VanWilligen, Ila 1906-1981

VANWILLIGEN, MEREDITH, HODGSON, BURNHAM, EDWARDS, RENAUD, PONDER

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 3/22/2013 at 09:13:18

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; Nov. 19, 1981

VanWilligen Rites Conducted

Ila VanWilligen, 75, of Grinnell died Sunday afternoon at the home of her son.

Funeral services were conducted at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Smith Funeral Home, with the Rev. Douglas R. Smiley, pastor of the Barnes City Methodist Church, officiating. Music was provided by Eileen Smiley. Pallbearers were Charles Burnham, Kenneth Burnham, Gene Meredith, Larry Meredith, LeRoy Meredith and William Ponder. Burial was in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Searsboro.

Memorials may be made to Grinnell General Hospital.

The daughter of Jesse and Martha Etta Meredith, she was born Feb. 11, 1906, near Searsboro. She attended the former Hayes school near the family farm.

On Dec. 18, 1924, she was married to Sanders VanWilligen farmed in Poweshiek County for most of their lives.

Following the death of her husband, Mrs. VanWilligen moved to Barnes City. She came to Grinnell in 1979. She was a member of the Barnes City Methodist Church and was active in the Methodist Women's Society.

She is survived by her son, Carol LeRoy VanWilligen of Grinnell; her daughter, June Hodgson of Des Moines; three grandchildren; one great-grandson; three brothers, Lowell Meredith of Kellogg, Leland Meredith of Grinnell and H. DeVerne Meredith of Searsboro; and three sisters, Olive Burnham of Grinnell, Neola Edwards of Newton and Mildred Renaud of Sully.

She was preceded in death by her parents; one sister, Bernice Ponder; and two brothers Harold and Melvin Meredith.