Remember "Miss Duffy" on Mom's Day

Two long stemmed roses, one white, one pink, graced the empty stool in its familiar spot in Duffy’s Tavern Thursday night.

A framed photo sat on the counter.

So did a glass of beer no one touched, save for clinking a bottle or mug to it in respect for the smiling woman in the picture.

Pat Geyer would’ve enjoyed it.

But she was away on family business.

As Polli Stroup, one of Pat’s five daughters, tells it, since their dad, "Honest Ed," died 11 months ago he’s been stuck at the Pearly Gates.

So when Pat passed away a week ago Saturday, it took her arrival to vouch for her ol’ man and get them into Heaven together.

Not even St. Peter could resist "Miss Duffy’s" common touch.


Read more in Sunday's Mannix About Manatee.