Dupee's Funeral Home

Dupee, the former publisher of the South Lake Press and a respected voice for social and political issues in the Clermont area, died at South Lake Hospital on Sunday morning at age 82.“Miss Ann — 'le grande dame' of Clermont and South Lake County, FL is gone from us. Thanks for the memories and a life lived to its fullest,” said former South Lake Chamber of Commerce President Ray Sanfratello on Facebook.Doris Bloodsworth, spokeswoman for the city of Clermont and a close friend of Dupee, said what she remembers most about Dupee is how she was always thinking about others and about making the community better.“There’s never been another like her and I can’t ever imagine there being another like her ever again. She was irreplaceable,” Bloodsworth said.Dupee was born Eleanor Ann Killian in Yakima, Washington.She held a variety of interesting jobs, including rodeo usher, photographer and as an advance girl for the Ice Capades.She met her late husband, George Dupee, when he worked for the Wall Street Journal. They got married after just two weeks and ended up in Clermont after purchasing the weekly newspaper, South Lake Press, in 1968. She owned the paper for 25 years.Dupee, a former city councilwoman, was the first woman to be inducted into the Kiwanis Hall of Fame. She also was a member of the Lake County Women’s Hall of Fame, the Lake County Business Hall of Fame and the Lake-Sumter State College Hall of Fame.Until her death Sunday, she was a South Lake Chamber ambassador, an active member of Beta Theta and Kiwanis, part of the Cooper Memorial Library Association and wrote the "Remember When" column for the South Lake Press.Dupee's brother, John Killian, and his wife, Deanna, wrote to express their thanks to the community."We, her Washington state family, are all grateful that Ann had such a happy, busy and productive life," the Killians wrote. "Ann loved Florida, her community and each of her friends. Her community and friends, too, have been her family, supporting all of her activities and tal... (Daily Commercial)

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