Anne Elizabeth Benedict Coloney

Coloney who was born on December 5, 1927 and

died on Friday, September 12, 2014 just short

of 87 years old.

Anne Elizabeth Benedict Coloney, who died this past Friday, September 12, epitomized the quintessential Southern lady. Throughout her eighty seven years, her social graces, the doors that opened for her and the paths she walked were not what made her a lady. She was a lady, not because of birth or status, but because she was unfailingly kind, gracious and friendly to each and every person she saw and talked with. She liked people, and people knew that her interest in them was real and unfeigned. A truly happy person, she made others happy just to be with her.

A native born Tallahasseean, Anne had deep roots in Apalachicola which had been the home of her parents, George and Beatrice Benedict, and her grandparents, Reverend George and Jennie Benedict, and Paul and Clara Nightengale, all long since dead. A cheerleader and on the May Court at Leon High School, she went on to Florida State College for Women and graduated from Florida State University, a member of Kappa Delta Sorority.

Anne’s course toward a Master’s Degree was changed when she married Wayne Coloney in 1950 and spent her honeymoon with him sailing along the Gulf coast out of St. Petersburg on a thirty foot sloop, just the two of them. Virtually no water front development had then begun and they could anchor in coves and bays with total privacy for days at a time where houses now occupy every inch of shoreline.

Reveling in life, ever happy, with an impish smile that charmed, Anne was always ready to go or to move. Accordingly, she was instantly enchanted when Wayne’s work took them to Guatemala for two and a half years. Typical of her: while many others with the large engineering company that brought them there found the people unwelcoming and the living primitive, Anne made firm and fast friends with Guatemaltecans of every social strata. She and Alicia, her cook, would shop the local native markets while shunning the one big grocery store frequented by her still close and dear expatriate company friends. Alicia carried all groceries in a gigantic basket balanced on her head while Anne vigorously bargained for every item bought, emotionally when it served her purpose. Anne played the game as skillfully and theatrically as almost any Guatemaltecan, berating the vendor as a thief and scoundrel who was preying on an innocent and naïve Norte Americana, and labelling his wares as cheap and shoddy, and his fruit probably spoiled. In turn, the vendor would accuse her of stealing the bread of life from the mouths of his children and of being a Yankee thief. Shortly a bargain would be struck and the subject of this controversy would be added to Alicia’s basket. Anne would give the vendor a cigarette, and time being of little importance, she, Alicia, and the vendor would happily visit and gossip, having greatly enjoyed real bargaining which few gringos ever understood.

Subsequently, over most of their sixty four years of marriage, Anne traveled with Wayne, almost constantly wherever his business took him throughout the United States, Central and South America, England, and Europe. She was completely at home in every major city here and abroad, flew the Concorde, both British and French, to London and Paris, and ferreted out wonderful sights and places wherever she went.

In the Junior League of Tallahassee until her death, Anne had been in the very first class when the Service League of Tallahassee was formed with the objective of meeting the stringent qualifications required to become the Junior League. A Daughter of the American Revolution, also until her death, her great-great-great-great – grandfather, Jedediah Huntington served as a General on George Washington’s staff during the American Revolution.

Perhaps, though, her most endearing feature was the fact that she never ever ever assumed that she was special or important.

Relaxation and recreation was had at their coast cottage on Alligator Point which first belonged to her parents and was later bought by Anne and Wayne, thus allowing it to stay in the family for some fifty eight years. Breakfast out at six in the morning, every day, was her passion and when she was at the cottage breakfast was had at the Coastal Restaurant in Panacea. All staff members of Coastal and a great number of its customers were close and dear friends. When she was in Tallahassee, her places of choice were Tally’s Grille or Village Inn depending on the day of the week and, perhaps, the whims of the weather. Coffee, the crossword puzzle, and conversation, warm and friendly, with staff members and other breakfasters started her days with joy and pleasure.

Since August 2, 2013 Anne had lived on the second floor of the Westminster Oaks Health Center where her care, 24 hours a day, had been, literally beyond compare. One could not ask for, or find, any more attentive, warm, considerate solicitude. It was abundantly clear that Anne truly loved each and every one of her caregivers and nurses. She was blessed indeed to spend the last year of her life surrounded by such kind, loving, conscientious, caring, and competent people.

Anne’s daughter, Mary Adore Coloney, owns a resort farm near Asheville, North Carolina, and her grandson Michael Galen Minardi, former Captain, U.S. Army, lives in Crawfordville. Her brother, George E. Benedict, III (Nancy) is in Wilmington, North Carolina. Greg Benedict (Tamera) lives in Long Beach, California with sons James and Charles Benedict, while George E. Benedict, IV is in Apex, North Carolina. Anne’s first cousins, Charles E. Benedict, PE, PhD, and Judy Benedict McGinnis live in Tallahassee. Mary Ann Benedict Clark (Thomas), also a first cousin makes her home in Monticello. Anne’s husband of 64 years, Wayne H. Coloney, continues to live at Westminster Oaks.

At 10:00AM on Friday, September 19, Anne’s funeral service will be held at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, 4784 Thomasville Road, Tallahassee, Florida 32309. A reception will follow at the home of John and Kathy Bell, 503 McDaniel Street, after the funeral service and beginning at 12:30PM. Friends and family may gather from 5:00 to 7:00PM on Thursday, 18 September at Culley’s Funeral Home, 700 Timberlane Road, Tallahassee, Florida 32312. Instead of flowers, contributions will be welcomed by St. Peter’s Anglican Church, 4784 Thomasville Road, Tallahassee, Florida 32309 or Westminster Oaks BAE, Westminster Foundation, 80 West Lucerne Circle, Orlando, Florida 32801.