Mary Pearl Green Luff

Mary Pearl Green Luff, age 98, Inverness, FL passed away at home on August 31, 2025 with her daughter at her side.   Mary Pearl, the elder daughter of the late William Green and Ina Lee Baxley Green was born on November 22, 1926 in St. Petersburg, FL.  She was brought to Citrus County as an infant and spent her life growing up in Inverness. 

       She attended all of her primary and secondary school years in the Citrus County school system.  Mary Pearl played the piano as a member of the Solid Seven Orchestra in her high school senior year.  For the four years of high school, she marched at the head of the Citrus High School Marching Band as one of its leading majorettes; she was the class secretary for each of her four years of high school; she played basketball all four years of high school and was elected captain of the girls’ basketball team in her senior year.  She was on the Honor Roll every month of her senior year in high school.  She was also awarded the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizenship Certificate during her senior year in high school. 

        During the World War II years, while still in high school, Mary Pearl was a Certified Observer for the Aircraft Warning Service under the U.S. Army.  She kept watch for enemy aircraft from the clock tower of the Historic Courthouse in Inverness.  She would climb the steps to the second floor of the courthouse where the courtroom was located.  From there she would climb a ladder into the clock tower room where the clock inner workings were located.  She peered out the windows located between the clock faces, looking toward Tampa.  Did she ever see planes?  Indeed she did!  When any aircraft was spotted, she was instructed to call a phone number in Tampa where the authorities would further investigate whether the plane was friend or foe.  Thank goodness all spotted aircraft were passenger airlines or other aircraft of the United States.  Mary Pearl’s observation shift was always on a Sunday afternoon.  She would pack a lunch and eat it in the clock tower while watching out the windows.

        Mary Pearl Green was a Class of 1944 graduate of the Citrus High School in Inverness, FL.  She also graduated from the Southern School of Commerce in Orlando, FL.  She moved to Miami, FL after graduation where she was employed as a bank bookkeeper at the First National Bank in Miami.

          Mary Pearl was a bookkeeper, by profession, and worked in the banking industry and the private sector for many years, both in Florida and in New Jersey.  While employed at the First National Bank in Miami, FL, she met and married her first husband, Donald Augustus Luff, Sr., from Hackettstown, NJ on May 12, 1945 while he was serving in the U.S. Navy.   After her marriage, she relocated to and settled with her husband in Hackettstown, NJ, where they resided for almost three decades.  She worked for the New Jersey Power and Light Company and again as a bank bookkeeper for the People’s Bank in Hackettstown, NJ.  She also worked as a bookkeeper for a local automobile dealership, Vey’s Cadillac and Pontiac, in Hackettstown, NJ.

          Donald Augustus Luff, Sr. and Mary Pearl Green Luff relocated back to Inverness, FL in 1972.  After returning to Florida, she worked as a bookkeeper for the Inverness Coca-Cola Bottling Company.  That was the same company founded by her grandfather, William Thomas Baxley, and run at that time by her mother, Ina Lee Baxley Green, and her uncle, Carey Baxley.  When the Inverness Coca-Cola Bottling Company closed its doors for the last time in 1979, Mary Pearl went to work as a bank bookkeeper for the Bank of Inverness, in Inverness, FL where she remained until her retirement.

          After 43 years of marriage, Donald Augustus Luff, Sr. died on August 7, 1988 in Inverness, FL and is buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Inverness.  A widow, Mary Pearl married a high school classmate, Franklin Leo Armstrong on February 16, 1995 in Inverness, FL.  Franklin Leo Armstrong died on April 21, 2001 in Hernando, FL and is buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Inverness.

          Donald Augustus Luff, Sr. and Mary Pearl Green Luff had two children:  Ann Luff (never married); and Donald Augustus Luff, Jr. (married Janet Marie Panetta). Mary Pearl is survived by her children; one grandson, Brian James Luff (Karen) of Spring Hill, TN and one granddaughter, Michelle Luff Brisson (Benjamin) of Branchburg, NJ; and six great-granddaughters, Allison Karen Luff, Kaitlyn Michelle Luff, Rachel Briana Luff, Kimberly Claire Luff, Pender Jadon Brisson, and Baxley Irene Brisson.  She is also survived by one sister, Claire Green Jenkins of Inverness, FL.  She was predeceased by two brothers, William Andrew Green and David Lee Green.

          Mary Pearl enjoyed doing cross stitch embroidery and sewing clothes for herself and her family in her earlier years.  She made beautiful cross stitch table cloths and dresser scarves.  She was an aficionado of crochet for all of her adult life.  She made crocheted pillow case edgings, crocheted doilies, crocheted table cloths, and is well-known for her beautiful hand-made crocheted afghans and baby blanket gifts.  She was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about this pastime, enjoying hours and hours doing it to create her masterpieces.  She also enjoyed the sport of bowling for many decades and was very proficient at it.  Another of her pastimes in her later years was reading.

          Mary Pearl was raised in the Baptist faith and attended both the Baptist Church and the Methodist Church over the years.  She was a devout Christian and genuinely good person who surely was welcomed into heaven with open arms as she passed from this earthly life into her life hereafter.

          The Chas. E. Davis Funeral Home, Inc. in Inverness is handling the cremation arrangements.  At the decedent’s request, there will be no formal funeral services.  Burial will follow in the Oak Ridge Cemetery.  A Celebration of Life Service for family and friends will be held on November 22, 2025, at Claire Jenkins’ residence, at 1:00PM.  In lieu of flowers, memorials are being accepted in Mary Pearl Luff’s name by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN or a charity of your choice.