Annie Louise Wilkerson

Annie Louise Wilkerson (January 18, 1914 – September 15, 2005) was an American obstetrician and gynecologist. Over the course of her career, Wilkerson is estimated to have delivered 8,000 babies in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Early life and education Wilkerson, born in 1914 in Apex, North Carolina, spent many of her early years with her father, Dr. Charles Wilkerson, as he visited patients on his rounds via horse and buggy.

She was one of five siblings, and her two brothers also went on to become doctors.

Despite her early training in medicine, Wilkerson's family discouraged her from going into the medical field, Due to the extreme difficulty of a woman entering into medical school in North Carolina, Wilkerson traveled to Virginia for school.

Personal life In 1953, Wilkerson bought a property near Falls Lake, on which she built a home and raised cows. She bought a second, adjacent parcel in the 1990s.

Wilkerson never married and had no biological children.

Legacy Wilkerson left her 150 acres of property to the city of Raleigh upon her death, on the requirement that the land not be developed and be kept as a park. The land became Raleigh's first nature preserve. Her house remained on the property, and was made into a museum and nature center.