Marlene Wilson
January 2, 1934 – March 18, 2023
No services are being planned. Marlene will be laid to rest at Ft. Custer National Cemetery. Contributions in memory of Marlene may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, in c/o the funeral home.
Obituary
Marlene Wilson, age 89, passed away March 18, 2023, after a long battle with dementia. She was born January 2, 1934 to Romaine and Leotta De Valle in Kalamazoo, Michigan and later a 1952 graduate of Kalamazoo Central High School. She met her future husband, and state park ranger at the time, Frank Wilson in Ludington. They were joined together in marriage in 1958 and had an awe inspiring 64 years of marriage together.
A store clerk at Gilmore and later factory worker at Upjohn, Marlene then gave birth to two children, daughter Tracy Wilson-McFletcher and son Kort Wilson, and raised them as a stay-at-home mom and homemaker. Marlene took a keen interest in Michigan lighthouses and was an avid reader, especially of Amish fiction. She had the most fun crafting or working on her jigsaw puzzles. She especially enjoyed listening to her CDs of Andrea Bocelli or Johnny Mathias. A gentle soul and kindhearted person, she devoted herself to raising her children and helping to raise her grandchildren.
Marlene and her husband enjoyed road trips to Centreville, South Haven, and Shippeswana. Her favorite place was Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, watching the boats at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste Marie where she and Frank took a yearly trip on their anniversary to watch the boats together. An avid Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers fan, she watched many games, along with attending her grandchildren’s hockey, baseball and basketball games. Although she never learned to drive, she would accompany her grandchildren to school from Kalamazoo to Galesburg, MI every weekday while her husband drove, often spoiling them with McDonalds, Burger King or Hot n Now on the way back. She especially enjoyed making her grandchildren breakfast (french toast with powdered sugar & cinnamon and turkey bacon was especially a favorite), lunch and dinner. Throughout their time in school and even into college she would pack their lunches. Quick to offer advice and encouragement or an extra $20 to spend on the town, Marlene was a thoughtful, gentle and kind woman.
Marlene was especially devoted to her husband Frank and as they grew older together, their love was known by all that knew them. She will be especially missed by her husband, children and grandchildren.
Marlene is preceded in death by her parents and grandson Ryan Wilson. She is survived by her husband, Frank Wilson; children, Tracy (Amil) Wilson-McFletcher and Kort Wilson; brother, Larry De Valle; sisters, Bonnie (Tom) Berguis and Marcia (Eddie) Dash; grandchildren Justin (Rebecca) Lesman, Blake Wilson, and Hayley Wilson; and great grandchild, Natalie Lesman.
Hey ole lady, the last few years were a real doozy but at least you’re not in any pain anymore. I have lots of good memories with you and you will still be remembered and talked about when I make more trips up north. you will be surely missed. I love you, rest in peace grandma.
To a sweet lady who I enjoyed having as a neighbor and I loved talking to you and enjoyed the fact that my kitty Jerry shared a bound with you and I loved seeing him on your lap on beautiful sunny days when you would sit out front on the porch he loved you very much now you can go find him because he’s a kitty angel in heaven and you 2 can be together again. R.I.P. Mrs. Wilson.
I will truly miss you.I am happy to have many good memories though that will live on forever.You were a great mother and a fun mother.I will eat a rootbeer stand hotdogs in your honor. Love your son.
Grandma Marlene, \”Morrow\”, I had the honour and privilege of living with you for the past 27 years of my life. Growing up, having you next door to dad, spending the night every other Saturday and Sunday. Watching Harry Potter on television while you or grandpa made me hot chocolate with a peppermint stick in the glass is one of my favorite memories where I felt completely safe with you and grandpa. Playing with my legos, my army men, eating french toast and turkey bacon for dinner, you helped provide me with a great childhood. I travel the world because of you, because of the weekend trips to Centerville, Essenhaus, Turkeyville, because of the trips to Ludington and Sault Ste Marie. I\’ll be going to Sault Ste Marie this summer to leave a piece of you in that place you most loved, watching the boats in the park for hours, it must have been a heaven for you. And you were a heaven to us, so very happy to be in our lives and us in yours, watching all of our hockey, basketball, baseball games. Caring about our day to day, even making us packed lunches into college, there is nothing you wouldn\’t do for us. Saving your coins so that we could buy extra toys, slipping us some extra money to spend on ourself when we would travel. You were one of our earliest and closest friends. A gentle woman through and through. You loved your lighthouses, you loved your puzzles, you loved to sew (saved me many times with that). You loved to make crafts, that Humpty Dumpty Man is still one of my closest possessions. You loved your husband Frank, whom you were married to 64 years, you loved your children Kort and Tracy, and your grandchildren (Ryan, Justin, Blake and Me). When I was 12 years old I watched the movie Click where Adam Sandler works his life away and got upset at his father, the last time he would see him in the movie, because the father was trying to take his son out one last time before he passed away. I saw that movie then and cried my heart out. I told myself that whatever school or work, it would never come before family and I would do my utmost to see my grandparents, father and mother so that I would not be the man from that movie. I\’d like to think I kept that promise with you. Therefore I was with you until the end. You suffered immensely from your knees which prevented you from seeing the lighthouses you loved, from the blindness that prevented you from reading and sewing, from the hearing that prevented you from hearing the TV. The dementia that affected your mind hit you very hard. I know you were not religious, but I\’d like to think I could pray for the both of us, and I wil from time to time, and I do believe you are now in heaven surrounded by your lighthouses, the lakes of Michigan, sewing or reading Amish books to your hearts content, wearing that grey lighthouse sweater you loved, visiting with your grandson Ryan, reconnected with your parents. Waiting with paitence for grandpa to join you, someday your son, someday your daughter, someday your grandchildren who when we are reunited together with you will rejoice and will live together in perpetuity. In the meantime you are missed deeply and sincerely by your family. I know you would be proud of the persons your grandchildren became and you played an essential part in that. With the utmost love and respect Hayley (Connor) Wilson.
Hey Ole lady, Gramps came to be with you last night, I am sure where ever you guys are, you are exploring lighthouses and watching hockey together. You both are and will continue to be missed a lot. I love you and miss you.