Obituary of Frankie Eugenia Whitmire Hawkins

Frankie Eugenia Whitmire Hawkins, age 81 years, passed away on Wednesday June 28, 2017. A memorial service will be held to honor her life on Saturday August 12, 2017 at The Wood Mortuary in Greer, South Carolina with visitation at 12:30 pm and service at 2:00 pm. Frankie was born on June 7, 1936 in Taylors, SC, the only child of the late Erskine M. Whitmire and Ruby Chandler Whitmire Nolan. Her mother preceded her in death by 17 days. Frankie was very proud of the strong maternal family line in her family and twice in her lifetime, she could claim participation in 5 living direct maternal generations. Firstly, upon the birth of her daughter Krista, in 1955 until the death of her great-grandmother Carrie Dodd Orr in 1962 and again in 2004 upon the birth of her great-granddaughter. Frankie was a caring, generous individual with an effervescent personality which made her a popular student at Taylors High School where she lettered in basketball. She also enjoyed the piano and played for many of their school programs. After graduating in 1954, Frankie married her sweetheart, the late William F. (Frank) Hawkins also of Taylors and spent her first years of married life as a Navy wife and then continued to support him and their growing family which now included a son Mark, born in 1958 while Frank attended Clemson University. Frankie was a devoted homemaker, mother and later, a foster parent to a little boy named Billy while living in Fort Worth. Frankie loved to travel and was fortunate to live in and to experience many places during her lifetime, both stateside and abroad and she made it a point to gain new experiences wherever she visited. The family traveled extensively in Mexico, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Austria & Italy. After and a two-year stay in Germany from 1965-1967, the family settled in Summerville where she owned and operated the Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio. Never one to sit idle, Frankie loved gardening, restoring antiques, her dog “Killer” and spending time with family. She also obtained her realtor’s license, worked as a rigger’s helper at Braswell Shipyard and ever the entrepreneur, operated her own professional cleaning business until she became ill. Frankie leaves behind her daughter Krista Hancock (husband Jim) of Stedman, North Carolina; her son Mark Hawkins (wife Karen) of Goose Creek South Carolina; three grandsons Garrett and Lawton Hawkins of Goose Creek and Drayton Hancock of Stedman, NC; a granddaughter Audrey Washington (husband, Adrian) of Fayetteville, NC and a great-granddaughter Aliyah Warren also of Fayetteville, NC. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in her honor to the American Diabetes Association or the Kidney Foundation of South Carolina. Arrangements are by Simplicity Lowcountry Cremation & Burial Services