Mary M Prentiss

Mary Marion (Delves) Prentiss of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, at the age of 94 passed from life to life everlasting with her Lord and Savior and with other loved ones on Sunday, January 25, 2015. She was born August 2, 1920 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to George Edward Delves and Charlotte (Bennion) Delves. She was the second of eight children. When she was in the first grade, the family moved to St. Johns Park in Jacksonville, Florida where she attended Fishweir Elementary and Robert E. Lee High School. During World War II, she felt the need to help with the war effort and chose to work as a welder at the St. Johns Shipyard.

In 1947, she was married to Darrell George Prentiss, who after a 21 year US Navy, attended South Eastern Bible College and became an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God Conference. Together they pastored the Exeter Assembly of God church in New Hampshire, as well as the Jacksonville Beach First Assembly and the Atlantic Beach Assembly churches in Florida. They received their initial Ministerial experience opening a closed church in Lexington Park, Maryland while still on active duty with the Navy. Mary’s special area of ministry was offering an encouraging word and a helpful hand to residents of nursing homes. In her retirement years, she was a member of the Jacksonville Beaches Women’s Club and the Beaches Area Historical Society. A favorite pastime was her long walks on the beach.

Mary was preceded in death by her parents; her loving husband, Darrell G. Prentiss, of 57 years; brothers: George T. Delves, Danny Delves, and David W. Delves; sisters: Anne Prentiss, Monica Walden, and Marjorie Buck.

Left to cherish her memory are her children: Nancy Ann Hicks and her husband Charles of Lake Junaluska, NC; Richard Darrell Prentiss and wife Shirley of Hawthorne, FL; Margo Rae Peterson and her husband Terry of Kingman, ME; five grandchildren: Randy, Wayne, David, Tony, and Mary An; and six great-grandchildren. She is survived by a sister Margaret (Madge) Reinertson of Miami, as well as many nieces and nephews of the Delves, Prentiss, Buck, Reinerston, and Walden families.

A Celebration of Life service will be held on Monday, February 2, 2015 at 2:00p.m. at the Hardage-Giddens Funeral Home, the Jacksonville Beaches Area Chapel, located at 1701 Beach Boulevard, Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32250. The burial will be at the Magnolia Cemetery located at 1040 Kingsley Avenue, Orange Park, Florida 32073.

The family will receive friends at the Hardage-Giddens Jacksonville Beaches Chapel one hour prior (1:00 p.m.) to the Celebration of Life service.