17
In Memory
ilmington native Lillian Bellamy Boney enjoyed more than 90 summers
at Wrightsville Beach. Looking back on all of those decades, her memo-ries
ranged from living in a rustic Ocean Avenue cottage to much more
comfortable times on South Lumina Avenue.
“Living at Wrightsville was just delightful. We spent the day on the beach and we
were freckled and fried all the time,” she said.
As a young woman, Lillian, along with her cousin, Emma Bellamy Williamson
Hendren, inherited ownership of the Bellamy Mansion. It was an enviable real
estate position that the two women held
for 40 years, and their preservation efforts
may well have saved the elegant
landmark, now a renowned
museum of history
and design arts.
By the time she
was 16, World War II
had changed things
on the beach. The
Bellamy family kept
blackout shades
over the windows,
stayed in the
cottage after
6 p.m.
every
evening, and was only allowed a ration of five gallons of gasoline a week.
Lillian traveled from the beach to town most summer days to work as a
plane tracker in a secret office at the downtown post office and as a
volunteer with the American Red Cross.
On May 8, 1954, Lillian married architect Leslie N. Boney Jr. at
St. James Church, and the reception was held at the Bellamy Mansion.
They then sailed to Europe for a honeymoon that lasted six weeks.
After they returned home, they took up residence at Wrightsville Beach.
Lillian’s grandchildren now make up the fifth generation of Bellamy
descendants who have grown to cherish time spent at the family South
Lumina Avenue cottage. “I tell them to seize the moment and really appreciate
the house and the land,” she said, with a face full of wisdom and a heart full
of memories, “because a lot of things can change on a beach.”
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
W
WBM FILE PHOTO
LILLIAN BELLAMY BONEY
Longtime Wilmington resident Lillian Bellamy Boney passed away on
March 2, 2019 in the home her late husband designed. Susan Taylor Block
shared Lillian’s story in Wrightsville Beach Magazine in the 2009 August
issue. Below is an updated excerpt for the story as a tribute to her legacy.
Above: Lillian Bellamy Boney
in her South Lumina Avenue
home, 2009. Left: The Bellamy
Mansion as seen here in 1951,
had been closed for years
and reopened for Lillian and
Leslie’s wedding reception in
1954. Lillian Bellamy, pictured
with her grandfather Joseph
Maxwell, wed Leslie Boney at
St. James Church on May 8, 1954.
MARVIN CULLUM, JR./COURTESY NEW HANOVER COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
PHOTO COURTESY OF LILLIAN BELLAMY BONEY FAMILY
{ J U N E 2 7 , 1 9 2 5 – MARC H 2 , 2 0 1 9 }