Mary Leatha Flowers

Mary Leatha Brown Flowers was born July 19, 1931, as a seventh month baby. Her mother died 2 days later. She was a miracle baby from the start.
She was the last of seven surviving children, with siblings ranging from 12 to 22 years older than her. She was raised her first two years by her second oldest sister Bonnie, then went back to her father s house to be mothered by older sisters still at home until her father remarried when she was seven years old. Her stepmother Mae became Granny to a generation of grandchildren.
Mary s father, Eufa, was a sawmill man . He moved his portable sawmill and his family to wherever he had a timber lease. So Mary grew up in towns in south Alabama, south Georgia and north Florida. Her father retired in Macclenny, FL in the 1940s. Mary graduated from Macclenny High School and then enrolled in Florida State University, where she earned a Bachelor s degree in Journalism.
Along the way, she met a young man named Roy B. Flowers, who s father, Roy T. Flowers, was sometimes employed by Eufa Brown on the sawmill. They fell in love, and as Mary told it, she practically asked Roy to marry her!
So she went to Tallahassee and he got drafted by the army for the Korean conflict. At one time he was stationed in Fort Knox, KY, where she took the bus to visit him. After she had graduated from FSU, and before he was shipped out to Korea, they got married in Tallahassee, had a short honeymoon in Panama City, and were apart for the next nine months. She kept many of the love letters they shared during his deployment.
Mary was expecting their first child late in the year, and had some medical complications. The army allowed Roy to get leave and the Red Cross facilitated his return to Tallahassee to be with his wife for birth of their first child, Roy B. Flowers, Jr.
Mary went to work for the state of Florida, where she spent her career as a secretary and later administrative assistant, while Roy joined the Florida National Guard full time and eventually became Maintenance Chief of the Tallahassee Armory.
Leatha and Lera came along several years later. Mary was a devoted mother and wife, as well as working a full time job. She somehow worked an office job all day, cooked, sewed, helped with homework, took Roy Jr. to high school band functions, shuttled daughters to Girl Scouts, and Tallahassee Tumbling Tots events.
When Lera wanted to join a Brownie troop, and there wasn t one close by, Mary became a Brownie leader, hosting the meetings at home on Saturdays. She always tried to have a fun activity planned. If that required going somewhere by car, she could squeeze six little Brownies, and Leatha, into her 1966 Mustang (those were the days before seat belts!).
Her children grew up, Roy Jr. moved to Colorado, Lera got married, Leatha came and went several times.
Roy Jr. passed away at the very young age of 27 from complications of Marphan syndrome.
Mary and Roy Sr. retired in the 1980s and spent a couple of summers canning grape jelly and pickling cucumbers. Until one day she told Roy that was NOT why she retired!
She developed a keen interest in genealogy. In those days before internet, she would spend many hours in the state library in Tallahassee and the library in Madison, FL. She traveled to cemeteries in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, and corresponded with distant relatives.
Roy Sr. had a minor medical crisis in spring of 2017. It was the beginning of a two year round of trips to the ER, hospital stays, rehab stays, home, repeat. Mary camped out in hospital rooms and visited almost every single day of rehab. Leatha might walk into his room before Mary got there and he d just look past her and say where s your mama . They were everything to each other.
They celebrated their 65th anniversary in 2019. Roy passed away in May of that same year.
Mary picked up her life, and then COVID hit in spring of 2020. Leatha begged her to stay home away from people, let her do all the errands, everyone was terrified for their older relatives. Mary took all the precautions seriously, got the vaccinations and booster, managed to stay well.
She celebrated her 91st birthday on July 19, 2022. She received 33 birthday cards and had a luncheon with a few neighbors.
On July 29th she went to the ER with some minor complaints, but instead of coming home that day, she was admitted and it was a downhill spiral. Her daughters were able to get her accepted to Big Bend Hospice House on August 9, and she passed away peacefully with Leatha and Jan Tuthill with her on August 15.
Her daughters are forever grateful to the staff at Big Bend Hospice for their care for Mary and for Leatha. In lieu of flowers, Leatha and Lera request that a donation be made in Mary s memory to Big Bend Hospice.
There will be no service at this time due to Covid, but a celebration of Mary s life will be planned later in the year.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.CulleysMeadowWoodFuneral.com for the Flowers family.