Florence Bone

Florence Wilkinson Bone passed away on March 23, 2023 in her Hahira home after battling a long illness. While announcing this information is the purpose of this obituary, it is not the focus of the story that follows because she was so much more than the end of her life. She was born in Katy, Texas on December 29, 1942 and was the youngest of three girls. She was a great athlete playing volleyball, softball, tennis, and teaching swimming lessons throughout her life. She played the saxophone in the high school band and had a deep love for music. She married her high school sweetheart and had 4 girls, Robin then identical twins, Stacy and Tracy, and lastly Jamie. She had a passion for animals, gardening, and anything to do with her girls. And that was the easy part. Now what?

How do you describe someone who has been your confidant, your best friend, your teacher, your playmate, your encourager, the voice of reason, the one who showed you love, the one always willing to receive your love, the one who offered forgiveness for your missteps and convinced you that your mistakes did not define you? How do you describe the life of your mother? How do you put into words a lifetime of joy and discovery that she ushered you into and through? Honestly, you can’t. You have to experience a person like that.

To all who knew her she was kind and gentle but the red hair she came into this world with was capable of living up to its reputation when need be. She was an avid crafter who taught oil painting at the local college where we lived for years. Some of our best memories were learning to sew, paint, do bead work and embroidery from her. She taught us to cook and can food and how to prepare for rainy days. She was very involved in Park Avenue Church where she loved working in the church’s clothes closet with her dearest friends, sang in the choir for worship and God Hath Provided the Lamb (The Promise), and many mission ministries both locally and overseas. She spent time studying the Bible and learning about the One who loved her most, Jesus. Today. She is finally home with Him where she belongs.

Florence is survived by three of her children-Stacy, Tracy, and Jamie, her beloved black lab Charlie, her extended family in Texas and wonderful friends here in Valdosta. She is preceded in death by the father of her children, Jim Bone, her eldest daughter, Robin Bone, her sisters, Mary and Delores and her parents, Freda and Oliver. While she is no longer in our presence, she is very much alive in His and for this and the life of the one we loved and had the honor of calling “Mother”, we three say thanks be to God!

A funeral service will be held at 11am on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at Park Avenue Church. Burial will follow at McLane Riverview Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be prior to the service from 10-11am.

In lieu of flowers, we would like to encourage you to make a donation to the building fund of Park Avenue Church for the new youth space and contemporary worship sanctuary. Both were very dear to our mama.

Condolences may be conveyed online at www.mclanecares.com. Carson McLane Funeral Home