Kenneth Nunn held a photo of his wife, Patricia Hilliard-Nunn, to the webcam as he spoke at the end of an impassioned memorial service celebrating her life and legacy Wednesday evening.
She looks vibrant in the image, wearing a multicolored dress and headdress at the Matheson History Museum in Gainesville, speaking about the history of enslavement in Alachua County.
It’s from 2016. Why the surgical mask over much of her face? It was three days after Hilliard-Nunn, a senior lecturer in the University of Florida’s African American Studies program, underwent a bone-marrow transplant, her husband said. He urged her to not go to the museum. She ignored his plea, Nunn told the 300 people attending the two-hour virtual ceremony.