Florence R. Yerkes

Florence R. Yerkes passed away on May 19, 2012 after a long illness. She was born on July 7, 1925 in Whitehouse, Florida to George and Anna Riffe. She attended Whitehouse Elementary School, John Gorrie Jr. High School, and Robert E. Lee High School. After she graduated from high school she attended the Riverside Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1946. After graduation she and her best friend Mary Moore were employed by Halifax Hospital in Daytona, Florida as a graduate. After passing her state board examination she worked for The Visiting Nurse Association of Jacksonville (VNA). During that time she attended the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to obtain a public health certificate. She met her first husband Neal R. Williams while a student at UNC. Her first husband suddenly passed away in December of 1954. Shortly after Neal’s death she found employment with the Prudential Insurance Company in Jacksonville as the nurse for their medical department. She met and later married Francis H. Yerkes a fellow member of the choir at the Church of the Good Shepherd. They were married in 1958 until his passing in 2005. After her children had reached adolescence she returned to nursing working at Riverside Hospital and Baptist Hospitals. She later worked as a rehabilitation nurse first for Goodwill Industries and later United Cerebral Palsy. After her son Neal divorced she became a mother figure for her granddaughter Sarah Hawkins. 1997 she and her husband built a home South of Green Cove Springs along the St. Johns River where they remained until death. During her time in Green Cove Springs she and her friend Joyce Anderson organized annual Christmas and Easter parties for the Head Start children in Green Cove Springs. Each year she would sew bunnies and make crosses for the children. The parties remain part of the ministry of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. Florence was a member of the Riverside Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Alumni Association and the St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church chapter of the Daughters of the King. She is survived by her brother George Riffe, her son Neal R. Yerkes and his wife Nathachitkan, daughter Anne Bunner and her husband John, son Christopher Yerkes and his wife Michelle, and daughter Mary Knight and her husband Charles. Her grandchildren Sarah Hawkins and her husband Shane, John Grant and David Bunner, Rebecca, Christopher and Michael Yerkes, Chaz Knight and his wife Samatha, and Jonathan and Emma Knight. She had 7 great grandchildren Miles and Jaden Millington, Gavin, Stephen and Lilly Hawkins, Emily and Charlie Knight, and many nieces and nephews. A celebration of her life will be held on Wednesday May 23rd at 2pm at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 400 St. Johns Ave., Green Cove Springs with Reverend Celeste R. Tisdelle officiating. The family requests that in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Building Fund or the Green Cove Springs Head Start Program. Please sign the family’s guestbook at www.broadusraines.com Arrangements are under the care of Broadus-Raines Funeral Home, 501 Spring Street, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043 (904) 284-4000.