Hilda Fountain

Mrs. Hilda Burton Fountain, age 103, passed away on Feb. 14, 2012, after several months of declining health.

A service to celebrate her long life will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012, at Wesley Memorial Methodist Church. The family will greet friends in the Asbury Room following the service.

Mrs. Fountain was born on Oct. 25, 1908, on a farm in the Tar Landing community near Jacksonville. Her father, N.A. Burton, was Clerk of Court for Onslow County and her mother, Ella Gurganus Burton, was a local community leader. Hilda was raised in a farming family of Scottish and English ancestry in which community service, leadership, education and hard work were expected. She went to the first five years of school in Jacksonville in a horse and buggy with her father as he went to work at the county courthouse. She graduated from the Jacksonville school at age 16 and enrolled in the North Carolina College for Women in Greensboro (now UNC-G). She took the train from New Bern to Greensboro to go to college and was met at the Greensboro station by a horse and wagon that took her and her one trunk of school clothes to the dormitory.

She graduated in June 1929, and on Oct. 19, 1029, she married Mr. Robert Roy "Bob" Fountain, also of Onslow County and a 1927 N.C. State College (now University) graduate. Just ten days later the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. Hilda's lifelong habit of meticulously saving her resources was reinforced during this difficult time.

She and her husband and young family moved to High Point in 1936. They had their home built and moved into it in July 1937. She and her husband spent the rest of their lives in that home. Her husband "Bob" passed away in 1983, after 54 years of marriage. She continued to live alone in the house for the next 28 years.

She is survived by her sons, Rear Adm. Robert R. "Bob" Fountain Jr. and wife Betsey, of Montross, Va., Dr. Stuart B. Fountain and wife Carol of Asheboro, John N. "Nick" Fountain Esq. and wife Julia of Raleigh; a daughter, Eleanor "Happy" Halliburton of Greensboro. She is also survived by her "favorite 9" grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Being very devoted to her family she wrote a personal note to each of her nine grandchildren each month until a few weeks before her death.

Mrs. Fountain was a social worker at the former Clara Cox apartments in the 1940's and with the Guilford County Welfare Dept. in the 1950's. In the 1960's and 1970's she was one of the first women probation officers with the N.C. Probation Dept., with responsibilities for women probationers in the 18 county Piedmont area.

Wesley Memorial Methodist Church was a major interest of hers throughout her 75 years of membership .She could always be counted on to be a server at the Love Feast and other church meal functions in addition to directing the young acolytes and assisting with the church nursery. Her Sunday School Class was a constant source of inspiration and warm friendship.

She was a founding member of the West Emerywood Garden Club in 1937. She was a member of the Twentieth Century Book Club for over 50 years and was the club's treasurer until she was 102 years of age. She was never without a book to read and knew the name and source of every plant in her extensive garden.

When she retired in 1974, she began her 37 years as a Red Cross volunteer at High Point Regional Hospital which she continued until age 102. She was awarded the "Governor's Award for Voluntary Service" in 2010, following a recommendation by the Volunteer Center of the Hospital. She made a gift to the High Point Community Foundation several years ago and the proceeds of that gift benefit UNC-Greensboro, High Point University, Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, High Point Regional Hospital and the Red Cross. There are undergraduate scholarships in her name at UNC-Greensboro and at High Point University. In addition there is a Graduate Fellowship in History in her name at UNC-Greensboro.

In 2006, she was designated as a Citizen of the Year by the High Point Rotary Club. In 2011, at age 102, the High Point Regional Hospital established a volunteer of the year award and named it the "Hilda Fountain Volunteer of the Year Award". Also in 2011 The High Point Community Foundation awarded her its prestigious "Spirit of the Foundation Award."

Hilda Burton Fountain was a member of the "Greatest Generation" that watched transportation evolve from the horse and buggy to manned space flight, that lived through the Great Depression, two World Wars and subsequent conflicts while successfully raising a family and actively contributing to her community. She was a role model for her family and many in the community.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Memorial contributions may be made to the High Point Community Foundation, P. O. Box 5166, High Point N. C. 27262 with a notation for the Hilda B. Fountain Fund, or to Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, 1225 Chestnut Dr. High Point, NC 27262, or to Hospice of the Piedmont, 1801 Westchester Dr. High Point, NC 27262

Send on-line condolences to sechrestfunerals.com

Arrangments are by Sechrest Funeral Service of High Point.