She started a business, steered it to success beyond any but her own expectations and became the first woman to take a company public on the New York Stock Exchange.

She's won dozens of awards, most notably, the National Horatio Alger Award in 1998.

And now Kesler, 58, is frequently asked to be keynote speaker at community events. She will be this year's speaker June 11 at the EVE Awards - the Times-Union's recognition of women's accomplishments in education, volunteer service and employment. This will be a return of sorts. Kesler won an EVE for employment in 1988.

Yet friends and business associates insist the only difference between the keynote speaker of today and the farm girl in Dinsmore is her success.

''There's nothing false about her at all,'' said architect Jack Diamond, who thinks of her as the sister he never had. ''She just happens to have money now.''

Insurance executive and Jaguars owner Tom Petway, who enjoys a more personal than business friendship with Kesler, feels the same.

''I can't remember when I didn't know Delores,'' he said, adding that he's seen very little change in her over the years. ''She's always been a great executive. I remember when she first started out; she has the same traits today. She's a real jewel for this community.''

Such opinions are not surprising. When asked how she would want to be remembered, she said: ''As someone who really made a difference in the areas I touched during my life, and that I really never forgot where I came from,'' she said. ''I do not feel different. I'm still the same person who picked up eggs on the chicken farm in Dinsmore, and my worth as a person is still the same.''

Kesler credits that farm and her parents for giving her the experiences and motivation to exercise her talents.

''When you grow up on a farm, it's the best. You understand supply and demand; you're close to nature. I had a very stable family. My parents stayed married; we stayed in the same location. That contributed to a sense of self-confidence. School always came easily to me, but my parents expected a lot of me, straight A's every year, and fortunately I delivered. They set standards for me.''

As her mother always said, ''To whom much is given, much is expected.''

In the '50s and '60s, women were expected to marry and become mothers, which is what Kesler did. Then divorce and a job made her a working mother and single parent.

Adversity brought opportunity. She was working for someone else when it occurred to her that she was running the business but doing it his way. She would do it differently, possibly better, her way.

''Without adversity we would not make changes,'' said Kesler. ''Males or females, everyone possessed by the entrepreneurial spirit has had adversity in their lives, something they've had to confront.''

She had the spirit.

''The desire to be in business for myself was always there. My father worked for Southern Bell, but he always had a small business on the side. He didn't always make money, so I knew the downside. I had a latent desire.''

She also realized she had a choice to stay where she was or make a change. She did her homework and found a field with potential - temporary medical staffing. She wrote a plan, went to the banks for a $50,000 loan and discovered they didn't share her faith.

''Ten said no. Finally Barnett in Orange Park lent me $10,000. The manager had known me in high school.''

That was 1978. By 1994, Associated Temporary Staffing had become the highly successful AccuStaff, a multi-million dollar corporation. She decided to go public and once again, many businessmen didn't think she could do it. After all, no other female chief executive officer had ever approached the rulers of Wall Street's coveted ''big board.''

''Then I was a real novelty,'' said Kesler, making light of the difficulties she faced. ''We had to do a lot of educating.''

That attitude is one of her immutable traits.

''She's one of these people who sees the glass half full,'' Petway said. ''She's enthusiastic, always optimistic, a pleasure to work with.''

Mayoral adviser Pam Paul, also an EVE winner, became a friend 15 years ago when she and Kesler were both volunteers at the Chamber.

''She's one of those can-do people who's overcome a lot of things with a can-do attitude,'' said Paul. ''There are people who come along who rise to the top and to the occasion. A lot of hard work went into this success story. I think that's one of the most attractive things about her. When you analyze what makes someone successful, there's a little bit of luck but a lot of hard work.''

Part of that work for a woman in business is being accepted by men in business. Diamond said when he was chairman of the Chamber, he put Kesler in charge of business development, the first such appointment for a female. A skeptical fellow exec came to him and asked, ''Do you think a lady could do that?''

His answer boiled down to ''Get the hell out of her road and let her do her job. Just watch us,'' said Diamond. ''She was one of my most trusted advisers.''

That can-do attitude, coupled with hard work, has made her a full-fledged member of what was once the male-only world of corporate insiders. She's a member of the so-called non-group. This is a regular but informal and unstructured gathering of local CEOs of influence and power - including such notables as Wayne Weaver, Tom Petway and Pete Carpenter. They eat lunch at the River Club and share information, opinions and anecdotes.

''Ten years ago it would not have happened,'' Kesler said. ''I found being male or female doesn't make a difference once you've proved your credibility. You have to earn your position at the table. Prejudice is so much less so now than it was 10 years ago. I don't find any discrimination, once you've earned your place. I do consider myself one of the guys.''

Kesler's company now belongs to its stockholders. She has left the management and board and even the name has been changed by its new leaders, from AccuStaff to Modis.

''It's healthier to do your part and move on,'' she said. ''Building is the most fun, running a company is the hard part.''

So she moved on. Kesler is in a happy second marriage to retired judge Morton Kesler. She runs the Kesler Foundation and Adium, Inc., a venture capital company that seeks out and provides financing for promising entrepreneurs. She sits on several boards, including those of three public companies, and watches her son and daughter run their own company.

She spends three or four months a year at her new home in North Carolina, travels whenever and wherever she can, enjoys friends and reads voraciously.

''I'm a workaholic, with way too much energy,'' she said. ''I'm completing that circle - giving back. I'm doing something I really enjoy and feel strongly about. The venture capital company is profitable, but it's also giving back, especially to someone having trouble getting money. It's my version of retirement.''

And it's fine with her.

''I'm doing exactly what I want to do; I'm exactly where I want to be. I can call anyone in the city, and they return my phone calls. What could I ever ask for?''

HEAD:EVE AWARDS

SUBHEAD:You can hear what Delores Kesler has to say about women in the new millennium at the EVE Awards luncheon. The awards were developed 30 years ago by The Florida Times-Union to recognize women's accomplishments in the fields of education, volunteer service and employment.

The event begins at noon June 11 at the Radisson Riverwalk Hotel. Tickets are $25 and can be reserved by calling the public affairs department at the Times-Union, (904) 359-4304, by June 3.

- Judy Wells/staff