June 18, 1926 \u2013 January 31, 2026<\/p>\n
Doris Laurine Wolff Mellion passed away on Jan. 31, surrounded by loved ones. She was 99 years old.<\/p>\n
Known by some as \u201cMiss Manners,\u201d Doris is remembered for her unfailing friendship, her generosity, sense of style and love of the arts.<\/p>\n
Doris was born on June 18, 1926, in Freeport, New York, to Ruby and Lou Wolff and grew up in Long Beach, Long Island, New York. She attended Drexel University, during which time she frequently traveled to Jacksonville to visit her grandparents, Saul and Sarah Goffin, in their Laura Street home. Saul Goffin was a prolific businessman who established the Goffinsville Community in what is now present-day Fernandina. This self-sufficient 19-acre community included a commissary, post office, oyster-canning plant, a church and a fleet of shrimp boats. Years later, Doris and her sisters, Kiki and Barbee, rejected lucrative offers for commercial development of the property, instead selling it to the Trust for Public Land to create a park in their grandfather\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n
Doris spent time traveling between Philadelphia, where her mother and stepfather, Dr. Martin Sokoloff, lived, and Jacksonville, ultimately settling in the Bold City in the late 1950s. It was here that she met and married Dr. Anson Mellion, and soon after, their son Paul was born. Doris and Anson divorced a few years later, and Doris returned to Philadelphia, working at the prestigious Buchholz Gallery.<\/p>\n
Doris and her mother returned to Jacksonville, settling in San Marco, following the passing of Doris\u2019 stepfather, and Doris launched her career in stationery at The Emporium. In the 1980s, she opened The Write Touch, which today is a San Marco Square staple.<\/p>\n
Fellow San Marco merchant and close friend Ward Lariscy remembers Doris as a woman who wasn\u2019t afraid to speak her mind, was passionate about her work, and was dedicated to her friends and family.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was always the fountain of knowledge and very preppy and didn\u2019t hesitate to tell people what she thought,\u201d Lariscy said. \u201cAny time you needed any etiquette information, she was the expert, the Emily Post of Jacksonville.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doris was an active member of The Women\u2019s Board of Wolfson\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital, devoting countless hours to its mission. Her efforts ultimately earned her The Board\u2019s Abbie Martin Award for service.<\/p>\n
Doris sold The Write Touch to Carolyn Jennings in 2006, and Jennings is honored to continue her legacy, even continuing Doris\u2019 tradition of bringing a dog to the store.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was just an icon in every way,\u201d Jennings said. \u201cI\u2019m happy to pick up where she left off and keep it going.\u201d Lariscy recalled an impromptu luncheon this past December at Seafood Island Bar and Grille. As word spread that Doris was in the neighborhood, friends and merchants came to the restaurant to say hello and spend time with her, including Lariscy. He recalled the restaurant servers had to push several tables together to accommodate everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere she is, 99 and\u2026she was having the best time,\u201d Lariscy said.<\/p>\n
She was predeceased by her two sisters. She is survived by her son, Paul Mellion; her nieces, Linda Umla (Vivienne Munden), Wendy Umla, Gigi Andryszewski (Rich Andryszewski), and Jill Hutchinson (Jerry Hutchinson); and her great-nephews, Cole Hutchinson and Neil Hutchinson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June 18, 1926 \u2013 January 31, 2026 Doris Laurine Wolff Mellion passed away on Jan. 31, surrounded by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-218068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}