Louise McGee Wilkins

Louise McGee Wilkins Obituary Louise McGee Wilkins, died June 16, 2022 at Chesapeake Hospice House in Pasadena, MD. She was born on January 2, 1939 in Greensboro, NC and was the daughter of Dr. Julian Murrill McGee and Elizabeth “Betty” French McGee. She spent her childhood in Greensboro. A memorial service will be held at Grace United Methodist Church in Gaithersburg, MD on July 8, at 11:00 am. Louise attended Duke University for two years before transferring to UNC-Chapel Hill and graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Music. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma at both Duke and UNC-CH, where she was part of the founding chapter. She married her first husband, Paul Green Sylvester, in 1960. They lived in Jacksonville, NC, where he was a lawyer and she was a teacher until she began raising their four children. She was the first woman to serve on the school board in Onslow County and helped raise money to build a new library. After her husband died in 1977, she resumed teaching. In 1981, Louise moved to Greensboro, NC, then Charlotte, NC before moving to Wilmington, NC, where she met her second husband, Daye E. Wilkins, who she married in 1985. He worked in property management and she assisted him in various jobs that took them from South Carolina to Florida and eventually back to Swansboro, NC in 1990, where she began teaching music again at a school at Camp Lejeune, NC. Until 1995. Louise and Daye divided their time between Swansboro, NC and Chevy Chase, MD, where she worked for the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2001, then retiring to Swansboro, NC. In 2013, after the death of her husband, she moved with her son and his family to San Diego, CA, then Sudbury, MA and finally Los Angeles, CA before moving back east to Asbury Methodist Village, a retirement community in Gaithersburg, MD. Here she spent 5 years, making new friends, enjoying water aerobics, singing with the Encore Chorale where she performed at the Kennedy Center, singing in the choir at Grace UMC, and volunteering as a Stephens Minister before moving to Annapolis, MD in the last year. Louise had a beautiful alto voice and enjoyed singing at weddings and with church choirs wherever she lived. Louise loved to travel, and as a member of the Cape Carteret Chorale, she sang with the Leningrad Symphony in Russia and at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Her deep religious faith took her to the Holy Land, including visiting a refugee camp and kibbutz. She enjoyed gardening, reading, following politics and cheering for the Tar Heels. But most of all, she enjoyed visiting her children and grandchildren, who knew her as “GG” (Gorgeous Grandma). She didn’t have the best sense of direction, but we’re sure God will lead her to the pearly gates and welcome her with open arms. She is survived by her brother, James Whitfield McGee and wife Mary Jo of Greensboro, NC; daughter Elizabeth Avery Sylvester Osborne and husband, Brad of Annapolis, MD and their children, Laura Elizabeth Osborne, Sarah Kathryn Osborne and John Bradley Osborne; son, Paul Whitfield Sylvester of Nashville, TN; son, Louis Hargett Sylvester of Morrison, TN; son, Frederick Murrill Sylvester and husband, Patrick O’Brien of San Diego, CA and their children Paul Courtney O’Brien Sylvester and Nicole Kourtney O’Brien Sylvester, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her brother, Julian Murrill McGee Jr. In remembrance of Louise, the family requests that memorial donations be made to Grace United Methodist Church, 119 North Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.

Louise McGee Wilkins

January 2, 1939 - June 16, 2022