Hilda Gentry Wrinn

Wrinn, Hilda Gentry

96, of Brandon, Florida, left this world for eternal life on September 17, 2025, surrounded by the comfort and care of her devoted daughter, Debra Williams.

A strong, sharp, and talented lady, Hilda embodied the grit, gumption, and grace of The Greatest Generation. Her inner and outer beauty, her fierce independence, and-let's be honest-her legendary stubborn streak live on through her four daughters, three sons-in-law, eight grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren, two surviving siblings, and a large and lively extended circle of family and friends. We were lucky to know her. With genealogy tracing back to Revolutionary War patriots, she also was a walking, talking link to a part of 20th-century American history in which we should all be proud. Hers was a life well and fully lived. Her kernel of wisdom to pass on to her descendants: "Keep trying and work hard at any endeavor."

Born on April 29, 1929, at the onset of the Great Depression, Hilda grew up on the Gentry/Cate family farm in Riceville, Tennessee. When her older brothers went off to fight World War II, teenage Hilda became the chief farm laborer. The work was hard, and the living was meager, but it made Hilda strong. Strangers and new acquaintances couldn't talk to her long before they heard "the bull" story demonstrating her strength. One day on the farm, Hilda's mother asked her to shoo away the young Black Angus bull in the vegetable patch. After shooing didn't work, Hilda picked up half of a brick and hurled it with uncanny precision to hit the animal square between the eyes. The bull dropped like a sack of potatoes. As she tried to revive it with a bucket of water, her mother leaned out the window and dryly quipped: "Honey, I think he's already dead. You don't need to drown him, too."

Eventually, Hilda met the love of her life, her future husband, Frank Douglas Wrinn, a WWII veteran, on the campus of Tennessee Wesleyan University. The two became educators in Niota, Tennessee, before making a bold decision to move to Tampa, Florida, in the 1950s to seek a better future. Outgrowing their small Tampa home in the 1960s with now four daughters, they became early residents of the then "cow town" of Brandon, Florida. The move was a financial risk, but they persevered. Hilda taught fifth-grade writing and English at Kingswood Elementary School and later Buckhorn Elementary School in the 1970s and '80s.

When Frank died in 1985, far too soon, Hilda had the fortitude to rediscover herself. She retired early and set off to travel the world with her siblings, finally checking off her high school yearbook aspiration: "To travel." Well, she accomplished that and then some. Her family is still puzzled as to how to honor, yet what to do, with her countless travel trinkets. Hilda also was sourcing food locally years before it became chic. When she was not gardening and collecting her citrus in the backyard, she was canning food. A master crafter and seamstress, she also sewed suits and clothes for her children, grandchildren, friends, and neighbors. If it could be knitted, quilted, crocheted, or otherwise stitched together, Hilda made it. She also was an avid reader and lover of crossword puzzles and board games-quite often found playing cutthroat games of Rummikub. Most exceptionally, Hilda stayed active in taking art lessons and rediscovered her extraordinary painting skills. Her family now has her works of art as cherished possessions.

In her death, Hilda is reunited with Frank, along with four siblings, her parents, Hobart McKinley Gentry Sr. and Lucy Cate Gentry, and grandson, Michael Douglas Diaz.

Left to cherish her memory are daughter Daphne Louise Diaz (late husband Robert Diaz) and children: Robert Diaz II and Kimberly Faxas (husband Carlos); daughter Debra Kaye Williams (husband, Dr. Jeffrey Lee Williams) and children: Jennifer Kloboves (husband Ryan), Heather Mack (husband, Shawn), and Frank Williams (wife, Jennifer); daughter Dr. Cindy Wrinn Baltrun (husband Dr. Joseph Baltrun) and children: Joseph Baltrun V (wife, Polly), Erin Sebring (husband, Tyrell), and Jason Baltrun (wife, Jackie); and daughter Robin Michele Wrinn (husband, Steve Damerow). In addition to her fifteen great-grandchildren, there are many surviving nieces, nephews, and in-laws from the extensive Gentry and Wrinn families from Southeastern Tennessee.

A graveside service will be held October 25, 2025, at 3 p.m. at Hillsboro Memorial Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, 2323 West Brandon Blvd, Brandon, Florida 33511, followed by a celebration of Hilda's life at 4 p.m. at Brandon's Event Space, 137 S Parsons Ave, Brandon, FL 33511. All family and friends are welcome at both events. Those wishing to express their condolences may do so with flowers, or by donating in Hilda's honor to McGregor Baptist Church: https://mcgregor.net/give/.

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