Jacksonville area's notable deaths for 2015

Jan. 02--The Jacksonville area lost a diverse group of people in 2015 who left their imprint on the land, sea and air. They served in classrooms, boardrooms, courthouse chambers, pulpits, the mission field, sports arenas, newsrooms, television screens, hospitals and battlefields.

There was Charlie Towers, one of the city's best-known attorneys, who made a video appearance at his own memorial. There was Rear Adm. Kevin Delaney, who retired as the most decorated officer in the U.S. Navy. There was retired Rear Adm. John Gavan whose plane was fired upon and hit 57 times when he went to the aid of a downed airman on a raft in the South Pacific. There was Mary Helen Hoff who inspired the creation of the POW/MIA flag and there were three judges, including one known as the "hanging judge."

Here's our roundup of just some of the notable deaths during the past year:

Eleanor Ashby, 83, was a prominent civic leader who trained hundreds of Jacksonville's adult and youth leaders, as executive director of Leadership Jacksonville from 1978 to 1998. In 1998, the Atlantic Beach resident was the recipient of the Times-Union's EVE Lifetime Achievement Award. Mrs. Ashby was a founding member of the Jacksonville Community Council, the Women's Giving Alliance and the PACE Center for Girls. She was a recipient of HandsOn Jacksonville's Bernard V. Gregory Award in 2013 for lifelong leadership service that changes lives.

Kent Bell, 50, was born without arms or legs yet went on to be a scoreboard operator at high-pressure University of North Florida basketball games. A lifelong sports fan, he water-skied, played soccer, and coached and played wheelchair basketball. Using a stylus in his mouth, he spent 18 years running the scoreboard at UNF home games. In 1988, Mr. Bell was a guest on Oprah Winfrey's TV show.

Sarah Lynn Boe, 93, was a newspaper publisher, civic leader and force in Clay County politics for more than a half-century. Known as "Miss Sarah," she made it a point to know every politician and frequently had lunch and dinner with them. She was particularly proud of developing the early Florida history exhibit at the Clay County Agricultural Fair.

Robert Broward, 89, was an iconoclastic protege of Frank Lloyd Wright who had a 61-year architectural career during which he designed 514 projects. Among his signature buildings were Wesley Manor Retirement Village, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Art Museum, the Koger Gallery of Oriental Art, the Sawgrass Racquet Club and his own St. Nicholas riverfront home. He was an adjunct professor of design at the University of Florida, an artist, member of a pioneer Jacksonville family and writer who published two books on local history.

Richard Christensen, 60, was a noted psychiatrist who served Jacksonville's homeless and was director of behavioral health services for the Sulzbacher Center. He was killed by a hit-and-run driver while in Africa for a Habitat for Humanity building project. He spent most of his career tending to the mentally ill in Northeast Florida, a lot of that time in a van with social workers seeking out people who needed care but couldn't travel to doctors' offices or pay for services.

Blanche Cobb, 114, was Florida's second-oldest woman, the seventh-oldest living person and the 50th-oldest person of all time. She was born in September 1900 in South Georgia and moved with her family to Jacksonville in 1939. She and her husband had 14 children. Mrs. Cobb remained as independent as she could, walking with help and taking only three pills a day.

Gabriel Cuevas, 73, was a longtime pastor and community leader who died in a traffic crash in Alachua County. He built Temple of Prayer Assembly of God, a small Spanish-speaking church on the Westside, in 1972. The Puerto Rican native conducted outreach efforts to jails and prisons and went on more than 100 mission trips to the Caribbean Islands, Mexico and Central America.

Kevin Delaney, 68, was a rear admiral who flew 686 combat missions in Vietnam, served as commanding officer of Navy Region Southeast and retired as the most decorated officer in the U.S. Navy. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, he was sent directly to Vietnam where he served with Helicopter Attack Squadron 3, better known as the Seawolves. He moved on to command assignments including Jacksonville Naval Air Station for two years, where he started a recycling and cleanliness program that lives on today and was credited with drawing more acclaim to the base than it has ever received and putting it firmly on the Navy's map when it was named the Navy's best in the world in 1991. Delaney was again stationed at the base as the commander of Navy Region Southeast, where he retired in 1998. He went on to serve on the boards of 19 local nonprofits including Wounded Warrior Project, Jacksonville University and Ronald McDonald House.

Jack Demetree, 87, was a real estate developer, banker and former president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association who was known for his civic and philanthropic activities. He was involved in such real estate projects as the Prime Osborn Convention Center, The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach, The Atrium retirement community and housing subdivisions. Mr. Demetree and his family took a home-building business in the 1950s and turned it into a mini-conglomerate that included banking, insurance, the forerunner of what is now Comcast cable television, cellular phones and specialty chemicals.

Melvin Drane, 94, was retired vice president of international operations for Kraft Foods, where he was employed for 42 years. He flew 50 missions on B-25 bombers in the Pacific during World War II. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps hoping to be a pilot but was ordered to become a celestial navigator due to a shortage of men with the required math acumen for the position. He quarterbacked the Robert E. Lee High School football team to a state championship.

Ellis Fernandez Jr., 90, served as a circuit judge for 10 years after being appointed by Gov. Reuben Askew in 1978. Early in his career, he worked in-house for various insurance companies before practicing civil law in Jacksonville for 26 years. During World War II, he served in the Army and earned the Combat Infantryman Badge and Purple Heart.

Anne Wright Freeman, 95, played pivotal roles in preserving Memorial Park in Jacksonville and restoring the Ximenez-Fatio House in St. Augustine. She founded the Memorial Park Association in 1986 and led efforts to have the sidewalks and curbing replaced and the landscaping replanted in accordance with the original 1922 Olmsted Brothers architectural firm design. As a result, she received the Garden Club of America Historical Preservation Commendation.

James Gaff, 88, participated in D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge as a Navy coxswain. Just 18 years old during the Normandy landings, he made more than 50 round trips in his Higgins boat, carrying fresh troops in and casualties back, as vessels sank around him and bullets pierced the air. Upon retirement as a stockbroker, he moved to Ponte Vedra Beach. Gaff sponsored squadrons at Mayport Naval Station, sent sailors to Disney World and funded SEA Cadets.

Paul Galloway, 92, was Jacksonville's oldest retired firefighter. He was also the pirate with the parrot on his shoulder in the Long John Silver TV commercials and the dogged sheriff who met a bloody fate in the 1971 cult horror film "Zaat." Galloway was a firefighter for 23 years before retiring as a lieutenant on the fire boat. The Keystone Heights resident, who had appeared in theatrical productions when off duty, then turned to acting and singing full time. At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, he was a commanding presence. He did numerous TV commercials and followed the dinner theater circuit flying his own plane.

John Gavan, 97, was a highly decorated World War II fighter pilot who reached the rank of rear admiral while in the Naval Reserve in 1972. During his career, he had 1,860 fighter hours, one wing and five fighter commands and made 187 carrier landings. Once his plane was hit 57 times when he went to the aid of a downed airman on a raft in the South Pacific. After the war, he began a 30-year career with Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. (now Cigna). The Jacksonville Beach resident also initiated the idea of a permanent memorial for those killed on the USS Stark, which was hit by Iraq missiles in 1987.

Eleanor Gay, 95, was a teacher, counselor, college administrator, program consultant, community activist and EVE Lifetime Achievement Award winner. She spent 18 years as a teacher and counselor in Duval County schools. Mrs. Gay left the school system in 1970 to become a professor and counselor at what is now Florida State College at Jacksonville. In 1977, she was promoted to the administrative staff where she served as director of equal opportunity in education. Upon retiring, she became a program consultant to the Florida Department of Education and then went to the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida.

Lois Gibson, 85, had a 40-year career in health care and won the Times-Union's EVE Award in education in 1981 for leading the self-study process that led to the national accreditation of FSCJ's two-year associate degree program. She joined the faculty in 1968 as an instructor/coordinator of nursing and was named director of nursing programs in 1976. In 1986, Mrs. Gibson became dean of health services, the position from which she retired in 1989.

Maurice "Maury" Goldstein, who was almost 104, earned his law degree in 1935 at the University of Florida and didn't retire from his practice until 2002 at age 91. He primarily handled civil cases. Mr. Goldstein attributed his longevity to clean living and a love of people.

Calvin Earl "Bud" Hayden, 72, was an attorney who represented the heirs of the musical "Chicago" in a landmark royalties case in their negotiations with the American Play Company in New York. At the time, it was the largest royalties agreement ever negotiated. He had a perfect voting record in local, state and national elections and once drove 220 miles to a Duval County precinct to cast a ballot. He was a founding member of the Toy Train Collectors of Jacksonville and served on the boards of Methodist Hospital and Goodwill and was active in the Rotary Club of North Jacksonville for more than 40 years.

Ronald Hill, 69, managed the construction and grow-in of the three 18-hole courses now known as the Amelia Island Plantation. Under his management, it became one of the first golf courses in the world to obtain an Audubon certification.

Ann Connor Hoey was an award-winning former Times-Union fashion writer and editor for around 20 years. In 1968, she won the first Fashion Reporters Award-New York, known as the FRANY, for her "outstanding job in presenting New York as a fashion capital and her journalistic ability, creative writing, layout and fashion authority."

Mary Helen Hoff, 84, inspired the creation of a flag honoring military personnel taken as prisoners of war or listed as missing in action that became one of the most recognizable emblems in the world. In 1970, the Orange Park resident had given birth to her fifth child when her husband, Navy Cmdr. Michael Hoff, was shot down during the Vietnam War. Mrs. Hoff got the idea for the POW/MIA flag when China joined the United Nations, and there was an issue with creating a flag to be displayed because of the country's communist affiliation. Mrs. Hoff contacted Annin & Co. -- the flagmaker who had refused to produce flags for the Chinese -- and it hired a graphic designer to complete the POW/MIA project. Later, she organized a soup kitchen at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jacksonville, now known as the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.

William "Billy" Howell, 88, was the first mayor of Atlantic Beach and served 27 years, longer than anyone else. He also served on the committee to write the charter for Atlantic Beach and was president of the Florida League of Cities from 1980 to 1981. He was self-employed as an insurance agent and Realtor.

Richard Hunter Sr., 83, was the first African-American board-certified surgeon in Duval County and served as chief of surgery at Methodist Hospital in the mid-1980s. He was once president of the Florida Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association, a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons, an associate instructor in general surgery for the University of Florida's Urban Campus and served a term as vice president of the Duval County Medical Society.

Flo Hyman, 81, was so patriotic that she would only sell flags made in America. During Desert Storm, when they were selling faster than they could be stocked, she and her partner turned down an order for 1,000 flags because they could not complete it without buying from China. Miss Hyman decorated for political rallies, presidential campaigns, trade shows, parties and other special events as co-owner of Southeastern Decorators and Bridger Displays. She also was a Republican Party stalwart who excelled at fundraising.

Jesse Keene Jr., 86, brandished a big sword as he strutted down Jacksonville streets in curly-toed shoes, gold lame pants and a turban topped by a red feather. For most of those years, he wore a red ruby in his navel, and his toned chest was bare. Mr. Keene was the drum major for the Morocco Temple Oriental Band since 1959, performing in the U.S. and Canada. An electrical contractor who opened his own company, he embraced the role of an Arabian Nights sheik so well that he gained a broad fan base and was a draw at many parades. He was a past Illustrious Potentate of the Shrine.

Sharon Laird, 68, was an educator, historian, political organizer and manager of senior services for the city. She had a 10-year career with Jacksonville University, eventually becoming director of academic programs in its College of Lifelong Learning. In addition, she was an adjunct assistant history professor at JU and Florida State College at Jacksonville. She was very involved in Democratic Party campaigns and once served as community outreach director for U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown's local district office.

Barbara Lester, 78, was a highly successful Realtor who consistently won awards for both the highest number of sales and highest sales volume of area real estate agents. She was vibrant, energetic and began her career in 1973. By the next year, the Jacksonville Association of Realtors recognized her as Associate of the Year. She also received the Humanitarian of the Year award from the association for organizing, collecting and providing more than 3,000 coats to the homeless.

Kent Lindsey, 61, was a musician, actor and producer who spent 14 years as host of the children's television program "Safari Sam." He and his wife, Pepper Lindsey, were partners in the Emmy-winning production company Lindsey Films. "Safari Sam" ran from 1985 to 1998 on WAWS TV-30.

Howell Melton, 92, was a U.S. District judge best known for presiding over the seven-month trial of a Colombian drug kingpin. But lawyers and judges remembered the St. Augustine resident as a kind man who was a role model to everyone. He was appointed to the 7th Judicial Circuit bench in 1961. During his years on the state bench, Judge Melton was a founding trustee at Flagler College and remained on the board for 40 years. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1977. In 1987-88, Judge Melton got national attention in the case of Carlos Lehder, a Colombian drug lord who co-founded the Medellin drug cartel. Lehder was sentenced to life without parole, plus an extra 135 years. Judge Melton also issued a landmark ruling on sexual harassment involving the Jacksonville Shipyards that is still cited today.

David Miller, 86, had an entrepreneurial spirit that took him from raising chickens and selling eggs, grapefruit and figs as a child to the head of the JCPenney Co. The Jacksonville native retired in 1990 as chief operating officer and vice chairman. Even so, he became involved in other business ventures and continued going to his Fernandina Beach office until earlier this year, when his health began to fail. Mr. Miller, who graduated from the University of Florida in 1951, made a financial contribution to UF's Retailing Education and Research Center, which was named in his honor. He also spearheaded establishment of the Boys & Girls Club Miller Freedom Center in Nassau County.

Margaret Mitchell, 71, became a well-known advocate for families for homicide victims after her son, Jeff, was murdered at Terry Parker High School during a robbery attempt in 1993. She and her husband, Glen, founded the Jeff Mitchell Foundation in 1996 to promote non-violence and teens staying in schools. A 6,000-square-foot plaza was erected at Parker in 1997 as a memorial for local young crime victims. In 1998, she co-founded Compassionate Families, providing grief recovery and support services to families of homicide victims. She led the organization for 13 years, retiring in 2011. She was cited as the Outstanding Victim Advocate by the Mayor's Victim Assistance Advisory Council and shared the Jacksonville Bar Association's Liberty Bell Award with her husband. She also had a passion for dance and established Center Stage Conservatory of Dance in 1980.

R. Hudson Olliff , 90, was a judge from 1971 to 1995 and chief assistant state attorney from 1957 to 1964 who was nicknamed "the hanging judge." He was a highly decorated World War II Army paratrooper whose injury in a combat jump resulted in knee problems the rest of his life and led to his wearing knee braces under his black robes. He also was known to carry a concealed gun in chambers. He became the first judge of Jacksonville's repeat offender court in 1989 and prided himself on handing out harsh sentences to habitual offenders. At the time Judge Olliff retired, the Times-Union said he had put more people on Death Row than any other Jacksonville judge.

In a 1999 interview, Judge Olliff listed the 1970s murders of two of the young Dobbert children by their father, Ernest Dobbert Jr., and the 1974 race-related slaying of Stephen Orlando by self-proclaimed Black Liberation Army leader Jacob John Dugan Jr. as the murder trials that were his most memorable. He has a place in Florida history as the only judge to ever sentence a man to death when a jury recommended life, and then see the death sentence carried out. When Dobbert was convicted in 1974, the jury recommended life in prison. He overruled the jury and sentenced him to death. Dobbert was executed in 1984.

Emily Phillips, 69, mixed heavenly humor with earthly compassion to describe the story of her life in a unique 1,045-word obituary published in the Times-Union and on Jacksonville.com and picked up across social media. She gained fame after death as it went viral, was tweeted by Cosmopolitan and picked up more than 55,000 likes on the "Today" show's post. The retired elementary school teacher died 29 days after her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. "I was born," she said. "I blinked; and it was over. No buildings named after me; no monuments erected in my honor." But her obit was so captivating that a Virginia woman's family copied portions of it for their own mother's obituary.

Anthony Joseph "A.J." Pionessa, 94, left his imprint on such Jacksonville structures as the Gulf Life Tower, the Skyway Express, the Alhambra Dinner Theatre and the imposing columns at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts. He left his footprints in ballrooms around Duval and Clay counties. Mr. Pionessa continued working and dancing until he was injured in an accident at his contracting business. Through the years, he owned a construction equipment company and scaffolding and masonry businesses. He was a past president of the Southside Business Men's Club, charter member of the Italian American Club, past chairman of the South Council of the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce, a former member of the Jacksonville Charter Revision Commission and a former director of the Greater Jacksonville Fair Association.

Roland Richardson, 77, set an unprecedented sales record in the commercial sales department of Sears, which still stands. Richardson and his family built Florida Contract Interiors into Richcraft Carpets. In 1981, he and his business partner started Biskits, which served biscuit sandwiches and fried chicken and grew rapidly through Florida. It was sold in 1984.

Jonathan Rogers, 77, worked for almost two decades as an editor, reporter and restaurant reviewer for The Florida Times-Union. He came in 1977 as a copy editor and left in 1995. Subsequently, he worked as adjunct English professor at local colleges. He was killed when he was hit by a car as he walked across Beach Boulevard.

Samuel Rosenthal, 76, practiced cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery in Jacksonville for more than 40 years. He was such a good fencer that he tried out for the Olympics in his 40s. He donated his time and skills to the American Cleft Palate Association for many years. Dr. Rosenthal was a lifelong supporter of Israel Bonds and was honored by former Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Bob Schellenberg Sr., 91, was a former general manager at Jacksonville's WJXT TV-4, City Council member and publisher of the Jacksonville Business Journal. Mr. Schellenberg always had time for his 11 children despite his busy work schedule. He was the second publisher of the Jacksonville Business Journal serving from 1986 to 1989. Before that he served on the Jacksonville City Council from 1983 to 1986 where he played a vital role in deciding the location of the Duval County jail.

Robert Sorey, 95, participated in three declared wars from 1941 to 1975 and acted as a weather officer and adviser to NATO generals, presidents and field marshals. He was one of the meteorologists tasked to provide weather forecasts to assure the safety of pilots during the Berlin Airlift. The retired Air Force colonel earned many wartime decorations. He had a distinguished career, including stints as chief meteorologist for the North American Defense Command and retired from civilian service as deputy director of the National Weather Service. He moved to Jacksonville in 1983.

Hercel Stallard, 85, was a noted watercolor artist and teacher. As a boy, he drew pictures or cartoon characters with a pencil or charcoal on any type of paper he could get his hands on, from used envelopes to paper bags. Eventually, he opened a very successful commercial art business from the early 1960s until the mid-1980s when he sold the company to pursue his dream of watercolor painting full time. Mr. Stallard taught workshops around the Southeast, classes at the Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens and at his own studios.

G. Dekle Taylor, 96, was a physician who specialized in treating ear problems and had an enthusiasm for adventure that led him to cruise Florida's creeks and rivers, to explore the sky through his telescope and to cultivate the earth to coax native plants from seed. In 1949, Dr. Taylor went into practice with his father, Marshall Taylor, for whom a doctors building in the Baptist Health complex is named. Later, he had a solo practice and at one point was a noise consultant to the city's Environmental Protection Board. In 1983, Dr. Taylor retired and started Mandarin Native Plants nursery. He became a master gardener and donated many plants to the Mandarin Garden Club.

Charles "Charlie" Towers Jr., 91, was known both for his power as managing partner of Jacksonville's largest law firm and for the generosity with which he treated people. Mr. Towers spent more than 65 years with Rogers Towers. In 1990, he made the Times-Union's list of the city's 10 most powerful movers and shakers based on surveys done by dozens of city leaders. As a gunnery officer in the Navy during the 1945 assault on Okinawa, he jumped on a burning landing craft in an attempt to save the men on board, an action that earned him a Silver Star. He was involved in many charitable activities, including the Salvation Army, Mercy Ships and Prisoners of Christ, an organization that worked with ex-convicts to change their lives. He even established The Lord's Foundation with the mission to teach, minister to the poor and heal the sick. At his memorial service, he appeared via video messages and looked directly at the camera as he welcomed everyone to what he said would truly be a celebratory event.

James Townsend Sr., 86, was a pediatrician who played a key role in turning Wolfson Children's Hospital into a consolidated center of excellence to serve the region's children and families. Wolfson was founded in 1955 as a wing of what was then called Baptist Memorial Hospital. Beginning in 1971, local pediatricians began working to make Wolfson a regional pediatric center. Dr. Townsend served for years on Wolfson's Board of Trustees and as Wolfson's chief of pediatrics. He was named Physician of the Year in 1989.

Harold Warren, 86, started Warren Motors with his brother Ellis in 1955. In 1967, they became one of the first independent automobile dealers in Florida to finance their own cars. Mr. Warren was involved in numerous businesses, including real estate investments, other automobile dealerships, a promotional products company and a commercial poultry equipment manufacturer. His favorite endeavor was creating the Warren Motors softball team which won the National Open Slow Pitch Softball Tournament in 1976.

Judson Whorton, 85, was a Jacksonville insurance executive and community leader. He retired from American Heritage Life Insurance Co. in 1986 after 31 years. He served for more than 35 years as a trustee of Southern Baptist Hospital of Florida (now Baptist Health). He was a founding board member of Baptist Towers and on the founding advisory board of the University of North Florida. He served on the Mayor's Economic Development Council and was a member of the Mayor's Commission on Housing. Mr. Whorton was an active member of First Baptist Church since 1957, serving in many leadership roles and as a young married adult Bible teacher for 44 years.

Wini Rider Young, 92, was a former feature writer, columnist and fashion editor for the Times-Union who began her writing career with the Montreal Gazette in Canada and covered fashion shows in New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome. The Ponte Vedra Beach resident also was an editor at large for Water's Edge magazine and a founding member of the Fashion Group International's North Florida Chapter. She was full of anecdotes about the prominent people she had met, from Mikhail Baryshnikov to Ivana Trump, who was one of her models in Montreal before Ivana married Donald.

Sandy Strickland: (904) 359-4128

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