Wilma Jo Young was born September 21st 1932, in Portageville, Missouri, to Joe and Delia Young, the youngest of four children.  She grew up and attended school in Portageville, and after graduation,  worked at the local movie theater.  One day a new manager named Arthur Hayden, who she described as a bit full of himself, took over managing the theater.  These were the days before it was frowned upon managers dating employees, so Arthur and Wilma began dating and in January 1958, Arthur and Wilma were married.  The following October, their first son David was born.  Before long Alan and then Mark joined the family.  Alan passed away at the age at the age of three.

A job transfer for Arthur relocated the family to Webster Groves, where they raised their family. Wilma was the typical mom of the 60's -- she was a Cub Scout leader, room mother, and lunch lady among many other roles at both David's and Mark's schools.

Wilma said many times she had two birthdays. The second one was December 1979, when she lost Arthur to cancer and became a widow at age 47.  Wilma had to start a whole new life for herself.  She remarked that she had never even written a check before Arthur died.

Wilma attended classes and was hired as an Executive Secretary to the president of Central West End Savings and Loan, where she worked until she retired. She wasn't ready to retire completely at that point, so she took a job cooking for the priests at Annunciation Catholic Church as well as other churches later on.

Wilma loved to sing in the choirs from a young age and continued to sing in the church choir.

She loved to cook, but anyone that ever shared a kitchen with Wilma knew that a recipe from a cook book was just a suggestion and was seldom followed. Whenever she baked she would never grease the pan as she felt that was a useless step.  Her family did not ever know until later life that a homemade piece of pie really could be shaped like a wedge.

Wilma had three grandchildren of her own Kevin, Courtney and Cassidy, however, she had many "adopted" grandchildren from her part time job rocking babies at a child care center as well as her many nieces and nephews, and their children.

On Friday October 6, Wilma's earthly suffering ended. She was the last survivor of her siblings and their spouses.  So Friday night there was a great reunion with her husband, son, brother and sisters, their spouses, her mom and dad, and many friends as Jesus welcomed Wilma home.

God Bless

Trust in the Scared Heart of Jesus