A volunteer whose connection to the Indian Temple Mound Museum stretches back to his teenage years in the mid-1970s has been named the Florida Recreation and Park Association’s 2026 Individual Volunteer Service Award recipient.

• The City of Fort Walton Beach announced the honor for John Jansen, who has spent 50 years volunteering at what is now the Heritage Park and Cultural Center. The FRPA presents the award annually to individuals whose volunteer service has improved the quality and quantity of leisure opportunities in parks, recreation and leisure service programs across the state of Florida.

“We’re very proud of John,” said Museum Manager Gail Meyer. “To be selected as the FRPA’s volunteer of the year for the entire state of Florida is quite an honor.”

Jansen’s ties to the Indian Temple Mound began when he was a student at Bruner Junior High School. He developed a keen interest in Native American pottery after finding pottery pieces on his father’s property in Walton County.

“I figured out really quick that I wasn’t going to find the whole pot,” Jansen said of his early excavations. “So that’s how I started making my own pottery.”

Learning from display pieces and books at the Temple Mound Museum, Jansen taught himself to create pottery in the manner used by the Native American cultures that lived in the area for thousands of years. He dug his own clay from Gap Creek, used traditional hand-thrown construction and decoration techniques, and learned to fire pottery in an open pit.

• “I made pottery just like they did,” Jansen said.

By the time he was in high school, he was selling beadwork and pottery items in his father’s jewelry store and had craft items for sale in the Indian Temple Mound Museum store. It was the beginning of a lifelong fascination with local history and a five-decade affiliation with the museum.

Over the years, Jansen has volunteered to give talks at the museum and has served as a demonstrator, host and guide. He has landscaped the grounds and helped staff restore the facility following hurricanes.

His involvement extends beyond the museum walls. Jansen serves on the boards of the Musical Echoes Native American Flute Festival and the Thunderbird Intertribal Powwow Committee, and he remains involved with the Museum Friends organization.

Jansen has reconstructed historic museum artifacts and built period-correct items like clothing and beadwork worn by mannequins in the museum’s displays. He was also instrumental in helping to rebuild the museum exhibit space during the recent expansion project, constructing all the new displays and cabinets.

“When they have shows, I’m the guy who moves the chairs and tables,” Jansen said. “I’m always there to do something. I have no idea what they’ll give me in the future, but if I can do it, I’ll do it.”

Jansen will be presented with the award at the Florida Recreation and Park Association’s annual conference in Orlando on Sept. 2.