Mary Call Darby Collins
11 September 1911 – 29 November 2009
Mary Call Darby Collins was the only child of Jane Kirkman Brevard and Thomas Arthur Darby. Jane Brevard and Tom Darby were older parents living in New York, having had Mary Call in their forties and fifties, respectively. For Mary Call’s health, her mother returned to Tallahassee with Mary Call, where they moved in with Mary Call’s maternal grandmother and aunt on Monroe street, near The Grove. Her grandmother was Mary Laura Call Brevard, the youngest daughter of Richard Keith Call and Mary Kirkman Call and her aunt was Caroline Mays Brevard.[1]
The 1920s took a heavy toll on young Mary Call, who lost several of her closest family members within just a few years. Soon after starting high school, she met Thomas LeRoy Collins, her future husband, and future Governor of Florida.[2] After high school, Mary Call attended Florida State College for Women, which would later become Florida State University. When Mary Call’s mother Jane died in 1932, shortly after Mary Call began to spend time with LeRoy Collins, Mary moved in with her uncle, Dr. Ephraim, and his wife Bess Brevard briefly before marrying LeRoy Collins on June 29th, 1932. After their honeymoon, she returned to Florida State College for Women and graduated with her degree in spring 1933. Mary Call Darby Collins and LeRoy Collins would have four children: LeRoy Collins, Jr., Jane Brevard Collins, Mary Call Collins, and Sarah Darby Collins.[3] Shortly after they began their family, Reinette Long Hunt died, and the future of The Grove was uncertain for a few years until Mary Call was finally able to acquire The Grove in November of 1942, while LeRoy was serving as state senator. Over the next several years, the Collins family renovated and rehabilitated the Call-Collins House and surrounding land.[4]
While her husband pursued his political career, Mary Collins became involved with historic preservation efforts at both the Governor’s Mansion and at The Grove. These efforts would ultimately lead to The Grove opening as a museum for a short while during the 1960s while the Collins lived outside of Tallahassee.[5] Mary Call Darby Collins was dedicated to historic preservation, expanding her efforts beyond her family home to other buildings in Tallahassee.[6] While in LeRoy worked at the National Association of Broadcasters in 1960, Mary Collins joined the Mount Vernon Ladies Association as a Florida representative and continued working on historic preservation in Washington D.C. She additionally served on the Board of Historic St. Augustine .[7] LeRoy and Mary Call sold The Grove to the State of Florida in 1985 under a life lease, under which the state would sublease the property to Mary Collins and upon termination of the sublease, The Grove would be “restricted to use as a museum of Florida history.”[8] Six years later, LeRoy Collins passed.[9] Mary Call was recognized in 1996 by the Florida Heritage Foundation for her preservation efforts at The Grove. In 2003, Governor Jeb Bush presented her with the Great Floridian Award. [10] Mary Call Darby Collins died in 2009 and was buried next to her husband at her family cemetery at The Grove.
[1] Menton, The Grove, 57-59
[2] Menton, The Grove, 62-64
[3] Menton, The Grove, 66-67
[4] Menton, The Grove, 67-70
[5] Menton, The Grove, 80
[6] “Obituary of Mary Call Darby Collins,” December 1, 2009 (page 6 of 20). (2009, Dec 01). Tallahassee Democrat (1949-2011) Retrieved from https://login.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/historical-newspapers/december-1-2009-page-6-20/docview/2095765028/se-2?accountid=4840
[7] “LeRoy and Mary Call Collins | Grove.” The Grove Museum. https://thegrovemuseum.com/learn/history/collins/.
[8] 1985 Lease Agreement, 85-SL9, Leon County: BLA Acquisition No. 80-23, BLA Review No. 85-153-450.
[9] Menton, The Grove, 88
[10] “Obituary of Mary Call Darby Collins,” December 1, 2009 (page 6 of 20). (2009, Dec 01). Tallahassee Democrat (1949-2011) Retrieved from https://login.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/historical-newspapers/december-1-2009-page-6-20/docview/2095765028/se-2?accountid=4840