Wilma Dykeman, 86; Author Took Cue From Her Heritage

Wilma Dykeman, 86, who chronicled the people of Appalachia and the land that shaped them in 18 novels and nonfiction books, died Dec. 22 in her home town of Asheville, N.C. She fractured a hip two months ago.

Ms. Dykeman's first book, "The French Broad" in 1955, proved influential on Appalachian writers and was described by one reviewer as a love poem to the region and its people.

The book was part of the acclaimed "Rivers of America Series," fusing history, environmental activism and folklore in a way that inspired other authors from the region to look to their heritage for subject matter. Some of her best-known novels included "The Tall Woman," "The Far Family" and "Return the Innocent Earth."

"I think it would be hard to overestimate her importance," said Robert Morgan, a professor at Cornell University and author of the bestseller "Gap Creek."

Ms. Dykeman grew up in the Beaverdam community of Buncombe County, N.C. She was a graduate of Northwestern University in Illinois.

Thomas Wolfe's sister introduced Ms. Dykeman to her future husband, James R. Stokely Jr., a Tennessee poet whose father was president of Stokely Canning Co. The two married in 1940, shortly after she graduated from college, and kept homes in Asheville and Newport, Tenn.

They wrote several books together, including "Neither Black Nor White" in 1957, which won the Sidney Hillman Award as the best book of the year on world peace, race relations or civil liberties.

The couple had two children, Dykeman Stokely and James R. Stokely III, also authors. Ms. Dykeman's husband died in 1977.

Ms. Dykeman's nonfiction books included biographies of Will Alexander, a champion of racial equality, and Edna Rankin McKinnon, an early proponent of birth control.

She was named Tennessee state historian in 1981 and was a columnist for the Knoxville News-Sentinel and an active public speaker.