Maria Durham

Services for Maria Durham of Thomasville will be held at 3:00PM on Sunday August 20, 2017 at Barnett’s Creek Baptist Church with Rev. Paul Blough officiating. Interment will be in the church cemetery. Born on December 1, 1925 in Ukraine, she was the daughter of the late Stephan Furyaka and Ahafia Kryvda Furyaka. In 1939, she was taken prisoner and was held captive for 7 years. Once released, she and her husband and three children immigrated to America and arrived on Ellis Island in December 1949. After this they were moved to Philadelphia where they were helped by a Ukrainian organization that helped them with finding an apartment, clothing, food and jobs. She moved to Thomasville in 1975 with her second husband where they were active in the community and faithful members of Barnett’s Creek Baptist Church. Mrs. Durham loved people and always told them she loved them and always had a hug for everyone she met. She earned the nickname “Grandma the Baker” because she always took baked goods and gave them out to people she visited. She also volunteered at Archbold Memorial Hospital for 25 years. She is preceded in death by her husband, Roy Durham who passed away in 1983. She is survived by her son, William Mitchell Jr. of Halandale, Fl., daughters, Helen Crain and her husband Bill of Thomasville, Vicki Luba Walsh and her husband Rick of Cape Coral, Fl; grandchildren, Samuel K. Crain and Cindy Thompson; great grandchildren, Samuel K. Crain II, Brandon Crain and wife Morgan, Shaylyn Crain, Kelly Crain, Justin Thompson, and Alexis Thompson; great-great grandchildren, Lilith Crain and Kayden Crain. She was preceded in death by sister, Melanie Kowal. The family will receive friends on Saturday, August 19, 2017, 4:00PM until 6:00PM at Allen & Allen Funeral Home Chapel.