Mary Gentry Blackburn

The family will receive friends from five until seven o’clock in the evening on Thursday, December 5, 2013 at The Oaklawn Chapel. Funeral services will be on Friday, December 6, 2013 at one o’clock in the afternoon at The Oaklawn Chapel with Reverend Bruce Jones officiating. Entombment will follow in Oaklawn Cemetery.

Mary and her twin sister, Meredith Smith, were born January 6, 1967, in Jacksonville. She graduated from Wolfson High School in 1985 and attended Florida State University. During the 1980’s Mary modeled for Denise Carol Modeling and Talent Agency. In 1983 she won first place in the summer modeling expo. She was signed with Prestige Models in Paris the summer after her junior year in high school. She was baptized and confirmed at Southside United Methodist Church where she was an acolyte and member of the United Methodist Youth.

She married Lonnie David Blackburn May 14, 1998. She had previously worked at AT&T and Bell South.

Mary was predeceased by her father, Charles Conrad Gentry, in 1993, by her father’s oldest brother, Donald Rex Gentry (Carolyn,) Bushnell, Florida; and her mother’s sisters, Frances S. Brewster and Elizabeth Joan Smith; and her beloved grandparents, Emma and Horace Smith.

Survivors besides Mary’s twin sister and husband include her mother, Carolyn S. Gentry, Jacksonville, and her brother, Charles Conrad Gentry, Jr., his wife Sebnem Kucuk Gentry and their children Julide and Derin Gentry. Mary is also survived by her aunt and uncle, Jane and Tom Dixon, Jacksonville, and her cousins: Dr. Marcus E. Brewster, Beerse, Belgium; Horace Henry Brewster, Jacksonville; Samantha Elizabeth Dixon Eversole (Britt,) Princeton, New Jersey, and their children, Charlotte and Sebastian Eversole. Other survivors are her late father’s brothers: Ronald Wayne Gentry (Sharon,) Inverness, Florida; Thomas Ross Gentry (Bob Bella,) Galax, Virginia; Randy Gentry (Suzy,) Ozark, Alabama. Mary is also survived by her twin cousins, the daughters of Sharon and Ronald Gentry: Michele (Dave) Leidel, Sebring, Florida; Renee (Mike) Bess, Sarasota, Florida; and another cousin, Guy Gentry, Bushnell, Florida.

Her family wishes to extend their deepest love and gratitude to her caregivers, Priscilla Sims and Deanna Monbeck, for their care and devotion.

Pallbearers will be Horace Henry Brewster, Charles Conrad Gentry, Jr., James Michael Corcoran; Raymond Smith, Lee Rubner and Marion Valle.

Memorial donations may be made to Hubbard House, P.O. Box 4909, Jacksonville, Florida, 32201; or the American Liver Foundation at www.liverfoundation.org/howtohelp. HARDAGE-GIDDENS, THE OAKLAWN CHAPEL, 4801 San Jose Boulevard is serving the family.