Dolores Luverne Duff

Dolores L. Duff, age 89, died peacefully in her sleep Monday, 1 July 2024, at 12 Noon, accompanied by her son, Vincent Duff, in the home she and her husband of 64 years, Sidney S. Duff, built together in 1961 at 3609 York Road, in Mobile, AL 36605-4354.

After having spent 43 days in Springhill Memorial Hospital and Ashland Place Health and Rehabilitation after breaking her right hip two times in a row, then after spending 38 days with Gentiva Hospice at her home, she passed away peacefully from advanced dementia of natural causes. Her beloved Parish Priest, who has been delivering the Eucharist to her since he has been homebound for the past couple of years, Father Prabhu Arockiasamy HGN, of our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, administered the Anointing of the Sick Sacrament to her on 12 April 2024, before her first right hip surgery on 13 April 2024 when she was in the ICU at Springhill Memorial Hospital.

It was Dolores's last wish that instead of a conventional Catholic Funeral Mass and Wake, she be cremated by Radney Funeral Home and that her cremains be buried at the prearranged Conway Family Cemetery (located at Dolores's Homestead Property) in Atmore, Alabama, where her daughter, Dody Duff, was buried in 1987 after her death. Like with the death of Dody, Dolores will be buried alongside her husband Sidney, and they will have a private family funeral service at a later undetermined time to bury her cremains in the Conway Family Cemetery at some time this summer. Father Prabhu Arockiasamy will preside.

Her son, Vincent, asks everyone to pray a Hail Mary for Dolores or try to make one of the memorial masses Father Prabhu is dedicating to her memory, which is identified below. Father Prabhu Arockiasamy is having Memorial Masses said for Dolores at Our Lady of Lourdes Church at 1621 Boykin Blvd, Mobile, AL 36605, at the following dates and times:

8/9/24 @ 8:00 am

8/10/24 @ 4:00 pm

8/11/24 @ 8:30 am

8/ 11/24 @11:00 am

8/13/24 @ 8:00 am

8/14/ 24 @ 8:00am

8/15/24 @ 8:00 am

8/16/24 @ 8:00 am

8/17/24 @ 4:00 pm

8/18/24 @ 11:00 am

To respect the family's wishes, Vincent asks that you refrain from making any visits, phone calls, or text messages at home during this sad time. Instead of flowers, you may give a gift to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 1621 Boykin Blvd. Mobile, AL 36605-4238 marked Dolores L. Duff Memorial Gift. You may email Vincent anytime at [email protected] or pay your respects at Radney Funeral Home at dignitymemorial.com

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Her son Vincent S. Duff wrote the following information to note important milestones in Dolores Duff’s life.

I want to say a few words about my beloved mother, Dolores Luverne Shanks Duff. First, my Mom hated her middle name, Luverne, which her Daddy, Mid Shanks, gave her. She was saddled with the name Luverne in her native Atmore, AL, where she grew up. in the forties and fifties, Mom was always known as Luverne. In the late fifties, her best friend and cousin Paula Helton changed her name from Dolores Luverne to Dee Dee. The name stuck. My Mom was voted the most popular girl at ECHS, Escambia County High School, in 1953 and was known as Dee Dee. Mother was beautiful and accomplished as and studied home economics and business courses at ECHS. She had good teachers who prepared her well for a life of domestic order and raising children after marriage. In 1958, she worked at the Vanity Fair Clothing Mill in Atmore, AL, where her mother, Pearlie, was a seamstress. Mom worked in the office with the Engineers and payroll people. As she became an accomplished bookkeeper who knew stenography, typing, and bookkeeping, she taught me skills that I still use to manage my finances and in my business career with the U.S. Government and the Knights of Columbus Council 8740. She told me you can never procrastinate with or put off bookkeeping, and she was right.

In 1959, Mom moved from Atmore to Mobile, where her mother, Pearlie Shanks, came to work at the ribbon mill in Toulminville. Her daddy, Mid Shanks, worked as a driver for Mobile Beverage Company, and he delivered Jax Beer every day from New Orleans and brought home the empties for recycling. While Mom was here in Mobile living with her mother Pearlie and her daddy Mid Shanks, Dee Dee worked for a finance company called Mobile Banking downtown Mobile. She took the bus to Downtown Mobile every day. When there, she got taken under the wing of a coworker, Lynn Smith, who was a veteran bookkeeper of Mobile Banking and a generation older than her. Lynn Smith disapproved of my mom's dating choices, so she played matchmaker and arranged a blind date with my Dad, Sidney Duff. Lynn Smith's husband worked closely with my Dad's Dad, Henry Joseph Duff, who worked as an engine repairman for the L& N Railroad in Mobile and was a widower. Lynn Smith divorced her husband, Mr. Smith, and married my paternal granddaddy, Henry Joseph Duff.

That meant that my Dad’s Stepmother fixed up my Mother on a Blind date with my Dad, Sidney Stephens Duff. Well, they met around the Dauphin Island Deep Sea fishing rodeo in July in Mobile of 1959, and they hit it off like Peas and Carrots. By August 1959, Mom was converting to Catholicism through CCD classes at Little Flower Church with Father Suffodini. In November of 1959, Father Suffodini married my Mom and Dad in Little Flower Church in Mobile on November 14, 1959.

On November 14, 1959, Sidney married Dolores Shanks Duff, following a blind date recommended by Lynn Smith, their matchmaker, in July 1959. They honeymooned for two weeks in New York City. They were married for 64 years and received a Papal Blessing from Pope Benedict XXVI for their fiftieth Wedding Anniversary and another Papal Blessing from Pope Francis for their sixtieth Wedding Anniversary. While they started their life together at Little Flower Catholic Church in Mobile, the last 64 years were spent at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church at 1621 Boykin Blvd, in Mobile, AL 36605-4238. Sidney & Dolores had two children together, Vincent Stephens Duff in 1961 and Dolores Doreen (Dody) Duff in 1962.

They stayed Happily Married for 64 years until my Dad's natural death from old age at age 88 last April 19, 2023. Dad passed away in his home with me and Mom and Gentiva Home Hospice in the house he and my Mom built by hand.

Now, my Mother, Dee Dee, has passed just over a year later. In 2023, my Mom did three or four crossword puzzles daily and was sharp as a tack. In late 2023, Dee Dee failed cognitive tests and was diagnosed with advanced dementia. She had never had a fall until 12 April 2024. She broke her right hip the first time she fell on 12 April 2024 and had to have her hip replacement surgery on 13 April 2024. Afterward, while undergoing inpatient rehabilitation at Ashland Place Health and Rehabilitation, she broke her hip a second time on 25 April 2024. Then, on her 89th birthday, 26 April 2024, she had to have a second right hip replacement surgery to repair and relocate the right hip bone into the right hip socket. Following the second hip surgery, Mom had changed from the second round of anesthesia and morphine and oxycodone. Those factors, when compounded by Mom's advanced dementia diagnosis, spelled disaster for my Mom, and she declined quickly.

My Mother was a terrific homemaker and an excellent and loving Mother. She sacrificed for me every day. She homeschooled me and my sister in kindergarten. Then she put Me and my Sister Dody through grades 1-8 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Grade School. Then she put Me and my Sister Dody through grades 9-12 at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. Then, she and my Dad supported me by paying my tuition at the University of South Alabama, which enabled me to earn a B.S. from the Mitchell College of Business and good living in Detroit as a Buyer starting in 1984 for the Defense Department and to retire in 2016.

After Vince retired in the fall of 2016, he sold his home in Michigan and cared for Sidney and Dolores from December 2016 until Sidney died at age 88 in Home Hospice, and Dolores died at age 89 in Home Hospice. The years from 2016 until my parents' respective deaths were some of the best times we ever had, and it was a pleasure taking care of Dad and Mom.

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From 1955 to 1961, Dee Dee’s husband, Sidney Duff, a Korean War Navy Veteran, started work in the Defense Department's Civil Service as an Aircraft Structural Mechanic at Brookley Field for 11 years in Mobile, Alabama as a careerist, having already served as an apprentice and journeyman while in the Navy. Mom married Dad in November of 1959 and became a full-time homemaker. She was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW, a Cub Scout Den Mother, a Scout Mother, a volunteer Mother at Our Lady of Lourdes Grade School, and an extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist. In those days, Dee Dee & Sidney were members of the Gulf Fishing & Boating Club at the foot of Clubhouse Road.

Beginning April 1, 1965, after Brookley Air Force Base closed, Dad served for 25 Years as a firefighter driver in the Mobile Fire and Rescue Department. He retired from MFRD on April 7, 1990, at age 55. On days when Dad was serving at the Fire Station, Mom and Dad talked every day like newlyweds, catching up on the day's events and what was happening in their lives.

In 1975, my Dad, Sidney, who already worked for MFRD as a driver, took on extra work as an electrician, carpenter, and rigger at the Mobile Municipal Auditorium, Theatre, Convention Center, and Expo Hall for 45 Years. Mom always had a hot meal ready for Dad no matter how long or late the hours he worked.

From 1990-2005, Sidney Worked for 15 years as a theatrical Stage Employee of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, I.A.T.S.E. Local 142 as Secretary, Treasurer, and Business Agent. Mom supported Dad’s work with the I.A.T.S. E. and accompanied him to the Annual Conventions, where they traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada during this part of their lives. Their trips included Chicago, Las Vegas, Memphis, San Francisco, New York, Montreal, Miami, Nashville, Toronto, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, Charlotte, Honolulu, Chattanooga and Ft. Lauderdale.

In 2005, Sidney retired again from the I.A.T.S.E. at age 72 with his wife, Dolores. They regularly attended Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church at 1621 Boykin Blvd, Mobile, AL 36605-4238, and were lifelong Alba Fishing & Hunting Club members. She enjoyed maintaining her yard, visiting her son Vincent in Michigan, watching Saints and Alabama football, and being an avid crossword puzzle enthusiast.

Dolores is survived by her Son Vincent Stephens Duff, a retired Defense Department Army Buyer who lives at the Duff home on 3609 York Rd. Mobile, AL 36605-4354, and Her Brother-in-law Henry Joseph Duff, a retiree of Kimberly Clark Paper Mill, and his wife Skeeter Duff, her sister-in-law, who both live here in Mobile.