Mettie Jean Livesay
March 27, 1948 – February 12, 2024
Mettie Jean (Willingham) Livesay of Tavares, Florida passed away peacefully on Monday, February 12, 2024. She was 95.
Jean was born in Appalachia, Virginia, and was the last surviving of her six siblings. She and husband Harry were married on March 27, 1948. They lived in California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Jean was a longtime active member of Virginia Hills Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, where she was a well-loved Sunday School teacher. They retired in central Florida in 1982. She moved to Tavares from Tampa in 2015.
Jean loved her family dearly. She cherished her life as a wife, mother, and homemaker. She enjoyed baking pies and cakes and was quite talented at crocheting and knitting. During her years in Deltona, Florida, she was an avid writer of letters to the editor to express her opinion on various issues.
She was preceded in death by her husband Harry on Christmas Day 2008 after 60 years of marriage. Jean will be dearly missed by her sons, Jeff Livesay of Tavares, Gil (Suzanne) Livesay of Sugar Grove, North Carolina, and Matthew (Lisa) Livesay of LaFayette, Georgia; her daughter, Karen (Bob) Cleland of Tampa, Florida; and grandchildren, Carrie (Mike) Reid of Castle Rock, Colorado; Micah Livesay and Wren Livesay, both of Boston, Massachusetts; and four great-grandchildren, Macy, Drew, Leah and Nick Reid.
Family and friends are invited to gather on Friday, February 16 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. with a funeral ceremony starting at 2:00 p.m. in the funeral home chapel. Jean’s final resting place will be with her husband at Florida National Cemetery, in Bushnell, Florida.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her honor to the Alzheimer’s Association – https://act.alz.org/
