Marlene Duffy-Young (1950 - 2008)
Paul Johnson / Lakeland Ledger (2004)Polk County has lost a true friend, advocate, and public servant.
Marlene Duffy-Young, who served as a member of the Winter Haven City Commission and Polk County Commission during the 1980s and 90s, died early this morning as the result of injuries received Wednesday evening in a traffic accident on Lake Howard Drive.
She loved the city and county, a tireless fighter for issues which she believed would help improve the quality of our lives.
I always enjoyed the opportunities to meet and speak to Mrs. Young, and she was always kind and attentive to my questions and suggestions. She was one of the first people that I got to know when I came to Florida and began getting interested in local politics.
Even after losing her seat on the County Commission to Republican Jack Myers in 2000, she continued to work on a variety of issues, including support for the new University of South Florida - Polytechnic campus near Lakeland.
This has been a very sad few days. First, the news regarding Senator Ted Kennedy's brain tumor, now this. The news of Mrs. Young's passing touches me greatly, and my prayers go to her husband Robert and family that the love and thoughts of friends from here and beyond willcomfort them, as well as the knowledge that even now she is in the loving hands of Almighty God.
I close this with a quote from the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
Each morning sees some task begun, each evening sees it close;
Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose.
Rest In Peace, my friend.
