Mary Lynn Edwards Ulrey

Mary Lynn Edwards Ulrey, 71, of Tampa, passed into the arms of her Lord and Savior on January 10, 2023. Mary Lynn was born in Tampa, Florida on July 31, 1951 to W. F. & Louise Edwards and was raised in Dade City. She was a graduate of Pasco High School and the University of Florida. She later received her Masters Degree in nursing from the University of South Florida.

Mary Lynn made her home in Tampa and was a local leader in the healthcare community and the Tampa Bay community at large. She started her career as a nurse at Memorial Hospital. Then after serving as head nurse of the psychiatric ward at Tampa General Hospital in the 1980s, she became a registered nurse practitioner and highly regarded executive in the healthcare field. She served as chief operating officer of Charter Hospital and then in the same role with Operation PAR, before then spending two decades as chief executive officer of DACCO Behavioral Health. While with DACCO she tripled the operating budget and consequently its patient care services and community impact. She retired in 2020.

Mary Lynn was a dynamic leader who gave of her time and efforts to help her fellow citizens with the treatment of drug addiction and mental health illness. She was tireless in working to serve the people and families of Hillsborough County and to better this community – including her critical involvement in supporting the diversion of non-violent offenders into drug treatment programs and helping people get back on their feet through faith-based initiatives such as Hyde Park United Methodist Church’s Portico Café. She was influential statewide in the treatment of substance abuse and behavioral health issues, including her appointment by Attorney General Moody to the Governor's Task Force on Opioid Abuse. She was a decade long executive board member of the Central Florida Behavioral Health Network. For her decades of community service, she was honored in 2018 with the prestigious Luminary Award by The Junior League of Tampa and WEDU. She was also the recipient in 2019 of the Distinguished Service Award from the Florida Behavioral Health Association.

Mary Lynn was a strong Christian and was an active member of Hyde Park United Methodist Church, including many years of singing in the choir. She was most passionate about her family, and was always interested in “family time” and supporting her family members in any way she could. The great pride of her life was her role as mother to her sons, William & Mark. Her devotion to them and sacrifices for them - for many years as a working, single mother- are something for which they are both eternally grateful.

As a native Floridian, she enjoyed the beach and boating activities – including many trips out in the Gulf and skin diving in the Keys and Bahamas. She could drive a boat, sail, find the fish and lobster, kayak in whitewater rapids, water ski in the summer, ski a black diamond slope in the winter, and was a keen-eyed shot with a 20-gauge shotgun. As an alumni of the University of Florida, she was a long time Gator Booster and football season ticket holder. She was a sister of Chi Omega, presented as a debutante of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, a sustaining member of The Junior League of Tampa, and a former member of the Tampa Yacht & Country Club.

Some of her fondest memories were of traveling with her family – with her parents and sister in her early years – and later with her sons to destinations like Nassau, Key West, Colorado, Big Sky, New York City, Mexico, London, Paris, and Rome. She was always ready with a smile, the first to lend a helping hand, was interested in people, and loved her family and friends. In her later years, she enjoyed spending time in the North Carolina mountains with her husband, working with pottery and quilting, and spending quality time with cherished friends and loved ones. Her greatest joy, however, was undoubtedly being "Grandmama". Nothing fulfilled her more than her grandchildren- whom she loved dearly and who loved her.

Mary Lynn was predeceased by her parents, and by her granddaughter, Kate Stainton. She is survived by her husband, Steve Ulrey, her sons, William M. Stainton (daughter-in-law, Joanne) and LaMarcus “Mark” Stainton (daughter-in-law, Allison), her grandchildren, William Edwards Stainton, Adaline Hebert Stainton and Amelia Edwards Stainton, her sister, Louise Edwards Roberts, her niece, Sara-Louise Roberts Newcomer, her nephews, Rob Roberts, III and William Edwards Roberts, special friend of forty-four years, Cheryl Hatchell, and many loving cousins and friends.

A funeral service will be held on Friday, January 20, 2023 at 11:00am at Hyde Park United Methodist Church, 500 West Platt Street, Tampa, Florida. A reception in memory of Mary Lynn will take place immediately following the service at the Tampa Yacht & Country Club. Private interment will occur in the family's section of the Old Dade City Cemetery. Active pallbearers will be Rob Roberts, III, B.J. Newcomer, William E. Roberts, Christopher Stainton, Charles Chunn, Stan Lifsey, Kody Kleber, and Edwards Muniz. Honorary pallbearers will be William Edwards Stainton, Ansley Watson, Jr., Pickens Price, John Perrin, Dale Hatchell, and W. Austin Knowles. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in Mary Lynn's memory to Hyde Park United Methodist Church or The Portico Cafe, or charity of choice. Blount & Curry (MacDill Chapel) is handling arrangements. (813) 876-2421.