A life in blossom

Anne MacKay was instrumental in developing the Marion County Public Library System’s seed library. [Photo courtesy Marion County Public Library System]

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Posted September 17, 2025 | By Susan Smiley-Height, [email protected]

Perhaps it was her early life on a farm in Ocala that instilled in Anne MacKay a deep and abiding reverence for nature. She loved the feel of being in the saddle of a hunter/jumper as it glided over a fence, the unbridled movement of a free-flowing river and the sun-kissed beauty of Florida’s abundant wildflowers.

MacKay, the wife of the late noted local statesman Kenneth “Buddy” MacKay, was born Anne Taylor Selph on March 6, 1937, in Ocala. She passed away at the family home on Lake Weir on Sept. 7, 2025. Her husband of 65 years died at home on Dec. 31, 2024.

Anne attended Ocala High School and Agnes Scott College before she graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She was a member of Tri Delta Sorority. She was an educator prior to becoming a stay-at-home mom. Buddy served in the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s. He earned a law degree from the University of Florida and opened a practice in Ocala. He served as a state representative, state senator, congressman, lieutenant governor and as the 42nd governor of Florida.

Anne and Buddy raised four sons, Ken, John, Ben and Andy. It is said that she had three great loves—her family, her church and her gardening.

“Mom’s grandfather owned a dairy farm called Massey Dairy. The farm was located along what is now Fort King Street. Its west boundary was where Marion Technical Institute is located and its east boundary was where the Marion County Governmental Complex on 25^th Avenue is located today. The fact that she grew up on a farm contributed to her love of horses. She competed in hunter/jumper events and continued to enjoy watching horse shows late into her life,” Ken MacKay shared.

“Before she began having children, she taught in public schools. Once she had children, she was very devoted to making sure we had a supportive and normal life, even though Dad entered public life while we were all young,” Ken shared.

As for her involvement in her church, Ken said, “Mom and Dad’s families were both active in First Presbyterian Church. Dad taught a Sunday school class called the Crossroads Class in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Mom was four years younger than Dad and she attended that class.”

The couple eventually became founding members of Fort King Presbyterian Church, which recently celebrated its 60^th anniversary. In an online history of the church, Buddy noted that “Although Fort King Presbyterian Church was formally organized in 1965, it originated earlier, in the Crossroads Class for young adults at First Presbyterian Church. Fort King Presbyterian was Ocala’s first desegregated Protestant church. First Presbyterian Church gave us our site, supported us spiritually and paid a majority of our budget for a number of years. The tradition of the Crossroads Class has continued, and Fort King Presbyterian has been known for its diversity, inclusion and active community involvement.”

Ken said Anne was a Master Gardener and was always working with flowering plants.

“She always loved wildflowers and had the opportunity to lead the effort to form the Florida Wildflower Foundation, which manages the Florida Wildflower license tag.

The floridawildflowers.org website states that Anne was a founding member of the Florida Wildflower Foundation and chaired the board from 2004 to 2009.

“During her tenure, the foundation established grant programs that annually provided more than $100,000 for native wildflower research, planting and education projects statewide. Her happiest accomplishment has been to help create the state wildflower license plate in 2000. Anne wrote a gardening column for ‘Florida Monthly’ magazine for a number of years and now enjoys exploring with watercolor examples of Florida’s wildflowers. Her interest in growing things began with her aunt, Ophelia Taylor, a daylily hybridizer, and her father, John Selph, a camellia grower. Anne is credited with the creation of the organization that supports the wildflower license tag in Florida, although she would be quick to share that credit with former Florida First Lady Adele Graham, former Lt. Governor Toni Jennings and many others.”

Ken said his mother “will always be remembered for her active involvement with environmental causes, especially with the wildflower tag and with the conservation of water, especially the Reunite the Rivers campaign.”

 

SONS RECOLLECTIONS

Ken MacKay owned a title insurance business, then worked for a national underwriter. He retired in 2017 and now runs the family farm in Weirsdale, where they raise cattle and grow citrus.

“Early on, she was a tireless traditional mother. She made sure we were all supported in the activities we chose to be involved with, pushing us to choose interests that we were interested in and not to choose interests based solely on what she and my Dad enjoyed doing,” he recalled.

“In her mid-life years, as she and Dad became more politically active, she was a strong advocate for the underserved. She saw a strong tie between her life as a Christian and her political beliefs and she demonstrated ways to show those beliefs with strongly held opinions. Later in life, she showed resolve. She was diagnosed with a lung disease called MAI. Each year it took a little more of her lung capacity away, but she was determined to be independent and to carry on with life without complaint,” he offered.

Ben MacKay, who teaches advanced placement history to 11th and 12th grade students in Jacksonville, said his mother seemed to have “an emphasis on caring for those in need” and that life lessons she imparted “seemed to be heavy on humility in my mind…pride goes before a fall and the like.”

He recalled her affinity for needlepoint art of her favorite sayings, such as, “Bloom where you are planted” and “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Andy MacKay, a software engineer in California, remembers a wall hanging that said something like, “A neat kitchen is a sign of a sick mind.”

John MacKay, a family practice physician in Tallahassee, recalled that his mother “loved horses and was competitive in horse showing. She spent a summer working at the lodge in Yellowstone (National Park). She was very active with PTA at our schools and very supportive of all of our after-school activities.”

Ben said of his mother, “I think wildflowers and family are her legacy. She was very proud of her children and grandchildren and the fact that we got along so well.”

 

DEAREST FRIENDS

Ben and Jo Ann Parramore were founding members of Fort King Presbyterian Church with Anne and Buddy.

“She and her husband were the spark plugs of that church. They are the ones that got it started, brought people along, especially Buddy, but she was always right there with him. We were extremely close. Our children grew up together in the church and were friends. We took youth to camp together to the Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina. I think we worked on just about every committee in the church together,” Jo Ann recalled.

“We were personal friends. We were business partners. We owned the Parramore building downtown together with Buddy and that started in 1977 when we bought that building together and remodeled it and put it into function,” Jo Ann shared.

“We were like sisters. My kids called her Aunt Anne. We probably talked on the phone every week, even when they were in Washington and Tallahassee, we were that close. I told somebody the other day that it’s really hard to not be able to call my best friend and tell her that my best friend died. It’s been a struggle this past week,” Jo Ann said on Monday.

Another friend and fellow church member, Joanne Cornell-Ohlman, said “Anne was the definition of grace—compassionate, quick to forgive, with such quick wit, and always genuine. You could always count on her to tell you the truth with love.”

“Like Buddy, she had immeasurable gifts and enriched our community and state in more ways than I can count. They were both incredibly generous, but so humble that we will never know how many people and causes they helped. Their list of accomplishments is long, but neither one of them asked for or wanted recognition,” Cornell-Ohlman shared.

“Anne’s commitment to Florida’s environment is well known. She had such appreciation for natural beauty and was a gifted artist. She painted what was near and dear to her heart, such as wildflowers and our spring-fed rivers,” she added.

Another fellow church member and friend is Margaret Spontak, president of the Great Florida Riverway Trust, which was established to support reuniting the 217-mile system between Silver Springs and the Ocklawaha and St. Johns Rivers by breaching a portion of the Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam. 

“She was so supportive of me in my on-going work to restore the Ocklawaha. She helped me during some very discouraging times,” Spontak said of Anne.

“Anne was not only a tremendous support to Buddy during his long and celebrated career, she was a respected statewide conservation leader, serving as a member and the president of the Florida Wildflower Foundation. That was one of her passions. Anne always had a glowing smile and something encouraging to say,” Spontak added.

Not long ago, Anne helped establish a seed library through the Marion County Public Library System.

Lee Schwartz, assistant library director of the Ocala branch, wrote in an email to Ken that, “Several years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting your mother while I worked at the Belleview Public Library. Out of the blue, I reached out to her and asked if she might help with a wildflower program for the library. Of course, she agreed. It was a program designed for children, and she loved getting her hands dirty with the kids and celebrating her passion for wildflowers. During the few occasions I was fortunate enough to spend time with her, I was deeply moved by her kindness, her love for people and her genuine nature.

“Her involvement in our seed library initiative was, unsurprisingly to any who knew her, an absolute joy. She was featured on the cover of our magazine and website. She would have been overjoyed to witness the incredible number of seeds going out into the world! There could be no more fitting tribute to Mrs. MacKay than the spreading of pure goodness and natural beauty through this effort.”

 

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Anne is survived by sons Ken (Cindy), John (Kym), Ben (Michele) and Andy; her brother John Selph, III; grandchildren Shelby, Mac (Maddie), Ted, Emily, Sally, Lilli, Nate, Genevieve, Leander and Vivienne; and great-grandchildren Kodah, Kai, Annie and Grace. Her daughter-in-law Juliette predeceased her, as did her parents, her sister Sally Claybrook and her brother Bill Selph.

A celebration of life will begin at 10 a.m. Oct. 18 at Fort King Presbyterian Church, at 13 NE 36^th Ave., Ocala. A reception will follow and all are welcome.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Anne’s honor to the Florida Wildflower Foundation (flawildflowers.org) Interfaith Emergency Services (iesmarion.org) or Fort King Presbyterian Church (ftkingchurch.org).