Ann (Hemmingsen) WILSON

WILSON, HEMMINGSEN, RAMIREZ, LANETT, ROSHEIM, HILDEBRAND

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/29/2006 at 22:20:26

Ann Wilson, 77, died of cancer January 6, 2006 at her home. Services were held Wednesday morning, January 11 at the Altoona United Methodist Church. Another service will be held Friday, January 13 at 10:30 a.m. at the Belmond United Methodist Church. Inurnment in the Belmond Cemetery is planned for Memorial Day weekend. Ann was born August 18, 1928 in Newell. She graduated from Belmond High School in 1946 and attended Shimer College. She married Cleo Wilson on June 25, 1950. Ann was employed for 16 years as a columnist and news editor by the Belmond Independent. She was a community activist with many causes, including the United Methodist Church, Democratic Party, Eastern Star, American Cancer Society, Boy Scouts of America, Belmond Arts Council, and various literacy programs. She embraced the philosophy of "Think globally, act locally" and strongly believed in serving one's community. Her artistic talents took many forms -- early in life with drawing and painting, and later with wood carving, story telling and photography. She was an avid quilter and was instrumental in starting several quilting groups, including one at the Altoona church that has now been named the Ann Wilson Quilters. Having sewn all her life, quilting was something she could still do even when she lost her vision. Ann loved to travel and saw much of the world. She toured five cities in the Soviet Union and attended the 1980 Moscow Olympics. In 1986 she and Cleo visited son Tom in Belize while he was in the Peace Corps. They also went to Guatemala. Over the years she visited some of Belmond's exchange students in their home countries, including England, Sweden, and Brazil. She first went to Mexico on mission trips with the United Methodist Church. In 1995 she returned to Mexico to see her eldest son married. She also loved domestic travel, and last May flew to San Francisco for her grandson's wedding. Ann (and Cleo) also helped bring the world to Belmond by hosting exchange student "sons" Johan Fremling of Sweden, Marcio Olivera of Brazil, and Kenny Maxwell of Chicago. The Wilsons moved to Altoona in 1995 to be nearer to their grandsons.

Ann was preceded in death by parents Harold and Marjorie Hemmingsen; husband; daughter-in-law Rebecca Ramirez Wilson; and granddaughters Mollie and Vickie Wilson. She is survived by sons Tom of Chicago, John of Baltimore, and Richard (Melissa) of Pleasant Hill; grandchildren Grant and Nyal Wilson of Pleasant Hill, and Jennifer and Mark Lanett of San Francisco; and sisters Jean Rosheim of St. Paul and Carol Hildebrand of Sun City, AZ.

January 12, 2006
©Belmond Independent 2006