WEAVERVILLE - Thelma Gene Coan Duff, known to all as Kip, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and friend passed away peacefully at her home in Weaverville, North Carolina on Sunday, July 5, 2026, surrounded by her loving family. Kip was born in Haleyville, Alabama and was the daughter of Luther and Bitha Coan.

Kip lived in many different states and countries, first moving to Georgia, schooling there and attending colleges in Georgia, Florida, Canada and Alaska.

In 1949, Kip married Huey Hebert, a chief petty officer on US Navy aircraft carriers and they had three boys. After an amicable divorce, Kip began her federal career in Jacksonville, Florida working for the Social Security Administration and then at Mayport Naval Station in Mayport, Florida. After several years, she took a tour in Vietnam working as a civilian for the US Department of Navy. After returning to Mayport, Kip married James S. Duff, Jr., “Skipper”, and they lived in Atlantic Beach, Florida where Jim was a US Navy ship’s superintendent for Jacksonville shipyards. After Jim retired, they started a tour in Bermuda where Kip was a labor relations specialist at the US Naval Station. From Bermuda, Kip took a tour with the US Coast Guard as personnel officer for the Seventeenth Coast Guard District in Juneau, Alaska.

After Juneau, Kip worked for the St. Lawrence Seaway in Massena, New York as personnel officer. Then back to the Navy at Naval Station, Guam, where she was a labor relations specialist. She negotiated the first combined (13 naval activities) and two labor unions (AFGE and Firefighters). From Guam, she traveled to Adak, Alaska to the US Naval Station as personnel officer.

She took her first retirement from Adak and settled in Front Royal, Virginia. That only lasted about a year and she returned to duty at Whidby Island Naval Air Station and was deployed back to Adak, AK. She later transferred to US Subbase, Bangor, Washington and worked for the Naval Supply Center in Bremerton, Washington as a labor relations specialist. Kip retired in 1976, after 35 years of government service.

After retirement, Kip bought a one-hundred-year-old four-story house in Tacoma, Washington and coordinated the renovation of that house and the carriage house into a bed and breakfast called Plum Duff. She operated the business for seven years and sold it as a business. Kip was an avid painter and master gardener. She moved to Staunton, Virginia where she lived until 2016 when she moved to Weaverville.

Kip is survived by her sister, Margaret Chitty of Dacula, GA; her sister, Joyce Evans of Houston, TX; her children: Michael Hebert (Valencia) of Weaverville, NC; Don Hebert (Penny) of Georgetown, TX and Russ Hebert (Vicki) of Friday Harbor, WA. Kip leaves behind seven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Memorial services will be held at 2:30 p.m., Friday, September 18, 2026, in the Chapel of West Funeral Home, 17 Merrimon Ave., Weaverville with Rev. Richard Blount officiating. The family will receive friends from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m., prior to the memorial service at the funeral home.

West Family Funeral Services is honored to be serving Kip’s family during this time.