Mary Spence

Mary Ames Spence passed away peacefully at the age of 78 on April 30, 2018 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Mary was born in Chicago, Illinois to Edna Olson Ames and Burton Allen Ames on March 19, 1940. She was a graduate of Rye Country Day School, Rye, New York, and pursued further education at institutions including Bradford College, Villanova University, and the University of North Florida. She received an Associate of Arts degree in 1987. With her extraordinarily perceptive eye for quality antiques and flair for home design, Mary founded and ran the successful Ponte Vedra Interiors throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. A formidable and passionate golfer, Mary was a member of numerous clubs throughout her life including the Apawamis Club, the Gulf Mills Golf Club, Sawgrass Country Club, the TPC at Sawgrass where she was a founder member, the Golf House Club of Elie (Scotland) where she maintained the womens’ course record for many years, the Greenbrier, and the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. She was also a member of the U.S. Senior Women’s Golf Association. Interactions with her in her work, on the golf course, and with her active social life formed much of a part of Mary’s vivacious persona with people, but it was her love for her family that showed her true and meaningful qualities. Her surviving family and close friends will always remember her for her compassion, her unconditional generosity, and the incredible dynamism she maintained throughout her days - more often spent on the attention of others before her own needs. She was truly an exceptional person who will be profoundly missed by those she loved.

Mary is predeceased by her mother and father, her sister Susan Ames, and her husband Richard Dee Spence. She is survived by her three children who all live in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida; daughter Mary Spence Minchew (Harrison) and her two children, Katherine Liston Berline (Zachary) of Pendleton, Indiana and Connor Spence Liston of Charleston, South Carolina, daughter Ames Spence Kohn (Thomas), and son Richard Todd Spence (Nicola) and his two children, Olivia Dorothy Spence and MacIntyre Todd Spence. She is most recently survived by her great-granddaughters, Ames Scott Berline and Hattie Lee Berline.

There will be a private family gathering at Christ Episcopal Church Memorial Garden, Ponte Vedra Beach Florida 32082. If you wish to contribute a memorial gift, please consider the Christ Episcopal Church Foundation, 400 San Juan Drive, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida 32082. Alternatively, please donate to the Community Hospice & Palliative Care Foundation, 4266 Sunbeam Road, Jacksonville, FL 32257 or give online at www.communityhospice.com/give.