Arlene May Devereaux, 94, of Panama City, Florida, died at Community Health & Rehabilitation Center on Saturday, October 16, 2021, unable to recover after weeks of illness.  She was born in Tyndall, South Dakota, on May 21, 1927 to Arthur Floyd Curl and Mary Alma Wilson Curl.

One of eight children, Arlene was raised in the depression, and having lost her mother at only 15, she was tasked with taking care of her two younger sisters.

As a child, she had considered both nursing and teaching, but settled on teaching. After one year of college, she taught in a one-room school in Delmont, South Dakota, but gave it up at the end of the year for marriage and to raise Sally and David in Sioux City, Iowa.

That marriage soon ended, so she worked various jobs until landing at the Dept. of Social Welfare. After three years there, she decided to follow her exceptional babysitter and her husband to Wichita, where she met "Rex", a Tyndall Air Force Base sergeant who was there for school. After their 1952 wedding, he moved her down here to Millville, where she became active in Trinity United Methodist Church, as a Sunday School teacher and Choir Director, and eventually becoming Administrative Board Chairman, Sunday School Superintendent, and a lay delegate to Annual Conference.

About a year after Carol was born, she started work in a law office to help ends meet. When Michele was born, she started her own business as a freelance court reporter to have more time with the kids.

Despite being a working mother, she served as a county and district officer of the PTAs at Millville Elementary, Everitt Junior High, and Patterson 6th Grade Center, and she also spent four years on the Florida Textbook Committee.

In 1970, she began working in the legal department at Tyndall. Then in 1971, her seven grandchildren began arriving, one per year through 1977.

In 1982, she transferred as Deputy Accounting and Finance Officer, and then retired in 1990, almost simultaneously with her husband's passing. Wanting to stay active, she volunteered with many organizations, but she discovered she wanted more travel money, so she became a VISTA worker with the local library. She was later promoted to VISTA supervisor, which involved traveling to literacy conventions; she loved being paid to do what she already enjoyed. During her eight years there, she helped develop a very successful literacy program, including a fund-raising Corporate Spelling Bee.

After moving to Siena Gardens Apts., she transferred to Forest Park UMC in 2005 and was just as active there as she was at Trinity. She also volunteered at the local Medicaid office, was a Bay County poll worker, and was an active member of National Active and Retired Federal Employees and the League of Women Voters.  Lastly, she continued tutoring English as a Second Language until recent quarantines prohibited it.

In June, Arlene had a recurrence of a 2018 illness and finally beat it, but she was not able to recover from the fight this time. She knew the peace of living with God in her heart and was eager to get to Heaven. This world was a better place with her in it, and now she is deeply missed by all those who were lucky enough to know her.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Louis Judson Devereaux, her parents, in-laws, half-siblings, her brother, Gary, and her sisters, Vera and Naomi.  She is survived by her sister, Evelyn Blake of Salt Lake City, UT, and her four children, all living in Florida:  Sally Cable Huston of Tallahassee, David L. Ray (Shelia) of Chason, Carol Devereaux Erb (David) of Nokomis, and Michele Devereaux of Panama City.  She also leaves behind seven grandchildren:  Tonja Cable Francis (Bill), Kingsport, TN; Cari Cable Miller, Tallahassee; Ronald B. Ray, St Louis, MO; Heather Ray Phillips (Gary), Chason, FL; Sunshine Ray Laatz (J), St. Petersburg, FL; Jeffrey D. Erb (Jacy), Oldsmar, FL; and Samantha Erb Rutherford, Venice, FL; and eight great-grandchildren: Meg, Elle, Camryn, Macy, Karsyn, Kinley, Rhett, and Westin, along with many loving nieces and nephews.

Cremation will be done through Wilson Funeral Home, but the Celebration of Life service will be at Forest Park UMC, 1401 W 23 ^rd Street in Panama City on Saturday, Oct 30, 2021.  Visitation (face coverings requested, please) will be at 10:00 am and the service will start at 11:00 am.  In lieu of flowers, Arlene wished for donations to be made in her memory to the Building Funds of Forest Park UMC and St. Andrew UMC.

The service will be broadcast live on the church's FaceBook page and the recording can also be viewed later at https://www.facebook.com/fpumcpc/