A strong will put former Greenville Mayor Nancy Jenkins back on her feet — without a walker — just three months after hip replacement surgery in February.

That willpower also marked a long career in public service, according to friends, family and former colleagues who remembered her Friday. Jenkins, 75, died in Raleigh of an apparent heart attack Friday morning, according to her daughter, Ann Middleton Johnson.

(ENLARGE)

Former Greenville Mayor Nancy M. Jenkins died Friday in Raleigh. She was 75 years old.

Jenkins had been convalescing near her family for three months but was set to return to Greenville this weekend. The city was her "true passion," Johnson said. As mayor from 1989 to 2001 and a city councilwoman for three years prior, she helped lead Greenville through a period of rapid growth.

"She loved being mayor of Greenville, and she was so proud of Greenville," Johnson said.

The 1990s saw Greenville's population grow by more than 25 percent. Building a strategy to meet that growth was one of Jenkins' greatest achievements, said Ron Kimble, who was Greenville city manager during Jenkins' mayoral tenure.

"It was a great boom period for Greenville, and she was the mayor when it was all happening," Kimble said. "She and the council obviously deserve a lot of credit for what was happening in those years."

A sense of fairness guided Jenkins' work, friend and former City Councilwoman Blanche Forbes said.

"She always wanted to do what was best for Greenville. She wouldn't do anybody a favor if it was not best for Greenville, even if it was (for) her mother," Forbes said.

Forbes hinted at the toughness Johnson saw in her mother. Jenkins would "butt heads," Johnson said. "She was gonna stand her ground. People may have disagreed with her, but people also respected her. I can tell you, as her daughter, I butted heads with her my whole life."

Butting heads with Jenkins was also a common occurrence for Ed Carter, the incumbent mayor Jenkins beat in 1989. As council colleagues, the two never agreed on the blue laws that kept stores closed on Sundays; Jenkins was for them, Carter against.

But Jenkins' willingness to consider other viewpoints impressed Carter while they were school board members in the 1970s. In one instance, a talented assistant principal at a Greenville junior high school applied to be a principal elsewhere in the city, Carter recalled. Jenkins and other school board members thought he was too vital in his current job to transfer, Carter said. That logic held the assistant principal down, Carter remembered arguing. Jenkins and others came around, promoting the man.

"It was not impossible to get her to consider your opinions and reconsider her positions," Carter said. "But you really had to do your homework."

For all her toughness, Jenkins had a softer side, too. She and Forbes talked earlier this week about spending time in Forbes' garden, a favorite pastime.

Jenkins' death Friday came as a shock, Johnson said. She'd complained of chest pains Thursday, but she was in good physical health otherwise. Jenkins was excited about coming home.

"She was doing well," Johnson said. "Physically, she had gotten to the point where she was walking without a cane. She probably shouldn't have been," Johnson said, laughing."

Jenkins was the widow of former East Carolina University Chancellor Leo Jenkins, who died in 1989. Her survivors include Johnson and a son, David John Middleton III of Raleigh. At her request, Jenkins' family will hold a private funeral in Raleigh. There will be a public visitation from 5-7 p.m. Sunday at Wilkerson Funeral Home in Greenville.

"It's a sad day for Greenville in that loss," Kimble said Friday. "But it's a time to celebrate the things that she did for Greenville during her many years of service."