Edith Woolfolk Derolez

EDITH WOOLFOLK DEROLEZ, 92

U.S. Government

ORLANDO--Edith Woolfolk Derolez, 92, Orlando passed away February 5, 2007.

She was born May 20, 1914 in Brewster, FL, daughter of Walter Woolfolk, Sr. and Minnie Smith Woolfolk. She was preceded in death by her parents and three siblings, Eva Woolfolk, Grace Woolfolk Mehaffey and Walter William Woolfolk. She attended Lake Wales High School, Lake Wales, FL and, upon graduation, worked for one year for a law firm in Gainesville, FL before joining the U.S. Government as a U.S. Army civilian employee. Her first job was in Trinidad during World War II before being assigned as a secretary at the Nuremberg Trials. As embassies opened in Europe after the war, she moved to the newly opened American embassy in Paris for ten years before going to NATO’s military arm of SHAPE for two years in Paris. When President DeGaulle threw SHAPE out of France, she moved to Belgium to work at SHAPE headquarters there. She was living in Belgium when she retired in 1975 after 30 years of overseas duty. Upon retirement, she moved back to the U.S. to Holiday, FL where she lived until 1995 when she moved to Westminster Towers in Orlando, FL. In her free time, she enjoyed painting and creative writing.

She is survived by her two nieces, Kay Woolfolk Elliotte, of Davidson, NC, and Deana Woolfolk Costner, of Orlando, FL, and by one nephew, Noah Levia, of Scottsdale, AZ. She is additionally survived by 9 great-nieces and –nephews and numerous great-great-nieces and –nephews.

Graveside services will be held on Thurs. Feb. 8 at 11 AM at the Lake Wales Cemetery, Lake Wales, FL.

Marion Nelson Funeral Home, Lake Wales.