Sunny was born in Monroe, Louisiana on July 4, 1924, served in the United States Marine Corps as a 1st Lieutenant where she retired in 1953, and graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Studies in 1955. She married John Waldron Varick while attending school in Gainesville and they had three sons. Sunny stayed at home to raise the boys, then worked for the State of Florida as a Grant Specialist for the Department of Legal Affairs for ten years.
Especially fond of genealogy, Sunny was a columnist for the Cairo Messenger on the running article “Genealogy Anyone?". Sunny authored books on Florida and Georgia area cemetery inhabitants for distribution to other family history buffs of which several are in the Library of Congress. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). Sunny was also a founding member of the Tallahassee Ronald McDonald House which opened in 1989.
Sunny is survived by sons Michael J. (partner Jacque St. John) of Oviedo, Florida and Benjamin Q. (wife Suzanne B.) of Tallahassee, Florida; younger brother Herbert E. Duke of San Angelo, Texas; grandson Jonathon C. Varick (husband Hunter D.) of Melbourne, Florida; and granddaughter Devyn L. Varick of Oviedo, Florida. She was preceded in death by her husband of 51 years John (Jack) and son Jeremy Herbert.
Friends and family are invited to a visitation Friday, November 30, 2018, from 9:00AM to 11:00AM at Culley’s MeadowWood Funeral Home at 700 Timberlane Rd, Tallahassee, Florida 32312. A military graveside interment is scheduled for 12PM after the service at Tallahassee National Cemetery at 5015 Apalachee Parkway, Tallahassee, Florida 32311. All attendees are invited.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to the Ronald McDonald House Corporation (RMHC) of Tallahassee, Inc., 712 East 7th Avenue, Tallahassee, Florida 32303. rmhctallahassee.org
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