Mary Kathryn Collins Greer.

Mary graduated Gorden Keller School of Nursing in Tampa FL and went to work for Dr Young in Leesburg. Interesting fact, Dr. Young purchased the Collins family home on Noble Ave when they downsized and moved to S Florida St in the late 1930s/early 40s. He made the house into his home/office/hospital. In his book, A Country Doctor, he tells about the first, only, and last hospital in Bushnell. When his family and practice grew, he moved the hospital to Wildwood for a few years then settled his practice in Leesburg. When Mary graduated, she went to work for Dr. Young! Mary met her future husband, Bill Greer, in Leesburg while working for Dr. Young. Bill drove the ambulance for Page Theus Funeral Home. After their wedding at the home of the bride in Bushnell, Mary and Bill moved to Jacksonville where their daughter, Kathryn Elizabeth (aka Betsy), was born. Mary worked at a hospital (either St. Lukes or St. Vincents) before going to work for Dr. Dekle Taylor. Dr. Taylor was an ear, nose, and throat doctor who pioneered some procedures to allow the deaf to hear. He also studied the effects of water pressure on divers. Mary was the doctor's scrub nurse as well as office nurse. In the early 1960s Bill received a promotion which involved a transfer to Baltimore MD. There Mary landed a job as a teacher of surgical nursing at Union Memorial Hospital providing she would take courses to complete a BS degree. Mary attended night school at Johns Hopkins University to accomplish this requirement. I the 1970s, Bill and Mary moved back to Jacksonville. Mary moved on to her next career as a Red Cross disaster nurse. She was called out on every disaster in the southeastern United States. She was also deployed to help with the Vietnamese refugees. After a few years, Mary left that highly demanding job and went into public health nursing. She transferred to the Gainesville office when she and Bill moved to their retirement home in Lake Panasoffkee. She retired not long after from the Gainesville office. In her retirement, Mary joined the Granville Beville Chapter UDC #2234. She became very involved in their work and held several positions including vice president and president. She was involved with work at several levels of the UDC. During her tenure, she put this small group on the map by co-authoring a monthly newsletter with the help of her daughter. This won recognition for the chapter by receiving the Driver Newsletter Award in 1988. The chapter hosted an annual Beville family reunion for about 10 years. In her spare time, Mary liked to bake, sew, knit, do needlepoint and cross stitch. Mary also liked to travel. She and Bill took several trips by car then they started taking an annual cruise. Mary survived Bill in 2002 and continued to live in Lake Panasoffkee until it became too difficult to get around. In 2008 she agreed to move to Newport News, VA with her daughter. In September of 2010, she fell and broke her hip. She finished out her life in a nearby nursing home where she passed peacefully on February 15, 2011. Mary returned to Bushnell and went out just as she came into this world, at the house on Noble Avenue. She is buried alongside her husband in the Florida National Cemetery of Bushnell.