth it to be able to live where they could surround themselves with animals and plants.
Her favorite thing to do in town is to walk around the Old City Cemetery. While it may seem unusual to some, visiting cemeteries is a pastime that both she and her husband enjoy wherever they travel. “I love the history of it and wondering about people's lives,” Flynn says, “It fascinates me to read the messages people leave behind in the form of words on their stone, or even the shape of their stone or grave marker.” She also enjoys some of Monticello's best restaurants and shops, and she loves the revitalization that is slowly happening in the heart of our great town.
Whether she is reading, writing, selling houses or spending time with her chickens, Abbe Justus Flynn is glad to be among her neighbors in Monticello.