Before she died in 2007, Flora Cornelia Bullock Wilkins gave $10,000 to the Cumberland Community Foundation for the creation of an endowment fund.
But she had even bigger plans, The Fayetteville Observer reported.
Frugal all her life, the retired Fayetteville schoolteacher had amassed a fortune in savings, investments and property.
In early June, Wilkins' nephew and estate executor dropped off the last of four financial gifts from his aunt to the foundation. When the staff opened the white envelope, a check for $1.2 million was inside.
In all, Wilkins gave $2.7 million to the endowment.
Mary Holmes, the executive director for the foundation, said the generosity was inspiring.
"We usually don't know how much people will give or when," she said. "We don't know if it will be $1 or $100. So it really was eye-opening."
The gift made the 2008-09 giving season the biggest ever at Cumberland Community Foundation, Holmes said. The foundation has received 1,461 gifts totaling $7.1 million, she said.
"There are more people who can give $100 than there are that can give $100,000," Holmes said. "It is a very generous community."
Wilkins was born on a farm near Autryville, the youngest of five girls. She was a teacher until her marriage to Dr. Samuel B. Wilkins, a doctor at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Fayetteville. The Wilkinses did not have children. Dr. Wilkins died in the 1970s.
Flora Wilkins was always fond of the people of Cumberland County, said her nephew, Walt Bullard of Wilmington.
"She was a remarkable lady who did a lot of good things while she was alive," Bullard said. "And she will continue to do so, in death."
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