Willetta “Willie” Edmiston of Warsaw passed away peacefully at home at 12:23 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, at the age of 93. She was formerly a resident of Grace Village Retirement Community of Winona Lake.
Willie was born on April 14, 1925, in Los Angeles County, Calif., to Albert Fred Hanson and Blanche Hester Tahash Hanson. She was married on Jan. 22, 1946, in Long Beach, Calif., to Sibley Marvin Edmiston. They shared 64 years of marriage together before he passed away on Dec. 25, 2010.
She graduated in 1943 from Lindberg High School in Long Beach and received her associate degree from San Diego State University. Willie worked as an elementary school administrative assistant for many years for the San Diego County School District in California.
She was a good and faithful servant and enjoyed her role as a pastor’s wife as her husband, Sibley, served as an interim pastor in Taos, N.M., in 1949. After Sibley attended Grace Theological Seminary, Willie and her husband served as missionaries to Mexico under the Brethren Foreign Missionary Society from 1953-1965. The have lived in the Warsaw and Winona Lake area for the past 30 years.
Willie attended Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church and Pleasant View Bible Church, where she enjoyed working in women’s and children’s ministries.
She will be lovingly remembered by her three daughters: Leandra Lawrence, Redding, Calif.; Linda (husband Richard) Dilling, Warsaw; and Lorraine (husband Dennis) Mullikin, Maysville, Ky.; and two sons, Richard “Dick” Edmiston, Tecate, Baja California, Mexico, and Daniel “Dan” Edmiston, Brookfield, Mo. Also surviving are 15 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; and her sister, Alberta “Bertie” Hanson, Winona Lake.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; two sons, Duane Lester Edmiston and Douglas Allen Edmiston; and two sisters, Edisene Whitcomb and Winifred Nation.
Visitation will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 8, at Redpath-Fruth Funeral Home, 225 Argonne Road, Warsaw.
Her funeral service will be conducted at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 9, at Redpath-Fruth Funeral Home and officiated by Pastor Bryan Benjamin. Burial will follow with a graveside service at Oakwood Cemetery of Warsaw.
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Memorials to Spanish World Ministries, P.O. Box 542, Winona Lake, IN 46590.
