Rosalind "Roz" Ratliff Jeffrey

Jeffrey, Rosalind Ratliff "Roz" Born November 7, 1943 in Sanford and died May 20, 2010 in Gulfport. She is survived by her husband of 5 years, Cordell "Beau" Jeffrey; sister, Jannette Cara of Sanford; brother, Earl Ratliff of Apopka; 3 children, Shelly Steck Reale of Seminole, Holly Steck Hunter of Alabama, and Richard Carroll Steck III of Washington State; step-daughter, Michele Jeffrey Renick; 8 grandchildren, Nicholas R. Reale, Austin S. Reale, Christopher Chase Hunter, Matthew Cole Hunter, Stephen Steck, Sarah Steck, Sean Steck, and Shane Steck. At 17, Rosalind began modeling and soon became one of the original Weeki Wachee mermaids. She then had a brief role on a short lived TV series called The Beachcomber starring Cameron Mitchell in the early 60's. Rosalind soon married and in 1964 delivered her daughter Shelly. Shelly was born with a heart defect and became one of the first children to survive open heart surgery. That experience made Roz always interested in charitable causes and in the early 1980's, she started Marketing Productions Inc. Her idea was a product called "Santa Dollars" which was a real one dollar bill with a picture of Santa Claus in place of George Washington. Santa Dollars were sold by Publix and other major outlets with proceeds going to Charities. The idea was a great success raising millions of dollars for charitable organizations. The product caused some problems for Roz with the Treasury department since they thought she was defacing the bills. She was arrested while traveling to an event promoting the product and brought to the Tampa headquarters. Of course Rosalind always dressed the part for promotions and for this particular event she was dressed head to toe as one of Santa's elves. So, as Rosalind would later tell, she was surrounded by all these big men with suits and guns being grilled about defacing US money with big pointy elf shoes and a pointy elf hat with multicolored stockings and pointy ears. She found it quite funny, as Roz would, and was released when they saw it was actually a decal that came off the bill without damage. There were many stories like this in Roz's life, some funny some tragic and some unbelievable. In 2002, Roz went to her High School Reunion in Sanford. There she reconnected with her sweetheart Beau Jeffrey and they have not been apart till today. They married in 2004 and truly loved each other. They were avid sailors and members of the St. Pete Yacht Club and Pasadena Yacht Club. They sailed around Florida and in 2007, sailed the Mediterranean visiting islands and enjoying their delayed 40 year courtship. In September of 2008, Roz was diagnosed with ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease for which there is no cure or treatment. She fought against this disease till the last day. Her daughter Shelly organized and ran the Tour de Vie (Now called "ride for life") through the ALS association of Florida in November of 2009. The Tour de Vie was a first ever bicycling event for the ALS association. The cycling route went through Pinellas County parks, including Pinellas Trail, with the longest ride being a "metric century" or 100 K. It was held on Roz's birthday November 7th, 2009 also her last. The Tour raised over $50,000 for ALS research but more importantly Roz's desire to always give back was fulfilled even against this monster of a disease. Roz lived a full examined life and will always be with us. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 4pm at Anderson McQueen Family Tribute Center, 2201 Dr. MLK Jr. St. N., followed by a reception at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the ALS Association Florida Chapter, In Memory of Rosalind Jeffrey, 3242 Parkside Center Circle, Tampa, FL 33619-0907.