OBITUARY
Mary Blanche Dodge, former resident

Mary Blanche Dodge.

Mary Blanche Dodge, who lived on Block Island until moving to Barefoot Bay in Florida in 1985, passed away May 17 at the Sebastian River Medical Center in Roseland, Fla. She was 88.

Born in Rochester, Mass., she first married the late Willard T. Gifford of Plymouth, Mass., and then Frederick W. Hall, a Block Island fisherman. Widowed, she then married John C. "Jack" Dodge. "He was on the road crew and was second warden for many years," said Brian Wright, a grandson and proprietor of the Weather Bureau Inn here.

During her years on Block Island, Ms. Dodge ran the lunchroom at the Block Island Airport, managed Hall?s Family Market on Dodge Street, and the Block Island Marina Deli (now the Boat Basin). "Her last job was as a cashier at the Block Island Grocery. Everybody knew her," Wright said.

She was a member of Community Baptist Church in Roseland, a past treasurer of both the Block Island School PTA and the Block Island Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary.

At the time of her death she was married to David F. Jackson of Micco., Fla., who survives along with a sister, Marie Yvonne Ouellette of East Freetown, Mass.; three daughters: Priscilla L. Steadman of Providence and Micco, Fla.; Dorothy A. Hutchinson of Coventry; Gina Hall Kansinger of Barefoot Bay; three stepchildren: Douglas Jackson of Crosslane, W. Va.; Jerry Jackson of Palm Bay, Fla.; and Patricia Jackson-Trawinski of Barefoot Bay and Toledo, Ohio, 17 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and eight great-great grandchildren.

She was predeceased by a son, Erwin "Babe" Gifford of Jamestown, and five sisters.

A memorial service was held in the Roseland church May 23. Her ashes will be buried in the Island Cemetery.