Florence Evans Wallin

Florence Evans Wallin died peacefully after a brief illness on January 14th, 2015 in Asheville, North Carolina. Flo was born in Wausau, Wisconsin in 1926, the daughter of Albert M. Evans and Florence Gilbert Evans. She was raised there and then received a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. In 1948, she married Franklin Whittelsey Wallin, and the couple was married until his death in 2006. She and her husband led an active and adventurous life. They lived and traveled extensively in Europe with their four children in connection with Franklin's career as a professor of history and administrator in higher education, residing for extended periods in both Paris and Geneva. Flo received a master's degree of library science from Wayne State University in Detroit, and she was a university librarian at both Colgate University and Earlham College. Flo was also deeply committed to social justice causes throughout her life. In the US, the family lived in Detroit, Philadelphia, Hamilton, New York and Richmond, Indiana, where Franklin served as president of Earlham College. Flo and her husband were avid sailors and outdoors people. They sailed their 33 foot sloop across the Atlantic Ocean and, in early retirement, cruised in the Mediterranean over a period of several years before settling in Asheville. The experience of sailing in the Aegean Sea inspired Florence to write and publish a novel about the Trojan Wars from the perspective of Helen of Troy entitled, "According to Helen." Flo was an enthusiastic hiker and loved the outdoors. In addition to writing fiction, she was also an avid painter. Florence is survived by her sister Ann Shepherd in Sunnyvale, California as well as her four children: Susan Hively of Richmond, Indiana; Thomas Wallin of New York City; Elizabeth Wallin of Paris, France and F. Bogue Wallin of Greenville, South Carolina. She is also survived by twelve grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. A memorial service will be held to celebrate her life at the Performing Arts Center in Oxford Commons at Givens Estates on Sweeten Creek Road, Asheville on Saturday, January 24th at 3 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the North Carolina Arboretum Society in memory of Florence Wallin www.ncarboretum.org.