Freda Wallace MacLeod died on August 2, 2024 in Providence, RI. A daughter of Frederic A. Wallace, Jr and Christine Chace Wallace of Providence, she was born May 15, 1940. Freda graduated from the Mary C. Wheeler School (1958) and Brown University (1963), where she majored in French literature. A lover of literature, she later earned a MS degree in Library Science and a MA degree in the literature of the Bible.
After working in the Boston area, Freda was an administrator for many years at Brown University’s Graphic Services. Retiring early because of physical health problems, she then aided her husband, the late Professor James L. Wiles in collecting documents in Ireland for the Irish Studies archives at Stonehill College. While living during those years in Jamestown and Middletown, RI, Freda also participated in adult education, book groups, and the Alliance Francaise of Newport, of which she was president for several years.
Freda enjoyed theater and classical music - she was a longtime devotee of the Marlboro Music Festival, and, In her final years of severe ill health, was grateful to PBS, for the opportunity to reread the great British and Russian novels, for her classes with the 92NY, and her foreign film group at the Providence Athenaeum.
Freda was a humorous and a soft hearted person who cherished her family and loved small creatures and natural spaces. Always engaged in the events of the day, she had one abiding political and religious conviction - that all people are created equal. Although her life was often difficult, Freda retained a strong spirit of generosity. She continued to cultivate a rich inner life, to remain purposeful, and to prevail.
Predeceased by her husband, James L. Wiles, in 2015, Freda leaves her beloved son, Gregory Wallace and daughter-in-law, Jenny Fierro, her cherished grandchildren Emma, Kate, and Henry Wallace. She is also survived by her three stepchildren, Christopher, Jennifer, and Jonathan Wiles, by her niece, Christy Laidlaw, and by their families.
In lieu of flowers please contribute to Doctors Without Borders, the World Food Programme, or the Marlboro Music Festival.
Services will be private for the family.
To send flowers or plant a tree in memory of Freda W. MacLeod, visit the Tribute Store.
