Clarice June Durban

Our mom, Clarice June Rosser was born in Atlanta, Georgia on May 3, 1935. She moved to Jacksonville and grew up on Dancy Street with her sister Martha. Mom loved living near Boone Park where she and Martha spent many hours. Martha was the ping pong champion and Mom was the tennis star. They attended Fishweir Elementary School and Lee High School. At Lee, mom met a handsome football player who looked like Elvis Presley. He captured her heart. She and our dad, David Evarts Durban married on June 8th, 1956. In the following years they had three sons; David Warren (Dec 1957), Wayne Evarts (Oct 1959) and Scott Lynn (Dec 1963). Mom worked at Prudential Insurance as an underwriter. She later became a real estate agent and worked for Riverpoint Real Estate.

We attended Hendricks Elementary School and Mom stressed the importance of getting to school on time. She helped us with homework and made sure we were ready for tests. She was a member of the PTA and helped out with field trips and our annual fall carnival. We attended Southside Methodist Church and became very active in Sunday school and youth activities. Our house was a gathering place for neighborhood kids where Mom taught us how to manage money by playing Monopoly. Our friends always tried to be at our house around lunch or dinnertime because they knew they would be invited to stay. Everyone especially loved Mom’s fried chicken. She spent many weekends at Kingsley Lake teaching us to swim and sailing with our dad. We swam competitively for John Carraway and Mom always came to our practices and meets and cheered us on.

Our parents were frequently found in the kitchen canning green beans, tomatoes, and especially corn. During the summer we would go to our grandfather’s farm in Lawtey and pick Silver Queen Corn. We sometimes had so much that she would share with all the neighbors. She was a good fisherman and she and Dad often caught a mess of bass and brim and then fried them up on the dock for our family. Those fresh fish were mouthwatering and her famous coleslaw was the perfect side dish. Our mom was a great cook in general, and her favorite times were holidays when the entire family could get together and enjoy her delicious pumpkin and nut (pecan) pies.

Mom’s favorite food was blue crabs. They were her birthday dinner of choice and she would make sure they were caught on a full moon because that is when the crabs are the fullest. She loved raw oysters and could make quick work of them. She and her sister Martha were regulars at St Augustine beach where they liked to soak up the sun and eat boiled peanuts and then head to lunch for a couple dozen oysters. She had a great sense of humor and always said our dad had another female he spent too much time with – his sailboat. She nicknamed it “the other woman.”

She loved to spend time with her two grandsons. When they were small they had “Mimi Day” every week. They made regular trips to the Children’s Museum to see Tonka the Turtle who had the same birthday as Lee. Our mom always said her biggest challenge at the museum was keeping Brent out of the gift shop. She helped keep the boys while their parents went skiing and her grandsons always loved their “vacations” with Mimi and Grandma because the food was better and they could stay up late on school nights and watch movies. She helped them dye Easter eggs. They even made “Halloween Eggs” decorated in orange and black. Lee and Brent always looked forward to Mimi’s gifts on birthdays and Christmas because she came up with unexpected presents, like the microscope she gave them one year. She always included a can of olives and an orange and in their stockings because it was good for them.

Our mom was an amazing woman who had her priorities clearly in order – faith, family and friends. We are privileged to be a part of her legacy. She will be greatly missed.

There will be a visitation held at the Oaklawn Chapel, 4801 San Jose Blvd. Jacksonville FL. on Sunday, April 28th from 5-7:00pm. We will celebrate Clarice’s life and all that she meant to us with a service to be held 2:00pm Monday in the Chapel of Hardage-Giddens Oaklawn Funeral Home, 4801 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville.

Memorial contributions in Clarice’s name may be made to Community Hospice of Northeast Florida.

Arrangements are under the care and direction of Hardage-Giddens Funeral Home 4115 Hendricks Ave. Jacksonville, FL 32207. (904) 346-3808.