Mary B Duff

Mary Smith Blount Duff, daughter of William Audie Blount and Mary Walker Blount, was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, during the “Great Miami Hurricane” of 1926. She was born on 9 September 1926. She and her mother were at the hospital when the hurricane hit. The nurse who was in charge of the nursery felt she needed to take the babies that were in the nursery out of the hospital for their safety, so for about 4 days no one knew where baby Mary was. Her uncle searched for her and finally found her at the nurse’s house with about five other babies.

Mary was the baby of the family and because she was over ten pounds when she was born, she was nicknamed “Babe”, after a big baby in a newspaper comic strip. Her family always called her Babe until she passed away at the age of 95.

Mary grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and would work after school in her father’s Blount Fish Market. Her job was to clean and gut the fish, devein the shrimp, smoke fish, and prepare them for sale. She remembered how cold her hands always were from being in the ice that the fish were packed in.

She met and married Albert Lemon when she was fifteen years old and they had two daughters, Mary Lemon and Sandra Lemon. She divorced Albert Lemon in 1951 and raised her girls as a single mom, working for the telephone company in Tallahassee. She was working as a secretary for a Congressman in Tallahassee in 1960 when she met her second husband Allen J. Duff.

Allen was working as a lobbyist for the AFL-CIO union in the capital at that time. They me and were married three days later in 1961. They moved many times because of his job and finally ended up in Bristol, Tennessee. They bought a large house which they divided into apartments, which Mary took care of. She was a hard worker and always kept everything neat and clean even though there was a lot to do. This provided them with extra income and kept her busy while Allen traveled a lot for the union. She also joined the Baptist Church in Bristol and worked with the Prison Ministry during those years. She said that working with the women in the prison gave her such joy and those were some of her happiest memories.

When she married Allen, she inherited three children from his previous marriage, Allen Duff Jr, Stephen Duff, and Georgiana (Ann) Duff Smith. She was a loving step-mother who was never seen as a step-mother, but as a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-grandmother.

When her husband Allen passed away in 1994, she sold everything and moved to Jacksonville where she would be near her sister and family. She spent many years there and enjoyed special friendships with many people. She was on the board of the HOA and was always active in the local community. She belonged to Deer Meadows Baptist church and loved going each Sunday to hear Pastor Larry speak. She also loved the members and had many fond memories of working with and visiting other members. Her neighbors in her community meant the world to her and she will be remembered with love and many happy memories.

She lived a good and full life, filled with loving family and friends. She was loved as Granny to her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. She is survived by her daughters, Mary Parish, Sandra Unitas, Georgiana Smith, and son Allen Duff Jr., 10 grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren, and 9 great-great grandchildren.