Helen Yelverton Freeman

Helen Yelverton Freeman, age 96, passed away peacefully on Thursday morning, May 25, in Charlotte, NC. She was respected by those who worked with her and dearly loved by family and friends. For the last 23 years she lived in Landfall, Wilmington, NC and prior to that McLean, VA (30 years), San Francisco (4 years), Atlanta (11 years), Ocala/Clearwater, FL (5 years), and Black Creek, NC (23 years). 

Helen Yelverton was born in Black Creek, NC, in Wilson County, where she was raised on a tobacco farm. She was the fifth of six children of Albert Lloyd Yelverton and Minnie Barnes Yelverton. Helen studied at East Carolina Teachers College and graduated in 1942 with a degree in Nursing from the Rex Hospital School of Nursing, in Raleigh, NC, where she served as President of her graduating class among other honors. It was there in Raleigh that she met the love of her life, Neill Willis Freeman, Jr. then a student of Agriculture at N.C. State University. Neill and Helen married in 1943 and initially moved to Ocala, FL and later Clearwater, FL where they lived through the World War II years. In 1944, the couple was blessed with a son, Neill III, followed by a daughter, Julia (1947), and sons John (1950) and James (1957). The family moved as Neill’s career blossomed into increasingly senior positions within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition to Helen’s priority of raising her children, she also worked as a registered nurse for many years at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C. where she specialized in oncology, and later at Vincent Hall Retirement Community in McLean, VA. She and Neill retired to live in Landfall, Wilmington, NC in 1994. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Wilmington, NC and prior to that McLean Baptist Church, McLean, VA where she taught Sunday classes.

Helen’s work for many years as an oncology nurse required strength, faith, optimism and compassion while helping her patients in their time of greatest need. These admirable character traits were equally evident in her life outside the hospital. Neill traveled extensively with his work, leaving Helen to run the household as its diligent matriarch -- always tireless, firm, and selfless, while fostering a sense of standards and well-being for her children. Her life truly made a difference felt by many.

Helen enjoyed sharing her thoughts on most matters, but especially on topics involving family and history. She had a passion for history in general, and kept a library of books on American and English history she had studied to the point of being encyclopedic. This passion dovetailed with her separate interest in her family’s genealogy as pre-revolutionary settlers of North Carolina. Helen’s long life spanned an important period in our nation’s history and she could effortlessly bring a historical perspective to discussions of current events that was thought provoking. She was especially engaging while reflecting upon stories passed down to her of life in the post-war south, changes in farm life, and her own experiences of the Depression years and later the impact of WWII.

Neill Freeman predeceased her in 2011. Survivors include her adult children, Neill Freeman III. and wife Nita of Tucson, AZ, Julia Knorr of Wilmington, NC, John Freeman and wife Nancy of Darien, CT, and James Freeman and wife Davia of Charlotte, NC. She leaves nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A funeral service in celebration of her life will be held on Tuesday, June 6, at 2:30 PM at Oleander Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Sunrise Chapel, 306 Bradley Drive, Wilmington, NC.