Wilma Bookless

Wilma Bookless
Mrs. Wilma Bookless, 97 of Galena passed away on Saturday, November 5, 2016 at Midwest Medical Center, Galena. Visitation for Wilma will be held at Sax-Tiedemann Funeral Home & Crematorium, 9568 Blemont Ave., Franklin Park on Thursday, November 10 from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Family and friends will gather to celebrate Wilma's life on Friday, November 11 from 9:30 am until the time of the 11:00 funeral service. Interment will follow at Fairview Memorial Park Cemetery in Northlake, Illinois.
Wilma was born on March 31, 1919 in Terre Haute, Indiana, the sixth of the 10 children of Alwill and Grace Wegrich. She graduated in 1937 from high school, where she was a member of the National Honor Society. She attended Indiana State Normal College where she pledged the Gamma Gamma Sorority. She dropped out of college after her first year to care for her mother. She married her high school sweetheart, George Bookless on June 25, 1940 in a quiet ceremony at her Terre Haute home. They moved to Franklin Park, Illinois in 1947 and Wilma lived there until 2015. In Franklin Park, Wilma was actively involved with the Methodist Church and when her children were young, volunteered in many ways at their school. In 1967 she started working in the audio visual department at East Leyden High School and retired from there in 1984.
Wilma was a voracious reader, was an accomplished painter and was well known for her quiet and peaceful disposition. She never forgot a birthday or anniversary and loved telling people about her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Wilma enjoyed baking cookies and playing cards with her friends. Wilma loved the Cubs, and told her family that she wasn't going to go until they won the World Series. She spent her last week watching the Cubs do just that and even got to watch the parade.
Wilma wrote an autobiography in college which concluded with these words, "I want to settle down in a comfortable home with a family of my own. I only hope I can raise my family as well as I think my parents have raised theirs. If I can do this, I think my life will have been a very happy and successful one." Wilma is survived by her sister, Roena Markle; five children: George (Kathy) Bookless, Jr.; Joan (Jack) Juhlin; John Bookless; Bill (Stacy) Bookless and Britha (Jan) Mikkelsen; six grandchildren: Jennifer (Jay) Steinstra, William (Susan) Bookless, Gwyn (Steve) Stone, Drew (Sandra) Juhlin, Alexandra (Michael) Turner, and Stephanie Bookless and eight great grandchildren; Alex, Anika, Rachel, Billy, Kaitlyn, Emma, Megan, and Juniper.
Wilma was preceded in death by her husband, George W. Bookless; her parents, Alwill and Grace Wegrich; her four brothers Dick Wegrich, Ohmer "Toby" Wegrich, Don Wegrich, and Dale Wegrich and four sisters Treva Cromwell, Deloris Martin, Juanita Miller, and Mardell Blackwell.
The family would like to thank the Galena Strauss Assisted Living Center and the nurses and staff at Midwest Medical Center for their care of Wilma during the last year of her life.
For information please call (847) 678-1950 or www.sax-tiedemann.com.