Wilma Erde

WINTER HAVEN -- Ms. Wilma "Billee" Erde, a community activist and fund-raiser for multiple local, national and international charities and foundations, died of heart failure Tuesday (Dec. 21, 2004) at home. She was 76."She was a very cultured person," said her daughter, Blair Erde of Seattle. "She spoke Spanish fluently. She played the piano. She loved to entertain, and she did it well."Born in Baltimore on June 27, 1928, Ms. Erde was raised there as well as the Norfolk, Va., area. After two years at The College of William & Mary, she married a man in the military and traveled the world."When we were kids, we received postcards from every major city in the world," Blair Erde said.She was an active fund-raiser for many years. After coming to Florida from Honolulu in 1974, she became active with Friends of the Library, the Winter Haven Garden Club, Planned Parenthood, the Polk County Democrats and Hadassah.Her daughter described her as an avid reader."She was kind of the shark of the Winter Haven Public Library, and in her years of working and raising money for the library, everybody there knew her," Erde said. "There never was a stranger in any room that she was in. . . . She was genuinely interested, and people could tell that. They responded to that."In addition to her daughter, Ms. Erde is survived by her son, Charles Erde, Asheville, N.C.; daughter, Dr. Alison Erde, Eugene, Ore.; brothers, Russell Sherman, Santa Monica, Calif., Frederic Sherman, Key Biscayne; four grandchildren.Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Ott-Laughlin Funeral Home, Winter Haven. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Friends of the Library, 325 Ave. A N.W., Winter Haven, 33881.