WIEMERS, Irene HOLLINGSWORTH

WEIMERS, HOLLINGSWORTH, OKIISHI, LAURITSEN, JENNINGS, KEHLE, CAMP

Posted By: Lynette Edsall (email)
Date: 3/20/2007 at 14:40:53

Cherokee Chronicle Times, Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Dr. Irene Hollingsworth Wiemers, 85, died March 7, 2007 at her home. A memorial service will be held Friday, March 23 at 11 a.m. at the Unitarian Church, Davenport. In lieu of flowers or memorials, Irene would want everyone to go out into the world and do the right things for the right reasons.

Irene was born in Asheville, N.C. in 1921, and grew up and graduated from high school near Chicago, Illinois. She attended Swarthmore College, earning a bachelor's degree; the University of Michigan, where she received her master's degree; University of Kansas and the Menninger School of Psychology in Topeka, Kan.; and the University of Utah, where she was awarded her doctorate.

Irene married Dr. Eugene Wiemers in Provo, Utah in 1959. They moved to Cherokee, where she served as Chief Psychologist at the Mental Health Institute. There, she became the first woman member, then president, of the Cherokee School Board. In 1969, the couple moved to Davenport, were she served as psychologist, then administrator of the Pine Knoll Health Care Facility.

She was involved with many community groups, serving as president and board member of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Services, president and organizer of the local chapter of the Older Women's League, organizer of the Scott County Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and facilitator of a caregivers group for the Alzheimer Association, among others.

Irene was preceded in death by her husband, Eugene, and is survived by six children: Rae (Dr. Ted) Okiishi, Ames; Ann (Dr. Ed) Lauritsen, Show Low, Ariz.; Dr. Eugene Wiemers (Dr. Nancy Jennings), Bath, Maine; Dr. John Wiemers, Ellisville, Ill.; Amy Wiemers (Dr. Paul Kehle), Interlocken, N.Y.; and Holly (Lawrence) Camp, Morganton, N.C.; 20 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.