Frederick Willets Sr. of Wilmington served as a trustee from 1953 until 1961. He was first named by Gov. William B. Umstead (1895–1954) to replace Dr. Charles F. Carroll (1900–1995) who had resigned following his, Carroll’s, appointment as state superintendent of public instruction. As state superintendent, Carroll was also ex officio chair of the board, a position requiring him to relinquish service as an appointed trustee. After completing the final two years of Carroll’s unexpired term, Willetts was reappointed in 1955 by Gov. Luther H. Hodges (1898–1974) to serve a full six-year term.
A naturalized American citizen born and raised in England, Willetts had somewhat extraordinary ties to East Carolina: he was the father-in-law of President John D. Messick’s (1897–1993) daughter, Helen Margaret (1924-2010), who had married Frederick Jr. (1925–1998), in 1948, the year after Messick was named ECC president and five before Willetts was appointed a trustee.
Willetts’ service on the board was multifaceted: he served on the Investment (Endowment) Committee in 1957, and the naming committee in 1959. The same year he gained attention when the state legislature planned to fund ECC students at a per capita rate of $353.00 as compared with $614.00 for UNC students. The ECC board responded with a pointed resolution, offered by Willetts and adopted unanimously by the trustees, stating “If we continue to discriminate in providing adequate education for teachers of tomorrow, we will continue to have inadequately prepared high school graduates of all institutions of higher learning.” According to the News and Observer, ECC had “lashed out” at the state legislature and “hit equally hard at the Consolidated University of North Carolina, claiming ‘discrimination’ on the part of money-minded legislators in favor of the University.”
Willletts’ tenure coincided with East Carolina’s final years as a Jim Crow campus, and then its ongoing struggle to comply with the 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring segregation unconstitutional. Board minutes do not record that Willetts was out of step with the board’s overall reluctance to embrace desegregation. As things turned out, it was only in 1962, the year after Willetts’ term expired, that the first African American undergraduate, Laura Marie Leary (later, Laura Marie Elliott, 1945–2013), was admitted.
Born in Halesowen, Worcestershire, not far from Birmingham in central England, Willetts was educated at Hasbury School in Halesowen. He left England at 17 to live and study in Montreal at McGill University. With WWI, his education was put on hold while he served in the Canadian Army. After the war, he returned to McGill to finish his degree.
By 1920, Willetts had moved to Wilmington and begun a career in business managing companies in southeastern North Carolina. He quickly rose to become president of the North Carolina Savings & Loan League, a member of the U. S. Savings & Loan League, and a member of the International Congress of Building Societies and Savings Associations. Willets was also president of the Cooperative Savings and Loan Association, the Willetts Insurance Agency, Inc., and the Willetts Construction and Development Corp.
Willetts also served as chair of the board of the American Mortgage Insurance Company of Raleigh, chair of the board of the Cape Fear Memorial Hospital, and chair of the Wilmington Port Commission. In 1947, when Wilmington wanted to host a Professional Golf Association (PGA) tournament the following year, Willetts, an avid golfer, was named president of the local PGA committee and soon thereafter secured the necessary pledges well before the deadline earlier set, and then continued soliciting pledges, going well beyond the planned fundraising goal and ensuring the debut of the Wilmington Open at the Cape Fear Country Club in 1949.
In 1962, the year before his passing, the Daughters of the American Revolution named Willetts the Most Outstanding Naturalized American Citizen of the Year.
Sources
- “Civic Leader Dies at 67.” News and Observer. April 7, 1963. P. 18.
- “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes, May 13, 1959.” University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10263
- “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes, November 12, 1957.” University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10262
- “ECC Trustees Okay Bond Issue for Dorm.” News and Observer. April 12, 1956. P. 24.
- “ECC Trustees Rap Assembly.” News and Observer. May 14, 1959. P. 36.
- “Hodges Lists Appointees.” News and Observer. June 29, 1955. P. 28.
- “Professional Golf Tournament Assured for City in 1948: Willetts Announces $12,500 Goal Has Been Reached; More Sought.” Wilmington Morning Star. October 23, 1947. P. 1.
- Records of the Chancellor: Records of John Decatur Messick, 1947-1959. Box 7: Willetts, Fred, Member of the Board of Trustees, 1953-1959. University Archives # UA02-05. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA02-05
- “SENCland Business Civic Leader Dies.” Tabor City Tribune. April 10, 1963. P. 7.
Related Materials
Image Source: Wilmington Morning Star, February 11, 1940, p. 33.
Image Source: Photo from Frederick Willetts' Declaration of Intent, Petition for Naturalization. April 25, 1938. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/14184:2503
Citation Information
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 03/27/2023