Mattie Jo Duke, 76, of Irwin County died Monday, March 5, 2012 at Tift Regional Medical Center in Tifton, GA.
Funeral services will be held at 2 PM Thursday, March 8, at Pine Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Ocilla with the Rev. Huey Nichols officiating. Interment will follow in Ocilla Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 7 until 9 Wednesday evening at the funeral home in Ocilla.
Mrs. Duke was born December 16, 1935 in Irwin County to the late J.C. Pettis and the late Thelma Myrick Pettis Grantham. A graduate of Ocilla High School, she received her nurse’s training at Portsmouth General Hospital in Portsmouth, VA where she lived for 20 years. She was retired Director of Irwin County Emergency Medical Services, a former nurse at Irwin County Hospital, office nurse for Dr. Billy Sams, and a nurse for Palemon Gaskins Nursing Home. Mrs. Duke served as Deputy Coroner of Irwin County for 12 years. She was Volunteer Chairman of the Red Cross Blood Mobile. A giving and caring person, Irwin County Commissioners recognized her in March, 2000 with a resolution showing gratitude for her many years of service to Irwin County. She was a member of Pine Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Ocilla.
She is survived by her children: Michael and Cheryl Royals, Becky and Jerry Edwards, and Fred L. Duke, Jr., all of Ocilla, Linda D. Bullington and Jerry Williams of Fitzgerald, and Jimmy and Angel Duke of Birmingham, AL; 12 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Along with her parents, she was preceded in death by a great-grandchild and a brother.