Margie Wilson

Margie Wilson, 101, formerly of Creston, passed away Friday, March 25, 2022 at Vintage Park Assisted Living in Lenox.

Funeral Celebration be held 1 p.m. Thursday, March 31, 2022, at the Cromwell Congregational Church in Cromwell. Visitation with the family greeting friends will be 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday morning at the church. Interment will be held at the Graceland Cemetery in Creston. Instead of flowers, the family requests memorials be directed to the Cromwell Women’s Fellowship & Quilters or Every Step Hospice. Memories may be shared with the family at www.ritchiefuneralhome.com under Obituaries. Arrangements were entrusted to the Ritchie Funeral Home of Bedford where we ‘Celebrate Life’.

Margie Lorraine (Hunt) Wilson was born in Corning, Iowa on March 23, 1921, and was the daughter of John Ralph Hunt and Lois Anna (Hanna) Hunt. She peacefully went to be with her Lord and her loved ones on March 25, 2022, two days after her 101st birthday. Margie was currently residing at Vintage Park Assisted Living in Lenox where she received tender loving care until her final day.

She spent most of her formative years in Union County attending school in Arispe and graduating with the class of 1940 from Creston High School. She remained very close with her classmates from Arispe and looked forward to class reunions from both schools where she maintained lifelong friendships.

On September 18, 1941, she eloped with Leland James Wilson of Diagonal, and they were married in the Methodist Church in Maryville Missouri with Leland’s older brother Ray and sister-in-law Maxine Wilson, as their witnesses. Leland and Margie took a wedding trip to Pike’s Peak and made their home in the rural Creston area when they returned.

Leland and Margie were blessed with two sons, Charles Wayne in 1944 and Leland Stephen in 1947 and in 1952 bought their home place north of the Kent corner. In 1954 they built their brick home on the farmstead and the boys attended school in Cromwell and graduated from Creston High School. Together they raised cattle, hogs, and row crops. Margie kept an immaculate home and large gardens and flowers everywhere she found a place to put them. Her apple and apricot trees grew abundant fruit, and they would host family get togethers to freeze corn, can fruits, vegetables, and meats, and bake pies to see them through the next harvest season.

Leland and Margie were strong in their faith, and they were members of the Cromwell Congregational Church. Margie sang in the choir, was a member of the Women’s Fellowship group, quilted with the quilter’s group, and they both helped freeze ice cream for the annual social. Margie baked pies and created crafts for the God’s Portion and prepared meals with all the women. For many years they served breakfast with the church at the Creston Airport for balloon days.

Besides farming and church, the Union County Fair was their favorite local event, and they never missed that week in July. They would help the extension office by delivering a stack of fair books to the local businesses who advertised in its pages. This was a way they could help the fair in their golden years.

Margie was an excellent cook and all times of everyday you smelled the old faithful recipes and sampled the new selections she was experimenting with. Her recipe collection was truly endless. Family dinners were huge events, and the basement would be filled with Wilson or Hunt family and hosting would be rotated through the siblings on various holidays.

Leland and Margie loved to travel, and they experienced some amazing places. From their honeymoon in Colorado and even a Caribbean cruise. They traveled to Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Niagra Falls, even toting two of their teenage granddaughters to the black hills for a week one summer.

The Wilson’s were blessed with five granddaughters. Wayne and Mary (Smith) had Marnie and Deborah, and Steve and Linda (Killmon) had Angee, Jodee, and Kellee. Mary was tragically killed in a farm accident in November 1976 and Wayne later married Judy (Ambrose) Brown and her three children Wayne, Jamie and Dawn Brown joined the family. Wayne and Judy later divorced. In 1991, Wayne married Cheryl Wages and Michelle, Stacie, and Mark Eshelman joined the family.

Margie is survived by her granddaughter Marnie (Mike) Cline of Prescott, Deborah (Eric) Casebolt of Coralville, her daughter in law Cheryl Wilson of Ankeny and Cheryl’s children, Michelle (Clark) Carns and Stacie Eshelman all of Greenfield, and Mark (Ragan) Eshelman of Ankeny, daughter in law Linda Wilson and her daughters Angee, Jodee, and Kellee, 15 great-grandchildren and many loving nieces and nephews.

Leland and Margie celebrated 65 years of marriage before his passing in December 2006. Margie was also preceded in death by her parents, her parents-in-law Charles D and Jessie Louise (Holland) Wilson, step mother-in-law Bertha, her son Steve in 1985, her son Wayne in 2011, her daughter in law Mary in 1976, her “older” sister Virginia Gooding and brother in law Vernon, her younger sister Virlee Cihak and her brother in law Jim, her brother John (Jack) Hunt and her sister in law Vera, her brother in law Norval E Wilson, brother in law Earl M Wilson and sister in law Roberta, brother in law Ray E Wilson and sister in law Maxine, her great grandsons Jarrod Cline and Hunter Hartsook.

The memory of a well-spent life never dies and

we will cherish the legacy of your love.

May you be at peace