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Article Date: Thursday, April 27, 2006

Written By: Russell Rawlings

Fitzhugh Ellsworth Wallace Jr., who served on the North Carolina Bar Association Board of Governors from 1960-63 and practiced law in Kinston for more than 50 years, died April 17 in Morehead City.

Wallace, 89, was born in Kenansville on Feb. 6, 1917, the son of Fitzhugh E. Wallace Sr., who served as president of the NCBA in 1942-43, and Erwin Carter Wallace. They moved to Kinston in 1918 and were the last family to reside in Kenansville’s best-known landmark, Liberty Hall.

Wallace was educated in the public schools until he graduated from Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Va. A graduate of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. After combat duty in World War II he graduated from the Wake Forest School of Law.

Truly a member of this nation’s “Greatest Generation,” Wallace served as a first lieutenant for F Company, 311th Regiment, 78th Infantry Division. The 78th, known as the Lightning Division, landed in France in November 1944 and fought 130 days of continuous combat in the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, across the Rhine River on the Remagen Bridge and finally the capture of the Rhur Valley in Germany.

Wallace earned the Bronze Star for his bravery in battle and finished his duty in Berlin with the U.S. Occupation forces.

Wallace practiced law initially with his father and then as senior partner of Wallace, Morris & Barwick, P.A. (known today as Wallace, Morris, Barwick, Landis, Braswell & Stroud).

Wallace chaired the Lenior County Board of Elections and was the city attorney for 14 years. He was a lifetime elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Kinston and chaired the Building Committee for many years. He also served on the founding Board of Trustees at Arendell Parrott Academy.

Information used in compiling this report appeared originally in The News & Observer.