Goodbye Mom

My Mother's Obituary

Jimmie Jenkins Duff

Jimmie Duff , 101 years old, died of natural causes April 16, 2011 in Albuquerque, NM. Born Nov 9, 1909 in Petrolia, Tx. to Maggie Mae and Jacob Spencer Jenkins and raised by her grandmother Amanda Duval and uncle Earl Duval. She married Willis P. Duff in Sherman Tx. in 1932. Their home was in Bonham from 1945 through 1995.

Memorial services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church in Bonham Saturday, May 21st at 11 AM.

Jimmie Duff, beloved mother, grand and great grandmother was in many ways a pioneer. She was driving at 9. At Austin College in Sherman she was on the basketball team, long before women’s basketball was common. She was a member of the first women’s organization of any kind at AC, Kappa Gamma Chi. She was an early entrepreneur; she and Willis bought and ran a restaurant, The Gem Café in Bonham, right after WW II. As a social worker during the ‘60s for the State of Texas, she was an early reformer of private nursing homes, a “holy terror” to any homes that mistreated their residents. After surviving breast cancer, she became an active fund raiser for cancer causes.

Jimmie was predeceased by husband Willis Duff, son James Earl Duff, brothers Raymond, Cecil, Stacey and Clovis and sister Dot.

She is survived by sister Charlene Wigington (Lawton Okla)., son Willis Duff, Jr. (Tijeras, NM) and daughter Amanda Moore (Little Rock Ark.); Grandchildren Chris and Jason Moore (Tyler, TX), Guy (Los Angeles), Earl (San Francisco) and Patrick (Albuquerque) Duff; great grandchildren Kate, James, Camille, Cooper and Colton Moore (Tyler, TX). Amanda Duff, (Los Angeles).

Membership in organizations: First Presbyterian Churches, Sherman and Bonham, Presbyterian Women’s Circles, Kappa Gamma Chi (founded in 1919 as a literary society and was the first women's organization on the Austin College campus)

Other interests: American Cancer Society, Bridge, Crosswords