Leland mom, lifelong resident dies in Columbus County crash

Dawn Baldwin-Ivey of Leland, a former Miss Brunswick County and lifelong county resident, died Friday at New Hanover Regional Medical Center related to injuries received in a traffic collision July 23.

Her friends and colleagues remember her as someone who loved “giving back” to the community through her work with local nonprofits and schools and was proud of her home county.

Baldwin-Ivey was the wife of officer Tillman Ivey of the City of Wilmington Police Department and the mother of three children Jacob, 12, Shelby, 9, and Bryanne, 5.

For the past seven months, she worked for the N.C. Criminal Justice Partnership Program as an educational coordinator at Eckerd Youth Alternatives in Bladen County. She previously worked as executive director of the Brunswick County Literacy Council based in Supply.

Literacy council vice president Gene Vasile recalled Baldwin-Ivey as someone who cared about the council’s mission and about the community.

“Dawn was the executive director for a relatively brief period of time, but during that time I had the opportunity to work with her, I found her to be very energetic, very engaged in the community,” Vasile said. “She cared very much about the mission of the literacy council. The board of directors is very saddened and shocked by this tragedy.”

Tina Sikes, owner of Leland Copy Center, became close with Baldwin-Ivey soon after she opened her shop more than five years ago.

“She was one of the first customers I had. We kind of hit it off,” she said.

Baldwin-Ivey even convinced Sikes to join the literacy council board of directors.

“Dawn was very passionate about her work,” Sikes recalled, noting her friend had a master’s degree in criminal justice and had also taught in Pender County Schools and at Cape Fear Community College.

“Whatever she did, she put her heart and soul into it,” agreed longtime friend Frank Williams, who met her in high school. “She truly believed in whatever she was doing. Her nonprofit work speaks for itself.”

“She wanted to give back,” Sikes recalled. “She was very passionate about this area. She loved Leland; she loved Brunswick County, and she loved North Carolina.”

Baldwin-Ivey was also a proud wife and mother and a loyal friend, she added.

“She would do anything in the world for her family or her friends,” Sikes said.

She was crowned Miss Brunswick County in 1997 before she earned her master’s degree and started her family and her career in the nonprofit field.

The Whiteville News-Reporter reported Baldwin-Ivey was critically injured at 4:14 p.m. July 23 while driving a 2001 Honda south on N.C. 11 in Columbus County, according to a report from Trooper Scott Floyd.

Baldwin-Ivey’s car went over the centerline as she traveled south, and sideswiped a 2005 GMC SUV, and her car turned sideways and was T-boned at 45 mph by a northbound 1995 Ford pickup truck. Baldwin-Ivey’s Honda traveled a total of 352 feet from the time she sideswiped the GMC.

Geneva Barnhill Kelly, 81, of N.C. 53, was driving the GMC, and Roland Earl Lehrschall Jr., 51, also of Leland, was driving the pickup. Both Kelly and Lehrschall were injured. All three drivers were using their seat belts. No charges will be filed.

Friends of the family, with the assistance of the State Employees Credit Union, have established a special account to offset expenses and assist with future needs related to Baldwin-Ivey’s children.

Donations to this account can be made in person at any State Employees Credit Union across the state by using the account name “Tillman Ivey Special Account.”

Checks can be mailed to the following address: State Employees Credit Union, 5011 Randall Parkway, Wilmington NC 28406.