Mary Florence Pace

Mary Florence Davis Pace, age 81, of Forsyth, Georgia, passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Florence was born on October 19, 1943, in Augusta, Georgia, to Mary Anna “May” Murphy and Sergeant Mortimer Arnold Davis. After her father was killed in the Battle of the Bulge in 1945, she was raised by her strong-willed mother and grandmother “Ma Murphy”. After graduating from Aquinas High School’s Class of 1961, she attended Fontbonne College in St. Louis, Missouri before earning her degree in Education from the University of Georgia where after mistaking him for another she met James Earl “Jimmy” Pace, Jr. who would take her to Park (Hall), and the rest was history. They were married in 1965 and began their lives together in Forsyth.

While Florence never had her own classroom, she spent many years as a substitute teacher at Monroe Academy before she began her real estate career as a founding partner of Pace & Pace, Inc. She loved meeting new people and sold houses to many Monroe County newcomers, with more sales to their children and their grandchildren. She enjoyed new challenges, especially anything electric or programmable. She had the 2nd fax machine in Forsyth and multiple computers and cellphones. It was not surprising to walk into the family room and see her on the floor with the vacuum cleaner taken apart (later put back together and working!).

She never met a stranger and talked to everyone she encountered as though she had known them forever, a trait she passed down to her children, (though all do not admit it.)

A devout Catholic, Florence never missed weekly Mass, even pausing in the middle of shopping trips with her daughters to find a local church to attend Mass and then continue shopping. (Churches were a lot harder to find before the internet.)

She enjoyed attending UGA games but more than any other thing besides family, she LOVED anything and everything about The Masters Tournament in Augusta which she repeatedly claimed, “they used to close schools and beg people to go”!

She had a green thumb, and she loved working in her greenhouses. She even made friends with the hummingbirds that would fly to her when she would walk outside.

Florence was kind, loving, independent, and determined. No one told Florence Pace she couldn’t do something as her strong-willed Murphy heritage would prove them wrong, another of her traits that was passed on to her children.

Florence leaves behind her husband of 60 years, James E. Pace, Jr, and by her family members, son James E. "Jay” Pace, III (Tamra) of Forsyth, daughters Julie Pace Caldwell of Forsyth, Jennifer Pace Buckhalt (Wayne) of Waverly, and Leighanne Davis Pace of Macon; grandchildren Sarah Murphy Caldwell Feuer (Sandy) of Bondurant, Wyoming, Lauren Pace Griffin (Marc) of Forsyth, James E. “James” Pace, IV (Jessi) of Forsyth, and Tyler Scott Etheridge of Nashville, Tennessee; great-grandchildren Evelyn Rae Griffin and Emelia Grace Griffin, sister-in-law, Judith Pace Merritt of St. Louis, Missouri, a nephew, a niece, and a host of Murphy cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents. The family would like to express its sincere appreciation and thanks to Barbara Glass, Jodi Battle, and everyone who had a helping hand in loving and caring for Feisty Flo at Madison Heights at the Prado, now Pruitt Health Wesleyan, and Family Hospice who have taken special care of her.

In lieu of flowers please make donations in care St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and the Alzheimer’s Association.

A Rosary will be said 4:30 PM with a visitation 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM, Friday, August 29, 2025, at Monroe County Memorial Chapel, 86 West Main Street, Forsyth. A funeral Mass will be held at 10:00 AM, Saturday, August 30, 2025, at Forsyth Presbyterian Church, 63 North Jackson Street, Forsyth. Burial will follow at Monroe Hills Memorial Gardens.