Loubelle Tyre Long

Loubelle Tyre Long died Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, at Penney Farms Community, Florida. She was 95 years old. Born August 6, 1921, at Florahome, in Putnam County FL, Loubelle Gertrude Tyre was the 8th of 11 children born to Isaac Berton “Bert” Tyre and Zorada “Bell” Carter Tyre. She contracted polio as a young child, which affected her left leg and side. She was the only member of the family to get the debilitating disease. She said her father told her, as she was growing up, that she was the only one who was strong enough to overcome her handicap. And overcome she did. She would tell you it was because of her strong faith in God. She graduated from Melrose High School in 1940. She attended Stetson University in Deland, FL, for two years before returning to Melrose to teach for two years. She then went to Anderson University in Anderson Indiana, a Church of God school, for one year. She returned to Melrose to teach, then to Stetson University to finish her four-year degree. She again returned to teach at Melrose, before getting her Masters Degree from Florida State University. She completed coursework, all but dissertation, for her doctorate degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville. She also attended Yale University for one summer semester on scholarship in 1955. She became supervisor of teachers and curriculum for the Putnam County School system. And ran for the Superintendent of Schools position in 1959. She and Lewis “Davis” Long were married Oct. 26, 1955 in Palatka, FL where they made their home. They have two children, Mark Daniel Long and Melody Long Anglin. They moved to Ocala, FL in 1960, where they both taught in the Marion County public school system, and Loubelle was also employed as school counselor before retiring. She and Davis attended First United Methodist Church of Ocala, where she was a Sunday school teacher for many years and Davis was on staff as a pipe organist for 30 years. The couple moved to Penney Farms Retirement Community in April 1990, where Loubelle was active in different committees and Davis played the pipe organ, piano and directed the men’s choir for many years. She and Davis celebrated their 60 wedding anniversary in 2015. She is preceded in death by her parents, and nine of her siblings. She is survived by her husband, L. Davis Long of Penney Farms, FL; sister, Pauline Tyre Leary of Palatka, FL; daughter, Melody Long Anglin of Daytona Beach, FL; grandson, Johnathan Anglin, also of Daytona Beach; son, Mark Daniel Long and his wife Gaylene Morton Long of Collinsville, Ok; grandchildren, Russell Isaac Long and his wife, Elizabeth Schenk Long of Albuquerque, NM and Jessica Ruth Long Davis and her husband Joshua Davis of Tulsa, OK. She is also survived by brothers-in-law Billy Stanley of Melrose, FL and Jack Schultz of Jacksonville, FL, as well as numerous nieces and nephews and their families. She is also survived by Davis’ siblings, George Long of Sarasota, FL, Joy Brown of Charlottesville, VA and Bill Darden of Palatka, FL. Funeral Services will be held at 2:00pm Saturday, September 17, 2016 at Penney Memorial Church with burial following in Penney Farms Cemetery. Please sign the family’s online guest book at www.broadusraines.com. Arrangements are under the care of Broadus-Raines Funeral Home, 501 Spring St., Green Cove Springs, FL (904) 284-4000.