Avis de décès de Mary Underhill - Nécrologie - MesAieux.com

Mary McKay Underhill, the matriarch of a Pioneer Volusia County family, passed away on August 16th, 2010 at the home of her son, Frank Elmore Underhill, Jr. and his wife, Jean Fuller Underhill, with whom she had resided for the last seven years. She was pre-deceased by her husband, Frank Elmore Underhill, in 1975. Elmore's family is a seventh generation Central Florida family. His great-grandfather, Joseph Underhill, settled in the area in 1859, building the first brick house in Volusia County. Mary's interesting and colorful life began in Ocala, Florida, on September 11, 1915. Her early years in Ocala were full of wonderful stories of love, adventure, and humor. She was one of five girls born to Archibald Lewis McKay and Lena Pate McKay, whose family included many outstanding members in North Carolina and Ocala. Her mother died in 1925, when Mary was 10 years old, she and her four sisters went to live with her father's sister, Flora McKay Osborne, and her husband, Eli Alexander Osborne, in their Ocala home. Mary and her family's move from Ocala to Barberville, occurred in her senior year of high school, where she graduated from Central High School. It was there she met her future husband, Elmore. Following in the path of her mother, Mary attended Flora MacDonald College in Red Springs, NC, while Elmore attended Stetson. Mary and Elmore married on December 31, 1936. Together, they started Underhill Ferneries in Barberville. Today, the business continues to be operated by family members. A collector of antiques for most of her adult lifetime, Mary followed her love of "antiquing" and opened Mary's Country Antiques in a small cottage next to her home in Barberville in 1971. After the death of her husband, she moved to DeLand to be closer to her family and friends. She is described by her family as an extraordinary role model, who has left them with an amazing legacy of love. Her home and her heart were always open to family, friends, and her community, where she lavished everyone with love, laughter, encouragement, and inspiration. Mary was an active member of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, DeLand, and its now inactive St. Helena's Guild and a long time member of Azalea Circle of the DeLand Garden Club. While living in Barberville, she was a member of the Methodist churches in Barberville and Pierson. Years ago, she served on the Board of Directors of the Volusia County Parents Association and was a charter member of the Volusia County Continuing Council on Education. Mary was pre-deceased by her parents, her husband and her four beloved sisters, Flora McKay Price, Elizabeth McKay Bolin, Margaret McKay Bean and Martha McKay Montague. She is survived by her son, Frank and daughter-in-law, Jean, and their four children, Frank Underhill, III and his wife, Erica of Crescent City, Julie Underhill Roth and her husband, Matthew, of Ormond Beach, Vann Underhill and his wife, Barbara, and Mary Underhill Waugh and her husband, Derek, of DeLand; her daughter, Kay Underhill Hammer and her husband, John, of DeLand and Highlands, NC and their four children, Mary Ann Hammer Fiorentino of Ponte Vedra Beach, Kathy Hammer Summerall and her husband, Jay of New Hope, PA, Deborah Hammer Warner and her husband, Randolph of Highlands, NC and John M. Hammer, III and his wife, Leise of Tampa. Mary, known to her family as "Ganny", was the proud great-grandmother to 28 great-grandchildren, who are the seventh generation of this pioneer family, plus 15 beloved nieces and nephews. The word "family" to "Ganny" included all the friends she dearly loved and all those who touched her life through their gifts of love. Mary summed up her life in one quote recorded in Sept. 2006: "God has richly blessed me with a long lifetime of loving and being loved." A funeral service for Mary McKay Underhill will be held at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 319 W. Wisconsin Ave, DeLand on Thursday, August 19, 2010 at 10:00 a.m., presided by The Very Reverend W. Donald Lyon, Rector and The Reverend Dr. Paul Hamilton Fuller, IV of Hendersonville, NC. Memorial donations may be made to either the St. Barnabas Episcopal Church Counseling Center, 319 W. Wisconsin Ave, DeLand, FL 32720, Young Life, P.O. Box 520, Colorado Springs, CO, 80901-0520 or to Hospice of Volusia/Flagler, 3800 Woodbriar Trail, Port Orange, FL 32129. Online condolences may be made at www.allensummerhillfuneralhome.com. Allen-Summerhill DeLand in is charge.