Dr.  John W. Duff, Jr.

Dr. John W. Duff, Jr., 97, of Rockledge, FL, passed into the hands of the Lord on Saturday, March 9 ^th after a short illness. He is survived by his wife Rosalyn, of 78 years, and by his son John W. Duff, III, and daughters, Jean (Duff) Wilkes, Sue (Duff) Husby and Jane (Duff) Jollay. He is also survived by his grandchildren Rachel (Ramsey) Torda, Shannon (Duff) Ledford, Hillary (Husby) Lowe, Whitney (Husby) Worthington, Claire (Jollay) Mayorga and Vanessa Jollay, and his great grandchildren, Rose Torda, Abbie, Henry and Walt Ledford, Laura and Lila Lowe and Grayson Mayorga. He was proud of all these children and loved being their "pah-pah."

John was the son of Dr. John W. Duff, and Bertha (Lusk) Duff, of Charleston, West Virginia. He had six siblings.

John was born on August 24, 1921, in Charleston. He was a graduate of Marshall College in West Virginia and Louisville Dental School in Louisville, Kentucky. While in West Virginia, he met the love of his life, Rosalyn Carney. They married on July, 27, 1941. He moved the family to Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1950, where he began serving as a Captain in the Air Force. Later, they moved back to West Virginia when his term of duty was over. But, while in Mississippi, they had gotten a taste of the warmer weather and decided to move to Florida.

John moved the family to Florida in 1957 to begin a Dental residency in Arcadia. While in Arcadia, Rose got her degree in Biology Education at Florida Southern in Lakeland. In the fall of 1962, John and Rose learned of NASA's fledgling space program. After a visit to central Brevard, they fell in love with Rockledge and felt it would be a great place to begin a Dental practice and raise their family. They moved to Rockledge in early 1963. He began practicing Dentistry and Rose began teaching. He prided himself on offering quality dental work at lower prices. He was of the era where the Dentist cleaned teeth. He also made many of the dentures for his patients, himself.

The years went by and John grew his hobby of flying airplanes, with Rose going along, to such places as the northeastern coast of the US, Alaska, and the Midwest. He also loved to play golf, a hobby he had shared with Rose since the 1940's.

He retired from his Dentistry practice in 2000, and sold his airplanes soon after. He and Rose continued to travel, this time via RV, and to play golf for a while. In later years, John and Rose got together with friends and always loved welcoming a steady stream of family year round to their house. John was one of a kind and "did it his way." John loved West Virginia and longed to go back and visit in his last months. The family will miss him, deeply, but we know he lived a blessed life and had everything, and more, than anyone could have ever wanted. The most cherished being Rose. As the saying goes, they "broke the mold" when he was born. And, we wouldn't have wanted it any other way. We will always love our "pah-pah." Lastly, the family would like to thank Dr. Ralph Page and staff, Mr. Joey Morales, Physical Therapist, Dr. Dorothy and all nurses and attending staff at the Health First Hospital in Viera for their wonderful care.

"Take me home, country roads,

To the place where I belong,

West Virginia, Mountain mama, take me home, country roads."