Frederica Gwendolyn Currence Plummer, 88 of Salisbury, departed this life on Friday, December 3, 2021 at her home in Salisbury, NC.  She was born on February 12, 1933 in York County, South Carolina. The sixth of six daughters, she was raised in a loving home by George William and Mary Lillian Jackson Currence, whose deep religious convictions helped shape the moral compass that guided her throughout her life.  Like her siblings, she was a young teen when she accepted Christ as her Savior and joined Green Pond Methodist Episcopal Church.

"Freddie", as she was affectionately known to family and close friends, was a precocious child whose formal education began in 1939, the year the family moved from rural Bethel, SC to the nearby town of Clover.  Bright, energetic, and talented, she excelled in her studies and, during high school, participated in various extracurricular activities.  Eventually, Freddie yearned to spread her wings and, with her parents' blessing, left Clover and transferred to Price High School in Salisbury, North Carolina.

In 1950, she graduated Salutatorian of her class and received a full scholarship to Shaw University in Raleigh, NC.  The little girl once called Freddie was now a tall, slender, confident freshman who was known among her new friends as "Gwen".  A year later, she transferred to Johnson C. Smith University, where she became active in several organizations, including Gamma Lambda Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Le Cercle Francais, and the Spanish Club.

Gwen took a keen interest in racial injustice during her junior year and got involved in social activism through her association with a Quaker organization, the American Friends Service Committee.  In 1953, she was among more than 100 college students of all races and backgrounds who traveled to Chicago to attend an AFSC-sponsored project designed to give students a first-hand look at social and economic inequities in the Windy City.  It was a unique experience that indubitably changed her attitude about the world around her.

Notwithstanding her commitment to activism, Gwen kept her head in the books and made the honor roll each semester.  Her quick grasp of foreign languages drew the attention of French professor Jean Joseph Adam, who played a pivotal role in the career path that his star pupil would follow.  She was encouraged to spend time in a French-speaking country to hone her language skills and it was this advice she would one day follow.

Gwen graduated Summa Cum Laude (with the highest GPA in her class) from Johnson C. Smith University in May 1954.  Weeks later, she embarked on her first voyage to France, where she spent the summer sharpening her French and taking short trips to other European countries.  In September, Gwen returned to the States in time to begin her teaching career at Second Ward High School in Charlotte.  A few years later, she got the urge to travel again and experience life outside of the south.

Over the next decade, Gwen lived in Europe studying at La Sorbonne (Paris) and L'Universite' de Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland).  Immersed in the French culture while living in Paris, she learned the local colloquialisms with no difficulty and quickly became fluent in French.  She also studied Spanish and German and, for a short time, stayed with a family in Germany to better understand their everyday language.  Gwen's journey continued to Denver, San Francisco, and New York City, where she was married, worked at the United Nations, received a master's degree in Education at Columbia University, and taught French for 25 years in NYC public schools.

Through the years, she traveled back south frequently to visit her family and later was accompanied by her children, Malcolm and Joy, who each found delight in spending summers and Christmas holidays in Clover.  Gwen's return to her roots had special meaning as she began asking questions about her heritage.  The more she learned, the more curious she became.  For more than forty years, she put in long hours of research and eventually compiled a huge collection of documents, photographs and interview notes tracing her family's history back to 1799.  At family reunions, she will be long remembered for her display of impressive family trees and reflecting her work-trees that she created out of her love and passion for family history.

Frederica Gwendolyn Currence Plummer was, above all, a woman of great compassion and humility.  Whether there was a family in need of assistance or someone who's lost a loved one, she was there to support them, regardless of how it impacted her.  There were immigrant families who she helped connect to community resources; the stranger whose car broke down on the highway and needed a ride to work; the indigent young couple in Cape Town, South Africa for whom she bought groceries; the Hurricane Katrina refugees for whom she provided car transportation; and the many sick and shut-in relatives and friends for whom she ran errands and occasionally brought food.  She was there -Freddie to some, Gwen to others.

Left to cherish her memory are her son, Malcolm A. Plummer of Salisbury, NC; daughter, Joy Plummer Brown (Leventon) of Washington, DC; sisters, Sarah C. Stowe and Mary C. Adams; brother, Norris Currence; special "sister", Fern Hill;  special "brother", James W. Petty; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.