L. Vernon Voyles
L. Vernon Voyles of Gainesville died Thursday in Gainesville after a long illness. He was 73.
Mr. Voyles was a registrar emeritus at the University of Florida. He gave speeches and wrote articles about his field. The L. Vernon Voyles Presentation Room in Criser Hall at UF is named after him.
He was born in Dover and moved to Gainesville 56 years ago. He also served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a major.
Mr. Voyles was a past president of the Florida Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
Survivors include his wife, Phyllis Hazen Voyles of Gainesville; four daughters, Mary Ann Blaha of Plano, Texas, Sharan Stevens and Cindy King, both of Gainesville, and Pam Collins of Jacksonville, N.C.; two brothers, James W. Voyles and Alton R. Voyles, both of Gainesville; and five grandchildren.
Expressions of sympathy may be made as donations to Hospice of North Central Florida.
Woodrow Wilson Williams
CROSS CITY -- Woodrow Wilson Williams of Cross City died Tuesday at Hospice House in Gainesville after a long illness. He was 76.
Mr. Williams was retired from the Dixie County Road Department. He also served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
He was a deacon at First Baptist Church of Cross City.
Survivors include his wife, Leola Williams of Cross City; two daughters, Barbara Ann Jackson and Janice Foster, both of Starke; two sons, Ronnie Williams of Chiefland and Nathaniel Campbell of Cross City; 22 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.
Isaac M. Bennett
Additional survivors of Isaac M. Bennett of Gainesville, who died Aug. 28 in an automobile accident, include his stepmother, Debbie Douglas of Gainesville.
John Milton Brownlee
John Milton Brownlee of Gainesville, a 1950s-era mayor-city commissioner and longtime business owner, was found drowned Tuesday at his pool. He was 85.
Mr. Brownlee had been ill for several months.
He owned and operated Brownlee Seed and Feed Co. for 43 years.
"Gainesville has lost one of its great people, " said M.M. Parrish, former schoolmate and local real estate agent. "He gave liberally of his time to see that other people lived well."
Mr. Brownlee was past president of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, Gainesville Kiwanis Club and the Alachua Riding Horse Association and was current president of the State Board of Directors of the Florida Rural Rehabilitation Corp.
He was born in Starke and moved to Gainesville more than 50 years ago. He was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and participated in the D-Day invasion on Normandy in World War II.
"He lost 63 men that day, " said Glynn Markham, fellow member of Gainesville's D-Day Normandy Club and owner of Rebel House Restaurant in Alachua. "I sat next to him when we went to see 'Saving Private Ryan.' It was a real sad movie; we could hardly stand to make it through."
Among the war decorations Mr. Brownlee received were two Silver Stars, two Purple Hearts and three Bronze Stars for Valor.
In a 1994 Gainesville Sun story on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, Mr. Brownlee was asked whether he thought he'd live to see D-Day from a 50-year perspective.
"Hell, I didn't think I was going to live to D-plus-one-day, " Mr. Brownlee had said. "You always think of some of the friends you lost, and then you think of some of your friends who were with you, what you went through, and I think about how lucky I was to get through it. It was luck, it was nothing but luck. It wasn't anything I did or anybody else did."
Mr. Brownlee graduated from Bradford High School and received his bachelor of science degree in agriculture and a master of science degree in entomology from the University of Florida, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon social fraternity, Alpha Zeta professional fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi scholastic fraternity and the Scabbard and Blade Military Organization.
He was a charter member of Gator Boosters and was a member of the Board of Trustees at First United Methodist Church.
He was also a former member and chairman of the Santa Fe Community College Board of Trustees and was a former member of the Florida Turnpike Authority under Gov. Charley Johns.
He was a member of the First National Bank Board of Directors, the Cattleman's Association of Alachua County, the President's Council and the SHARE Council of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, both at the University of Florida.
Survivors include his wife, Madge Phinney Brownlee of Gainesville; a daughter, Catherine Brownlee Smeltzer of Roanoke, Va.; a son, John M. Brownlee Jr. of Orlando; two stepdaughters, Janet Allen of Beavercreek, Ohio, and Carol Shoup of Martin, Tenn.; five grandchildren; six step-grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Expressions of sympathy may be made as donations to First United Methodist Church.
Terry L. Gaskins Andrews
STARKE - Terry L. Gaskins Andrews of Starke died Monday in Clay County from injuries received in an automobile accident Monday. She was 35.
Mrs. Andrews was a data processor for MCI in Lake Butler.
She was a lifelong resident of Starke.
Mrs. Andrews was attending school at Santa Fe Community College to become a registered nurse.
She was a member of Madison Street Baptist Church in Starke.
Survivors include her husband, Larry D. Andrews of Starke; two sons, Grady Johnson and Dillon Johnson, both of Starke; a stepson, Luke Andrews of Starke; a stepdaughter, Kara Andrews of Starke; her parents, Willard F. and Claudine Gaskins of Starke; a brother, Timmy Gaskins of Starke; and a sister, Sherri Bowen of Starke.
Virginia Irene Collins
Virginia Irene Collins of Gainesville died Monday at Shands at AGH after a short illness. She was 87.
Mrs. Collins was a homemaker and a volunteer at the voting polls. She was also a former youth counselor for teen-aged girls in Dade County.
She was born in Wildwood and moved from Miami to Gainesville 27 years ago.
A past president of Extension Homemakers Council and of Waldo Homemakers Association, Mrs. Collins was named Alachua County Extension Woman of the Year in 1987.
She was a former member of the Little House Conference on Education and had served on the state's welfare board.
Mrs. Collins was a member of the First Baptist Church in Gainesville.
She wrote religious and seasonal poems.
Mrs. Collins was preceded in death by her husband, Ernest Collins Sr.
Survivors include two sons, Ernest Collins Jr. of Gainesville and Timothy J. Collins of Laurens, S.C.; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Expressions of sympathy may be made as donations to the Easter Seals Foundation, c/o the Altrusa House in Gainesville.
Hazel Carol Crowley
Hazel Carol Crowley of Gainesville died unexpectedly Sunday at Shands at AGH.
She was 26.
Mrs. Crowley was a cashier at Chevron.
She was born in Hinesville, Ga., and moved from Ohio to Gainesville 15 years ago.
Mrs. Crowley was educated in Alachua County.
Survivors include her husband, Robert Crowley of Gainesville; a son, Devonte DeBose of Gainesville; two daughters, Angel DeBose and Alexis Crowley, both of Gainesville; her mother, Mary C. King of Gainesville; her father, Bob McNally of Florida; four brothers, Tommy Bryan of Gainesville, Danny Bryan and John Bryan, both of Ohio, and Matthew Fultz of Archer; and her grandmother, Rebecca Warren of Ohio.
Gertrude G. Donovan
Gertrude G. Donovan of Gainesville died Sunday at Hospice House after a long illness.
She was 85.
Mrs. Donovan was a home economics teacher in Boston and worked at the Concord Public Library.
She was born in Charlestown, Mass., and moved from Massachusetts to Gainesville in January.
Mrs. Donovan was a Catholic.
Survivors include two sons, Jack Donovan of Gainesville and William Donovan of Amherst, N.H.; a sister, Alice Lavin of Milton, Mass.; a brother, Francis Gallagher of North Conway, N.H.; and four grandchildren.
Expressions of sympathy may be made as donations to Unitarian Universalist Fellowship for Gainesville Community Ministry in Gainesville or to Hospice of North Central Florida.
