Laurie Speer Duke

Laurie Speer Duke, 94 Teacher Lakeland, Laurie Speer Duke of Carpenter's Estates in Lakeland, died Sunday December 21, 2014, of heart failure. She was 94 years old. Born in Arcadia, Florida in 1920, Laurie graduated from Desoto County High School in 1938 and then earned a Business Education degree from Florida Southern College where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega. Her love for children led her to establish Wonderland Kindergarten, a private kindergarten in Bartow in the mid-1950s, where she taught for 15 years. She was an active member and children's choir director at First United Methodist Church in Bartow, Florida and later at College Heights United Methodist Church in Lakeland. As a certified music teacher and children's choir director, she touched the lives of countless numbers of children through her love of music. In addition, she also taught music, typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping in the public school system for many years. Laurie was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, William Morqus Duke. Survivors include her brother, Ray Speer, of Fort Meade; three daughters, Lynn Urda and Leigh Richardson of Atlanta, Georgia, and Lisa Whitfield of Hendersonville, North Carolina; six grandchildren, Adrienne Gustafson of Atlanta, Georgia, Allison Abbott of Nashville, Tennessee, Andrew Redmon of Ras Tanuras, Saudi Arabia, Chris Richardson of Atlanta, Georgia, Heather Hall of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Colin Whitfield of Sylva, North Carolina; and seven great-grandchildren.