Marva Yvonne Hawkins, 82, passed from labor to reward on Saturday, August 3, 2019, at South Seminole Hospital in Longwood, Florida. She was born on September 24, 1936, in Sanford, Seminole County, Florida, to Anderson and Bessie N. Hawkins. She attended the public schools of Seminole County and graduated from Crooms Academy in 1954. She retired from the State of Florida Children and Families Division of Foster Care and the Sanford Herald Newspaper (she served as a Columnist/Correspondent for 49 years). She was also employed at the Central Florida Migrant Clinic as Supervisor of Transportation and at Afro-American Life Insurance Company as an Insurance Agent.

Marva was a loyal member of Second Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Sanford, Florida.  She was well known throughout Central Florida and beyond. She was very active in the Sanford community and was called upon to serve on numerous boards and committees, i.e., long-term member of the City of Sanford Martin Luther King, Jr. Steering Committee where she served as Chairman of the Interfaith Church Service and Choir Liaison; founding member of the Earl E. Minott Scholarship Foundation; Board Member, Goldsboro Front Porch Council; Board/Council Member, Agricultural and Labor Program (ALPI) and Northern Region Advisory Council. She was a member of Evergreen Temple #321 of Celery City Lodge #542-Order of Elks, Crooms Alumni Association, Goldsboro Choice Neighborhood Initiative Committees, Goldsboro Jubilee/Festival and Historic Preservation Committees, and more; and, she received numerous awards and honors for dedicated community service.

Marva leaves to cherish her memory, nieces, Rozland Tillman (Ralph), Sanford, Florida; Gloria Smith (John), Hephzibah, Georgia; Claudia Randall and Eloise Dilligard, Sanford, Florida; and Pastor Beleader Cross (Pastor Melvin Cross, Sr.), Rochester, New York; aunt, Mary Hawkins, Bartow, Florida; special great nieces, Reniece and Rena Tillman, Sanford, Florida; great-great nieces Ray'Nell Tillman and Railey Brown,  Sanford, Florida; great-great nephew, Ralph Jarvis Tillman, United States Navy, San Diego, California; and a host of great- great-great nieces, nephews and friends.