Harriet Wilson Obituary

Harriet E. Wilson Born: Aug. 13, 1922; In Decatur, IL Died: Feb. 8, 2014; In LaCrosse, WI Harriet E. (Gill) Wilson, a resident of La Grange Park from 1957 to 2011, died at Sterling Assisted Living in La Crosse, Wisconsin on February 8, 2014 of heart failure. She was 91 years old and in declining health. Harriet, her husband Richard, and their three children moved to La Grange Park in 1957 from Oak Lawn. After the children went off to college, Harriet worked as a ward clerk at La Grange Community Memorial General Hospital for nearly 20 years, retiring in 1987. From 2001-2010, Harriet was a volunteer at the hospital as well. Outside work, Harriet was active in the local La Grange chapter of the Pi Beta Phi sorority and had many friends in the chapter. Harriet was a devoted member of the First Presbyterian Church of La Grange, which she and her late husband Richard (Dick) joined in 1957. Even after moving to La Crosse, Harriet continued to contribute to La Grange Presbyterian and valued that connection. Harriet was born in Decatur, IL on August 13, 1922, the daughter of Lowell O. and Helen (Miller) Gill. After attending that city 's public schools, Harriet attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She studied fashion at the University 's school of Home Economics and earned her B.S. degree in 1944. She joined the Pi Beta Phi sorority while at Madison. After a year working at Hudson 's department store in Detroit as a fashion management trainee, Harriet married Lieutenant (j.g.) USNR Richard Bradford Wilson in San Francisco CA on October 11, 1945. He was a native of Chicago and son of Julius H. Wilson MD and Louise Whitney Wilson. After six months in San Francisco, they returned to Chicago, settling in South Shore. They moved to Oak Lawn, IL in 1948, and to La Grange Park in 1957. Harriet loved travel. She also loved gardening, waterfalls, long articles in the New Yorker, her terrier Mini, her late husband. After retirement, Harriet and Dick traveled extensively around the United States and Europe. Their last trip was to Italy in 2000, not long before Dick 's death. Her last twelve years were not easy ones without her husband and she faced some health challenges. Her daughter Constance gave constant support, especially after Harriet moved to La Crosse to be near her. Those who knew Harriet knew a person of quiet dignity. She lived by her principles of family, work, faith, friendship. She will be missed. Surviving Harriet are two sisters, Margaret (Gill) Parkinson of Bloomington, IL and Dorothy (Gill) Birkle of Denver, CO; three children, Linda K. Madden of Colorado Springs, CO, Constance A. Wilson of La Crosse, WI, and Bradford L. Wilson of San Francisco, CA; four grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren. Harriet 's cremains will be interred in the memorial garden at First Presbyterian Church of La Grange in the Spring. A memorial service will be held at that time.