Mary Call Darby Collins (September 11, 1911 – November 29, 2009http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20091130/BREAKINGNEWS/91130017/Collins-died-Sunday-after-long-illness) was an American

historic preservationist Preservationist is generally understood to mean ''historic preservationist'': one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects, or sites from demolition or degradation. Historic preservation us ...

who was the

first lady of Florida The first lady of Florida is the title held by the hostess of the Florida Governor's Mansion, usually the spouse of the governor of Florida, concurrent with the governor's term in office. Casey DeSantis is the current first lady of Florida, ass ...

from 1955 to 1961 as the wife of

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

LeRoy Collins Thomas LeRoy Collins (March 10, 1909 – March 12, 1991) was an American politician who served as the 33rd Governor of Florida. Collins began his governorship after winning a special election in 1954, was elected to a four-year term in 1956 ...

Early years

Mary Call was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, New York, the only child and daughter of Thomas Arthur Darby and Jane Kirkman Brevard. Brevard being the daughter of Theodore Washington Brevard Jr. and Mary Laura Call. Mary Laura Call was the daughter of

Richard Keith Call Richard Keith Call (October 24, 1792 – September 14, 1862) was an American attorney, politician, and slave owner who served as the 3rd and 5th territorial governor of Florida. Before that, he was elected to the Florida Territorial Council and a ...

, 3rd and 5th territorial governor of Florida and Mary Letitia Kirkman. Mary Call was born in New York because her father had business interests there. However, concerned for her health in the harsh northern winters, Jane Darby and Mary moved to Tallahassee and the Brevard family home of her maternal

grandmother Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic gra ...

, Mary Call Brevard, and her Aunt Caroline Mays Brevard on Monroe Street. Thomas Darby visited his wife and daughter often and planned to establish a home for them in Tallahassee when circumstances permitted him to leave New York. When Mary Call was nine years old, her best friend and first cousin, Cora, died following a fall from a tree. In 1920 both Mary Call Brevard and Aunt Caroline died from the

Spanish Flu epidemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

. In 1923, Thomas Darby was found dead in his New York hotel room at age 66. His business partner then took the proceeds of their successful business and boarded a ship for

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. The ship was lost at sea with all hands. Mary Call attended

Leon High School Leon High School is a public high school in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is the oldest public high school in the state, and is a part of the Leon County Schools System. History Leon High School is one of the oldest high schools in th ...

and appeared as "The Fairy Queen" in a 1916 May Party picture in the history book. Mary Call met Thomas LeRoy "Roy" Collins, whom she later married. Mary Call went on to Florida State College for Women but temporarily withdrew in order to help take care of her mother who was ill with

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. In February 1932, Jane Brevard Darby died at the age of 64. Mary Call moved in with Uncle Ephraim and Aunt Bess Brevard. On June 29, 1932 Mary Call married LeRoy Collins at St. John's Episcopal Church in Tallahassee. Mary Call returned to college and graduated. In 1942, the Collins family acquired

The Grove Plantation The Grove, known officially as the Call/Collins House at The Grove, is an antebellum plantation house located in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. Territorial Governor Richard Keith Call constructed The Grove circa 1840. By 1851, Call deeded th ...

, a circa 1840 plantation home originally built by Mary Collins' great grandfather Richard Keith Call.

Children and grandchildren

LeRoy and Mary Call Collins had 4 children: Roy Jr., Jane Aurell, Mary Call Proctor and Darby Collins and 12 grandchildren, including John Brevard, a designer and architect.

Mary Call Darby Collins Award

The Mary Call Darby Collins Award, one of three historic preservation awards from the Florida Secretary of State's office is presented to a volunteer who has forever changed the course of historic preservation. (In the 1970s, Mary Call Collins had served, by gubernatorial appointment, as a member of the

Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board The Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board (HSAPB) was a state agency in Florida that participated in the restoration and preservation of historic buildings in St. Augustine, Florida from 1959 to 1997. Created in 1959 by Governor LeRoy Coll ...

Death

Mary Call Darby Collins died at the age of 98, after a long illness. At this time, she was still living in her great-grandfather's home, which the State of Florida is considering turning into a historic museum.

References

Tallahassee Magazine, July 1, 2006Miami Today News, March 30, 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Mary Call Darby 1911 births 2009 deaths First ladies and gentlemen of Florida Historical preservationists People from Tallahassee, Florida 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians Leon High School alumni 21st-century American women