PATRICIA "PAT" TURLINGTON DEES
Sept. 14, 1939-March 17, 2013
Patricia Turlington Dees died March 17, 2013, in Goldsboro.
Born in Washington, D.C., Sept. 14, 1939, she spent her early years in Raleigh, N.C.
After her education in Raleigh area schools, she started her career in the arts working as a commercial artist for Adler's and Mac Joseph's Women's Apparel. Pat studied professionally at Washburn University (Topeka Kansas) and at North Carolina State University School of Design. Pat led a life of creativity and her paintings can be found in many corporate and public painting collections.
Renowned as a brick sculptor, her works were commissioned to appear in places throughout North Carolina as well as in New York, Florida and Wisconsin. Among the recognitions she received was the honor of being juried into the National Association of Women Artists, New York, New York -- the only member so selected from the State of North Carolina. Her art has appeared on the cover of magazines and been in featured in numerous articles.
Pat was invited to Salem College, Catawba Valley Community College. Wake Forest University and Western Virginia Community College as a visiting artist, and made numerous appearances as a guest lecturer at other colleges and art centers. She was an artist in residence at the Edward Laredo Institute of Music and the Humanities at Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1988.
Pat's life was devoted to creating art and also to its advocacy and appreciation. She moved to the Goldsboro area in 1973, where she served as executive director of the Goldsboro Art Center from 1973 to 1978. Her career as an arts educator began in 1979 and continued through many years at Wayne Country Day School until 1990. She also taught generations of students at Wayne Community College from 1986 to 2005. Always insistent on the highest artistic standards, she was an influence in the lives of many young people.
Pat is survived by her two sons from her first marriage to William T. Turlington, Dr. William Troy Turlington IV and his wife, Angel Warlick Turlington, of Clayton, N.C., and David Yelverton Turlington and his wife, Connie Marie Turlington, of Youngsville, N.C.; sisters, Katherine Renfrew Wolfe and her husband, John, and Marsha Renfrew Lane and her husband, Todd; sister-in-law, Marilyn Turino Renfrew; and beloved grandchildren, William Troy Turlington V "Quinn" and Eli Warlick Turlington.
Her husband, Goldsboro attorney William A. Dees, and her brother, Henry Wilson Renfrew, predeceased her.
Contributions in Pat's memory may be made to 3HC, 2402 Wayne Memorial Drive, Goldsboro, N.C., 27534, or to Diamonds in the Ruff Canine Rescue, P.O. Box 10033, Goldsboro, N.C., 27532.
A private ceremony will be held at a later date in Oriental, N.C.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneral home.com.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on March 24, 2013 1:28 PM