Gwen Portwood, 73, needlewoman, gardener

Even as her health declined, Gwen Portwood was determined to travel to Louisville, Ky., for one more meeting of the Embroiders’ Guild of America.

Delicate stitch work, including needlepoint and embroidery, was one of her life’s great passions. She had begun creating scenes that depicted the Stations of the Cross before she became ill, and she made a set of finely rendered seat cushions, which she gave to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church for its clergy to use.

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Family photo

Needlepoint and embroidery were among Gwen Portwood’s passions.

“They were so favorably impressed with her work,” said her husband of 52 years, Roy Portwood of Sandy Springs. “Anyone can take a seat cushion and cover it with leather or Naugahyde, but to do something where you spend hours and hours creating it, that was an entirely different situation.”

Gwendolyn Herndon Portwood, 73, died of complications from cancer of the bile duct Saturday at her Sandy Springs residence. The body was cremated. The memorial service is 11 a.m. Friday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Cremation Society of the South is in charge of arrangements.

The native Atlantan may have inherited a love of the arts from her late mother, who owned an antique store called the Colony House. Mrs. Portwood appreciated opera and the ballet. Every Christmas she baked gingerbread men that delighted her family.

She played computer games, zipped through six or eight books a week from the Sandy Springs library, volunteered with her church and served as president of her gardenia club.

“She had a very active, very creative mind,” her husband said. “She couldn’t sit still. She had to be doing something.”

She is also survived by two sons, Randy Portwood and Andrew Portwood, both of Atlanta; a daughter, Alicia Davis of Columbia, S.C.; and seven grandchildren.