Lalla Grace Duty

Marion has lost one of its finest residents. Lalla Grace Duty, 95, passed from this life on Tuesday, December 13, 2022. She was born to Delos Leon Duty and Grace Joanna Moroni on March 11, 1927, in Marion. She grew up in Marion and graduated from Marion High School in 1944. She attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and graduated in 1948 with a degree in Medical Technology. After practicing as a medical technician for a number of years, she continued her pursuit of a higher education and attended St. Louis College of Pharmacy and became a pharmacist in 1968. She joined the Pharmacy of the Moroni family which her uncle Emil Moroni and her mother Grace Duty owned in Herrin, Illinois. She served her communities of Marion and Herrin for many years. She is preceded in death by her parents and a half sister, Helen Ardis Duty, who died in 1930. She was a member of the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Marion.

Lalla loved traveling and in her retirement years she traveled with her mother, Grace Duty, to many European countries. The travels included Italy, where her mother's parents were born. She visited and got to know relatives back in the Old Country. Two of her favorite traveling partners in latter years were Winona Winters Pulley and Erma Moulton Boester of Marion. On the spur of the moment the three of them traveled to various parts of the United States to see the sights. She also made trips to the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Russia, Greece, Scotland and Ireland with Winona and her daughters.

Not only did Lalla love traveling, she also loved people and spent time playing bridge and other card games and hosting dinner parties for friends and family. Many a good time was held around the swimming pool she had built in her backyard on East Allen where she lived all her life. She had a warm and generous spirit.

She loved animals! Her pets were the love of her life. She had several dogs and cats over her lifetime and each was a special part of her life and were the objects of many photographs in her albums. Cats and dogs came to a loving home and added pleasure and joy to her life.

Lalla is survived by loving cousins: Judy Winters (Mike) Smoot of Elmhurst, IL; Jan Winters (Steve) Eigenrauch of Goreville, IL; Oleta Ash (Randy) Corry of Driggs, ID; Laquata Ash McDonald of Idaho Falls, ID; Dr. Kelley Winters of Santa Barbara, CA; Ara Kay Winters (Mike) Andrea of Veradale, WA; Susan Mayes of Scottsdale, AZ; and special friends: Sheryn Strauss of Marion, IL, and her daughter, Julie. Many thanks to all of Lalla's bridge partners who loved her and kept her fed and entertained all her years. Lalla's special friends are many, and include Brenda Allen of Cadiz, KY, who was a classmate in pharmacy school; Susan Joyner (Paul) Freeland, a dear friend over the years; Susie (Mike) Campbell of Creal Springs, IL, who worked for Lalla for 30 years; and Gladys Pulley who recently passed and worked for Grace and Lalla for 28 years, and cousin Dr. Wendell D. Winters (deceased).

Interment will take place at 10 AM on Friday, December 16, 2022, at the Moroni/Duty mausoleum in the Rose Hill Cemetery. There will be no graveside service. Friends and family are welcome to attend the memorial that will be held in the spring of 2023. Mitchell-Hughes Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, and because of her love of animals, donations can be made to The Marion Park District (The Bark Park) in Lalla Duty's name. Address is 519 Parrish Ave., Marion, IL 62959.