Barbara Ruth Keck Wilson

Barbara Ruth Keck Wilson, 83, passed from this life on Wednesday, May 27th, 2026, after a three-year battle with cancer. A Celebration of Life event will be held July 4th at the home.

Barb was born in Washington, D.C. on March 24th, 1943, to Mabel Frazier and Oliver F. Keck. She was the second of four children and the oldest girl. She loved living in DC as a child, going on class field trips to the National Zoo, attending parades, and befriending classmates whose parents were ambassadors and foreign dignitaries. But nothing made her smile more than recalling the time her elementary school class met Princess Elizabeth who came to visit President Truman in the fall of 1951. Barb curtsied and got to shake the future Queen of England’s hand in return.

When she was nine, Barb relocated with her family to Wayne, WV to live on a farm. She learned how to raise crops, milk cows, shoot a gun, and fell trees alongside her brothers and male cousins. The transition from city to rural life was difficult, but Barb met those challenges with the fierce determination and tenacity that she later refined into her adult superpower.

After graduating in the class of 1961, she enrolled at Berea College in Kentucky where she majored in K-12 education, worked multiple campus jobs, and developed a life-long love of playing tennis. She also met her future husband, Carl, whom she secretly married midway through her junior year. Due to financial strain, they left Berea that spring and Barb began her teaching career at Crum High School in WV. A year later the couple moved to Parkersburg where Carl obtained a chemistry position and Barb taught school while also completing her Bachelor’s degree at Marshall University and later adding a Master’s in Education. While living in Parkersburg and then Ottawa, IL, Barb was an avid participant in social clubs, community softball teams, golfing, and tennis and bowling leagues.

In addition to her passion for education and life-long learning, Barb loved family and soon became an enthusiastic Mom to three kids. She attended countless tennis, soccer, basketball, volleyball, softball, and Little League games; wrestling matches; track meets; band concerts; and dance recitals to cheer them on. She coached teams, carpooled to practices, organized tournaments, and yelled the loudest from the sidelines. Later in life she channeled this same boundless enthusiasm into ‘grandma energy’ to provide her grandkids with an inexhaustible source of encouragement and support for their own activities.

Barb’s career in public education spanned over 40 years, and she was known as tough but fair in the classroom. In the early 2000s she won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) for the state of West Virginia, the highest U.S. honor for K-12 STEM educators. It was awarded by the White House through the National Science Foundation and brought her back to DC once again, this time to meet President George W. Bush. She also wrote grants and math-related online curriculum for IBM, NC State, and children at the Japan Olympics.

After retiring from the classroom, Barb relocated to North Carolina where she focused on attending her grandkids’ many sports activities; embracing her love of quilting, crocheting, gardening, and playing her organ; spending time at the beach and eating seafood; and traveling across the U.S. on her many adventures. She was an active member and former president of the Four Seasons Garden Club of Lillington where she proudly supported the Blue Star Memorial By-Way. Originally baptized in a creek in February as a Methodist, Barb attended Baptist churches for many years before joining the Lillington Presbyterian Church where she was a dedicated member of their quilting group.

Barb was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 58 years, Carl Wilson, her sister, Patricia Ann Wilson, and her lifelong friend, Judy Davis. She is survived by her three adult children, Carol (Becky) Wilson, Kevin (Gwen) Wilson, and Kathy (Eric) Seymour; seven grandchildren who she adored: Holly (Shawn) Ingram, Shane Wilson, Josey (Leonard) Mallol, Jacquelyn (Brandon) Seymour, Victoria Seymour, Mark Seymour, and Timothy Seymour; two brothers, James Keck and Samuel (Beulah) Keck; and her beloved poodle, Abigail. She loved and was loved by many nephews, nieces, cousins, extended family members, neighbors, and cherished friends.

Memorials in Barb’s name may be made to the Harnett County Food Pantry, P.O. Box 2084, Lillington, NC 27546.

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