Florence Phillips Evans Jordan, age 81, lived her entire life as a resident of Montgomery, Alabama. An only child, she was loved and adored by her parents, Julia Fairlie Gunter Evans and Ethelbert Henry Evans. She was born on October 11, 1939. On May 13, 2021, she died peacefully, surrounded by her family at home. She is survived by her husband of over 59 years, George Edmund Jordan, Sr., as well as her children Julia Jordan Weller (husband Christopher William Weller, Sr.), George Edmund Jordan, Jr., and Bert Evans Jordan, all of Montgomery. She is also survived by two grandchildren, Christopher William Weller, Jr. (wife, Heidi Mitter Weller) of Waterford, Virginia, and her namesake, Florence Phillips Gunter Weller of Montgomery. She is also survived by numerous cousins and relatives.
Florence grew up in Montgomery, living with her parents and her paternal grandmother, Ethel Hatcher Evans (Ms. Henry Green Evans, Jr.) until the age of 12, before moving with her parents to a separate home in the Garden District. Florence attended both Miss Margaret Booth School for Girls and Bellinger Hill Grammar School, continuing in Public School through her graduation from Sidney Lanier High School in 1957. She attended Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia, and later graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1961. At the University, she was a member of the Kappa Delta sorority. She met her husband George in the fall of 1961, and they married in the spring of 1962. She later taught Junior High School English at public schools for 2 ½ years at Goodwyn Junior High, as well as Bellingrath Junior High, where she made lasting friendships with many of her students.
Florence enjoyed gardening, earning an Alabama Master Gardener Certificate. Her love of flowers came naturally from her paternal grandmother, Ethel Evans, and her aunt, Florence Evans Simpson. Her other favorite pastimes including writing poetry, in which she mostly expressed her own thoughts and feelings, but occasionally friends requested poems for special occasions. Her love of poetic expression was also a prominent trait of her maternal family. Her grandmother, Julia Scott Gunter, sang songs and read poems to her grandchildren that could bring laughter or tears. Florence published a book of poetry entitled "Mes Souvenirs, Poems, Meditations and Stories From the pen of Florence Evans Jordan." Her other pastimes included the study of the arts where she enjoyed membership with the Montgomery Antiquarian Society. She also enjoyed the study of genealogy and history and was a member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.
Florence was active in many charitable, patriotic, and cultural organizations. She completed the EFM Theological Course from the University of the South, and the Haden Institute Course in Dream Work. She loved both the church traditions that shaped her understanding of the Christian Faith, Presbyterian, and Episcopal. These experiences broadened her horizons in grasping the limitless height and depth of God's Holiness and Love expressed through His Son and spread through His Spirit. She departs this life depending on the sure hope that promises made in scripture by Lord Jesus of Nazareth are certain.
Visitation will be held at St. John's Episcopal Church, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 16, 2021, with a service in the sanctuary at 2 p.m. Graveside will follow at Greenwood Cemetery, 909 Lincoln Road, Montgomery, AL. Leak Memory Officiating. Pall Bearers for the service are William S. Haynes, Oliver L. Haynes, R. Bruce B. Rinehart, Dr. Robert G. Haas, William I. Eskridge, William A. Gunter IV, Clifford A. Lanier, Charles R. Trotman, and Robert T. Trotman. Honorary Pall Bearers are Robert Cole, John T. Dale, John W. Durr, Bruce Johnson Downey, III, Charles D. Jordan, Thomas S. Lawson, Dr. Charles McGavock Porter, James M. Scott, Mat C. Raymond, Sr., Robert H. Young.
Many thanks to Dr. William D. Smith, whose kindness extended beyond measure, to family and friends, and to Amedysis Hospice of Montgomery.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. John's Episcopal Church of Montgomery 113 Madison Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama, 36104, or to the charity of your choice.
Online condolences may be shared at www.Leak-MC.com.
Published in Montgomery Advertiser from May 14 to May 15, 2021.