Freda Barry Hartness Wilkins, 73, of Wilmington, NC passed away peacefully at her home in Wilmington, NC on July 11, 2015. She was born on February 3, 1942 in Sanford, NC to the late Elizabeth Lowman and William Rufus Hartness, MD. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Lucien S. Wilkins, Sr., of Wilmington; her son, Lucien S. Wilkins, Jr. “Sandy,” of Mooresville; her daughter, Elise Wilkins Wilson and husband, Joel, of Wilmington; her grandchildren, Calvin Banks Wilson and Lowman Elizabeth Wilson, of Wilmington; her brother, William Rufus Hartness III “Topper” and wife, Debbie; her niece Tara Hartness Grudzielanek and husband, Christopher; and her nephew, William Christopher Hartness, all from Greenville, SC.
Freda graduated from Meredith College with a degree in Biology and Home Economics, and taught at Westhampton High School in Richmond, Virginia, married her husband of 49 years, Lucien, while he was a medical student at the Medical College of Virginia. Their first child, Sandy, was born while Lucien was stationed in Hawaii as a medical officer on the flagship of a Destroyer division stationed at Pearl Harbor. On returning to Richmond their daughter, Elise, was born. Freda’s young family moved to Wilmington, NC in 1973 when her husband, Lucien, joined Wilmington Health Associates. As her children became more independent she became a member and president of the New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick County Medical Auxiliary where she provided photographs for A Cooks Tour of the Azalea Coast Cookbook sold for fundraising. An avid gardener, she joined the Cape Fear Garden Club where she served as president and photographed the Azalea Belles in the beautiful gardens on display in the Garden Club sponsored Azalea Festival Garden Tour for many years.
She loved her First Presbyterian Church where she was a choir member, Deacon and taught Sunday school. She provided pictures of the magnificent stained glass windows for a book, Let There Be Light, by Leslie Boney that she photographed from scaffolding in the Sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church and photographed A Bench in Snow for the church Christmas card.
Pursuing her true passion, photography that she learned at the knee of her father in his darkroom in her childhood home, Freda opened her own Photographic Studio, Freda Wilkins Photography, in a studio located in her home so she would be there every day for her children when they returned home from school. She specialized in photographing brides and photographic family portraits in outdoor settings. Many of those portraits have become a part of the heritage of many families across the country that are hung alongside additional portraits of their children at special events in their lives. She enjoyed photographing high school students, Deacons of the First Presbyterian Church, principals in Wilmington businesses, newborn babies and families on the beach.
She provided photographic illustrations for numerous regional and national publications including; Growing a Beautiful Garden and Creating a Beautiful Landscape by Henry Rehder, Jr., Multiple editions of A Guide to Cape Fear Leisure, Cape Fear Adventure by Diane Cashman, and The Big Click, Photographs Of One Day In North Carolina. In December of 2014, Freda in collaboration with her husband, Lucien, published IN THE GARDEN, a retrospective of her nature photographs often printed on gallery-wrapped large canvasses. Her nature photography was inspired by her parent’s deep love of gardening, her intense love of nature, room gardens she planted and tended at her home in Wilmington and the wildflower gardens and vineyard at their mountain home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. One of her greatest joys was spending time in her twelve gardens and vineyard in the mountains with her grandchildren, Banks and Lowman.
Freda lived a life full of joy and even with a progressing illness which she often referred to as a blessing. She found a deeper meaning in nature and found profound spirituality in the simplest things. Freda enjoyed tilling and planting of beautiful flowers in God’s rich earth, she captured nature’s beauty with her camera, strengthened her bonds with family and friends and left a legacy of love and kindness for her children and their progeny.
A memorial service will be held at 11am Thursday July 16, 2015 at First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington with a reception following the service in Gilmour Hall.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the following charities close to her heart. JDRF, 1015 Ashes Drive, Suite 101, Wilmington, NC 28405; Meredith College, 3800 Hillsborough St., Raleigh, NC 27607; Lower Cape Fear Hospice, 1406 Physicians Drive, Wilmington, NC 28401, Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina, 4000 Blue Ridge Road, Suite 170, Raleigh, NC 27612 or First Presbyterian Church Pastor’s Fund, 125 South 3rd Street, Wilmington, NC 28401.