Obituary of Rudene C. Allred

Daughter, wife, sister, aunt, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great grandmother. She had numerous life-long and new found friends often; however, in her heart everyone immediately became family. Mother to nine children either born from her body or surrounded by her heart: Oma Lee Cooper, Delene Thomas, Sherry Sullivan, Nettchel “Bitsy” Sullivan, Virgil “Buddy” Sullivan, Alan Allred, Violet Vergara, Sharon Duncan and Aleeta R. Hall. Grandmother to eighteen: Tim Jones, Raymond Jones, Stephanie Lynn Jones-Pate, Joey Thomas, Melissa Hunter, Raben Olden, Darlene Sullivan-Scott, Russell Sullivan, Clint Sullivan, Wesley Sullivan, Barbara Allred, Michelle Steinmetz, Deanna Carmichael, Jared Duncan, Christina Quijano, David Montgomery, Steve Allred and Jeffery Allred. Great grandmother to thirty-five. And great-great grandmother to nine. ~ Rudene C. Allred – Mama to many, “Mama Dene” or “Miss Dene” to everyone else. She had a heart of gold and it was big as the world. She became a care-giver and nurturer at the age of five years old when she began to take care of her four siblings. Gracious and giving by nature everyone was welcomed into her home and invited to sit at her table. No one went away from her place without something to eat or something she had prepared with her own hands. Rudene Allred was an amazing gardener. She had a dream of planting blueberries on her property near Lake Marion. Nearly everyone discouraged her and told her that blueberries would not live or produce in this part of central Florida. She cleared five acres and planted blueberries anyway. She had the very first producing blueberry farm in the area during the early 1980s. Her blueberry crop was the only blueberries available during a six week period of the year. Her blueberries were shipped to places the world around during that small window. Now, the area is known for its commercial blueberry farms. She taught the big boys how to do it. Ultimately, you did not tell Dene she couldn’t do something. She would just go on and show you that she could do it anyway. Her green thumb was extraordinary in that she could also grow vegetables all year round. She knew how to get a meal from the smallest garden plot. Her pantry is stocked to overflowing with the vegetables from her garden. She was the most delighted when she learned that someone particularly liked something she could cook or bake. Many fruit cobblers, chocolate brownies and blueberry muffins were made and sent to people she knew would enjoy her gift. A visitation will be held on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, from 10:00 am until the funeral at 11:00 at Oak Ridge Funeral Care. Final resting will be at Forest Hill Cemetery in Haines City, Florida.