Enid Ward

On Friday, March 6, 2020 Enid A. Ward passed away in Greer, SC after a brief illness, at the age of 91 years. She was attended by her two daughters and son.
Born October 16, 1928 in White Lake, NC to Swannanoa Melvin Atkinson and William Alford Atkinson; the fourth of five children. She is preceded in death by her parents, husband, Richard Palmer Ward; brother, William Henry Atkinson; and sister, Anne Nowell (Joe); and survived by two brothers: James Alford and Donald "Corkie" Atkinson and her three children: Marsha Marie Krigsvold (Dale), Beverly Renee Rabenstein (Russ) and Mark Richard Ward.
When Enid was 4 years old, her father passed away after a prolonged illness, leaving his young family property but little income during the Great Depression. With their assets at hand, assistance from uncles, and an industrious and optimistic outlook, the family survived the Depression. All five children were well-cared for and educated. Enid graduated from Elizabethtown High School in 1945. With the assistance of a maternal uncle, Keith Melvin, Enid attended East Carolina Teachers College's two-year pre-nursing program. Upon graduation in 1947, she was immediately accepted by James Walker Memorial Hospital's state-of-the-art nursing program in Wilmington, NC in 1947. She graduated September 16, 1950 and on the same day married Richard Palmer Ward, of Wilmington, NC, in Elizabethtown, NC.
In 1952, the couple moved to Memphis, TN. Enid worked at the Veteran's Administration Medical Training Group at Kennedy Hospital from 1952-1960 as Rotation Nurse, Nurse Junior and Associate Grade, and as Acting Head Nurse at the Surgical Service at the 1,500 bed facility. During this period, Enid bore and raised their three children. Over the following years, the family moved to Jackson, MS; Dearborn, MI; Charlotte, NC; Hartsville, SC; Birmingham, AL; and Matthews, NC. Enid worked as a staff nurse (University of Mississippi), staff nurse and instructor (Presbyterian hospital, Charlotte), and private nurse and industrial nurse for Hanes Hosiery in South Carolina. In Birmingham, she worked at Mercy Hospital, setting up Recovery, ICU and two surgical units during their start-up; Unit Coordinator of Urology and Orthopedic units at Brookwood Hospital and University of Alabama-Birmingham. In Charlotte, NC she worked as Imagery Librarian at Charlotte Memorial Hospital. In 1989, Enid moved with Richard to Irving, TX where Richard retired in 1991. Upon retirement the Ward's moved to Wilmington, NC and dedicated themselves to caring for Richard's parents.
In 1990, while in Irving, TX, Enid decided to pick up an old interest, the Arts. Enid learned manual arts as a child and was skilled in sewing, quilting, knitting, crochet, and tatting. She also learned oil painting and ceramic painting and continued practicing these arts through the years. In Irving, she studied working in clay. Various pieces of her projects won ribbons and one was selected to advertise an inaugural exhibit of the New Talent Gallery at the Irving Arts Center. Upon arriving in Wilmington, Enid decided to work for a degree in Arts at UNC-Wilmington and she graduated with a BA in Studio Arts. After graduating with her art degree, Enid continued to perfect pottery skills privately with a Japanese instructor and to paint independently. She has left behind a number of works in pastels, oils, and clay.
Enid loved travel and visited much of the United States. She traveled to the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and Central America with her sister Anne, Richard, and daughter, Marsha. As a young person she enjoyed swimming and tennis and was in the Beta Club in high school. She was an active gardener wherever she lived. She was a member of a Bridge club and also the Garden Club in Hartsville, SC.
Enid Ward was an accomplished person with many interests and the ability to always find something to do. Both she and Richard believed in taking advantage of education to improve one's mind. She encouraged (unsuccessfully) her children to learn music. She was a compassionate and caring person, quick to offer her assistance as a "neighborhood nurse" to friends, neighbors, and family. One of her supervisors wrote of her that she as intelligent, quick witted and creative in finding ways to compensate for her petite and slight frame in order to help her patients, happy, spirited, and dedicated to the care of her patients. Enid's husband, Richard, described her as sweet and angelic, as have many of the people that she be-friended. She was a dedicated, vigilant, and loving mother and of an independent and adventurous nature. We will all miss her greatly.  
 

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