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Duff McDuff Green Jr. died Sunday night at his home, Little Falls Farm in Stafford County. He was 88.
Mr. Green was a retired farmer and businessman, having owned and operated J.W. Masters for nearly 35 years, before selling it to Roper Brothers Lumber Co.
He got his start in the lumber industry with Johnson & Wimsatt, a building supply firm in Washington, where he worked for 25 years. Desiring to own his own company, he formed a partnership with John Wimsatt and purchased J.W. Masters as well as Edgar M. Young & Sons.
Mr. Green became the sole owner of the combined companies after Mr. Wimsatt's death.
The oldest of five children, Mr. Green was born into a family whose roots grew deep into the soil of his native Virginia. He was related to some of the Fredericksburg region's oldest families, including the Greens, Howisons, Montagues, Paynes, Gordons and Ashbys.
He grew up at Wortley, a family farm near Aden in Prince William County established by his grandparents Mary Lelia Montague and Allen Howison Green. The farm is now the location of Camp Upshur on the Quantico Marine Corps Base.
Mr. Green's great-grandfather, also named Duff McDuff Green, was the first Green in this area, having moved to Falmouth from Culpeper County. He became a prominent farmer, merchant, justice of the peace and trustee of Falmouth. He also ran a cotton mill and established a home called Ridgeway, now the site of Stafford High School.
Mr. Green was proud of his agrarian roots and his kinship with people who were both genteel and hard-working. He treasured family stories as a child, and as an adult, he found many ways to honor those who had come before him.
In 1966, he took over the regular maintenance of several family cemeteries, a task that included decorating the graves every year at Christmastime. Well into his 80s, he made more than a dozen evergreen sprays with red bows for the graves of his parents, grandparents and other cherished relatives buried in plots at Ridgeway, Manassas Cemetery and Effingham, ancestral home of the Howisons in Prince William County.
He once said that he did it "because it makes me feel good."
Mr. Green also was proud of his own successes in life that allowed him to be generous in ways both large and small. Each December he took great pleasure in buying and personally delivering boxes of chocolates to employees of local banks and businesses that he frequented. He also sent gifts to a wide range of friends, family and associates whose holidays wouldn't be complete without Mr. Green's country hams, oranges and grapefruits.
Mr. Green was a devoted supporter and benefactor of Mary Washington Hospital and its foundation. With a strong belief in expanding health care services in the community, he served on the boards of both MediCorp and MediCorp Properties.
The handsome Wegner metal sculpture and fountain in the cafeteria courtyard were among his gifts to the hospital.
One of his most significant gifts to the community was the donation of 60 acres of land to Stafford County for the establishment of a park. A bachelor with no children, Mr. Green believed that youngsters nowadays spend too much time indoors, so he envisioned the park as a place where children could breathe fresh air and play beneath the great blue sky. Located along the Rappahannock River adjacent to his farm, the park is named the Duff McDuff Green Memorial Park in memory of his great-grandfather.
Mr. Green also gave 14.5 acres of riverfront land to the University of Mary Washington in 2006 when he learned that the school's crew team was in need of a new location to practice.
Little Falls Farm had been Mr. Green's home since 1943, when his father bought the property after the federal government took the family home at Wortley and established Quantico.
Little Falls had always been a working farm, and Mr. Green continued that tradition until recent years. He raised cattle and grew corn and soybeans, as well as a large vegetable garden he tended himself.
Up until January of this year, Mr. Green had enjoyed excellent health his entire life, except for some arthritis in his hands. He thrived on an early-to-bed, early-to-rise routine, and his summertime meals always included fresh vegetables from his garden. He cooked for himself until recently and was always careful to eat fresh, nutritious meals.
Mr. Green loved to travel, obtaining his multi-engine pilot's license in 1950, which enabled him to see much of the United States from the air. At the age of 65, he decided he wanted to learn to fly a helicopter, and he started taking lessons. But a chronic sinus condition caused his nose to drip and he couldn't keep both hands on the controls.
"I needed one hand to wipe my nose, so I couldn't handle the helicopter, too," he explained.
Retirement from J.W. Master's gave him the time to start traveling in earnest, and he took trips all over the world by train, plane, ferry, bus and car. For many years he enjoyed spending time at his second home in the Jensen Beach area of Florida, where he loved to fish.
Mr. Green was a member of St. George's Episcopal Church. He also had been chairman of the board at the former Dominion National Bank.
Among his survivors are two brothers, Thaddeus Montague Green of Beaverdam and Samuel Henry Green of Fincastle; a sister, Mary Green Guinca of Winston-Salem, N.C.; and a number of nieces and nephews.
One of his nephews, Thaddeus McDuff "Duff" Green of Ashland, will carry on the tradition of caring for family graveyards.
Mr. Green was predeceased by a brother, Allen Howison Green III of Fredericksburg.
Also dear to Mr. Green throughout his adult life were the late Mary E. White and her daughters, Elaine Minor and Rosie Frenzley, all of whom were his friends as well as his housekeepers.
In recent years, Mr. Green had come to rely on several people who were very special to him, including Douglas Cooper, a loyal friend and advisor, and Bruce Dobson, a neighbor and constant friend who helped him in many ways.
A memorial service for Mr. Green will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 27, at St. George's Episcopal Church.
Mr. Green's body will be cremated and his ashes will be interred in Manassas Cemetery near the graves of his parents, Duff McDuff Green and Winifred Hinegardner Green. Interment will be private.
Mullins and Thompson Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Green Family Cemetery Perpetual Fund at Union Bank and Trust, Box 713, Ashland, Va. 23005.
