LOUISE TROTTER WOOTEN TALLEY
March 9, 1935-Sept. 19, 2017
Louise Trotter Wooten Talley, 82, Raleigh, N.C., died Sept. 19, 2017.
She was born in Richmond, Va., March 9, 1935, to Sterling Dillon and Louise Trotter Wooten.
She grew up in Goldsboro, N.C.
She attended Goldsboro High School and graduated from St. Mary's School in Raleigh. S
he received an AB in English literature from Duke University in Durham. She did her graduate work at the Harvard/Radcliffe School of Business Administration in Cambridge, Mass.
After graduation, she worked as a medical manuscript editor at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass., and at her father's own Wooten Oil and Fuel Co. in Goldsboro.
In Raleigh, while working as a financial aid counselor in student employment at North Carolina State College, she met her future husband, Dr. Banks C. Talley Jr. They were married in Goldsboro, and then settled in Raleigh.
For many years, she ran a successful travel business called ArtTours of Raleigh, which specialized in mother/daughter trips to New York and London.
Louise was an accomplished French chef, having studied with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, who co-authored "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" with Julia Child.
In her youth, she spent many summers at Camp Merrie-Woode in Sapphire Valley, N.C.
She loved tennis, swimming in the ocean and taking long walks at her beloved Atlantic Beach. She was an ardent world traveler, reader and gardener. She especially loved England, Ireland, Scotland, Paris, Spain, Greece and Portugal and sailing on the Sea Cloud.
Two travel highlights were seeing the Great Pyramids of Egypt and the Taj Mahal in India with her lifelong companion, Banks.
Her favorite U.S. cities were always New York and San Francisco.
The MET and MOMA were two of her regular stops in New York City.
Louise was a patron of the arts and historic preservation, and loyally supported the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Friends of the Gallery at North Carolina State University (which became Arts North Carolina State), the North Carolina Symphony, Thompson Theater, the Joel Lane House (especially the garden committee), Mordecai House, the North Carolina Museum of History and the North Carolina State University Friends of the Library.
She served as a member of the Junior League of Raleigh, as a board member of the North Carolina Art Society and as the chairman of the Wake County Committee of the Colonial Dames of America.
On the state level, she served as vice president from the East and Lady of Dumbarton.
She was also a longtime member of St. Michaels Church, the Olla Podrida Book Club, the North Carolina Botanical Garden and the Carolina Country Club.
She served several terms on the Botanical Garden board, and led seven English Garden Tours to raise money for the garden's special programs.
Louise is survived by her husband of 54 years, Dr. Banks C. Talley Jr. of Raleigh; her daughter, Sterling Talley Wheless (Jim) of Raleigh; her son, Banks C. Talley III (Noelle) of Raleigh; her daughter, Mary Louise Talley Wright of Raleigh; and by her five grandchildren, James Harris Wheless III, Banks Wooten Wheless, Cooper Talley Wheless, Rebecca Selby Talley and Rainey Olivia Wright, who affectionately called her "Jellybean Grandmommy" and "Gigi."
She is also survived by her brother, S. Dillon Wooten Jr. (Sue) of Goldsboro, and her three nieces, Carol Wooten Exum (Jay), Susan Wooten Sumner (Rick) and Mildred Louise Wooten.
Her parents and her stepmother, Bertha Shepherd Wooten, predeceased her.
A memorial service will be held at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 1520 Canterbury Road, Raleigh, N.C., Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, at 2 p.m. The interment will be held in the church memorial garden.
A reception will be held in the church parish hall for all attendees, following the services.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of North Carolina, Wake Committee, 2107 Fairview Road, Raleigh, N.C., 27608.
Arrangements by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, Saint Mary's St., Raleigh.
Condolences may be made at brownwynne.com.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on September 22, 2017 8:05 AM